The
month is not over yet and neither is the Celebration.
The
Latina Book Club is proud to welcome Poet Laureate of the Altadena Library
District,
Dr. Thelma T. Reyna, who urges us to celebrate Women year round not
just one month a year.
As
Women’s History Month comes to a close, it is easy for many of us to return to
other issues that consume our attention daily. Women have been extolled
throughout this special month of honoring, women’s “firsts” have been
recognized and commemorated, and our collective desire to see women gain
greater equity in all spheres of society has been duly expressed in various
media throughout March.
But
our awareness of women’s status in all nations, not just in ours, for the
purpose of averting discrimination and expanding egalitarianism in all facets
of existence must never be delimited to a certain slice of time. We need no
boundaries--of time, place, emphasis--to further any worthy cause, and the
cause of women’s advancement must be front and center alongside other vital
issues, such as social justice.
So
how do we maintain unwavering focus on the well-being and progress of half the
world’s population, of half of all Americans? As with almost all important issues
in civilization, it comes down to each of us as individuals: what we say, what
we do, what we value. The counterbalance to “It takes a village” is “Each one,
teach one.” What we do collectively is the product of what we do as
individuals.
It Starts With “Me”
Each
me--me the mother, me the sister, me the
classroom teacher, me the neighbor, me the friend, me the spouse, me the boss. Gender
is irrelevant regarding each of these “me”’s.
What matters is the goal in each me of
convincing each female in their lives that she is highly worthy and is never
inferior to anyone because of her gender.
My
mother and grandmother were my first me’s.
They were poor and very hard-working, the daughter and wife of a migrant farm
worker who never attended any school and was illiterate except for his ability
to write his name. But these were strong women who survived and thrived in
whatever limited fashion they could. Grandmother had no schooling at all, and
my mother was a high school dropout, but they encouraged my education. They
freed me from domestic duties so I could study. They found the funds for my
field trips, and my second-hand clarinet, so I could be in the school band and
travel throughout the state for performances. They insured my brothers picked
me up in the evenings from school so I could stay late, working on the school
newspaper or attending rehearsals.
When
I was growing up in my ultra-conservative, small Texas town, Latina girls were generally
sheltered, over-protected, but my mother and grandmother had faith in my dreams
and insured that I had the freedom to be where I needed to be to rise
academically. They publicly expressed pride in my achievements, and this
encouraged me to continue striving. I was one child out of nine, with seven brothers.
My mother and grandmother, both of whom raised me, could have focused all their
support on just “the boys,” as was common in my community, in my Latino
culture. But they realized the importance of their little girl’s dreams, so
they nurtured me and freed me from cultural constraints. My success was their
success, and their nurturance was my sustenance.
Luckily,
my father fit that mold as well. As did my teachers, and brothers, and
neighbors, uncles and aunts. They respected my need to study and achieve. They
were glad that I was not getting married as a teenager, as many women of my
generation did, dropping out of school to start a family. Implicitly, they were
telling me that I could attain whatever goals I pursued, equally with the boys
and men in our school, in the local college I attended. Thanks to all of them,
I did.
Then It Comes Down to
“Us”
If
each of us resolves to treat each female
in our lives as having no limits to what she can achieve, each of us will
help dozens or hundreds of girls be engaged, productive members in society. The
ripple effects will be exponential. In each home, each neighborhood, each town,
each county and state, the female half of the population will be active
participants in moving humanity forward.
Equality
is a lie when half are unequal. The critical mass of motivated, energized girls
and females taking their proverbial place at the table--as they debate laws in
courtrooms, mend broken bodies in hospitals, design rocket ships, negotiate
with world leaders on existential and practical issues, and show their
competence in matters large and small--will remind us all that honoring and
nurturing women is not something to be done in March. It is a necessity of
daily life.#
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Thelma T. Reyna is the national award-winning author of 4 books: a
short story collection (The Heavens Weep
for Us and Other Stories), 2 poetry chapbooks (Breath & Bone; and Hearts
in Common); and a full-length collection of her poems, Rising, Falling,
All of Us. She edited the Altadena
Poetry Review: Anthology 2015, as well as the 2016 edition of the
anthology. Reyna is Poet Laureate of the Altadena Library District. Visit her at www.thelmareyna.com.