Post #9 - Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. No snow here as I live in California. However, I’ve been getting a Thanksgiving flurry anyway. The flurry has been arriving in my email box — requests for my list of what I’m grateful for. 

This reminds me of a Thanksgiving tradition that we created when our children were young and continue even today. Before we start the celebratory meal, each person around the table says what he or she is grateful for. A lovely time for us to reflect on the year, our own lives, our family, and our friends. I remember one year when our eldest son said, “I’m grateful to be employed.” Who would have guessed that 15 years later, the fortunate of us may put that as #1 on our gratitude list.

This year I’m especially grateful for the many women I’ve talked with since the publication of Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story. I meet lots of women when I give book presentations. Lately, I’ve spoken to AAUW, two Rotary groups, Women in Business, and am preparing for a special December 7, Pearl Harbor-themed talk.

The women I meet tell their own stories. Wendy Bell, a Rosie’s Daughter, stood and told the group that she was the first named in a one of several lawsuits against the Jaycees — back when they refused to admit women as regular members. She was already active with the organization, but couldn’t be a full member. Although another lawsuit made it first to the Supreme Court, Wendy was among the first to cheer when the Court found that the Jaycees had to admit women. 

Some women tell stories of their mothers and grandmothers. One woman shared that her grandmother, a Rosie the Riveter, operated a forklift during WWII. Her boss said, “A woman can’t operate a forklift.” So, she had to train the next man that was hired how to run the forklift. Then, as man after man that she had trained left to join the military, she finally convinced her boss to let her drive the forklift. He did. And she did for the rest of the war.

Other women simply tell me how much my book has meant to them. They tell me that they’ll “never be the same.” The book has caused them to look at their lives, to reflect on their past, and hopefully to better plan for their future. 

Well, you get the point. I’m grateful for both the warm reception that the book has received as well as for the opportunity to connect with so many thoughtful women.

Rosie’s Daughters, of course, couldn’t include what will happen next in the lives of these women. Some stories continue full-speed ahead. Nancy Pelosi, for example, had just been named Speaker of the House shortly before the book manuscript was completed. Her role and what she does is visible to all of us. Other lives have already been cut short. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop and outspoken proponent of ethical business, fair trade, environmental awareness, animal protection, respect for human rights, died one month before publication of our book.

For most of us, our life stories change and let us find new ways to grow. This morning I received an email from an FW2. The Tennessee newspapers are carrying the story that Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 1993, is taking senior judge status in January. The Sixth Circuit handles Federal appeals for the states of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

As one newspaper article said, “Breaking barriers throughout her career, Daughtrey became the first woman appointed to the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Law and later became the first woman on both the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court.” Senior status for Judge Daughtrey means her work load will be lighter and, as she says, “no more death penalty cases.” 

And in what I think is true FW2 style, she says, “Some folks may think I’m wrapping up my career. I’m not, of course, just taking a breather.” We’ll stay tuned for the changes in Judge Daughtrey’s life and in the lives of so many other Rosie’s Daughters.

Post #8 - Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story - Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

Today, August 26, we celebrate the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that allowed women to vote for the first time.  It may seem like ancient history to young women. Yet when my mother was born, her mother could not vote.  My mother was 11 years old before the the Woman Suffrage Amendment became law in 1920.

It took many years and untold numbers of women working together to achieve the goal of women voting. One hundred and sixty years ago, in 1848, the Seneca Fall Convention voted on and passed a Declaration of Sentiments. The 9th resolution, much ridiculed, was the declaration of a woman’s right to vote. The stories are legend of the struggle to finally pass an amendment to the Constitution that secured this right. The names of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt and others still echo in our ears. Many of the women who worked in factories during World War I, perhaps the original Rosie the Riveters, urged President Wilson to push for a woman’s right to vote. Their petitions and marches emphasized that if they were valued enough to work for the country’s war efforts, they should be valued enough to be given the right to vote.   

Thanks to Bella Abzug, August 26th is known as Women’s Equality Day, a date chosen to honor the passage of the 19th amendment. Bella Abzug. Many of us remember this fiery woman with her trademark hats, first Jewish woman elected to Congress, Founder of Women Strike for Peace, Co-founder of National Women’s Political Caucus, and so much more. Not long after she was elected to the House of Representatives, she began working for a day to officially celebrate this important turning point in women’s history and was successful in 1971.

Abzug represents another of the early torchbearer women who broke through gender barriers so that other women might follow in her path.  In our book, Rosie’s Daughters, we celebrate a whole generation of women who collectively broke more barriers than any previous generation.  They opened doors for Boomer women who have carried on with creating new opportunities for following generations of women.  

But let’s not just celebrate Women’s Equality Day today. Be sure to celebrate again on November 4 (or a month earlier if you vote by mail) when you exercise your hard won right to vote.

Post #7 for  Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler — Authors of Rosie’s Daughters

Now this IS fun.

As you know, we’re always talking about the FW2 (First Woman To) Generation and the contributions they have made to ensuring opportunities for all of us. We have to thank them for getting all those shards of glass lodged in their scalps as they broke through the glass ceilings.

So I was doing a little Google search on FW2s and came across this. It’s a link to a list on biography.com, called “First At…” It’s a list of women throughout the years who have been the recognized as first to achieve some accomplishment.

I find it particularly fun that Pocahontas leads off the list. She represents the first mixed-race marriage in the colonies.

Many of the women you’ll find listed are from the 19th and early 20th century. This may leave you asking why the women born during WWII have rightly earned the title FW2 Generation. It’s because there are so many of them. They made it possible for many others to follow them. And they broke through in so many categories simultaneously: education, professions, entertainment, government, business and sports. Thanks to Rosie’s Daughters, being the “First Woman To” is no longer a rarity or exception. Thank you.

Post #6 for Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler — Authors of Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story

It’s the Memorial Day long weekend and for a classic film fan like me, it means a weekend of war films. And I confess that some of them I enjoy watching. The networks have tried to balance their presentation. They’ve shown films celebrating the grit and courage of the heroes of every war that’s involved Americans from the Revolution through to Vietnam. And they’ve shown several anti-war films. But I have just one question: Where are the women? Oh there’s a femme fatale or two, an occasional nurse or love interest thrown in. But we still come to one basic conclusion: War is sad. Men were brave. And during WWII they were fighting for Mom, apple pie and Betty Grable’s legs! [click to continue...]

Post #5 for Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett — authors of Rosie’s Daughters

I doubt anyone will question or challenge the importance of communication. It’s a most elemental connection, whether among family members or between countries (and every group and individual in between). If we all agree, then why do we need conferences to help us do what should not only come naturally but be our number one imperative? [click to continue...]

Post #4 for Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett — Rosie’s Daughters

When Matilda and I finished writing and editing the 100th iteration (some days it felt like that) of our manuscript Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story, we thought we had something special. Telling the story of a generation of women through a collective memoir was, at the very least, different. Integrating the women’s memoir vignettes with our socio-cultural historical narrative was (we knew) very unusual.

Our real challenge was in the page layout: How to make several separate elements on a page work together to give the reader a rich experience without creating confusion. But by the time we saw our designer Rees Maxwell’s layout that combines vignettes, narrative, pictures, quotes and a timeline on a page spread we believed Rosie’s Daughters was truly novel.

A couple of days ago we heard from our publisher, Iaso Books (a division of Two Bridges Press), that Independent Publisher thinks we have something special too. We’re a finalist for an Independent Publisher Book Award (an IPPY) in the Women’s Issues category (#62).

Thank you for all the support, kind words and reviews. We’ll keep you posted on how Rosie’s Daughters does in the final judging.

Post #3 - Rosie’s Daughters - Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

On April 21st, The New York Times announced: “Patrick Becomes First Woman to Win a Major Auto Race.” Driver Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 by beating the two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

Wow, I thought, there are still new frontiers for FW2s (First Woman To’s) to conquer. But opportunities to break new ground are fewer. And that’s good too.

So what’s the significance of being a First Woman To? Ultimately it’s not the achievement of one woman but the opening of a field to a critical mass of women. And further that the achievement occurs under ordinary circumstances. In other words, it’s no fluke that Patrick should be in the race.

The FW2-Generation of women (what we call Rosie’s Daughters) broke both the actual and perceived barriers to female participation. They succeeded in turning their firsts into accepted roles for themselves and subsequent generations of women. Shirley Muldowney (a Rosie’s Daughter) is known as “The First Lady of Drag Racing,” and a logical role model for young drivers like Patrick.

It’s nice to see that subsequent generations are still raising the bar and finding new barriers to crack. Congratulations to Danica Patrick.

Post #2 - Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story - Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

March is National Women’s History Month. We have so many accomplished women to celebrate, and one jewel is Rosie the Riveter–an icon for courage, grace and strength during WWII. It took a world war and the government’s desperate need for a workforce to first empower Rosie, but she didn’t disappoint. She changed the question of women’s roles from “What work can women do?” to “Is there any work women can’t do?” By war’s end, the answer was loud and clear: “No!”

In late 1945, Rosie went home, but her story was just beginning. To use the vernacular, “she was out there.” Women had shown their mettle, and the millions of individual Rosie stories serve as a legacy of empowerment. They forever changed women’s sense of opportunity, self-esteem and potential. Women knew they could do it. Most important was the message they shared with their daughters. They may have left the overalls behind, but figuratively they passed their red-and-white, polka-dot bandanas to their daughters. [click to continue...]

Post #1 - Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story - Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

It’s February 2008 and I’m still going through my favorite Christmas presents — books. Alice Waters’ new book, The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution is now on top of one of the many tempting piles that fill my desk, my bedside table, and the kitchen counter.

In researching Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story, I investigated numerous sources to compile a list of prominent women born during World War II. Imagine my delight to find that my idol, Alice Waters, is a Rosie’s Daughter. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Waters, like so many “First Woman To” Generation women brought about change and continues to do so.

[click to continue...]