Fierce Feminist: Linda Salzer

The 2024 LWVSC Fierce Feminist Award was presented this year to Linda Salzer by the 2023 award recipient, Patricia Nugent. The presentation was part of the ”Continuing Susan’s Fight for Equality” event and visit to Susan B. Anthony’s childhood home in Battenville, Washington County, NY, on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, 2024.

Presentation by Patricia Nugent (8/26/24)

Last year, at our League’s Famous Person Fundraiser, Barb Thomas presented an unofficial award that she made up! As she described the recipient, including the term Fierce Feminist, I sat curiously listening, thinking, “Gee, I’d like to know the person she’s describing.” I didn’t realize it was me! She gave me an ERA pin that she’d had for close to 50 years. It means so much to me because I admire Barb so much. She was our original Fierce Feminist!

The award was intended to be a one-off, but I appealed to the LWV board to make it an annual recognition: The Fierce Feminist Award so now it will be presented every year – on Women’s (In)equality Day, August 26. (I told Barb I wouldn’t say Inequality Day today to ruin the celebration but a Fierce Feminist just HAS to!)

The rules are that 1) the past recipient chooses the next recipient 2) the prize is something they themselves own that represents their feminist journey.

It was no easy task to choose this year’s Fierce Feminist. I’ve had the privilege of working with 12 people on the Alice Brigade and every one of them qualifies. But I remembered Linda’s words to me when she first joined the Alice Brigade: “This is no time to be timid!” It became a rallying cry and has guided many decisions we made in this campaign to help women realize they are oppressed. One presentation she did for us was titled, “Bitches and Witches,” tracing the history of demeaning terms for women. (e.g. “Son of a bitch”). Linda continues to challenge me to call out conditions and what must be done.

She has co-chaired our Communication Team with Kim Harvish and pushed the envelope on our message. Our Women’s Rights Awareness Campaign Facebook page has 125 followers from all over the country and abroad. It prompted a foreign correspondent to call our League for an interview about a reproductive rights ruling in Alabama.

Linda has blogged about reproductive rights as well as other inequities for the LWV’s website. She has risen to every delegated challenge, although probably wishes she hadn’t at times. If she doesn’t know how to approach a task, she independently researches it. I threw some complex projects her way, and she figured them out in a timely way – even if it meant resorting to AI! Like converting a dense legal essay into a Q&A interview. Like recruiting people to leaflet for the ERA outside a theater at 9:30 for four weekend nights!

She lives here in Washington County and has extended the League’s reach here through organizing candidate events and ERA tabling. Linda is in her 25th year as an engineer as encouraged by her dad – her grandmother had switched careers from nursing to construction manager supervising all-male crews! And the feminist strain in her family continues as she takes her daughter with her on crusades. Linda has taken her daughter to marches in Washington. But perhaps the bravest thing she’s ever done is join Toastmasters to get over her fear of public speaking. She was terrified but did it anyway. It took her ten years to attend a meeting, but won awards once she did. Her story is one of slowly finding her voice and helping others find theirs.

Like so many of us here, Linda Salzer is a Fierce Feminist and I’m proud to share this honor with her. And may I remind you, in her words, “This is no time to be timid.” Congratulations, Linda!

Answering Remarks by Linda Salzer (8/26/24)

Thank you, Pat, for your nomination and kind words. I am truly honored to be recognized as a Fierce Feminist by you and the League of Women Voters. When I first heard the news, I wondered, “Did Pat have the right person?” But here I am, deeply flattered and grateful for this award.

Some of us are born fierce, but many, including myself, have had to learn it. We started by faking it, and over time, that fierceness became an integral part of who we are. I suspect many of you have had a similar journey.

We are living through a challenging time in history, one that tests our resolve like never before. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and afraid. But now is not the time to be passive. The best way to combat fear is through action.

When we join forces, we discover that we don’t have to carry the weight of the world alone. Let’s lift up those around us and invite them to join in our efforts. Being fierce means standing up when no one else will, harnessing our anger to fuel our determination, and walking the difficult path even when it’s tough.

Time is short, and we must use our voices and speak up.

Every day, we have the opportunity to be fierce.

In the words of Kyra O’Connor:

“A fierce woman is fierce in belief, in joy, in compassion, in commitment, in intelligence, in wit, and in community. She’s capable not only of finding her own way but of creating a path for others; she doesn’t just break down doors, she tears down walls.”

Of course, tearing down walls isn’t only a women’s job. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” A fierce feminist knows that equal rights and opportunities must be extended to all genders. We rise together or not at all.

Let’s all be fierce together. Thank you.

All-Woman Flyover: The Plane Truth

Linda McKenney, March 10, 2023

Close your eyes and imagine you are about to board an airplane. What does the pilot look like?

Many of us were impressed and excited about an all-woman flyover at the Super Bowl. It’s progress!! Since it’s Women's History month, I thought it would be interesting to find out the nitty-gritty of said progress. I was also inspired by the comments of a friend. So, I did a little digging.

The Super Bowl event was celebrating the 50-year history of women being allowed to fly in the Navy. But the Navy’s original lineup was, according to Military.com, fifteen aviators -- only three of whom were women who were not pilots but flight officers (NFO). NFOs are experts in aircraft engine systems, navigation, meteorology, aerodynamics, flight planning and aircraft safety. They may serve as a co-pilot on occasion.

The crew was announced in a press release on Jan. 27, 2023. And yes, if you click on this link, you will find a 404 error message. Why? Apparently the announcement was initial information on the aircrew that was made public before the Navy had settled on the final lineup. So let’s make believe that an all-woman team was always the plan.

Google after Google, I could not determine why the Navy changed its mind and made the crew entirely women, except for the problem of a shortage of female Navy pilots.

A spokesperson for the commander of Naval Air Forces explained why having an all-female squadron would be difficult. "There are several challenges involved in gathering aviators from several different squadrons, and with women as 20% of the population in the Navy, it makes it harder, [especially because] only between 7% and 12% are pilots.”

But then, women who wanted to be Navy pilots or pilots in general have been facing challenges for years.

Bessie Coleman read about the air war in Europe during World War I and was convinced she should be up there flying, not just reading about it. In her attempt to find a flight school, she had two strikes against her. She was a woman, and she was black.

She heard that Europe had a more liberal attitude toward women and people of color, so she learned to speak French and earned enough money to go to Paris. She received her pilot’s license on June 15, 1921 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. But she could not fly for the military, as military service in the US was not permitted for women.

In 1942, years after her death, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Navy Women’s Reserve Act into law, creating what was commonly known as the WAVES -- Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service -- a division of the U.S. Navy, created to free up male personnel for sea duty in World War II. These women served as nurses or clerical workers. But there was a bigger need that women voluntarily filled.

The W.A.S.P. flew in. (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots)

The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that male pilots were needed for combat, which left a shortage of pilots to deliver newly built trainer aircraft to flight schools. Twenty-eight experienced civilian women pilots volunteered to take those ferrying jobs, forming the country’s first female flight squadron. That number grew to 1,074 women pilots.

Between November 1942 and December 1944, these women were trained to fly every aircraft in the Army’s arsenal. In addition to ferrying, they towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and non-flying personnel, and flight-tested aircraft that had been repaired before the men were allowed to fly them again. For over two years, the WASP went on to perform a wide variety of aviation-related jobs and to serve at more than 120 bases around the country.

What happened to the WASP?

In March 1944, a Congressional Bill was introduced to change the WASP status from civilian to military. This militarization bill was defeated in June and by December the program was officially deactivated. WASP lost their wings.

Through the 1980s and early 1990s, women lobbied hard for the right to serve equally with male counterparts, including flight combat. But even after they succeeded in 1993, there remained few corners of the military as overtly macho, if not downright misogynistic, as the world of fighter pilots.

Misogyny affects not only the way men think about women pilots, but also the way women think about the career opportunities available to them. If young women can’t dream of becoming a pilot – through role models in industry, or in their own minds – they’re less likely to pursue that career. Sadly, there are few examples of successful women pilots throughout the aviation industry. Which leads to the result of the following exercise:

Close your eyes and imagine you are about to board an airplane. What does the pilot look like?

• Navy Quietly Adds Women to Crew for Super Bowl Flyover Aimed at Honoring Female Aviators | Military.com

• 99s in Aviation History | Women in Involved Aviation (The Ninety-Nines, Inc.).

• National WASP WWII Museum

• Aviation Needs More Women On The Flight Deck - And In All Roles

Patricia Nugent: It Feels Bad

March 9, 2023
Reprinted from Vox Populi

[T]here was only one thing I wanted to say about women not having rights and protections equal to white men in the United States of America: It feels bad.

When asked to write a blog post for our local League of Women Voters about the recent U.S. Senate hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment, I reported to my desk armed with the latest data on women’s status in this country and rolled up my sleeves. There are many arguments to be made as to why our nation must move forward to ensure women full protection under the U.S. Constitution. And I was ready to pound them out.

But when I sat down to write, I first had to acknowledge and honor the despair I often feel as an American woman. As that washed over me, there was only one thing I wanted to say about women not having rights and protections equal to white men in the United States of America: It feels bad.

It feels bad that we are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have women’s equality built into its constitution.

It feels bad that the ERA was proposed more than 100 years ago and hasn’t yet been adopted.

It feels bad that women have no rights in this country that cannot be reversed legislatively.

It feels bad to hear late Justice Scalia on YouTube declaring that the Constitution “doesn’t say you have to discriminate against women but doesn’t say you can’t.”

It feels bad to read current arguments, the same tropes from the 1970s, as to why women need protection instead of liberty – especially when put forth by other women.

It feels bad to see women standing on the dais behind politicians blocking the ERA.

It feels bad to hear women’s voices answering the phones of politicians who voted against the ERA.

It feels bad that American Catholic bishops are issuing directives to parishioners to reject equal rights legislation.

It feels bad that it’s periodically necessary for Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which one political party consistently votes against.

It feels bad to see merch for sale on the internet advocating “Repeal the 19th.”

It feels bad that The Handmaid’s Tale now reads more like nonfiction than fiction.

It feels bad that the tokenism of an all-female flyover at the Super Bowl is considered progress.

If feels bad that many of my feminist friends are suffering from resistance fatigue.

It feels bad to be considered less than by my government.

It feels bad to wonder if I might be reciting Susan B. Anthony’s final words on my own deathbed: “To think, I have had more than 60 years of hard struggle for a little liberty, and then to die without it seems so cruel.”

What feels good is that this enumeration of what feels bad pisses me off enough that I must continue working to make it feel better. For all of us.

Oh…and welcome to Women’s History Month, which also feels bad.

Copyright 2023 Patricia Nugent

Stories of Good Trouble on the Journey to Justice

Read the Stories of Good Trouble on the Journey to Justice

The Community Arts Grant awarded to the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County (LWVSC) and sponsored by Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church is “Good Trouble on the Journey to Justice”. The theme, inspired at the time of John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing, created an opportunity to share stories of personal or family members’ challenges to achieve justice.

The artist, Francellise Dawkins created a fabric collage with photos of the story contributors along with quotes from the narratives.

Good Trouble is evident in the stories of those seeking to effect change. Courage is reflected in taking a stand against wrong and giving support for unpopular actions to obtain justice. As you read the stories and view the collage please consider your personal reaction to their words. Hopefully you will share your thoughts through written comments.

The Good Trouble collage is being displayed at the Saratoga Springs Methodist Church this spring.

Make Women's History

Make Women's History: Add the ERA to the Constitution

As we turn the calendar to March, I find myself reflecting on the role of women in our democracy from the beginning.

Despite Abigail Adams’s famous advice to her husband to “remember the ladies,” he and the rest of the founders left any mention of women out of the founding documents. As a result, the U.S. Constitution does not mention women at all.

This is ironic, to say the least, in our current day and age, when women fill the halls of Congress and hold leadership positions, from Speaker of the House to Vice President of the United States.

It's been 101 years since the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.
It's been 98 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in Congress.
It's been 49 years since the ERA was passed by Congress.
And it's been one year since the ERA was ratified by the required 38 states.

But the Equal Rights Amendment still needs to be added to the Constitution.

This year, after a century in the making, the ERA is closer than ever to taking its rightful place in the supreme law of our nation. What stands in our way is an arbitrary, ambiguous and legally questionable deadline for enactment imposed on the ERA at its passage.

Learn more about the history of the ERA and why we need it on our blog.

In a nutshell, the Equal Rights Amendment states that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

It is important to recognize that, while women’s rights are inextricably linked to the ERA, inequality hurts everyone. The ERA represents a promise that our government will not pass laws or take any official action that discriminates against its people on the basis of sex.

We need the ERA because we need equal pay, fair healthcare coverage that addresses maternal mortality and coverage for caregivers, protection against gender testing laws, prevention of discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons, protections for men in occupations and roles traditionally held by women, and protection against rollbacks in women’s rights.

We need the ERA because, just as many women of color faced added barriers for voting until the Voting Rights Act, today women of color are more likely to be under-paid and discriminated against than white women. The ERA would make the Constitution prohibit discrimination on the basis of race AND sex.

But more than that, we need the ERA because our nation must close the book once and for all on the idea that equality of rights is a debatable issue. Because a constitution is not only a set of legal protections: it is a proclamation of a nation’s values. And little girls should not grow up in a country where they question their rights simply because they are a girl.

This Women’s History Month, tell Congress to remove the ERA ratification deadline, and let’s establish gender equality in our Constitution, once and for all.

Sincerely,

Dr. Deborah Ann Turner
Board President, LWVUS