FORT BELVOIR, Va. - The U.S. Army Reserve Military Intelligence Readiness Command observed and celebrated Women’s Equality Day at the Mosby Reserve Center August 29. Guests included a poet, a women’s history song and dance group, and the Commanding General for the 108th Training Command, Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser.
Equal rights for women have come a long way over the course of our national history. The most significant and hard-fought gain was the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Aug. 26, 1920, which made it illegal for states to deny voting rights based up gender. Supporters struggled for women’s suffrage from the founding of our nation, and the amendment itself took over forty years of fighting to be confirmed.
Emanuelee Bean, also known as “Outspoken Bean,” was the first guest speaker of the event. Bean is a poet, a playwright, and son of an Army Reserve Lt. Col. For the audience, he passionately related the gamut of emotions he experienced when his mother deployed a few years ago. Using his powerful and original poetry he connected the viewers to a story they were all too familiar with. Bean continued to unabashedly reveal his feelings about women’s rights with his poetry and by quoting Hillary Clinton’s affirmation, “Women’s rights are human rights.” “I loved the event,” he said after the show, “I felt that it brought light and awareness to a topic that is often overlooked.” For more about the Outspoken Bean, view his website at www.outspokenbean.com.
Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser, the Commanding General of the 108th Training Command in Charlotte, N.C., followed Bean at the podium. Purser is one of the senior officers in the Army Reserves, and was a previous Commanding General of Military Intelligence Readiness Command. She highlighted some important statistics about women in the American workforce and in the military. Purser said when she grew up, “I was told I could be a teacher or a nurse.” She went on to explain that, even at a young age, she disappointedly understood women were not expected to become the school principal or a doctor. Women have broken through that glass ceiling, and are even the CEOs of fortune 500 companies. Purser continued to describe, that despite great gains in the past few decades, women are still underrepresented in those leadership positions and women are still paid only 76 cents for every dollar a man is paid. She said, “We do not have equality yet, but it is improving,” emphasizing that the struggle continues.
The final act was the talented, entertaining, and educational “Star-Spangled Girls.” These five women hailing from North Carolina put on a show developed from diaries, letters, and interviews by and about women who served in the United States during World War II. Using song, dance, and costumes, the Star-Spangled Girls educated the audience about the experiences of American women serving as WAC’s, WAVE’s, Army Nurses, and Red Cross volunteers during the war. They condensed their normal 70 minute review to 30 minutes, but never-the-less informed and amused the appreciative audience. For more information about this patriotic troop, go to ttnc.org/StarSpangled.html.
One of the originators of the 19th Amendment in the 1870’s, was Susan B. Anthony, who said, “Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done.”
| Date Taken: | 08.29.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.04.2013 11:30 |
| Story ID: | 113057 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 58 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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