Photo By Sgt. Nicole Kojetin | Staff Sgt. Susan Ness, from Litchfield, Ill., listens to Sgt. Tamika Vaughn, from...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Nicole Kojetin
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Being an educator, housekeeper, wife and mother are all typical roles for a woman, in addition to her career. Taking on these responsibilities to take care of their families is automatic, making them the caretaker for their families. Still, they were once called the "weaker sex" and were restricted from fundamental rights.
"American women are shaping the nation and the world by serving in every walk of life," said Lt. Col. Vivian Reed, a training officer with Multi-National Division – Baghdad who served as the keynote speaker at a program celebrating Women's Equality Day, Aug. 25. "Women are in positions of responsibility and authority in almost every level of the government. It is hard to imagine for almost a century and a half women were barred from exercising the most fundamental right of ours – democracy."
Until 1920, women were not allowed to vote. Gaining that right was a great step on the road to equality, and MND-B's equal opportunity representatives honored this achievement at the Camp Liberty Chapel in western Baghdad with an hour-long program.
The event opened with role-playing suffragettes marching down the aisle with picket signs demanding the right to vote. These mock protesters, wearing bright purple sashes, held a tea party talking about the sacrifices they had to make in order for changes to be made. The tea party was followed by a skit of congressmen refuting the amendment.
The actors may have cracked jokes about how women dress or how women need to stay in the kitchen, but the goal was to educate the audience of the discrimination that women faced.
Reed, who hails from Fayetteville, N.C., said she is no stranger to that sort of sexism. As a second lieutenant, she was one of the first 100 women in the 82nd Airborne Division.
"There were only five officers and there were 95 enlisted women," she remembered. Instead of being welcomed into the ranks, being the "fairer sex" made things more than difficult.
"We got cat calls walking through the building where we worked," she said. "At (physical training), they would try to challenge us. They would run, run, run to try to make us fall out. They just didn't want us there. They said, 'Women go home,' and down there with all the infantry... we stayed there. It was challenging, but we stayed there and set the standard. Now there are women all over the 82nd."
All that running prepared her for her second career as a track coach and an assistant principle in the Cumberland County School System. It probably helped her in chasing after her children. Jonathan, 23, is a senior in college, and Alana, 10, is a fifth grader.
But she didn't run from the military. After 13 years of active duty she joined the Army Reserve and is currently the only female in her detachment of 22 Soldiers from the 642nd Regional Support Command.
Reed said that there will always be hardships on the road to equality, but she encouraged young female Soldiers to never give up.
"They are going to reach stumbling blocks, but they have to work through that," she said. "There are always things put in our paths but you have to work through those, learn from those and keep getting stronger."
Those tactics have worked for generations and have paved the way for those who came after.
"Women are in every activity and profession inside and outside the home – as astronauts, as professional athletes, as teachers, administrators, university presidents, bombers, fire fighters, care givers, cabinet members and Supreme Court justices," Reed said. "Women have made lasting contributions to the quality of our lives and our democracy."
One such trailblazer is Warrant Officer Stacey McNish, from Trelawny, Jamaica. McNish is the first of two women ever to serve in her military occupational specialty as a metal worker and is currently working with the 115th Brigade Support Battalion at Camp Taji, north of the Iraqi capital.
McNish helped Reed cut the ceremonial cake at the end of the event.
Reed thought the event was a success and hoped that the audience understood the significance of women's equality.
"If we can reach just one person, it makes a difference," she said. "As for the men, it reminds them where we are today...that we do have a vote, we do have a say and we are going to go after the jobs that they are in. Not because we want to take their jobs, but we want equal rights to those jobs."
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2007 10:28 |
| Story ID: | 11990 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 300 |
| Downloads: | 259 |
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