Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Sgt. Kreshonda Smith (left) and Sgt. Kareena Collins, both with 69th Air Defense...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – Every year the Army celebrates the day in 1920 when Congress ratified the 19th Amendment, giving American women the right to vote.
This year, 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade hosted a post-wide Women’s Equality Day celebration Aug. 26, at the Phantom Warrior Center, here.
The brigade’s equal opportunity advisor, Sgt. 1st Class Nacy Turner, said that she and the equal opportunity leaders in the unit got together and put together an event to recognize women across the world, she said.
“It means a lot to me to know that I can bring my Soldiers together to actually come together as one to put together an observance, regardless of what observance it is,” Turner said.
As attendees entered the building, they were met by Soldiers dressed as protesters of the 1920s holding signs and shouting for equality for women. The performance was only the first of the event. The second performance was a dance performed by two 69th ADA Bde. Soldiers.
Jeanette Ide, a former member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, read the Presidential Proclamation for Women’s Equality Day and shared stories from her time in service.
While serving in San Antonio, in the medical corps, she met her husband, she said.
She was soon separated from her husband and sent to work in a hospital in San Francisco where she later found out she was pregnant, she said.
“Fourteen days later, ladies, I was out,” Ide explained. “I had no choice in the matter.”
That changed in the 1970s when the Department of Defense changed its policy to reflect that women who became pregnant could remain in the military.
“So that’s quite a difference from my time to your time,” said Ide. “We’ve come a long way.”
Col. Federica King, the director of the Central Technical Support Facility, here, also spoke at the event.
King said that the passing of the 19th Amendment meant so much more than female citizens being allowed to vote; it meant they had a voice.
“It meant our opinions, our contributions mattered,” she said. “It meant that women now had a foothold to seek new opportunities and gain equality in other areas of life.”
She spoke about women who made differences in the past, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first female four-star general in the U.S. Army.
“The women pioneers of today are securing equality for the women of tomorrow,” King said.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 09.01.2015 15:16 |
| Story ID: | 174899 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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