Photo By Scott Sturkol | Amy Van Deuren, Ph.D., superintendent of the Sparta (Wis.) Area School District, gives...... read more read more
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Celebrate success but keep moving forward was the message of the Women’s Equality Day observance held Aug. 15 at McCoy’s Community Center.
The guest speaker for the event was Amy Van Deuren, Ph.D., superintendent of the Sparta (Wis.) Area School District. Van Deuren spoke about the importance of continuing to seek progress in women’s rights and equality and shared a little bit about her family history.
“I was fortunate to grow up in the 1970s and ‘80s with parents who believed that their children could achieve anything they set their minds to,” she said. “My father was an English teacher. My mother raised four children and worked as a secretary, legal assistant, and insurance claims adjuster. She did all of this with a high school education, using her wits and drive to land positions that normally more formally educated candidates would get.”
Despite her mother’s successes, Van Deuren said she still wonders what her mother might have done if she had grown up in an era that offered her more choices.
“Simply put, my mother experienced what I will call the ‘untapped potential dilemma,’” she said. “As a woman growing up in the 1950s, there were still many social and legal barriers that prevented too many women from thinking and dreaming big.”
Van Deuren said that one of the greatest things women have acquired in the struggle for equality is the freedom of choice. While many women in the past had very limited choices, modern women can choose how much to focus on home, family, and careers, as well a greater breadth of choice in what careers they can follow.
She also said that both internal and external factors can keep women from achieving the same success as men. While it’s vital to address external factors, it’s also important that women consider how their own attitudes and expectations may affect their goals and successes.
“Each of us processes messages from society, family, friends, coworkers, teachers, and others,” Van Deuren said. “The external stimuli is what it is. It is how we internalize and respond to it that determines where we go next, both individually and as a society.
“I encourage you to take a few moments today and think about how you receive and process the external messages you ingest from society about women’s role and equality.”
Women’s Equality Day is observed annually on Aug. 26, which was chosen to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, according to www.nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2019 12:42 |
| Story ID: | 336924 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort McCoy Women’s Equality Day speaker: 'Keep moving forward', by Aimee Malone, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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