All Sorts of Follow-Up Resources!

We know watching a movie like Iron Jawed Angels left many of us inspired to be part of making change. So, we wanted to offer you a "starter" reading list as well as some suggestions for action steps. Enjoy! And feel free to comment with your own ideas.



Reading Suggestions for the Journey:

For Young Girls:

• Elizabeth Leads the Way by Tanya Lee Stone
  
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
• also check out The Syracuse Cultural Workers for more resources for raising girls and boys in thoughtful ways

Reading Specific to Women’s History:

• The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner (a classic; challenging but worth it)
• No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle B. Freedman (newer, hip, readable and important)
  
• Century of Struggle by Eleanor Flexner (oldie but goodie if you’re wanting the classic tale of the suffragists)
  
• The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner
  
• You Have Stept Out of Your Place: A History of Women and Religion in America by Susan Hill Lindley
  
• Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts by Anne Llewellyn Barstow
  
• The Grounding of Modern Feminism by Nancy Cott
  

Other Titles for Women:

• Grassroots: A Field Guide For Feminist Activism by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards (has TONS of ideas for “what you can do now”)
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
• A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
• Ms. Magazine
• The Good Body (audiotapes) by Eve Ensler
• The Maternal is Political by Shari MacDonald Strong
• Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens
• African American Women In the Struggle for the Vote, 1850 – 1920 by Rosalyn Terbog-Penn
• The Afro-American Woman: Struggles and Images by Sharon Harley and Rosalyn Terbog-Penn

**Readers are welcome to contact Dr. Susan Hall directly if they want titles regarding women in religion, women and psychotherapy, feminist ethics or biographies of women. Her "spam proof" email is: susan at susan hall dot com. (Just make sure and translate that into its proper email address form!)

You asked, “What can I do?” Here are some ideas. Challenge yourself to do at least one this month:

1. Speak up! Simply use your voice to express your opinion…it’s more radical an act than you might guess.
2. Believe in women’s power to change the world.
3. This Christmas/Hanukkah, buy family members girl-friendly books and items that challenge traditional gender assumptions.
4. Read Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards…and do just one of the ideas suggested in it.
5. Support women-owned businesses, both retail and services (attorney, accountant, insurance agents, doctors, therapists, handy-women, etc.).
6. If you know a woman who undercharges for her services, tell her so and urge her to respect herself financially.
7. If you own your own business, provide pro bono services for a woman in need.
8. Insist in the equal representation of women on whatever boards or committees on which you serve.
9. Change the topic of conversation…from dieting and self-annihilation to the belief and empowerment of women everywhere.
10. Support women verbally. Tell them you believe in them and support their dreams…help them take themselves seriously.

Most of these ideas won’t take much time…just courage. We know that “Courage is often mistaken for insanity among women,” (as the psychiatrist said in Iron Jawed Angels) so when your courage wanes, remember the women in the movie, our foremothers: Alice Paul, Inez Milholland Boissevain, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Carrie Chapman Catt, Doris Stevens, and Lucy Burns. We're pretty sure they'll show you the way. Remember behind every brilliant women, there is another brilliant women—you are not alone. Learn about your legacy as you move forward to change the world!