Well-behaved women seldom make history. So goes the saying that spirited women have claimed as their own while making their mark on history. It is with some irony that they do.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the woman who coined the phrase and subsequently wrote a book of the same name, did not mean that women should misbehave to be memorable, as the quote has often been interpreted.
She was most concerned with the fact that many women who positively impact society are often overlooked, herself included.
The effort to address these omissions in the K-12 curriculum and general public discourse started in the 1970s, with a call for a “Women’s History Week.” It was not until 1987 that Congress declared March as “National Women’s History Month” (about time).
On its 30th anniversary, it shares the celebration with the Women’s Resource Center, established in Durango the same year by a group of local women interested in helping recently divorced or widowed women gain financial independence.
The center served 200 women that year. In 2016, the center helped more than 1,600 women and men by connecting them with food, housing, employment assistance, legal and financial help, job training and educational scholarships.
Economic self-sufficiency is still a main focus, and because education is key to that goal the center created “Keys to Success,” a program that helps eighth-grade girls and boys transition to high school (with a similar program for fifth-grade girls on the way).
All of the center’s programs were on full display at the Extraordinary Women Awards on March 9, this year celebratrating 30 years of accomplishments and honoring locals Gail Aalund, Missy Votel and Kerry Siggins with awards.
In her acceptance speech, Votel said, “You can’t swing a dead Subaru in this town without hitting an extraordinary woman!”
And she is right.
Southwest Colorado women should be recognized at the state level too. Nominations for induction into the 2018 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame are available at cogreatwomen.org, and are due by August 1.
Visit wrcdurango.org for a full schedule of this month’s remaining events and celebrate all the “ordinary” women doing extraordinary things.
