Don't let the double standards stop you
That's what the Bronte sisters said
When they decide they wanted to write books
Even though "literature is not the business of a woman's life" in their time it was declared.
Don’t let the double standards stop you
That's what Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin said
She wore male clothing and smoked in public
And became more famous than Victor Hugo and Honore De Balzac.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said Elizabeth Blackwell when she decided medical school was what she wanted to do
She didn't let all the "no", "no" "no"s she received from the first few colleges
Stop her from becoming the first US woman to make this dream come true.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said Elizabeth Cady Stanton in fighting for women's rights
She wanted for the American constitution to be amended, so women could vote
She fought for that from the age of 18, all the way until she died.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said Lucy Stone when she got married, and didn't change her name
'Taking the husband's name confers on him an injurious and unnatural superiority', she said.
So she lead the way, and kept hers the same.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said Malala Yousafzai when she demanded girls be educated as an equal right
In spite of being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman
She continued to go to school, and for her efforts, won a Nobel Prize.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said Sojourner Truth when she escaped from her last slave owner to be free
In spite of facing many unusual and strange hardships, during and after her escape
She persevered for black rights and women’s rights, and never gave up the fight to end slavery.
Don't let the double standards stop you
Said the 22 year old Gloria Steinem, as she took responsibility for her own life and choices
She rejected the historical and idealized role of a woman -
That of being a stay at home housewife, and having no voice.
Don't let the double standards stop you, dear reader,
Be bold for the generations ahead, and the girls yet to be born
Walk in the brave steps of these women
Who suffered indignity, violence, shame, imprisonment, just so that many double standards would be gone.
x___ ________________________________x
Further reading:
The Bronte sisters:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bronte_sisters.shtml
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (George Sands)
http://www.authorama.com/famous-affinities-of-history-iv-6.html
Elizabeth Blackwell
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell
Elizabeth Cady Stanton did not live to see her dream come true. The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920, 18 years after her death -
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-cady-stanton
Lucy Stone’s husband, the famous abolitionist Henry Blackwell, supported her decision to keep her maiden name - https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/lucy-stone
Malala Yousafzai is the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize - she was just 14 when she received the prize - https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/malala-yousafzai
Read about Sojourner Truth's journey to freedom with a 3 month daughter Sophia in her arms - https://www.mindfulwalker.com/beyond-gotham/in-sojourner-truths-footsteps
and key events in her life:
https://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html
Gloria Steinem - as this Wikipedia entry shows, she is still a force at 86 -
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