The Rio Chama Blog

RBG, the recent documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is attracting a great deal of attention, for good reason. Ginsburg is a US Supreme Court justice, nominated by President Clinton in 1993, and the second woman to be appointed to this position. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the court, staunchly supporting social issues like gender equality and the environment.

Honoring women who have brought their feminine energy and feminine qualities into leadership roles include women who lived centuries ago. Yet no matter when they lived, the women below provide compelling examples from which we can learn.

Suppression of women along with their submission to men has existed for centuries, and fortunately circumstances are slowly but surely beginning to change. Numerous young women have contributed to this change, most recently Emma Gonzalez, who has boldly advanced the status of females in a number of ways.

These two words are becoming increasingly familiar as more and more women are coming forward with reports of being sexually assaulted and harassed by males in entertainment, political, athletic, and educational positions. The prevalence of these incidents is alarming.

Many women struggle with the myth of having to “do it all.” In my forthcoming book I consider the woman who was a mother of two children. She also was a bookkeeper in a large organization and routinely brought work home. After spending time with her children in the evening, she stayed up late into the night, completing job-related tasks. Early in the morning she washed laundry and prepared meals in advance. She felt physically exhausted; she was riddled with guilt, because she believed stay-at-home mothers were better mothers; and she felt inadequate because her coworkers seemed to manage their workload during regular hours.