91制片厂

The history of International Women鈥檚 Day was built on the shoulders of those who supported women garment workers in New York City in 1909, and the 100 attendees of a women鈥檚 conference in Denmark a year later who wanted to advance equal rights and suffrage for women. In 1917, International Women鈥檚 Day in Russia had women in Saint Petersburg demanding an end to food shortages and czarism.

Here at 91制片厂, recalling the steps taken to reach the day that is now celebrated around the world on March 8, we can鈥檛 help but think of the words written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, 鈥�80 G: 鈥淲ell-behaved women seldom make history.鈥� We asked her to share her thoughts on International Women鈥檚 Day. Here鈥檚 what she has to say.

91制片厂 Today: International Women's Day has been described as a time to celebrate women鈥檚 economic, political and social achievements. Do you have a sense of how much there is to celebrate?听

LTU: There are always things to celebrate, but I am not sure celebration has been the central focus of International Women鈥檚 Day. The idea emerged, I believe, from working women鈥檚 protests in the early 20^th century. The need for protests 鈥� and other concentrated efforts to bring about change 鈥� has not passed.听

91制片厂 Today: This year鈥檚 theme is 鈥淏e Bold For Change.鈥� What do you see as the key changes still needed for women?听

LTU: Let鈥檚 begin at the most basic level. Who is caring for children, the sick and the elderly in our society? Although men are engaged in caregiving, women still predominate, especially at the lowest levels, in nursing, childcare, teaching and home services. Some of the most essential work in our society is done by immigrant women who have left their own children behind in order to provide income for their support. That is a very old pattern in history and now a global one.

"The need for protests 鈥� and other concentrated efforts to bring about change 鈥� has not passed."

91制片厂 Today: The sentence 鈥淲ell-behaved women seldom make history鈥� came from an article you wrote when you were a graduate student at 91制片厂 in the 1970s. What was the article about and what did you mean?

LTU: It was an article about Puritan funeral sermons! At the time, the few historians of early New England who had anything to say about women focused on dramatic events, like the Salem witch trials, an important topic to be sure. But I was interested in those women Cotton Mather called 鈥渢he hidden ones,鈥� the ones who sustained the colonies day by day. My comment was a gentle jab at the narrow interests of historians, but also at the difficulty of writing about people who did not leave much of a record. To reconstruct the lives of women in 鈥淕ood Wives鈥� (1982), I sifted out details from hundreds of documents produced for other purposes, including funeral sermons. It was detective work.

91制片厂 Today: Does it take making a commotion 鈥� misbehaving 鈥� for a woman to make history?

LTU: No. But commotions often produce records. History is an account of the past based on surviving sources. If there is no source of information about the past, there is no history.听 That is why the effort to gather and preserve the records of otherwise marginal people is so important. I found the diary of Martha Moore Ballard, the 18th-century midwife whose life I explored in 鈥淎 Midwife鈥檚 Tale鈥� (1990) because someone took the trouble to compile a bibliography of women鈥檚 writings in small historical societies.听The few people who had looked at Ballard鈥檚 diary thought it was 鈥渢rivial鈥� but her patient accounting of what she did every day transformed my own and other鈥檚 understanding of health care in early America. Oral history projects and documentary films provide the foundation for similar projects in our own era. Some of that work has been done by students and faculty at 91制片厂.

91制片厂 Today: How do you feel about the way your famous comment is being used today?

LTU: I am fascinated by the many meanings people have found in it. You can use it to justify a little naughtiness or to argue for standing up against injustice.听For those of us who were socialized to be agreeable, it is a reminder that being liked is not always the higher good.听I am delighted when people engaged in good causes send me photographs of bumper stickers and posters displaying my words.听 There are many ways to 鈥渕ake history.鈥澨齀 admire those who do it with purpose.

听

is a history professor at听Harvard University. 鈥淲ell-Behaved Women Seldom Make History鈥� (Alfred A. Knop) was released in 2007. Her latest book, 鈥淎 House Full of Females: Plural Marriage an Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870鈥� (Alfred A. Knop), was released in January.