I would never call my mother a feminist. The closest she ever came was when she called my father a male chauvinist pig. It wasn’t something that I – nor, I’m sure, my father – never expected to come out of her mouth. She’d been the good, subservient 1950s wife.
It wasn’t until after her death that I learned what a strong young woman she’d been. And I had to admit that it was her strength that enabled her to survive a difficult marriage and life in a patriarchal culture. I also had to acknowledge that I had inherited that strength – albeit along with some other less desirable traits. But years of therapy have enabled me to (mostly) separate the wheat from the chaff and I can honor Mildred “Millie” Esther (Ludy) Strouse on Mothers Day.
I also honor other strong women, such as:
Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Sally Yates
Elizabeth Waren
The National Co-Chairs of the Women’s March on Washington: Tamika D. Mallory, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour, Bob Bland . . .
and all the women around the world who marched
Happy Mothers Day!
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