Fall, 1958
THE FEDERATION JOURNAL
Page 7
'Woman Power-Thompson Address at Convention
Let us talk this evening about;
The power of women, about wom
en’s organizations, about what
we can do to improve our status
and statue in the society of the
future.
To be alive today, well and able
to enjoy oneself, and to make a
contribution to civilization is a
most exciting, stimulating, chal
lenging and at the same time con
fusing time that one could w-sn
to be alive in.
Tnis is an exciting time in
which to live because the age of
Women’s Rights is relatively new.
When we realize that the age of
women’s rights is less than sev
enty-five years old, and stop to
evaluate the progress that has
been made in that short space of
time, it is very exciting to imagine
what we have power to accom
plish within the next half cen
tury. This is a stimuating age be
cause of the rapidly moving age
in which we are living, it keeps
all on our toes trying to interpret
the events of the times and
understand their implications for
the future.
This is a challenging age in
which to live because it provides
many opportunities for us to do
something about the existing con
ditions of our community, our
state and country. Challenging
because we hear and read about
so many people and conditions
that are in need of our power to
change conditions.
This is a confusing age in which
to live. Confusing because the
world is so small that we are con
cerned about what ever takes
place on any one of the other sev
en continents and the thousand
islands of the seas; confusing be
cause of our mechanized system
of communication and advertise
ment that gives emphasis to fact
and fancy alike so very convinc
ingly, that one needs to know
something about everything in
order to live comfortably within
ones own skin.
Every day we are made to rea
lize that it is necessary to con
tinue our educational process
throughout life.
We are greatly confused be
cause this is an age of transition
and progress. In all transitional
eras there exists mixed emotions
and fears. We fear transition be
cause we know that there will be
some losses. We know that there
will be many worthwhile gains.
Not having already experienced
the new order we have fears of
the future, and at the same time
we welcome transition because we
believe that transition means
progress.
The Age of Women's Righls
We might go on record as pro
claiming this half century, the
age of Woman’s Rights and now
work toward gaining in the world I
more statue than we have so far. |
This we can do if we work with |
sincerity toward the full devel
opment of our womanly powers.
Let us now consider the depths
from which we have arisen in this
country within this present half
century. May we pause for a min
ute or two to realize that it has
been less than seventy years since
Woman’s Suffrage; less than sev
enty-five years ago, Susan B. An
thony was fighting to bring about
Woman’s Suffrage; at that time
the opportunity for educational
and professional employment was
very scant; only a very few insti
tutions at that time considered
women for higher education;
woman’s right to own property,
or to manage tor themselves what
property they did have was sub
ject to medieval restrictions in
statues then still clinging to the
books in many states. Women sel
dom had any voice as to custody
of their children. Seventy-five
years ago, it was unthinkable
that women should hold public
office. With no consideration at
all for the many modern conven
iences that women of today enjoy
as labor saving devices, women a
century ago were very much con
cerned about status. Status in a
man’s world was what they most
wanted and needed then ... all
this has changed greatly in the
past seventy-five years. Women
in American society today might
not yet have equality of status
but they have gone a long, long
way toward gaining it . . .what
we must work for in this next
half century; is stature. Stature
means height, whether in the in
tellectual, spiritual, moral, po
litical or any other sense. Stature
signifies growth, reaching upward
and expanding with influence,
and importance, in every field of
accomplishment in our modern
society. To gain stature one must
be dedicated to a cause. To be
dedicated to a cause means that
we sometimes have to lose our
selves in order to accomplish a
dream. In order to accomplish ones
dreams there must be patience co
ordinated with hard work. Work
that might mean continued labor
for decades without becoming dis
couraged when we fail. We are
told that Susan B. Anthony work
ed forty years for Woman’.s Suff
rage without becoming discourag
ed. She gained status and stature
. . . Madam Curie, Rosa Bonheur,
Sarah Bernhardt, Maggie L. Walk
er, Mary Church Terrell and Mary
McCloud Bethune, were all wom
en of great stature. There are
many more that we could enume
rate; but even the list is too limit
ed. What American women must
work for now is statue . . . how
far have we come along this road?
DINNER MEETING—Executive Board dinner meeting on June
5th a which time corsages were given President Spellman and
Chairman of Board Byrd. They were presented from North
eastern District by its Presiaent Mrs. Edna Mitchell.
Women in America have made
more progress toward gaming
statue than any other group oi
women in the world. Just to make
a spot check on the American
woman we might mention jusi
i a few of her citizenship accom
plishments; women in America,
now hold a larger proportion of
the total voting power in this
country. They have in their
name, more of the country’s fi
nancial power than men; they
nave been given by our modern
urban civilization an even more
exclusive influence on their chil
dren, and therefore upon future
generations than they had in the
past . . .
I For some time now American
women have been gaining on the
men—at least in numbers. There
are now a million and a half more
women than men in the United
States today, and the Census Bu
reau predicts that by 1975 women
will outnumber men by perhaps
as many as 3,600,000 . . . this
growing surplus of women is like
ly to cause some interesting
changes in American society . . .
in our courting and marriage
habits, family life, the job mar
ket, even politics. At the turn of
the century the average American
woman lived two years and ten
months longer than the average
man. Today she is outliving him
by more than six years.
The American woman is mar
rying much earlier today. On an
average she is married by the
time she is twenty, has her first
child by the time she reaches
twenty six, and takes her last
child to school by the time that
she is thirty two. The average
woman is older at thirty two.
Having entered her last child in
school by the time that she has
reached thirty three, many of
these women will be ready to add
their power to the field of labor.
Between 1951 and 1956 the num
ber of women employed increas
ed by 2V2 million, or 60 per cent
of the total increase in employ
ment . . . some authorities be
lieve that our economy maintain
ed its high level only because
these women were available . . .
tne future of our national security
and economic development de
pend upon woman power to a
greater degree than ever before.
The Department of Labor re
cently predicted that by 1965 we
will need an additional 10 million
workers to supply all of the goods
and services required for a grow
ing population, expected to ex
ceed 193 million. Of the 10 million
workers needed 5 million will
nave to be women because there
will not be more than 5 million
men available.
Tne years ahead are years of
opportunity for women who have
noc naa the best chances for train
ing, employment, and advance
ment in the past . . . we must
not overlook the fact that advanc
ed technology produces a rapialy
increasing aemand for more bet
ter trained and better educated
workers . . . some 22 million
women are bringing home pay
checks today and never before
have so many of them been both
nomemakers and wage earners
. . . today the average woman is
no young thing waiting for matri
mony. Sne is likely to be a mar
ried woman forty years old . . .
for women who want to work,
there should be plenty of oppor
tunity in the years ahead—for
those who will prepare them
selves. We need an increasing sup
ply of creative men and women in
the arts, in medicine, and teach
ing, and in religion, in law, in
public administration and in so
cial (services) science ... by
1965, we will need about 40 per
cent more professional and tech
nical workers than we needed in
1955; 22 per cent more managers,
proprietors, and officials, 27 per
cent more clerical and sales peo
ple. And we don’t have an ade
quate supply right now.
Now whai does all this have to
do with the N. C. Fedetalion of
Negro Women's Club program?
The North Carolina Federation
of Colored Women’s Clubs is a
powerful organization of women
in this state. You are a grass root
See ADDRESS, Page 8