With great power comes great responsibility and other womanly notions

Way back in 1941, the popular women’s magazine, the Ladies’ Home Journal, adopted the slogan, “Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman.” At that time, however, women’s magazines were written for ladylike housewives, and the original thought was that women had the power, through persuasion, to lead their men to make the “right decisions.”

That 1941 issue also had a large advertisement for Chesterfield cigarettes, proving there was at least one company anxious to give women equal opportunity ... to smoke. There have also been sayings like, “Never underestimate the power of a woman’s intuition,” “Never underestimate the anger of a woman scorned” and “Never underestimate a man’s ability to underestimate a woman,” spoken by Kathleen Turner as detective V.I. Warshawski in the 1991 movie of the same name.

Now, women represent almost half of the workforce. They are the equal if not the main breadwinner in four out of 10 families, and they now receive more college and graduate degrees than men. However, they still make about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.

The Internet is only one factor helping to alter that as women are using new ways to communicate and changing buying habits to form many different kinds of start-up businesses.

And now 98 seats in our new Congress are held by women; 20 percent of the 100 in the Senate and 17 percent of the 435 in the House. Where it would have gone unnoticed before, President Obama has been loudly criticized for giving all the best Cabinet and White House jobs to white males.

From March 4-15, the 57th session of the Commission of the Status of Women will be held at the United Nations. One of the major topics is the prevention of violence on women and girls.

One of the promising examples of governments initiating change is Australia’s landmark A Right to Respect, a 10-year program to prevent violence toward women. They learned that unequal power relations between men and women are a key cause along with adherence to gender stereotypes and cultures of violence. They also instituted family counseling where couples could learn nonviolent conflict resolution.

While we are aware of gender stereotypes in India, where the rape of young women is an everyday occurrence, we are not without deeply held prejudice in our own country when elected officials like Todd Aiken can qualify some rapes as “legitimate”; in which instance, a woman would not be impregnated. Can we expect our children to learn nonviolent conflict resolution when the heroes in our movies resolve everything with their fists or a gun, and our political parties seem unable to compromise and work together, even when the immediate future of the country is at stake?

In 1920, the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote was finally passed. The Women’s Suffrage Association had made the argument that women’s superior characteristics, especially purity, immunity from corruption and concerns with children and local issues, made their votes essential in promoting reform.

While I’m not so sure we have lived up to all those lofty ideals, now that we have both the voting power and increased financial independence, we must make our voices heard whenever we see unfairness, injustice or violence of any kind. Only then, will we truly have “arrived.”

Contact Jean Cherni, certified senior adviser for Senior Living Solutions and Pearce Plus, a helpful, full-service program for seniors contemplating a move, at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds at 101 Hotchkiss Grove, Branford 06405.

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