Find your passion, find your voice

On this mid-week after Women's Equality Day, here are some gems of wisdom from around the globe, on the rightful equality of women. Which is your favorite?

How can we work toward the goal of equality for women? One thing every one of us can do is advocate. Call, engage on social media, and/or write to your representatives on the local, state, and national level.

What cause calls most to you? Greater educational opportunities for girls worldwide? Women's equality? Breaking the power of human trafficking? Advocating for more comprehensive access to reproductive health care? Advocacy for victims of rape or incest? Wage equality? Stronger protections for victims of domestic violence?

Whatever your passion, whatever your cause, engagement is only an online search away. Become as involved as your time and resources allow, be that a letter every month or so, or something much more intensive. The important thing is to step up, speak up, and bring your values more fully into your community life.

What have some of your advocacy experiences been? Please share, if you're willing, in the comments section below.

IMAGES: Many thanks to the Women's Rights Facebook Page, for the quote-image from Malala Yousafzai; to AZ Quotes for the words and image of Hillary Clinton; and to a different AZ Quotes page for the image and quote from Mahnaz Afkhami. I appreciate them all!

Oppression

The Artdog Quote of the Week

My Quotes of the Week this month are inspired by Women's Equality Day, which this year  happens to fall on a Monday (when I try to make sure my Quotes of the Week go live).

When I went looking for appropriate quotes for the rest of the Mondays, I found this little gem from Letty Cottin Pogrebin. She's the writer and social activist who founded Ms. Magazine (full confession: Ms. was massively influential in my early life).

This is one of those quotes that makes me nod and say, "Oh, she got that right!" So it was a natural for me to include in this women's equality-themed month.

But although the place where I found this quote is full of lots of cool quotes and images, I didn't particularly groove with the way this one had been visually realized. I had a different thought about how it should be presented. I hope you like it.

SHARING IMAGE CREDIT: The visualization of this women's equality quote was all mine, but I couldn't have done what I wanted with it, if I hadn't had a little help. My help in this case came from Wikimedia Commons and a photographer named Andreas F. Borchert, who photographed the perfect pediment for me to make my point. 

Part of this image is an adapted detail from Borchert's Dublin Roman Catholic St. Audoen's Church Pediment. In order to fulfill the creative commons usage requirements, it's important for me to credit this source (though you know me: I would have anyway). And I certainly did take Mr. Borchert's license to "remix" his image pretty far. I cropped the section I needed, then applied the Sketch: Reticulation filter in Photoshop. I finished the work in Adobe Illustrator, where I created the typography and reduced the opacity of the pediment photo. 

Now it's your turn: if you like this women's equality-themed quote-image realization and want to use it, please credit both Jan S. Gephardt and Andreas F. Borchert, with links back to his license page and this blog post. Thanks!

Three voices from three centuries make an important point

The Artdog Quotes of the Week

Women's History Month is coming to an end soon. Perhaps it's time to make some evaluations, based on the words of strong women from history.

Do you feel well-represented?

How do you think today's political parties measure up, by this standard?

How well do you think our international agreements align with this principle?

These are three different women from three different time periods. But each reminds us that women matter enormously.

I do not believe we can settle for having our needs left unmet in the name of "not the right time," "strategic compromise," or some imagined "greater good" that does not include good for us.

How much of that have you seen in your own life?

IMAGES: Many thanks to AZ Quotes, for the words of Abigail Adams, to Nomadic Politics, for the quote from Susan B. Anthony, and to AZ Quotes once again, for the quote-image featuring the remarkable Afghan leader Fawzia Koofi. Many thanks to all!

Glaringly clear

The Artdog Quote of the Week

IMAGE: Many thanks to izquotes (found via Quotesurf) for this quotation from Julie Christie.