Once I started looking for inspirational thoughts from women about women and their place in the world, my problem quickly became deciding which ones I thought were most important to highlight in my remaining time and space. 

This graphic has a black background, with white and yellow letters reversed out of it. On the right is a photo of Susan B. Anthony. on the left and in the center are her words: "The true republic: men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less."

Today’s post features three quote-images from strong women (two from the past, one contemporary) whose names we should recognize. It might be well to consider their words as our dialogue unfolds in the changing political atmosphere of post-2018-midterms USA.

This graphic has a deep blue background with white lettering reversed out of it, and a color photo of Michelle Obama on the right side. Her words say, "No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens."

Unfortunately, a focus on diversity, whether in gender/identity, race, or ethnicity, seems to be increasingly concentrated within one particular partisan “corral.“ 

That is, in itself, a problem. If we start assuming that only Democrats elect women (a severe overgeneralization, but it’s a growing perception), what good does that do for the overall diversity of debate and philosophy of governance?

In this graphic the words of the late Representative Bella Abzug are reversed in white out of a black background, with a black-and-white photo of Abzug on the left. She said, "Women will not simply be mainstreamed into the polluted stream. Women are changing the stream, making it clean and green and safe for all--every gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, age, and ability."

It remains to be seen how much an influx of women will change the tenor and focus of politics, whether in the aspirational directions Abzug envisioned or in other ways. 

As far as I’m aware, only Nevada’s legislature actually mirrors the demographics of the general population, and their new legislative session just opened a month ago. This is early days to see how they’ll prioritize. Another state legislature to watch is that of Colorado. 

Change may be afoot, but it’s incremental. And change, by its very nature, is full of surprises.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Goalcast, for the image featuring Susan B. Anthony and her words; to Black Women’s Journal for the Michelle Obama quote-image; and to the ever-invaluable AZ Quotes, for the Bella Abzug quote-image. I deeply appreciate all three!