Jackie Cochran and Janey Briggs Hart (pilot, avid sailor, wife of Senator Philip Hart and mother of eight children) worked zealously to have women included in the initial space flights. On July 17, 1962, Janey testified at a congressional hearing saying “…a hundred years ago it was quite inconceivable that women should serve as hospital attendants…it was somehow indecent for a woman to be among the soldiers, wounded or not” and went on to say “…a woman in space was no more preposterous than a woman in a field hospital during the Civil War.” *

And to think many a romantic movie script would not have been written without that change.

We have witnessed the advancement of women to lofty positions in education as presidents of colleges and universities), CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies and presidents and prime ministers of many countries.

August 18th marked the 100 year anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting all American women the right to vote. Not only is it important to acknowledge that date but also the 100 year struggle to get to that point. Let’s not take that for granted. Let’s not become complacent about the importance of voting. In a letter John Lewis wrote just prior to his recent death he shared, “Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”

Where would we be if women couldn’t minister to the sick and wounded?

Where would we be now if female engineers, scientists, mathematicians, pilots and “human computers” were not part of our space program?

Every American citizen over the age of 18 can vote in the next election. I encourage you to have conversations with your families, especially the young adults, as I have, educating and modeling for them.

VOTE on or before Nov. 3rd.

page 321 ‘Fighting for Space’ by Amy Shira Teitel (2020)

-Harriet