One of the first things I heard this morning on NPR was that Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas, had died of cancer. I always considered her to be a personal hero, and I'm sorry to hear that she's not with us anymore.
In 1999 I was working a job that I did not love. It involved a lot of sales, a lot of cold calling, a lot of short-trip travel. About the only good thing was that schmoozing was a daily expectation, and so I was able to get the company to pay for my admission to a women's leadership day conference in Springfield, Massachusetts. I remember nothing about that day except that it was held in a downtown hotel in lovely (not!) Springfield and Ann Richards.
Richards was one of the featured speakers, and I think perhaps, in the eyes of the organizers, she may have gone a little off script. I don't remember anything about the other speakers, but I think that's because they all stuck to safe platitudes about using our girl power to eventually achieve equality. When Richards was introduced, all platitudes (and bets) were off.
One of the things she said has stuck with me ever since. It may not be something she thought up, but she explained it better than anyone I've heard before or since. I wish I had the actual quotation, but the gist of it was her twang-laced rhetorical question, "How is it that both working moms and welfare queens can be causing the downfall of our society?" What she meant by that was that most women are thrown into a guilt complex no matter what choices they make. Middle class married women with children who choose to work are told that their children will be aggressive and detached, while poor mothers on welfare are forced to get sub-minimum-wage jobs, sometimes hours away from their homes, with no provision made for their kids. How can we, as a society, not see the disconnect there?
Richards saw the disconnect, and she wasn't afraid to speak it. Rest in peace, Governor Richards. You will be missed.
Edited to add: Salon.com has posted a nice tribute to her on their site this afternoon, written by Liz Smith. As always with Salon, if you're not a subscriber, you may have to sit through an ad. But why aren't you a subscriber?