As a woman raised in the 70’s by a closet feminist mother (a housewife who yearned to have an independent career), I grew up assuming my equal rights were not only on the upswing, but inevitable.

The 70’s were about Charlie perfume, pant suits, and Gloria Steinem. It was only a matter of more placards, bumper stickers, protests and women voters, before my feminine power played on the same equal-rights field as men in all arenas, from corporate to organizational to political.

And things are changing. This year in the USA there are more women running for office than ever before—18 in the Senate and a whopping 141 in the House. California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) has even boldly declared this election year, “Year of the Woman.”

And I just spent a weekend in Santa Fe with five powerful women with potent messages, learning the art of Transformational Speaking from a powerful woman coach. Three of the students in the room with me, came from corporate America. One was shifting from that game to her voice as a satirist, in service of woman-power in her funny DameNation blog which was just picked up by Huffington Post. One was a former president of her own successful company, now teaching corporate culture to embrace drumming circles as a way to create collaboration and harmony among divergent and often conflict-ridden staff. The other had been through the ropes at the top of  Fortune 500 companies, and was now focusing on how to message to women, how to play the man’s game in a woman’s way. All this was nothing short of inspiring, and I could hear my mother’s ghost singing the Helen Reddy anthem, I am Woman Hear Me Roar. 

And yet, the US seems to be on the verge of a serious backslide (good old born-again term) to a medieval version of women’s rights. If you don’t know what Romney really stands for when it comes to your rights as a woman, click this link for a scary flow chart on how your lady parts, reproductive choices and so much more, are in dire jeopardy.

Now, on a lighter note, a funny (not so funny) parody advert that refuses to embed, so click this link: When You Vote For Romney, You Get a War on Women.” And a bonus feature, Helen Reddy in 1975, which the UN declared International Year of the Woman, singing her “Hear Me Roar” song. If you haven’t heard it, because you were not a 70’s girl, listen. It’s really a great message.

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