Traditionally, the "work" of women has been hidden--especially when they were not doing "women's work." Sojurner Truth's statement points to the invisibility of generations of women who worked alongside men in the fields--as well as in places and jobs which men wouldn't often stoop to--as slaves, indentured servants and wives.
Her comment was undoubtedly meant to speak for Black women; to me, it resounds for women of all races and backgrounds. Even the planters' wives whose households included slaves were expected to keep quiet (about their treatment, and the treatment of female slaves) and work hard at "support" tasks. Even women in "modern" times have wanted to yell, "Look at me! Look at my arm!" when their hard work--in offices, hospitals, schools, as volunteers--is minimized as unimportant by the gender with all the power.
In 1974, I took a job as a surveyor for the US Forest Service in Idaho. I was a member of the first "integrated" (meaning it included women) survey crew on that forest. They didn't know what to do with us! We were relegated to carrying stakes, holding targets and other "untrained" tasks, because we were untrained, and because we were women, nobody was particularly interested in training us. We were treated poorly. "Sexual Harassment" had not been invented yet--but we got a lot of it.
Even though we were performing the most mindless and least challenging and least important tasks, our work was still valuable--because the job couldn't have been completed without those tasks being performed. But we still felt invisible, and like we had to take the harassment because we should be "grateful". It's tough being a pioneer. Look at my arm.
reflection 1.11
You have had a unique experience - I mean unique in the fact that not many women in this program, if any, can relate to the experience you had. You were really able to connect with Ms. Truth's statement on a personal level. You are absolutely right in identifying your work as important and vital even though it went unrecognized. I think this happens a lot today to both men and women; we forget about those small jobs without which, we could not carry on our daily routines. As a woman, you carried a double stigma -- an invisible job as well as the harassment for your gender. This experience has given you a great perspective, and I think you can really develop it to relate to the students in your class who are feeling the same isolation or invisibility.
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