March 2009

During Women’s History Month, PSNOW celebrates the winner’s of our Salm Educational Awards. Each winner is given an award of $1,500 to further her education.
I find it very rewarding that we can help young women who want to attend college. I want to thank the Salm Committee and Chair Lori Adler for the long hours and challenging decisions in choosing the top two students.

We celebrate these winners and all the women who have broken down barriers: people like Jacqueline Cochran, who was the founder and director of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots during World War II and the first woman to break the sound barrier; Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori, the first American woman to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences, whose research significantly advanced the treatment of diabetes.

“A Single Woman” is the story of first U.S. Congresswoman and lifelong pacifist, Jeannette Rankin. Her humble beginnings in Montana during the era of the Indian Wars awakened her deeply pacifist nature. In 1920, Jeannette was founding vice-president of the American Civil Liberties Union who, in 1933, tried to persuade President Roosevelt to revise immigration laws and allow Jewish refugees into the United States. Twenty-two years later, in 1940, Jeannette was re-elected as Congresswoman from Montana on a peace platform and once again voted against a world war, this time as the lone anti-war voice in the American Legislature. She was mobbed and vilified and spent the rest of her life traveling to India and studying the teachings and methods of Mohandas Gandhi and the effects of colonialism on peoples all over the world. During the Vietnam era, she enjoyed a renaissance when the anti-war culture of the day celebrated her perseverance as a dedicated pacifist and human rights advocate. She died in 1973.

In 1926, Olympic Gold Medalist Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel. Marian Anderson, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, opened doors in music as the first African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. Juliette Gordon Low encouraged community service and the physical, mental and spiritual development of America’s young women as founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America. As we work to advance our civil rights, American women in uniform are serving at posts at home and across the world, taking great risks as they make our Nation more secure.

Today we have 17 women serving in the Senate and seventy-four in the House. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Sate is the highest-ranking woman in the Obama Cabinet. Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House. The following states have the most women serving in government, Colorado, 39%, New Hampshire, 37.7%, Vermont 37.2%, Minnesota 34.8% Hawaii 32.9%, Washington 32%, Connecticut 31.6% and Arizona 31.1%. We must focus and encourage more women to run for office and help make a difference! We women of the 21st Century have the legacy and determination left to us by these women. We Can Do It!

Our next event is the L-Spot; Wednesday, March 18th at Hamburger Mary’s on Palm Canyon at 6 pm. Join us for social networking and woman talk!

Our next meeting will be on April 7th to celebrate the winners of the Salm Educational Awards Ceremony. This will be held at the Democratic Headquarters in Cathedral City at 6 pm. (behind McDonald’s on Palm Canyon).

Melinda Tremaglio, President
PSNOW

PO Box 1219-ps 92263, Palm Springs, CA 92263  Phone:(760) 333-8304  Email: mail@psnow.org