As I wrap up this series of articles about women who inspire me, I've left the ones that have impacted my life the most for last. These fierce women helped me see that we don't have to follow the status quo of the patriarchy. When given the chance, women are just as capable as men in nearly every way.
Patriarchy is built on the myth that men are less chatty, emotional, and dramatic than women and are more stable, financially savvy, rational, stronger, and smarter than us. Of course, we all know these generalizations don't hold up to reality. But rather than feeling challenged by women as competition, the patriarchy rigs the system, so women aren't even given the chance to prove their greatness.
The worst part about this myth that women are less capable is that it justifies why we can't be seen and treated as equals. It creates a patriarchal system that doesn't give the same opportunities and sabotages every effort for women to prove otherwise. It silences us when we do succeed, making it hard to change this deeply ingrained belief that women are the weaker sex.
Except every once in a while. Every once in a great while, a courageous woman will be given a chance to shine, or word about their accomplishments will seep out around the cracks and show the world that what we've been led to believe about women just isn't true. I've chosen two of these fierce, inspirational women to write about in this installment – international tennis star Billie Jean King and Wichita Women's Movement activist Myrne Roe.
Billie Jean King
Thanks to Billie Jean King, I've known since I was a girl that men don't necessarily have the upper hand when it comes to sports. Watching the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs when I was a girl changed my perspectives on the weaker sex business.
Billie Jean was an athlete from the time she was a girl, playing basketball and softball. Looking for a sport where she could continue to succeed, Billie Jean started playing tennis in 5th grade with the goal of being No. 1 in the world, which she achieved in 1966 - 1968, 1971-1972, and 1974. In 1970, she joined the Virginia Slims Tour for women, and in 1971, she became the first woman athlete to earn over $100,000 in prize money.
Off the court, Billie Jean campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. She led the formation of the Women's Tennis Association and became its first president. She lobbied for equal prize money for men and women at the U.S. Open, and a sponsor was found to level the playing field. The U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money to both sexes.
Billie Jean took her fight for equality to the court when she accepted a challenge to play a match against former number 1-ranked tennis player Bobby Riggs and dealt sexism a life-changing blow.
Bobby Riggs, a 55-year-old self-described hustler and "male chauvinist pig," claimed that women's tennis games were so weak compared to the men's game that someone even as old as him could beat the current top women players. Billie Jean accepted Bobby's challenge for a match after he beat Margaret Court, an Australian tennis champion. She knew she had to prove him wrong.
Promoters hyped up the match, calling it the "Battle of the Sexes." It was exciting! The game was shown live during primetime, hosted by the infamous Howard Cosel. 50 million people in the United States and an estimated 90 million people worldwide tuned in on September 20, 1973, to watch King versus Riggs in the Houston Astrodome. It is one of the most watched televised sporting events of all time; no tennis match before or since has been seen by so many. (Watch it here with all the pre-show predictions.)
Billie Jean beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3, and earned the winner-take-all prize of $100,000. It was a crushing defeat. A headline at the time was "Women Ecstatic," Men Make Excuses," when Bobby told the press afterward that he underestimated Billie Jean King, who hit winners on 68% of her shots.
The Battle of the Sexes tennis match was about more than simply defeating Riggs. Billie Jean felt incredible pressure to win because, as she said afterward, "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's [tennis] tour and affect all women's self-esteem."
It's been said that no other sporting event has played a more significant role in developing more respect and recognition for women athletes than the Battle of the Sexes. Billie Jean's victory, together with the passage of Title IX, is often credited with igniting a boom in women's sports participation and empowering women to advocate for equal pay in all sectors of the workforce.
Billie Jean has gone on to fight for women's equity in sports. Named one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century" by LIFE magazine, Billie Jean King's greatest desire is to empower the next generation with the tools to do better than the one before it.
Myrne Roe
This fierce woman decided early in life that to achieve anything, she would have to earn respect, which meant she had to do something. Myrne knew she would have to do something positive that helped others and made things better. In the days when women's occupations were a choice between secretary, nurse, or teacher, Myrne opted for being a teacher but felt that profession "was fulfilling someone else's aspirations instead of my own."
A trailblazer of the Women's movement of the 1970s, Myrne started taking a different path, authoring published articles about Women's Liberation and feminism to bring attention to the inequalities that were established status quo at the time. With a degree in speech and dramatics from Southwestern College, she wrote plays like "What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up Little Girl?" performed in front of live audiences.
Myrne carried the fight for equality to the classroom, teaching the first Women's Studies class at Wichita State University, "Leadership Techniques for Women." She also led a campaign to change the policy at the public library, requiring women to provide written permission from their husbands to be granted their own library card.
In 1973, life became too painful and too much. Overworking at what was supposed to be a part-time job as director of Planned Parenthood and with an unknown history of bipolar disorder in her family tree, Myrne had a psychotic break. Several suicide attempts, followed by unproductive recovery stints in psychiatric hospitals, derailed her goals and plans.
Then, Myrne found politics. She discovered her "something," which combined her intense passion for women's rights with her superpower skills. Initially offered the secretary position for a candidate running for senate race, Myrne refused and offered to be the office manager instead. She organized press conferences and fundraisers, devised powerful strategies, wrote speeches, and managed campaigns. She eventually became Dan Glickman's Chief Aid while he served in the House of Representatives after he was elected in 1977.
Myrne's experience working in Glickman's office helped her meet many influential people, so when she was ready to move on, she landed the job as the executive director of university communications at Wichita State University, putting her political skills to actual use. She briefly went back to politics once more before tackling her final job as an editorial writer and syndicated columnist at the Wichita Eagle.
Although I didn't know Myrne Roe in the 70s, I felt her influence and enthusiastically thought of myself as a feminist. I became a big fan in 2011, when her book, Radiating Like a Stone Wichita Women and the 1970s Feminist Movement, printed through Watermark Press, came out. This group of stories and poems, compiled and edited by Myrne, was written by people who had participated in the movement and wanted to document the progress made 40 years later so it would not be forgotten and hopefully wouldn't happen again.
In this book, Myrne sees Radiating Like a Stone as a "big sermon about the glory and rightness of women's equality in the face of those wrong-headed people who oppose change at every turn."
Summing it up.
These women influenced me with their fierce spirits, realizing that the status quo of the patriarchy is powerful and will not concede without a fight. We have to keep pushing on to get – and keep – the progress made to reach equity. Because of the examples, these women have set, and what they have taught us, I'm less likely to be taken in by patriarchal myths and am motivated to do my part in the fight for equity.
I started this experiment to identify six national and six local women who inspire me as one of several strategies to get my fairy magic back in the Cranking Up The Coping Skills article. It has definitely helped. I hope this has lit a fire under you to consider who inspires you and why. Making my list, researching, and writing about how and why these women are my role models has been very informative. I had a significant realization as I've looked back at the women I chose and the categories I assigned to them: Women Who Persevere, Visionary Women, Women of Courage, Women With Passion, Women With Fight, and now Fierce Inspirational Women. These are all things I admire in myself.
Who's on your list?
Did you know I've published a book? Learn more about it here!
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