Recrafting Women's History

I wanted so badly to enter this contest but the problem is that my subject is miles away from happy. In fact, many people avoid this issue like the plague, afraid that if they chose to face it, the happiness they have established for themselves would crumble beneath their feet. 

Women are still so very oppressed. And the oppression we face can be seen in every part of our lives… if we chose to see it. Let’s start with crafting. How is it that quilting, pottery making, and so many beautifully handmade pieces of art sell for so little compared to painting and sculpting? What defines fine art? Patriarchy does. Only 13.7% of living artists represented by galleries in Europe and North America are women. (Forbes) Anything that is deemed a female’s hobby or job is undervalued and sometimes there is no financial value at all, like the domestic labor that women have been doing for free for centuries. In fact if American women earned minimum wage for the unpaid work we do according to the New York Times in 2020, it would amount to $10,900,000,000,000. And why is it that women, who have done most of the cooking throughout the world, aren’t in the majority of high paid chefs? Sadly, less than 7 percent of restaurants in the United States are led by female chefs. (NPR)

In every facet of our lives women have been told that we are less then. That we need the protection of man. The same man that is responsible for abusing his power over us. The same man who chivalrously opens doors, but behind closed doors behaves badly. Nearly 30% of women worldwide have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by intimate partners. (WHO)

The crimes against women have been so enormous that for many it is sometimes simply easier to justify it. Women give birth to children so, naturally, they should be the caretakers. Women are weaker than men so, naturally, men’s sports warrants all the attention. Women’s bodies are complex and unpredictable, so it’s just much easier to base medical studies on the male body. Viagra is covered by insurance because, of course, men should be able to have control over their reproductive parts. But the same consideration is not granted to women. Those decisions should be left up to our government, where more than 77% of congress are still men. Women’s bodies are also regulated through religion, where virginity is highly valued yet menstruation deems one untouchable.

But keep reading, this story gets happier. 

Through it all there have been amazing women fighting for equality. Some even made history. But many have been left out. On purpose, it seems, because if half the world's population realized that they too could run governments, create religions, or dictate what is important to the world, women would rise up and reclaim their rightful position. And the world would be a better place. There might be fewer wars if women had a say in negotiations. Probably less school shootings. We might be able to solve world hunger, and make health a priority not a profit maker. 

That is what so many feminists have been fighting for. For centuries. If we could only get their stories told. 

So, I make clothes pin dolls. The feminists I depict are strong voices for women and should be heard and seen. Like Angela Davis who has been speaking out against the oppression of all women since the 1970s and still is today. Or Voltairine De Cleyre - a poet-rebel from 1890 who published articles on the profound abuse women endured through capitalism. There are thousands of women who could help tell the story of humanity and through a whole new lens.

I see these dolls as seeds of something bigger. A bigger voice.  As part of a women’s museum shedding light on the oppression of women they open the way for change. In making these dolls, I study their faces, their eras, their battles, and their accomplishments and it makes me hopeful. Bringing them to life makes me happy. Education makes me happy. Enlightenment makes me happy. Cutting out injustice makes me happy, and righting wrongs makes me very happy. So with Fiskars in hand, I cut, snip, and carve out a path to equality in my own happy and creative way. Thank you for hearing me.