Trailblazing women
History inspires us to keep going
As we’ve seen during this pandemic, women have been burdened with lost jobs, less pay and reduced child care. We have served as teachers, housekeepers, cooks and more.
Some would say the pandemic has reversed any gains women have made toward equality at work and at home.
But others would note how far we’ve come. We have our first female vice president, Kamala Harris, who has said she was told repeatedly throughout her career, “It’s not your time. It’s not your turn.”
March is Women’s History Month and an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge women — and the fact that we matter.
The recent 24th annual Table Talk, which was held virtually, featured 36 women, including a judge, a TV anchor, nonprofit leaders, artists, chefs, a psychologist and keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia. The event, which is hosted by the University of Houston Friends of Women’s Studies, supports UH’s Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program and the new Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality.
“Everyone is a trailblazer, no matter where they are or where they come from,” said the institute’s director, Elizabeth Gregory. “This month is about our history and also about our future. They are intertwined. We are all blazing new paths, and history provides our strength and sense of purpose.”
Table Talk has honored 1,000 women, across ethnic groups and professions, in its nearly 25 years. Wei Wei Startz, the first Asian American woman to serve as a game warden with the
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, was among this year’s honorees.
Of the 550 Texas game wardens, only 40 are women. Startz, a native of Taiwan who immigrated to the United States at age 7, is featured on Animal Planet’s “Lone Star Law,” a reality series about the job of Texas game wardens, who protect more than a quarter-million square miles.
“I feel blessed to be in a position to do what I love to do, but I’m here because of the women who have paved the way for me,” said Startz, a Texas A&M University graduate. The first female Texas game warden was Cordelia Jane Sloan Duke in the 1920s.
At 6 feet tall, Startz knows her stature can be an advantage on the job, but it’s more about how she carries herself, she said.
“I think it’s important that women don’t give up and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something,” she said.
As with Black History Month, Women’s History Month is a concerted effort to make sure women’s stories throughout history are accurate and documented to help educate and inspire future generations. It started nationally in 1981 and was designated by Congress in 1987.
To mark Women’s History Month, on Friday the Houston Chronicle will present a subscriber-only virtual conversation, Women in Journalism, on the experiences, challenges and rewards of working in the media. The panel, moderated by ABC 13 anchor Melanie Lawson, includes Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle vice presdient and opinion editor; Miya Shay, ABC 13 reporter; Laurie Johnson, Houston Public Media’s executive producer for news; Maria Reeve, the Houston Chronicle’s managing editor for content; and Coco Dominguez, entertainment reporter for Fox 26.
“Women are the heart and soul of who we are today,” said Dominguez. She said she is inspired by her own mother, who works for the city of Houston
and is “always on time and gives it her all.”
Dominguez was the first female DJ at 100.7 FM House Party. Working in a male-dominated environment never deterred her, she said. “It was up to them to make themselves
comfortable because I was comfortable. I never separated myself or thought I couldn’t do it.”
For young girls, books like New York Times bestseller “Ambitious Girl” (Little, Brown, $18.99) by Meena Harris, Harris’ niece, and illustrated by Houston
artist Marissa Valdez, provide women’s history with a hefty dose of female pride.
“The book’s message is about all of the things I want to illustrate, like girl power and pushing girls up,” said Valdez, a South Texas native who moved to Houston in 2016. The book pays tribute to women such as Ayanna Pressley, a U.S. representative for Massachusetts, and other leaders.
At 26, Valdez was discovered after entering a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators contest; she started working on the book in September, completing it in one month.
“People tell you to calm down, back up and wait. Boys aren’t told that. I want girls to know they can do anything, no matter what they look like,” she said.
At the Table Talk event, conversations in which women share their career stories and personal experiences were an inspiring way to celebrate women’s history.
That history comes with responsibility, Gregory said. “The more you learn about our history, you can’t just drop the ball. You realize you have to keep going.”