Women's America: Refocusing the Past

The introduction to this book suggests that women’s history (and I mean in the USA) can be studied in stages, with each era of history bringing changes and progress. Take for instance Amelia Earhart, which the authors use as an example of courage. While she was definitely an innovator, as there were few women aviators at the time, she wasn’t the first woman in the USA to show courage. Half a century earlier, hadn’t thousands of women taken risks when their families moved into the Great Plains? Anyone who saw the recent remake of True Grit knows that the “pioneer woman” of the 1800’s had to have assumed great risk. It is for this reason, that the authors advise the following criteria when reading this book; identify the historical source, ask who created it, ask why, ask how the attitudes (or laws) of the time influenced the recording, and ask who it was meant for.

     An early chapter here covers the issue of women in early America, with special emphasis on those that were enslaved. The authors write about how rice harvesting was a back-breaking job, often done by the women. They cut through the Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima stereotypes, and show us how the reality was even worse. The women performed hard manual labor, and relatively few were tasked strictly with cooking, cleaning, and childcare.

   A more interesting piece is the issue of something called “Interspousal Tort Immunity.” Under English Common Law, the husband and wife were considered one person, so they could not sue each other. The wife could therefore not claim any damages of her husband beat her or stole from her. The chapter is comically titled “Why Diamonds Really Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” in that the jewelry bestowed as an engagement gift was in fact a defense. A woman could sue a man for breaking an engagement, because it was considered a breach of contract. However, in the event of such a broken promise, she was expected to keep the jewelry, so she wouldn’t have to humiliate herself by going to court. As for a married woman, her jewelry was the last thing that creditors could seize if her husband defaulted his debts.

    As I mentioned before, women of the pioneer era are detailed, along with convents in the cities. The contribution of the nuns was covered in an earlier book titled Women of Faith, where the Chicago nuns were the founders of education for children in Chicago. In Women’s America, however, the New York nuns are said to have gotten some political clout (though not necessarily power) by establishing childcare and education institutions. It was the only situation where the male politicians would listen to the women, because without the nuns and their schools, the city would be caring for the poor on its own. In anti-tax USA, the last thing the politician wants to do is tax the men to pay for social services. As discussed in Women of Faith, the anti-Catholic sentiment of the time encouraged the establishment of the convent schools, as a way of alleviating (what was seen as) the Irish Catholic root of poverty.

   Further chapters discuss the change in rape prosecution, how the boredom of the post-war housewife led to Friedan’s feminist movement, and the changes with regard to education, health, technology, law, ad government. The authors do great justice to the history of American women with their unbiased research and writing. From the very beginning, they advise the scholar to examine the primary and secondary sources, so they can be aware of bias and undue favoritism. While this might seem new to some, keep in mind that bias is always evident in history. Remember the old adage, “history is written by the victors?” Now remember the other one, that “to the victors go the spoils of war?” By studying the sources carefully, you can get to the root of history, and cut through all the prejudices. That in itself is the basis for the study of any history.

Iranian Jews in Israel by Alessandra Cecolin

Alessandra Cecolin doesn’t take the most optimistic platform in this book. According to her, the Iranian Jews have, since 1948, made very attractive pawns for Zionism. She writes of how they were encouraged to emigrate to Israel by both the secular and religious parties, both of whom wanted to use their Iranian brethren for political gain. The secular Zionists wanted the Iranian Jews to give up many of their customs, while the religious Zionists favored Ashkenazi (German) customs. Before I go further, I want to state that this was common for all Jews in Muslim countries, be they from Iran, Yemen, Morocco, or Ethiopia. The Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews never had their customs respected.

    The myth of Muslim tolerance is shown in this book to be just that, a mere myth. The author includes many examples of Persian Muslims abusing their Jewish neighbors, through massacres, mass thefts, and forced conversions. The Jews of Mashad, for instance, converted to Islam en masse in the 1830’s, while practicing Judaism in secret, so they were relieved to be able to emigrate to Israel. Part of the reason behind the anti-Jewish activities, though not directly stated here, was the Iranian government’s weakness. Moving to a country like Israel, even at the cost of becoming a second class citizen, was a better alternative to a government that couldn’t protect you. A sizeable number of Jews went to Herat, Afghanistan, rather than say “Alla Hu Akbar,” so perhaps the emigration part wasn’t really new to them?

   Altogether, the image that Cecolin paints of Iran’s Jews comes off as bleak. However, this book is missing some essential documentation. There aren’t enough firsthand accounts of Iranian Jewish life in Israel, nor reprints of speeches or letters. It might also make sense to compare the situation of Israel’s Iranian Jews with that of other non-European Jews, like the Yemenite community. However, with Israel’s Mizrahi community becoming ever more powerful, whatever marginalization is probably waning fast.