Vicenza marks Women’s Equality Day
with program highlighting progress
By Kent Harris, Stars
and Stripes
Jareta Coyle |
VICENZA, Italy — Are women and men really treated as equals today?
That question wasn’t answered Monday in an event at Caserma Ederle celebrating the
30th anniversary of Women’s Equality Day.
But a long list of achievements and a few inspirational words were offered to show that
women have come a long way toward that goal in just the last century.
"In my life, in the lives of those people in this room, we have seen incredible
changes because of the women’s movement," said Jareta Coyle, education
coordinator in the 22nd Area Support Group’s alcohol and drug abuse prevention
programs.
She also was the guest speaker at the event, held a day after Women’s Equality Day
actually fell on the calendar.
Jennifer Meyer and two Vicenza High School students — senior Deborah Hartranft and
sophomore Beth Hacker — performed an extensive skit featuring facts about and quotes
from prominent women from the last several hundred years. They appeared to have plenty of
material.
If there was a central message from Coyle and the skit, it was this: Women have
contributed a lot to society and they’re doing even more today. Progress has
certainly been made.
Lt. Col. David Lawson, the ASG’s deputy commander, pointed to a number of women
who hold senior positions in U.S. Army Europe.
"The number of women in leadership positions has steadily risen," he said.
And that’s not all due to the efforts of women, Coyle said.
She cited a list of prominent men who have supported the women’s movement in the
United States virtually since it became a country.
Women didn’t receive the right to vote in the United States until the start of the
20th century. France didn’t grant women the right to vote until 1944. But almost half
of France’s elected officials now are women — a much higher rate than in the
States, she said. Sweden has an even higher percentage of elected female representatives.
"The picture for women’s rights in other parts of the world is not as
rosy," Coyle said.
She cited routine beatings, killings and the general lack of rights for women in
several countries in Asia and elsewhere.
But she finished her speech on a much more positive note.
"We are on our way. We have come a long way," she said.
"We are, all of us — man, woman and child — living with the benefits of
the women’s movement today."
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