As the mom of 3 young girls, I try to provide my girls with experiences, role-models and support to both honor women from our past and also seek out women in their lives NOW who exemplify equality, leadership, creativity and empathy so that my girls will be among the women leading the future – both in big and small ways. 

Today, I’m sharing 5 ways to celebrate and learn about women’s history (and women’s present & future) with your daughters AND sons.

Since we live in Nashville, I’m also sharing an easy and fun Nashville specific experience for each. I would love to hear how you participate in Women’s History with your kids!

1. Women’s Suffrage 

New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote in 1893. In Saudi Arabia women were first allowed to vote in December 2015 in the municipal elections.

The United States finally began allowing women to vote in 1920, after the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. U.S. woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution.

I love talking to my girls about prominent women in the suffrage movement and the importance of voting, protesting and marching for things they believe in. I often take them along to local marches or to meet with legislators to initiate change and empower their voices. I take my girls with me at least once a year to our state legislature to talk to our representatives about issues important to us.

Nashville Experience:

Tennessee played an integral role in the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S. –  In 1920, Tennessee was the final and deciding vote to pass the proposed 19th Amendment to the Constitution. This vote hinged on an 11th-hour change of heart by state legislator Harry Burn thanks to a powerful letter that his mother wrote to him encouraging him to vote yes! And so he did — thus allowing women in America the right to vote!

Native Nashvillian, Anne Dallas Dudley, the founder and first president of the Nashville Suffrage league, rallied up thousands of women during that vote, and her efforts were not only instrumental on the local level but on the national level as well.

Visit the Tennessee Women’s Suffrage Monument at Centennial Park featuring Anne Dallas Dudley and four other women who worked for women’s equality. The piece, created by renowned Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire, was commissioned by the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument organization to commemorate the importance of Tennessee’s pivotal role in granting women the right to vote. Or try the Nashville Sites Women’s Suffrage Tour online or in-person!

2. Women in Science

According to Discovery Magazine, “Three percent of tenured professors of physics in this country are women. Nonetheless, a woman physicist stopped light in her lab at Harvard. Another woman runs the linear accelerator at Stanford. A woman discovered the first evidence for dark matter. A woman found the top quark.”

Research and share women in science with your kids. Find materials and activities around science topics that interest your kids – one of our favorite publications, Bravery Magazine has an issue about Astronaut Mae Jemison, find your local Girls Who Code organization or look for STEM and STEAM programs at your schools and universities.

Nashville Experience:

Thanks to Nashville’s world-renowned universities, medical centers and research institutions, opportunities for women and girls in STEM are flourishing – and with local organizations like T.W.I.S.T.E.R. (Tennessee Women In Science, Technology, Engineering & Research) at The Adventure Science Center, there are tons of ways to get your kids involved in science and technology.

In March each year, visit Brain Blast and join Vanderbilt scientists including Dr. Rebecca Ihrie and Dr. Laurie Cutting, among others, to learn tons of fun stuff about brains and talk to some of Nashville’s best scientists. You can spend your morning touching a real brain, playing cool science games or building a neuron, among much more! (Edit: In 2021 Brain Blast is online)

3. Women in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

From Rosa Parks and Josephine Baker to Soujourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, women have been profound leaders in the civil rights movement throughout history and today.  Learn about them, share their stories with your kids and how they have created change. Last year, my oldest daughter was struck by the Rosa Parks bus exhibit at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Check out the U.S. Civil Rights Trail  spanning 15 states or research some of these powerful women online.

Nashville Experience:

A leader in our nation’s civil rights movement, Diane Nash was a prominent figure in Nashville’s lunch counter sit-ins and other civil rights protests across the country. In 1960, three weeks after she asked then-mayor Ben West on the steps of City Hall if he felt it was wrong to discriminate against a person solely on their race, several of the city’s lunch counters began serving African Americans.

Today, you and your kids can visit the Downtown Library Civil Rights Room where you can learn about Nash and other women and men who were leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. You can sit at the symbolic lunch counter and read the Ten Rules of Conduct carried by the protesters during the sit-ins and examine the timeline of local and national events. Also, the Civil Rights Room overlooks the intersection of Church Street and Seventh Avenue North, where nonviolent protests against segregated lunch counters took place. You can also walk from the library to Woolworth on 5th for lunch and continue your exploration of the Nashville sit-ins.

 

4. Women & Books

My middle daughter participated in a book club around the young readers edition of I am Malala, my older daughter did the same with A Wrinkle In Time. My youngest brought home She Persisted from her school library and we read it together (her favorite is American Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief). There are so many books available with strong female protagonists to share with your daughters AND sons – and many that highlight women change-makers around the world. A few of our favorites include: Little People Big Stories series by Various Authors, Strong is the New Pretty by Kate T. Parker and Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo.

Nashville Experience:

Head over to Parnassus Books – a women-owned Independent Bookstore – or simply visit your local library where you can read books about women’s history, leaders and change makers. 

And, check out some incredible books for your kids written by local Nashville Women authors such as Kristin Tubb, Rebecca Green, Ann Patchett & Ruta Septys!

5. Women in Local Business

I believe we should teach and model for our kids the benefits of supporting locally-owned and also women-owned businesses all around the world. Find out the women-owned businesses in your area and take your kids to support them. Teach them about the women who lead some of your favorite shops, restaurants and businesses – find out what these women are doing and how they are helping your local economy. Also, seek out women and locally-owned businesses when you travel with kids.

Nashville:

Here are a few of our favorite women-owned businesses here in Nashville that you could include in a day out with your kids whether you live in Nashville or are visiting Music City:

• Start your morning with coffee (hot chocolate for your kids) and a sweet treat at Dozen Bakery.
• Stop at Kore Nashville for some local gifts.
• Head to West Nashville to grab lunch at Thistle Farms Cafe and admire the amazing teacup chandeliers.
• Or go to East Nashville for a Vegetarian lunch at The Wild Cow.
• Check out a kids yoga class at Blooma Nashville.
• Schedule a pedicure at Poppy & Monroe in Germantown.
• Pop over to Las Paletas for some out-of-this world Mexican Popsicles to finish off your local Nashville women-owned business adventure!

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A version of this article was first published on The Nashville Mom.