Sugar and Spice and Not So Nice: The Roar for Little Girls

Sugar and Spice and Not So Nice: The Roar for Little Girls
1/12/2023 by Lisa Sales
Try trying to explain to a first-grader why a bunch of conservative old white men are denying women their equal rights.



Sophie Mayer, 6 years old. (Lisa Sales)

This article was originally published in Women’s eNews.

It was at first quiet and misty in Lafayette Park across from the White House where several hundred from various groups were gathering—namely Virginia National Organization for Women (NOW), Equal Means Equal and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights. But as the raindrops came and a storm brewed, so did a clarion call for women’s equality and reproductive rights. Hours later, a stampede of women warriors from all over the country would join our groups, descending onto 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and demanding to be equal in the U.S. Constitution, wanting to remove the restraints of thousands-of-years-long second-class citizenship, oppression and worse. With the increase in precipitation, a deafening sound emerged from the women, the marginalized and our male allies. Of all the protests, rallies and gatherings I have been involved in, I have never heard a sound so concentrated, ear-piercing and agonizing.

Being introduced to the movement was 6-year-old Korean American, Sophie—the granddaughter of a NOW leader in Lincoln County, Ore. A resident of Virginia, Sophie had just learned that in 2020, her state became the final and requisite 38th state to make women’s rights equal rights, through action in the state legislature. She could not comprehend why then we still did not have a 28th Amendment published in the U.S. Constitution, as our history books instruct. Sophie was not alone in her confusion—but trying to explain to a first-grader why a bunch of mostly conservative, aged, white men were not following the rules, and were in fact, rolling back women’s rights, would be too complicated, full of psychoanalysis on power, control and legal technicalities akin to walking a tightrope.



. . . .


********The ultimate betrayal is that which is by your own government.***** And make no mistake, our government is betraying more than half its total population, continually setting us back years—all the while, throwing up obstacle courses complete with roadblocks, hurdles, water holes and sand traps, maintaining our purgatory.
. . . . . .

The Mother Lion is loose; hear us ROAR: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. That’s it—24 words that would begin to make women more equal. With these words, we could bring our claims to court under the strictest of scrutiny—giving everyday laws constitutional teeth—so we can make decisions about our reproductive health receive equal pay and benefits, avoid pregnancy and other forms of workplace discrimination and retaliation, be more protected from sexual and domestic violence, and be privy to the whole of the freedoms our counterparts enjoy without the need to ask. Let’s face it, without the need to be beggars without result, for our liberties.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/01/12/women-equal-rights-amendment-young-girls-equality/