I was talking to one of my daughters last weekend and during our conversation I realized just how much I have been learning from both of our daughters over the past decade. Both have a commitment to ecology and an unstated commitment to equality in their own homes.

So this week, let’s identify these women of note in history.

1) In the movie ‘Barbershop’ the character played by Cedric the Entertainer expresses skepticism that what this woman did was such a big deal by saying “[blank blank] didn’t do nothin’ but sit her black ass down!” Who was Cedric’s character speaking of?
a) Alice Walker
b) Marian Anderson
c) Rosa Parks
d) Pearl Bailey

2) Much of the work on the ground-breaking Watson-Crick model of DNA was done by their assistant who received credit many years posthumously. Who was this ground-breaking female scientist?
a) Rosalind Franklin
b) Elizabeth Mountbatten-Windsor
c) Rachel Lambert Mellon
d) Grace Metalious

3) Revolutionary War lore tells the story of a woman who stepped in and fought gallantly when her husband was injured in battle. While not her real name, what name do we know this brave woman by?
a) Pollyanna
b) Betsy Ross
c) Molly Pitcher
d) Flo Nightingale

4) In 2008, Hillary Clinton came the closest a woman has ever come to being nominated to run for president by one of the major parties. What woman was the first to receive votes at one of the major nominating party conventions?
a) Geraldine Ferraro
b) Susan B. Anthony
c) Bella Abzug
d) Shirley Chisholm

5) Born in the Ukraine at the beginning of the century and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this woman became the 4th prime minister of Israel.
a) Bella Abzug
b) Golda Meir
c) Jehan Sadat
d) Benazir Bhutto

6) This Iowa woman was the first and so far only female Chair of the Republican Party.
a) Margaret Chase Smith
b) Mamie Doud
c) Ola Babcock Miller
d) Mary Louise Smith

7) Another Iowa woman who achieved national notoriety led the fight for women’s suffrage in the years leading up to passage of the 19th amendment was:
a) Carrie Chapman Catt
b) Amelia Jenks Bloomer
c) Annie Wittenmyer
d) Lou Henry

8) Speaking of women voting, how many more states need to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment for it to become a part of the Constitution?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4

9) The two women who spearheaded the historic Seneca Falls Convention were
a) Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
b) Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony
c) Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
d) Lucretia Mott and Martha Coffin Wright

10) This contemporary feminist leader counts the founding of “MS” magazine to her credentials.
a) Betty Friedan
b) Kathy DeCrow
c) Phyllis Schlafly
d) Gloria Steinem

Answers? OK just this week. But let me tell you something, every woman whose name is used has some interesting history. A couple are disguised by using their less recognizable name. Can you identify all the women listed?

1) c) Rosa Parks – all she did was sit down.
2) a) Rosalind Franklin – I learned this early on from my biologist daughter.
3) c) Molly Pitcher
4) d) Shirley Chisholm
5) b) Golda Meir
6) d) Mary Louise Smith – picked by Jerry Ford.
7) a) Carrie Chapman Catt
8) c) 3 – 35 have ratified, 38 needed for ratification. But that is only part of the story.
9) c) Stanton and Mott. Anthony joined in just a bit later.
10) d) Gloria Steinem. Holy Cow, Steinem is 77. She has been a hero of mine most of my life.