Happy Birthday Louise

Happy Birthday Louise

It’s your birthday, Louise!

On the 117th year after your birth, and 23 years after your death, I’m certain that you might be a bit frustrated by the world today.

You were such a remarkable champion of human and civil rights – in particular, the rights of girls and women. And it feels as though, on the gender justice front, there has been a mounting assault on our rights. In fact, it feels as though we’re going backwards.

Thirty years ago, 189 governments united at the Fourth World Conference on Women to adopt the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a groundbreaking plan to strengthen women’s rights across the globe. Admittedly, we’ve made some progress. 

But today, there seems to be an aggressive crusade to remove our rights – from bodily autonomy to gender-based and racial discrimination, our success in tackling social justice is being erased. And it’s not just in our country. The United Nations just reported that nearly 1 of 4 governments worldwide worked to block or eliminate women’s rights last year.

Louise, I know you would tell us to “DO SOMETHING!”

This is why you established Chrysalis in the first place: to work for a world where women and gender-diverse people benefit from the full range of human rights they deserve.

Along with our community friends and partners, we are doing something - we continue to work to build protections for girls and women. Protection from violence and poverty, ensuring the right to access healthcare (including reproductive rights), delivering education and training, and removing barriers to their own empowerment.

To celebrate Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day (March 8) we know you would be on the front lines with us to demand social justice. We’re committed to your vision, Louise, and we will stay strong in fulfilling our mission on behalf of all girls and women.

Consider a gift in honor of Louise Noun or a woman in your life. You can make your gift here.

 

 

Did you know? When she researched for writing her book Strong Minded Women in 1969, Louise Noun recognized there was no central source for the achievement and experiences of women in Iowa, so she set about to establish the Iowa Women’s Archives.

Located in the University of Iowa Libraries, the Iowa Women’s Archives was funded when Louise Noun sold her original Frida Kahlo painting titled "Self Portrait with Loose Hair" for $1.65 million through Christie's in New York in 1991.

Noting the reason this painting was selected, Louise Noun stated "It is fitting that the Archives was funded by the sale of a Frida Kahlo painting…[as] Kahlo's paintings have been rescued from obscurity in recent years…the IWA was meant to rescue the papers of Iowa women from obscurity, neglect, or destruction…"