It Starts and Ends with Women

While this post is quilt related, I am climbing up on to my soapbox, so you may want to come back tomorrow if you just want to talk about quilts and what I am making and doing.

I went to see the Forbidden Words quilt the other week at the Drawing Room. The Forbidden Words quilt started with the U.S. Federal Government’s growing list of banned words compiled by PENAmerica.

I want to thank PENAmerica for compiling this list and doing their best to let us all know.

The first word on the quilt is “Abortion.” I do not want to get into an essay on whether abortion is right or wrong, because in this context it doesn’t matter. Men cannot have abortions so this doesn’t concern them. It concerns women.

The last word (phrase) on the quilt is “Women in leadership”.

Women in leadership is a banned phrase on the U.S. Federal Government’s websites. Think about that.

There ARE women in leadership positions so WTH? Women have been ‘leading’ in jobs, organizations and projects for centuries. People can deny it all they want, but denial doesn’t change facts. If you eliminate everything outside the home, women have been in charge of their families for years. If you think that managing schedules, planning meals, vacations, house maintenance and keeping children alive is not project management, then I am not sure what project management is. I know women who have spreadsheets and color coded calendars to keep their homes running smoothly. This doesn’t even consider women in jobs that require extreme organization, knowledge and dedication not to mention previous educational efforts. Women are fully capable of leading, just as men are, so WTH?

This Federal Government list is a clear attack on women. It is also an attack on other groups, but it is first and foremost another attack on women. I am so angry! What have I done to deserve such treatment and why does one Administration get to decide?

In asking myself why I was reminded that women are extremely powerful. Women are resilient and create life. I know we can’t do it without men, but only one gender carries the precious cargo around until birth and then can feed the offspring.

Women also survive misogyny, the glass ceiling, and a myriad of other strategies used to keep us out of the limelight and off the main stages and we continue on. I know we will continue on, continue “acting as if” 

Women are 50% or more of the population. Women contribute a lot to society, much of which we don’t get paid to do. We perform tasks despite no acknowledgement, pay or thanks.

There are no easy answers to this problem and I am absolutely not anti-men. I AM anti-men who create this list and think it is ok. We all must all treat people as we want to be treated regardless of gender, looks, job, origin, …all the things on the list in the quilt above. As Mark Lipinski said on April 8, 2026 “How you show up in the world MATTERS. Be present. Be kind. Be grateful. You are the gift to the world.”

Thanks to Lorraine Woodruff-Long and her team for their hard work and dedication in creating this quilt and planning for it to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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