by Emily Kay
What better way to honor Women’s History Month in our fair commonwealth than to recognize and celebrate the women who occupy five of the six highest state constitutional offices in Massachusetts?
Come on down:
- Governor Maura Healey, the first woman and first openly gay person to occupy the state’s corner office
- Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, the second half of the first all-women top of the ticket
- Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the first Black woman elected as the state’s chief law officer
- US Senator Elizabeth Warren, the first woman from Massachusetts to become a U.S. Senator
- State Auditor Diana DiZoglio
- State Treasurer Deb Goldberg
Massachusetts is also fortunate to have three amazing women in its congressional delegation:
- Rep. Katherine Clark, who serves as the highest-ranking woman Democrat in the House
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who represents Boston
- Rep. Lori Trahan, who represents Concord and other suburbs northwest of Boston
Many early role models
While Floriduh’s fascist governor and his thug followers in red locales try to stop students from learning the truths about the days of yore, we in the bluest of blue states welcome sharing our past (the good, the bad, and the really ugly) – in which, as Trahan wrote in a recent email, women have long played a “pivotal role.”
Among other achievements, Trahan noted, the women of Concord and Lexington were critical in the fight for independence during the American Revolution by spreading information, caring for the wounded, and safeguarding supplies. During the Industrial Revolution, the Lowell mill girls helped instigate the labor movement by going on strike against low wages and horrific working conditions.
Many, many other women from Massachusetts have made us proud as well. This month, for example, the Greater Boston section of the National Council of Negro Women honored Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler – who, in 1864, became the first Black woman to earn an M.D. degree in the U.S.
And now, leaders in reproductive freedom
Fast forward some 160 years, and Massachusetts leads as a safe space for women seeking abortions. To that end, Healey has joined 20 other Democratic governors in forming the Reproductive Freedom Alliance to protect and expand reproductive freedoms where possible. Boasting some of the nation’s preeminent abortion-rights protections, Massachusetts is “a beacon of hope for patients from other states seeking care,’’ Healey said.
Please take a moment to thank Gov. Healey (617-725-4005) for her unswerving defense of the right to abortion – and wish her a Happy Women’s History Month.
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