Fierce Feminist: Author Linda Hirshman On History's Reckoning
Author Linda Hirshman recently spoke to a Take The Lead audience in Phoenix on her latest book, Reckoning.
Linda Hirshman credits her Cleveland junior high public school teachers for helping make her who she is.
“@LindaHirshman1 credits her Cleveland junior high public school teachers for helping make her who she is. #InspirationalWomen”
The prolific author, lawyer, retired esteemed university professor and feminist thought leader says, “I had very radical teachers in my public school and when you are 12, 13 and 14, your teachers feel like a real source of truth to you.”
Born and raised in Cleveland, Hirshman is the middle daughter between a much older sister and younger brother and says her teachers “presented radical ideas and I had no reason to doubt them.”
Add into the mix both parents “who had a robust faith in me and always thought I was going to do something wonderful,” Hirshman says she believed she could do anything. Studying undergraduate at Cornell University in the graduating class of 1966 also enforced her sense of strength and possibility.
“Everything conspired to make me a fierce feminist,” Hirshman says. “So when the memo came that girls couldn’t do stuff, I had already learned that girls could do anything.”
Hirshman’s most recent book, the critically acclaimed Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment, was the topic of a Take The Lead Arizona event, to a standing room only crowd.
“@LindaHirshman1 ‘s most recent book, the critically acclaimed Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment, was the topic of a @takeleadwomen Arizona event.”
Read more from Gloria Feldt in Take The Lead on men and #MeToo
The Washington Post writes of her latest book, “This is not a book with an overarching thesis; instead, Hirshman weaves together a story of how harassment became A Thing and how society reached its recent #MeToo tipping point. “Reckoning” is at its most satisfying when Hirshman tells stories that 2019 readers might not know, like the early, trailblazing cases brought by women of color that set the stage for the harassment battles of the 1980s, ’90s and beyond. These sections let one see how the same people, ideas and roadblocks pop up decade after decade.”
Read more in Take The Lead from Gloria Feldt on #MeToo
Looking back on her own history, Hirshman says it was at the University Chicago School of Law, where she was one of seven women in the 1969 class of 150 that she learned not everyone was expecting women to achieve greatness automatically.
“@LindaHirshman1 says it was at @UChicagoLaw where she was one of seven women in the 1969 class that she learned not everyone was expecting #women to achieve #greatness automatically.
”
After graduating, for 15 years Hirshman practiced organized labor law, with three cases she briefed in the United States Supreme Court, including two she argued. One was the 1985 case Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority.
“After graduating, for 15 years @LindaHirshman1 practiced organized labor law, with three cases she briefed in the #SCOTUS including two she argued. #InspirationalWomen ”
In 1999, Hirshman published A Woman's Guide to Law School: Everything You Need to Know to Survive and Succeed in Law School—from Finding the Right School to Finding the Right Job.
After earning her PhD in philosophy, Hirshman became faculty at Brandeis University teaching law, philosophy, and women's studies, before retiring in 2002. In 2006 she published Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World.
Hirshman says at the time that book came out almost 14 years ago, she got a “tidal wave of backlash.” Her advice to women was, “Don’t marry a jerk and don’t give up on your work and depend on a man as a single employer.”
Now she says, “Women are not taking the bad bargain the world is offering.” Herself married happily twice, and partnered with her late second husband for a total of 30 years, Hirshman says, “I did not have a perfect life but I did not make an unequal bargain.”
“@LindaHirshman1 says, “Women are not taking the bad bargain the world is offering.” #Reckoning”
Read more in Take The Lead on double standards
Her 2013 book, Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution, is an historical look at the movement. Her Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, has been made into a stage play that in 2019 has been performed in Los Angeles and Phoenix. She has also had “successful offers for TV rights” on her works, Hirshman says.
Read more in Take The Lead on RBG lessons
“Sisters In Law is an easy story to love. All of the movies and TV shows are about the here and now, but people need to learn about the history,” Hirshman says.
Read more in Take The Lead on harassment
To that end, Hirshman is at work on a new book, a history of the abolitionist movement, Black and White, that covers what she says is “the most successful social movement in American history.”
“@LindaHirshman1 is at work on a new book, a history the #abolitionist movement, Black and White, that covers what she says is “the most successful social movement in American history.” ”
Just as the March on Washington in 1963 led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Hirshman says this “will move the political agenda in a more pro-woman way.” She says she anticipates changes in state laws for equity and fairness.
Her latest book, Reckoning, has received high praise, and covers the 50 years of the social movement of sexual harassment, up to the latest headlines, including Harvey Weinstein, who last week reached a tentative $25 million deal with his accusers, as part of a $47 million settlement for scores of women accusing him of rape and harassment.
“I want to say that I believe that the next development will be more conventional than the mass testimonial phase of #MeToo. This phase has been all about victims and survivors. Now it calls for a bureaucratization of charisma with legislation, litigation and political organizing,” Hirshman says.
Read more in Take The Lead on working parents and fairness
While she has been offering advice to women leaders and women in the workplace for decades, Hirshman says her seminal advice has not changed much. For women— particularly early career— she offers these tips:
• “Concentrate on what you need to lead a flourishing life and use your capacities.”
• “Make your decisions about what you study, career moves and who you choose as your life partner with an eye to their alignment to your flourishing life.”
• “Do not treat love as some hysterical, irrational choice.”
• “Decide whether to have children or not, use your capabilities with the touchstone of what you need to have a flourishing life.”
• “Have enough equality in your life.”
“For women— particularly early career— @LindaHirshman1 offers these tips. #1: “Concentrate on what you need to lead a flourishing life and use your capacities.” #AdviceForWomen”
At 75, and working hard researching and writing her upcoming book, Hirshman says she is not qualified to talk about retirement.
“I would say not everyone should take my path in their eighth decade, but even Linda Hirshman is entitled to retire at some time.”
