I believe that to some degree one can measure the success of a movement by how much the movement's beneficiaries remember it--the less they remember, the more successful the movement was.

To cite a minor example,  today's highly-paid baseball players have little union consciousness or awareness of how it is they came to be so highly-paid. The labor strikes of 1972 and 1981--in which poorly-paid, exploited players risked their careers and livelihoods to defeat management and win and/or defend key rights and benefits--are what gave the players their wealth. I doubt many current major leaguers today would even recognize Marvin Miller, the union leader who won those victories. This is not a product of the union's failures--it's a product of its successes--the players are so comfortable that they don't worry about those things much anymore.

One could make similar point, to some degree, about the feminist movement. In the film clip below, a campus filmmaker interviews college women about "women's suffrage," and discovers that most have no idea what it is. To watch, click here, or see below.

I suppose it should also be said that much of the fiercest opposition to women's suffrage came from women, some of whom considered politics a dirty business that would soil the morally superior female. It was not simply a matter of men refusing women the vote--the suffragists had many, many male supporters and many female opponents.

Thanks to Daniel A., a reader, for sending me the story.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Feminism/NOW, Baseball/Sports, Gender Issues (Misc.). You can trackback from your own site.