Our Words Are Seeds: Women’s Voices That Changed the World

Once upon a time, in March 1857, female textile workers in New York City marched in protest of unfair working conditions and unequal rights for women. The same day in March 1908, women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City to demand women's suffrage, and to protest child labor. One event sparked the next and various countries proposed the day to be an international phenomenon. Women in Petrograd launched a “Bread and Peace strike,” which, alongside widespread protests, sparked the Russian Revolution, the Tsar’s abdication, and women’s right to vote. This event occurred on what we now call March 8th, leading other socialist countries to adopt the commemoration. Decades later, in 1977, the United Nations formally recognized the day as International Women’s Day.

The day developed into a month in a similar way: someone started it and like-minded people supported them, showing that the need was urgent. A local celebration in California proposed the whole week of March 8th to correspond with previous protests, which made the movement spread across the country. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week. Subsequent presidents continued to proclaim the week each March until 1987, when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, officially designating March as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, every U.S. president has issued an annual proclamation recognizing the month.

One of the goals was to draw attention to women in historical studies and improve the focus on women's history in educational curricula. So, how can movements in the music industry connect to this theme? Art and music have long been used as tools to support women’s rights movements, while those movements have also helped reinforce and expand women’s roles within the music industry. The relationship is reciprocal.

Have you ever heard of women’s music? It is the name of a Western movement for music “by women, for women, and about women,” which began not long before the first Women’s History Week. Early women-owned music labels emerged in the mid-20th century, with pioneers such as Cordell Jackson (Moon Records, 1956) and Lillian McMurry (Trumpet Records, 1950) leading the way.

Cordell Jackson with her electric guitar.

A major turning point came with Olivia Records, an all-women-run label dedicated to creating opportunities for women to produce, engineer and perform. Singer-songwriter Cris Williamson is often mentioned as one of the artists who helped co-found and sustain women’s music. She recorded The Changer and The Changed for Olivia Records in 1975, which remains one of the best-selling independent albums of all time. After her, hundreds of albums from a diverse range of musicians fostered this intersectional, woman-loving genre. Formerly isolated women found energy and connection through this new wave of festivals, artists, and independent album releases.

During the 20th century, significant progress was made in the liberation of women’s rights. The right to vote became increasingly established, and movements emerged to recognize women’s rights in specific areas, with the music industry serving as a clear example.

It's easy to see the development as something linear—one progress after another—when, in reality, it's often all but straightforward. Rather, it is driven by actions and impulses based on long-term goals and by people who keep fighting when society keeps turning them down. Some women kept singing when their songs were banned and making their songs acts of resistance rather than just music. These singers may not have known then how important their legacy would one day be.

Billie Holiday sang “Strange Fruit” as a haunting protest against racial terror in the U.S., and by continuing to perform it despite radio bans and public discouragement, she transformed the song into an act of resistance.
https://youtu.be/Web007rzSOI?si=Tk8PN-H5GliuHqlE

Chavela Vargas sang “La Llorona.” A song she reclaimed as a voice of exile, queerness, and pain, once rejected by mainstream society and later recognized as revolutionary.
https://youtu.be/rNurASQ3JSc?si=m9D1cH1Nn82Bh4S_

Nina Simone’s song “Mississippi Goddam,” which was written in 1963 in response to racist violence in the U.S., was banned on Southern radio stations for its uncompromising protest.
https://youtu.be/LJ25-U3jNWM?si=RRXpI1qvwt3xy2z5

Violeta Parra’s song “Gracias a la Vida” became associated with Chile’s Nueva Canción movement, and was suppressed during the military dictatorship (1973–1990) for its connection to left-sectors and the popular movement, and for its connection to identity, memory, and resistance.
https://youtu.be/w67-hlaUSIs?si=1aUh1bO2kJXyB_YG

We look at today's context of war and conflict and remind ourselves that the present generation of women is also a group along the way, the recipients of past courage and messengers of those not yet born. We remember the great history of women and remember the consciousness needed for the melody to move on, dedicating a special homage to the pioneers who fought in a much less accepting time. Those who told stories through music but also the women behind the scenes of the music industry. Let history encourage us to keep writing, getting involved and standing up for ourselves despite insecurity and grey zones. Art projects can start anywhere and who knows where they will end up and what epiphanies or impacts they may bring? To all the girls and women out there, keep doing your thing and trust that someone may go on from there after you.

Playing For Change continues to spread the message that music moves and connects people beyond differences, across backgrounds, ethnicities and genders. Tell a friend. Tell a loved one. Send them a Song Around The World because March is Women’s History Month.

One love,
Playing For Change