This land is ladies land

1848

The Married Women's Property Act of 1848 is one of the most important property law enactments in American history. It became the template for the laws passed in other states that allowed women to own and control property.

 

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Every time I pull my (wo)man powered lawn mower into my old run down she shed this past week, I have had an odd thought that pops into my head.... WE, own this land.  We... OWN this land!

Women owned and operated.

I think about all the things we don't know how to do, or fix or literally lift.  

 I think about the fear inside me - that I'm not strong enough or tough enough or brave enough. 

I still feel like the rug is going to get pulled out from under me every time I call a local dude with an -ian at the end of his title, that we are missing a certain chromosome to be worthy of this 3 page deed declaring us as a female married couple - rightful owners of land.  They look us up and down as they take it all in and ask 'what we bought it for' and 'how long we've lived here', I don't know what they're thinking in their minds but I have a few guesses.

 

BUT WE ARE!  LAND OWNERS. 

As I listen to the crickets sing and the sun sets behind the trees and I'm sweaty and hot and tired and smell like dirt and sunscreen....I look out and I feel so thankful to all the brave, confident generations of women who have changed this world for the better to make new dreams possible however big or small.  I bet they were scared too.  I bet they felt weak, and made mistakes and were mansplained to death on how and why things need to be done the right way!  But they've persevered and made their mark in their small quiet ways.  We pass on the torch and we pass it on again and every new generation hears the calls of the voices past and passes on the lessons they learned taught by their mothers and mentors before them.  Quietly.  Defiantly.  We make change.

 

 

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2015

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644, is a landmark civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment 

RIP RBG - thank you!