Meet Emogene Emery, 96, who is thought to be the oldest member of the Abilene Branch of AAUW. I met her in February when I attended the branch's 75th anniversary celebration. She is an amazing woman.
When asked why she joined AAUW she replied, "I was so disturbed by the way Shawnee (public schools in Oklahoma) treated single women. . .I liked what AAUW members were trying to do, which was give women a chance."
She went on to tell her story: she graduated from college when she was 20; her father became ill and her mother wanted her to stay in Shawnee and take a job teaching. She was told, "I'm sorry, Miss Emory. We'd like to have you in our school system, but we can't hire single women." When asked why they didn't want single women, she replied, "They thought the women didn't need the money."
Miss Emory has spent her life working for women's equity, and has inspired many college women to pursue their dreams. She got her college degree when it was rare for a women to attend college, rarer for a woman to graduate, and and even more rare for a woman to achieve advanced degrees. She is truly a trailblazer and one of the many women in AAUW we can thank for the improvements in equity which we enjoy today.
What will our granddaughters and great-granddaughters say about the improvements we made for them?
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