‘I Am Woman’ is a 2019 movie that officially released in the States this year. It’s a biopic on 1970’s feminist icon and singer, Helen Reddy. Known greatly for her 1972 hit, “I Am Woman’. Music execs rejected this song she wrote and recorded, claiming it sounded too angry for a married housewife who shouldn’t promote ‘hating men’. Luckily, they were convinced in the end, to just ‘hide it in the album. No one will listen to it.’
The song came from the deep pain and struggle she endured as a single mother and immigrant chasing hope and a dream with her toddler daughter by her side. To her utter surprise, the song the men in her life discouraged became an anthem for all women–especially during a pivotal, evolving movement that simultaneously was taking place during that time; 50 years after women won the vote.
My Mother Shares a Secret
One evening, my mother called me over as she sat in a cozy mound of pillows and a blanket, watching a movie. It’s become a nice getaway for her in these unusual times. She called me over and rewound a bit of the end of what she was watching and asked me to sit and watch for a minute.
She was watching a rental of, ‘I Am Woman’, the 2019 biopic on Helen Reddy. The ending was Helen fulfilling her daughter’s request of performing at the 1989 Washington Rally for Women’s Rights where thousands of women gathered–and even some men–and there, she performed the song she never anticipated to become the unofficial anthem for Women’s Rights organizations.
As Reddy belted the end of this empowering song, my mother gave me a piece of her past she hadn’t ever shared with me before. She shared of a dark time in her life that I always wondered about but never asked. During this dark time–alone, fighting against the world–she remembered hearing this song and crying. This was an anthem that gave her the strength to get through her day to day fight with life, people, family, and rights.
I only know minute fragments of my mother’s past but I’m well aware it’s a hard story for her to share, especially with her daughter which I’ve come to realize more and more with age, she’s kept from me as a protective shield. Perhaps, she felt by keeping the gory details from me, she could protect me from a similar fate.
That night, I promised I’d watch it. It meant a lot to her that I do.
Took me a couple of weeks but finally, I found myself bored on another insomnia-ridden night and remembered my promise. Now, as the credits are rolling, Reddy’s granddaughter sings the first outro song and tears are barely dry on my face, I open this document and begin writing.
Fighting the Same Battles from the Past
Too many thoughts to get through in this one post but in addition to feeling a deeper connection to my mother and all she’s fought to give me and my brother–alone, with no one by her side–I couldn’t help but also feel disappointment that the headlines and images of women rallying for equality looked identical to images in the headlines today…30+ years later.
How are we, in this day and age, fighting the same battles of the past? Not just women’s rights but so many others such as the movement for Black Lives, etc. How are these issues still afflicting our world? Not just in the United States but all over the world.
If you’re needing something to liven your bones, I encourage you to rent, ‘I Am Woman’.
The timing of it all…Interestingly, after finishing the movie, I googled about it and stumbled on the news of Helen Reddy’s death. This past Tuesday–a week ago (September 30, 2020).
Thank you, Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy, I thank you for sharing your raw truth. This song personally gave my mother an anchor of power and hope when she had absolutely nobody in her corner. In the ’80s, between my brother’s and my births, your song empowered her to fight against the quicksand they meant for her to sink into and she gave my brother and I far better upbringings than she herself ever got to experience.
I’m sure you and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are together, still giving the patriarchy hell from up there.
RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Helen Reddy
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