She Persisted is More Than a Quote

She persisted is more than a quote, it is my story...

and with the Roe v Wade reversal...

Who Said Nevertheless, She Persisted?

Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate Republican Leader in American history, unanimously elected to lead the conference eight times since 2006. He was talking about Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

The Origins of the She Persisted Quote

"Nevertheless, she persisted," is a motto adopted by the modern day feminist movement in 2017 after an incident in the US Senate.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren was persistent in her determination to read a letter while voicing her opinion against Jeff Sessions confirmation as US Attorney General. Men in the Senate kept trying to silence her and she did not let that stop her, she read the letter. When the media asked Mitch McConnell about his attempts to silence her , he said, "Nevertheless, She Persisted."

During the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Elizabeth Warren protested his appointment and proceeded to read a letter written by Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, about her opinion of Mr. Sessions' lack of suitability as a federal judge. As Senator Warren read the letter, she was interrupted by Republican Senator Chair Seve Daines and soon after, Senator Mitch McConnel asked for a vote to silence Senator Warren forcing her to take her seat.

At this point Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley continued to read the letter without disruption or a vote to silence him.

Afterwards, a reporter asked Mitch McConnel for his thoughts on the Senate silencing Senator Warren, to which he replied, Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.[10]

As women, we have had our voices silenced by men too often and to see it in our government was upsetting for those who have been silenced by the men in their lives too often. So in 2018, women adopted the quote as the rally cry for the rights of women on International Women's month for that year.

I still experience this and have in a number of ways. Not getting the job because, "They went with the man, though I was the better candidate." Came the voice of the recruiter through the phone, she was less than impressed and vowed to never work with them again. I've had men tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about or they weren't interested, only to have a man tell them the same thing and think it was the best idea since sliced bread.

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What Journalists had to say

According to Daniel Victor of The New York Times, "A broader theme—that women are too commonly shushed or ignored—emerged on social media."[5] Victor also noted that "a man silencing a woman struck some as all too common", and "rang familiar with many women who had their own stories of being silenced."[5]

The Atlantic's Megan Garber wrote, "American culture tells women to be quiet—many ways they are reminded that the

y would really be so much more pleasing if they would just smile a little more, or talk a little less, or work a little harder to be pliant and agreeable."[4] Further, she wrote, when Senator Warren was silenced, "many women, regardless of their politics or place ... felt that silencing, viscerally ... Because, regardless of their politics or place, those women have heard the same thing, or a version of it, many times before."[4]

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Heidi Stevens of the Chicago Tribune commented, "Three little words that women can draw on for decades to come, when something needs to be said and, darn it, we plan to say it. When we're being talked over in meetings. When we're fighting to be heard in male-dominated fields. When we're standing up for our values. When we're doing valuable work and people reduce us

to our appearance."[27]

Valerie Schultz wrote in America: the Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture, "It is a phrase we women embrace because persistence is what we do."[28] After describing stories of persistent women from the Gospels, she concluded:[28]

We women persist. Isn't that our job? Throughout history, we have persisted in our quest for respect, for justice, for equal rights, for suffrage, for education, for enfranchisement, for recognition, for making our voices heard. In the face of violence, of opposition, of ridicule, of belittlement, even of jail time, nevertheless, we have persisted.

— Valerie Schultz, America: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture

Join us to discuss, "What it means to be a woman in the 21st Century"

From the Atlantic:

Mitch McConnell silenced Elizabeth Warren in the Senate chamber. That only made her voice louder.

When presiding Senate chair Steve Daines, of Montana, interrupted his colleague, Elizabeth Warren, as she was reading the words of Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening—and, then, when Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell intervened to prevent her from finishing the speech—many women, regardless of their politics or place, felt that silencing, viscerally. And when McConnell, later, remarked of Warren, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted,” many women, regardless of their politics or place, felt it again. Because, regardless of their politics or place, those women have heard the same thing, or a version of it, many times before.

Read the full article

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In Time Magazine from 2018

“‘Nevertheless, She Persisted’ is really about every woman who really had to use her tenacity and courage to accomplish whatever she set out to accomplish. It’s universal,” said Molly Murphy MacGregor, executive director and co-founder of the National Women’s History Project. “You think about our mothers and grandmothers — they’ve been persisting for a very long time.”

“National Women’s History Month is about recognizing the courage and contributions of women everywhere who are breaking down barriers, raising their voices, and fighting for what they believe in,” Warren said in a statement to TIME. “Millions of women have taken up ‘Nevertheless She Persisted’ as their rallying cry because they know that together, we can make change. We know because we are doing it.”

Read the full article

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David Ohl, Journalist on Quora

Do you think David did a good job of responding to the question, "What's the meaning of "nevertheless, she persisted"?" or did he mansplain it?

"This has become a bit of a political/pop culture phrase. In it’s most general form, it just means that a woman facing an obstacle or resistance kept going. It could be used in a ton of different ways with minor or major obstacles:

-She sprained her ankle 1 mile into the race. Nevertheless, she persisted. -She has ADHD and struggled in school; nevertheless, she persisted. -She grew up in an abusive home and was kicked out at age 16; nevertheless, she persisted. -She suffered major injuries during her tour in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, she persisted. -Her friends laughed at her for wanting to be a professional singer. Nevertheless, she persisted.

The origin of the phrase comes from a US political dispute between Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senator Jeff Sessions. During debate, Senator Elizabeth Warren objected to Sessions being confirmed as US Attorney General. During her objection, in which she was reading from a letter by Coretta Scott King, she was interrupted several times by other male senators who objected to her statements.

Ultimately, after a vote, she was silenced and forced to sit down. During the remaining 30 hours of the hearing (again, this was the debate whether to confirm Sessions as Attorney General), Democrats continued to object to Warren’s silencing on behalf of Warren, and a male Democratic senator was ultimately allowed to read the letter from Coretta Scott King without objection. After the vote to silence Senator Warren, Senator McConnell said,

“Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

The last 3 words of this quote were almost immediately adopted by the feminist movement as it’s pithy tagline, essentially as a representation of the struggle all women face in a male-dominated political and cultural world. As though saying more broadly: “Men keep trying to silence and oppress women. Nevertheless, we keep trying!”

This phrase can now be extrapolated to pretty much any situation where a female faces some obstacle; however, it is most appropriately applied to scenarios where a woman is facing some kind of male resistance or oppression.

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100 Year Old Letters

This summer I received letters from my aunt. They were written by my great great aunt to her sister-in-law, my great grandmother from 1924 - 1947. Most of the letters were of no import and showed that she was a very unhappy woman, but there were a few that gleaned some information about what life was like for women in Canada at that time.

She was a middle aged woman who never married, never had kids, and lived with her parents. After her mom died, she was on her own in the house and never had enough money - though I think that was her narrative to get access to her money. By the sounds of it when my great great grandfather died he left the 3 boys a good sized inheritance, which my great grandfather put in his sister's name and invested it so there would be a regular stipend paid to her and their mother.

That was the way of it back then. The boys got the inheritance with the hope that they would take care of the woman folk in the family - which wasn't always the case. During the Suffragette movement in Britain, this poster was created to shine a light on the rock and a hard place the laws put women in.

The Story of Women told in Posters

Women's Rights Posters over time tell the story of women's rights from Suffragettes to the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v Wade. Read more about what women fought for during the 20th Century. Then Join us for the Story of Women Discussion

Women have persisted. Read the stories in the Bible about women. Read the history books about women from Ancient Egypt to today and you will find stories of women who found ways to get what they wanted, even when they didn't have power within government, workplaces, or even the home. Women will persist.

After reading about women from Ancient Egypt until now, I am surprised that we didn't revolt, rise up, tell the men to take a hike. In some cases, reading these stories through the glasses of the 21st Century, I couldn't imagine wanting to bring a daughter into the world to suffer - almost better to not exist than go through what some cultures put their women through because they held such little value. Yes, that is an extreme reaction and killing off female babies is a BAD thing - but so is putting them through the torture of living as a woman in certain time periods and cultures.

Because I am reading incomplete stories from the viewpoint of a western woman in the 21st Century, I wonder why men hated women so much to treat them so poorly and care so little for their plight in life.

If you find it interesting to discuss the stories of women and how they lead us to where we are today, join us for the Story of Woman discussion.

Roe v Wade Reversal Means We MUST Persist

Roe v Wade reversal is taking women in the US backwards when it comes to equality and women's rights.

I'm a Christian. I'm a Conservative. I am Pro Choice.

You are probably scratching your head right now or calling me a liar because this doesn't compute... let me explain how I can be a Christian, a Conservative, and Pro-Choice.

I believe in God - he's there.

I don't believe in religion or those who wrap themselves up in it

I believe in God's mercy

I believe in His freedom of choice

I believe in small government

I believe in individual freedom

I believe in universal healthcare

I believe in investing in people

I believe in reducing wasteful spending

I believe in equality

I can't believe there is a God and then go against him by taking away people's right to make choices for themselves when it comes to sin. Only God creates life. He knows who will die. He knows what is in our hearts and what we are capable of. He gives us trials and tests, though he already knows what we will do. He doesn't force us to believe in him.

God already knows what will happen, he creates life, and he gives us our tests. Who are we to question God?

Just because I'm pro-choice does not mean I will run out get pregnant and have an abortion - or judge my adult children for making the choices they feel they need to make.

My beliefs don't give me the right to tell you how to live your life. I'm tired of the type of Christian who wraps themselves up in religion demanding in one breath to have the freedom to do and say what they want and in the next, telling others what they should or should not do... Jesus was against the hypocrisy of the Hebrew religious leaders. He is against the hypocrisy we've seen in the churches throughout history. God will judge us for the hypocrisy in our hearts.

Abortion is a complicated topic. It's a personal topic. It is a topic that is between a woman and her God... not you, not law, not society.

Until Society Values Motherhood - Women need Options

It's not God who has made pregnancy a stumbling block for equality - it is society. Pregnancy has bound women to poverty, to abusive men, to lost career advancement.

We don't give enough credit to mothers to provide transferrable skills to ensure they are still employable. In the US they barely take care of the single mothers in poverty. In the US they don't give women enough time to heal, bond, and care for their new child before they demand she go back to work to ensure she has a career. Managers won't hire mothers and you lose points if at any time you put your family ahead of career.

Until society values women like they do men... Women need the option.

Don't agree - Let me know in the comments

My Story of Persistence

I did not have a voice for periods in my life. I was not allowed to have an opinion and what I wanted did not matter. The more he took control, the less I had a voice, the angrier and more miserable he became because he did not love the woman I’d become. His fear of being whipped, less than a man, for being with a strong woman was at the core of his treatment of me. It took decades for him to break me, but he finally did.

I ended up in a deep dark pit of pain

I do not think that was his intention. He wasn’t smart enough strategize or patient enough to wait it out for two decades. It was just who he was with me. My strength, my voice, my intelligence threatened him, and he reacted. It got worse, until there was no choice but to take the kids and leave a broken weakened woman with no voice, no confidence, no love, no value.

That was me then.

It’s taken a decade for me to become the strong woman I was born to be. I persisted.

So will you.

Persistence isn’t just a feminist word

I’ve published stories of men and women who have persisted through dark times. They chose to keep going and made it out of their dark places to bask in the light, smarter, stronger, and secure in knowing how to love themselves.

Persistence is a word used to describe many people's personal brand stories and numerous business brand stories. As the news and leading indicators warn of a recession on the heels of the 2-year pandemic crisis, I thought this word was an important one to dive into and explore. I’ve published personal brand stories of people who went through the mud pits of life and struggled to come out the other side because they couldn’t see the light at the end of the muddy tunnel. But they did finally pull themselves out and rebuilt their lives.

Those who share their stories of persistence inspire others who are struggling in their own mud pits and are considering giving up because it is too hard.

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Don’t give up – You aren’t alone

Social media makes us feel like we are the only ones struggling because others are successful, people like them, they have followers, and their stories tell us they are successful but guess what… Most are full of it.

They are struggling in that mud pit right along with you buying into the philosophy that if the grind it they will get rich. Some are faking it in hopes that others will want to be around them, hire them, give them money for some half put together course. They eventually fail and fall off social without a sound.

Yes, there are those who are successful - They were persistent.

They figured out the strategy, the process, the tasks, and they did the hard work to lead people from awareness to advocacy. They did the boring work when they wanted to be doing something fun, like hanging out with friends and having a drink at the local pub.

They had days when they wanted to quit and end it all, but the doubled down and did what they needed to do to make it through. They trusted in their process. They stayed focused on their dream even when others told them they would never make any money doing it. They choose to persist.

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Persistence is a choice.

Every day I wake up and choose to keep going, to keep trying, to keep building a brand story one word at a time. It’s slow going and there are months I’m not sure how I’m going to pay the rent and days when all I have to eat is protein shake mix I bought years ago. College students have more money than I did at times. But I kept doing the work.

Trust me I wanted to quit. I still do every evening when I’m so tired I can barely type another word but not tired enough to fall asleep. When I realize I didn’t take the time to get dressed and I’ve been behind the computer for weeks on end. Not healthy. But I need to get through and no one else is going to help me – so I persist. I choose to keep writing, recording, interviewing, and building platforms where others can come to tell their stories for people like you to find solutions and motivation to create an appealing life, career, or business.

Things don’t happen overnight.

Don’t let fear, distractions, or the demands of others get in the way of your dreams. You don’t need permission. You don’t need anyone else. If you choose to persist. To get up. To keep going one task at a time – You will persist.

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Stories of Persistence

Why I Stayed in an Abusive Marriage

I didn’t see myself as being abused. I didn’t see his behaviour as abusive. I didn’t understand that I was in constant fear of his moods and believed what he told me, “I didn’t deserve better.” Read Full Article

Monika Becker

Once I had started to break down my own jail of fears, doubts and limitations. It took me many years of trials and tribulations filled with continuous curiosity and engagement with all kinds of personal and spiritual growth approaches and techniques. It was not an easy journey at all but one that was worth it given the place I find myself in now. Read full article

R Scott Edwards:

I have been Bankrupt twice, very poor, and even had the IRS in my business collecting cash as it came in....I feel behind a little.Despite never having lots of cash; i have been able to create businesses and hire many people. Read full article

Nickolas Natali

A big part of my story is the malnourishment that I endured while trying to pay off my debt - one of the worst things that I did was I bought $1 frozen Mac n Cheese meals from Walmart. I spent a whole week only eating three to five of those a day. It was horrible, my body hated it, and it probably ended up costing the same amount if I had invested in fruits and microwaveable vegetables. Read full article

Ari Krzyzek

Courageous. To me it means to be brave enough to take on the risk and leap to the unknown. One story that I can share is when I decided to move to Chicago from Bali, Indonesia in 2011. I knew I didn't have the support and resources I needed to grow as a woman entrepreneur. So, I made the decision to leave my family and friends behind to go and build a new life in Chicago. Read full article

Amy Delman

I went back to work when my twin sons were 4 weeks old. I used a combination of live ins, live outs, daycare, babysitters, etc. My family lived out of state. When my sons turned 14, they fired the babysitter and told me they were too old to have a sitter - they were going to wander the streets on their own and get rides from their older friends. Obviously, this terrified me - so I struck out on my own! Honestly, thought it was terrifying at first, I quickly developed a client base, and after 16 years, have never looked back. Read full article

Dennis Mellen

My personal value is Persistence - The word exemplifies the Japanese saying of "fall down 7 times, get up 8". After flying professionally for over 30+ years as an Air Force pilot and an airline pilot, I lost my medical and had a career/life "do-over". My book, Takes More Than Heart is the story of my life, Part 2. Read full article

Cameron Chell

I don’t believe in impossible because I have overwhelming evidence that when we search our stories, we discover inextricable evidence that the impossible does not have to exist because we find ways to overcome anything. In My Life, Everything is Possible Read full article