The Ms. Spectator / I'll Trade You Anna Quindlen
York, Byron
THE MS. SPECTATOR I'll Trade You Anna Quindlen by Byron York R ecently a woman I work with attended a fund-raising dinner held by the Women's Campaign Fund. The next day, I noticed what looked...
...How about them...
...The trading card project features more than seventy "Women of Honor...
...When I called the foundation, Redina Jackson, project assistant for the "Take Our Daughters to Work" campaign, told me Ms...
...Despite my suspicions, there was no indication they were a joke...
...I then read her a list of women—Jeane Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth Dole, Mary Matalin, Kennedy (the flamboyantly Republican MTV jock), Susan Molinari, Lynn Martin, and Christine Todd Whitman—mainstream figures all...
...But there was a problem—diversity...
...fold...
...We wanted to have something that little girls could identify with," she said...
...The next day, I noticed what looked like baseball cards on her desk...
...A trait that did not prevent Schroeder, Boxer, Ferraro, Murray, Wasserstein, Steinem, Quindlen, Thomas, Blume, and many others from being selected...
...Many of those are very good names," Wilson said...
...They might, she said, make it onto the list if the foundation creates a second edition of trading cards...
...82 The American Spectator August 1994...
...What we put first," said Marie Wilson, president of the foundation, "was making sure we had enough African-American, Latina, disabled, and other minority women...
...So they can have dreams...
...A small note said the cards were produced by the Ms...
...Despite the variety of careers and sexual preferences, the group seemed a little one-dimensional...
...In addition to Moseley-Braun and Quindlen, the list includes Patricia Schroeder, Barbara Boxer, Wendy Wasserstein, Geraldine Ferraro, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Patty Murray, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Marlo Thomas, Queen Latifah, Judy Blume, Salt 'N' Pepa, Lily Tomlin, Betty Shabazz, and Ann E. Bancroft (according to her card, "Ann, an out lesbian, is the first woman ever to travel to the North and South poles...
...And if that day comes, the last minority—the conservative woman, regardless of her race—will finally be welcomed into the Ms...
...The pictures weren't Ken Griffey, Jr., or Kirby Puckett...
...How did Ms...
...Diversity had to be a top priority, she explained, because the trading card project was designed to give girls a wide range of role models...
...tl Byron York is a television producer and writer in Washington...
...Republicans, and conservatives in general, didn't make the list, according to Wilson, not because the foundation excluded them for political reasons, but because "so many of them are white...
...Then I took a closer look...
...decide who made the list and who didn't...
...officials had noticed there are no trading cards devoted specifically to women...
...The cards featured biographical sketches on the back, referring to the subjects as "Carol" and "Anna...
...Wilson told me she admires Dole and Martin, among others...
...Foundation for Women...
...Did Ms...
...think any of America's girls might dream of becoming politicians, writers, entertainers, and explorers—but not liberal Democrats...
...they were Carol Moseley-Braun and Anna Quindlen...
Vol. 27 • August 1994 • No. 8
