Helen Reddy – I Am Woman

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  General Comment:This is Helen's song, not Barbra's or Jordan's or any woman who follows. Helen made it an anthem of the 70's at a time when one was needed. Over 50% of women living in poverty (often with children) were displaced homemakers. It wasn't until 1972 that a woman could get credit on her own. We may have gone to the extreme in the form of not appreciating the lives of innocent growing children and some may have sacrificed older children for extreme careers, but the movement WAS needed at the time. And today I celebrate this sense of freedom and accomplishment after having just installed my VERY FIRST new toilet seat! It sounds like nothin' (don't hate....appreciate), but when it's a first it's always special and important. (But now I do know that y'all men need to be assigned more work; you've been skatin'!!!) LOL. (...always a bad sign when one laughs at herself:) Helen's song ROCKS!

  Flag Jeffreystumpon November 25, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I have loved this song since my days (and marching) with the feminist movement that is sadly no longer recognizable as the voice of choice (not just sexual) and equality (not preferential treatment). It truly was the anthem of the early 70's when I was blessed with my best friend's mother 'Nancy' who sat around drinking Fresca when she was not homemaking, and who shared her Ms. Magazine and political and personal war stories with me. Love the song! Love Helen Reddy. “I am woman. I am invincible” and I have family arriving today for the holiday which caused me to turn down two dates (with one person) set up by my good friend “T,” who’s always trying to find men for me. Merry Christmas to all you grinches and scrooges, but do notice the last two user names.

  Flag Pleasemoveawayon December 23, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I can't help but wonder if the women's movement of the 1970's, which is typified in Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman", resulted in a better world for women. Many women at that time thought that child-rearing, housework and taking care of their husbands was mundane and that men were 'keeping them down' at home. This movement led to a proliferation of dual income families that we still have now. In fact, I recently heard a statistic that there are now more women in the workforce than men. Are women happy about this? Do they like competing in the modern workplace - replete with mundane tasks at work, travel, projects, layoffs, small pay raises (if you're lucky), taxes, the daily commute, office politics, etc. As a recently minted stay-at-home Dad who has 'retired' from 20 years in the workforce, I can tell you that at least for me, being home is much better than being at work. Do the women of the 1970's, so desperate to escape their at-home lives, still prefer working over child-rearing, housework and taking care of their husbands?

  Flag Freedom Loveron July 31, 2010   Link

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    +1

    I don't think they were so much escaping the home, as wanting to have a choice, a say in their own lives. To have a career in their early 20's and marry/have children when they were in their 30's. My mom married at 18 - my great grandmother married at 15 (and lived to be 85-luckily she married a "good" man).
    
    Neither do I believe that they were man-haters who were against marriage and children.
    
    I didn't realize till I started researching that women in the 1800's couldn't own property and that abuse wasn't a crime but considered a husband's/father's right;
    
    That women who protested for the vote in the early 1900's were arrested and put in jail - and not exactly treated well while there!!!!
    
    My great great grandmother had eleven children and died as a result - birth control that women controlled did not exist (well, neither did advanced medicine or sanitation).
    
    I could put other examples out, but that's a start.
    
    These days I read what's going on in US politics, and I'm afraid the newest generation has been lured into the world of Bratz dolls and The Kardashian's while the powers- that-be are slowly chipping away at women's rights while the they are shopping and watching reality TV.
    
    Would love to see someone do a cover on this song - time to pay attention to what's going on around us!
    
    PS: I enjoyed the times I could stay home with my sons more than my 30 years in the workforce (actually, I mostly did both at the same time). But let us know if after 20 years of child rearing, housework, and making a dollar stretch isn't just as exhausting as being in the workforce (though more rewarding, I agree!)!
    

    Flag FreedomHealson May 06, 2011  

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    AMEN. Love this song. Always have. I recall when it first hit the airwaves. It was OUR song...the white woman's anthem. Minority women didn't have the choice to stay home due to finances, which is why they were (as a whole) absent from the feminist movement. There was also a reason for the movement which you didn't touch on...the number of 'displaced homemakers" was growing...divorce was now becoming acceptable and the number of women (with no work history or fiscal credit) were left to raise children while living under the poverty level. Many men (today it's both men and women) were not paying child support. The courts, although favoring the women in custody issues, often did not make fathers as accountable fiscally as they should have been (considering the wife often had less education and less workplace training, etc). The original feminist movement was about choice (not necessarily abortion), but it later morphed into something I ran from...it became a movement that frowned upon real choice (to either stay home and raise children or to go fulltime into the workforce) and became dominated by lesbians who (at that time) often did not have children. The "needs" of the female who wanted to remain in the home to give her children the best start possible in life were NOT being met by the movement. Eventually (as it is now), abortion and gay marriage became topics that dominated the movement. That's not to say the movement did not produce positive results. Women (in 1972) were finally able to get credit cards w/o the approval of a spouse (or having to be on a joint account). Women in the workforce begin to see backlash against sexual harrassment and lower wages based on gender. Corporations began to offer day care services for mothers so their children could be cared for nearby. The courts began to see women as equals under the law, etc. Domestic abuse laws changed (when I worked with abuse victims at an underground shelter decades ago a man could not rape his wife and police would often not take a man to jail even if the woman showed signs of abuse unless she was strong enough to point out her abuser). I could go on and on but I have been told I am BORING:) Anyway, I love this song and it's perfect for a day of painting and doing other tasks that were once reserved for males. I am woman hear me roar but damn it would be nice to snuggle up next to a warm bodied male with all the right parts :)

    Flag MaryMaryQuiteContraryon October 30, 2011  

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    Good for you! I wouldn't trade the decade I spent fulltime with my children. For approx 3 years I actually felt guilty for staying home and not bringing home a paycheck. It wasn't until my spouse looked at me and told me to stop it; he assured me I was the only one who felt I needed to earn a check as he viewed me as a huge contributor to the family (and its needs). My years in the feminist movement had conditioned me to value working outside of the home over what was best for my children...the next generation of society contributors.

    Flag MaryMaryQuiteContraryon October 30, 2011  
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  General Comment:I can just imagine a generation of girls, burning their bras, listenng to this song.

  Flag quiffpornon January 17, 2005   Link

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    -1

    You obviously didn't live through that time. Bra burning was not exactly great....women walking around w/o bras and breast feeding in public were not necessarily great visuals, much like the time when thongs were popular and 400lb pound women decided they, too, liked the look!

    Flag Pleasemoveawayon December 23, 2011  
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  General Comment:1970s girl power all the way , I love this song helen sings so nice . I think the spice girls moms must have jammed this on the hi-fi and 20 yrs. later the result was um well you know .

  Flag bigwillie51667on October 27, 2004   Link

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    The result was latch key kids (they really did wear the keys around their necks in the 70's). Lots of downers from the feminist movement, but there were many positives as well. It's always a good thing when a man can't beat his wife and get away with it; when he no longer can rape her under the law; and when a woman can get credit to own property and escape abusive marriages, etc.

    Flag Pleasemoveawayon December 23, 2011  

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