Throughout history, individual women have been a force, pursuing dreams, pushing boundaries and furthering humanity despite often considerable manmade roadblocks.
These brave, determined females are celebrated each March by official decree. But they’re acknowledged always by the millions who stand on their shoulders.
And so should be honored the work of the countless, nameless, equally dedicated women who have teamed up in communities across the country to spark social reform, ease human suffering and elevate life for everyone, especially women and children.
As far back as the 19th century, women have ventured outside the home to join forces in the spirit of friendship, support and activism.
Though women’s clubs don’t always get the recognition they deserve, consider what life would be like without the results of their efforts: without seatbelts, libraries, juvenile court, kindergarten, domestic violence awareness, and of course, the right for women to vote.
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Club members deserve a place on the stage, too, and not just during Women’s History Month.
The Chicago area has a long history of women coming together to enact social reform. Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, was a member of the longstanding but now defunct Chicago Women’s Club. So was Lucy Flower and Julia Lathrop, who, with Addams, helped create the first juvenile court in the country.
Many communities have women’s clubs to thank for collections at local libraries, wards and equipment at local hospitals, kindergarten programs at local schools and even the creation of some local forest preserves.
The Naperville Woman’s Club, now in its 126th year, helped found the Nichols Library. It raised money to purchase medical equipment for Edward Hospital. And it runs Naperville’s Safety Town complex and continues to organize the longest-running Fine Arts and Artisan Fair in Illinois.
Known for its autumn Witches Night Out events, which draw upwards of 700 people raising funds to provide college scholarships and support local people in need, the organization is among the longest surviving women’s clubs in the area.
Melody Coleman, historian for the club, said, back in 1897, “when women were relegated to silence about a lot of issues, and were not allowed to be big thinkers or articulate their thoughts, 19 females came together to form a club that could focus on addressing the needs of women and children.”
Within four years, membership grew to 38, and by the 1980s there were well over 200 members, she said. Though the current count is now in the 60s, Coleman said, “The forward thinking of what these women were doing in a time when women were not given a whole lot of credit, was wonderful. The longevity speaks for itself.”
Other longstanding Chicago area clubs include ones in Evanston, Morgan Park, Wilmette and Lockport.
The Joliet Junior Woman’s Club was formed in 1958. Longstanding member Deb Strahanoski is now serving a two-year term as international president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, an umbrella organization that is a frequent visitor on Capitol Hill.
The federation comprises clubs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though numbers have declined in the past 30 to 50 years, it still has affiliates in other countries, including Aruba, Belize, Bahamas and Peru.
Like most of club members, Strahanoski joined because she was interested in helping the Joliet community. She liked the causes and the camaraderie, not to mention the leadership training that helped catapult her to the international stage.
The movement to unite women in America began with a gender-based snub in 1868. After New York journalist Jane Cunningham Croley was denied entrance to a dinner honoring Charles Dickens at an all-male club, she formed the women’s club Sorosis.
Decades later, she invited women’s clubs from across the country to convene and join forces. Sixty-three clubs from 19 states, including Illinois, signed the constitution and the federation was formed.
It has since missed only two annual conventions, one during World War II and a second during the pandemic, although work continued then via Zoom, Strahanoski said.
Today, women’s clubs deal with some very different issues, equal pay and safety among them, as well as some longstanding causes, including education and health and wellness.
The GFWC is active in promoting legislation that protects children online, promotes gender equity and increases funding for federal programs that address violence against women.
“We still honor our founder on federation day and we take care of her gravesite in New Jersey, and we give out a journalist award in her name,” Strahanoski said.
Meanwhile, the work continues.
The list of federation contributions is long: the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906; the military purchase of more than 400 bomber planes during World War II; Eleanor Roosevelt’s donation of wedding gowns to British service women; seatbelt legislation; and, more recently, supplies of food and water for police, fire and healthcare workers during the pandemic.
The makeup of the clubs, too, has evolved over time, Strahanoski said. In the beginning, women activists tended to be the wives and daughters of prominent men in the community. Today, club members come from all walks of life, she said, with special efforts, such as fewer meetings and more “one and done” campaigns, being made to lure busy Gen X women.
Strahanoski said she wants women to know that they can grow and learn and do good work through these clubs.
And, she wants America to know how significant and varied the federation’s work continues to be, from advocacy activism to “getting the lines painted on our roads so people drive in the right direction.”
In 1997, on the centennial of the Naperville Woman’s Club’s charter, member Glenna Holloway wrote that “perhaps the 19 (charter members) … understood the value of the team, the aggregate of play and work and time, the blend of friendship, talent, zeal and, yes, their stubbornness to keep the garden green through snow and drought, to keep the dream alive.”
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Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.