On straying from the assigned reading in my American Writers anthology and finding 200-year-old stuff that's still strangely appropriate now.

THAT minds are not alike, full well I know,
This truth each day's experience will show;
To heights surprising some great spirits soar,
With inborn strength mysterious depths explore;
Their eager gaze surveys the path of light,
Confest it stood to Newton's piercing sight.
Deep science, like a bashful maid retires,
And but the ardent breast her worth inspires;
By perseverance the coy fair is won.
And Genius, led by Study, wears the crown.
But some there are who wish not to improve
Who never can the path of knowledge love,
Whose souls almost with the dull body one,
With anxious care each mental pleasure shun;
Weak is the level'd, enervated mind,
And but while here to vegetate design'd.
The torpid spirit mingling with its clod,
Can scarcely boast its origin from God;
Stupidly dull—they move progressing on—
They eat, and drink, and all their work is done.
While others, emulous of sweet applause,
Industrious seek for each event a cause,
Tracing the hidden springs whence knowledge flows,
Which nature all in beauteous order shows.
Yet cannot I their sentiments imbibe,
Who this distinction to the sex ascribe,
As if a woman's form must needs enrol,
A weak, a servile, an inferiour soul;
And that the guise of man must still proclaim,
Greatness of mind, and him, to be the same:
Yet as the hours revolve fair proofs arise,
Which the bright wreath of growing fame supplies;
And in past times some men have sunk so low,
That female records nothing less can show.
But imbecility is still confin'd,
And by the lordly sex to us consign'd;
They rob us of the power t'improve,
And then declare we only trifles love;
Yet haste the era, when the world shall know,
That such distinctions only dwell below;
The soul unfetter'd, to no sex confin'd,
Was for the abodes of cloudless day design'd.
Mean time we emulate their manly fires,
Though erudition all their thoughts inspires,
Yet nature with equality imparts
And noble passions, swell e'en female hearts.

Judith Sargent Murray wrote a pivotal essay in The Massachusetts Magazine in 1790 entitled, "On the Equality of the Sexes," and she prefaced it with this poem. The rest of the essay is just as brilliant and sarcastic: "Assuredly great activity of mind is thereby discovered [in fashion and gossip], and was this activity properly directed, what beneficial effects would follow. Is the needle and kitchen sufficient to employ the operations of a soul thus organized? I should conceive not."

Murray realized how essential rational thought, individual identity, and the capacity for independence are to a young woman. I never realized what a feminist I am until it became clear to me that my demographic doesn't necessarily understand this.

Moreover, the Palin nomination brought to light the latent, unconscious assumptions that still fester beneath our political discourse. I know Sarah Palin was selected because she is a woman, but Barack Obama was selected because he is black, and we are going to continue making decisions based on these distinctions until we are a properly representational republic. Fifty percent of voters are female; how many politicians are? Israel is going on its second female prime minister; where are our female leaders?

If we really believe in gender equality, we need to show it. Let's hold the door open for each other.