PEORIA -- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, oldest child of Robert Kennedy, niece of John F. Kennedy, a lawyer and former Lt. Gov. of Maryland, melded details from her own life with the aspirations of the women's movement in a candid and informal talk that delighted her audience.
She spoke to the Peoria YWCA Leader Luncheon on May 2, and met earlier with some of the audience.
She's supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, she said.
"The 21st century could be the century for women," she told the audience. Women are winning higher offices throughout the world, she said. "We do have a serious woman running from Illinois."
When the audience was silent, she continued, "I know you have another candidate from that response. This is clear feedback." Laughter followed.
Women face challenges when they seek to become leaders, she said, because of the masculine traditions in war and religion. "It's a challenge when you think about women in power. Where are your guidelines?"
Despite that, women have been able to rise, she said. "When women work, they do a better job than the guys."
Circumstances have conspired to favor women, she said. "I think because the (Iraq) war is such a disaster, there will be a change. The course of history (will provide) women with leadership possibilities," she said.
"What do you feel about yourself? Where do you get your inner strength? What does society tell you?" she asked.
She told about growing up in the Kennedy family, where "women were not involved in public life."
Yet the Kennedy traditions of competition, sports and intellectual development were part of the heritage for her as well as for her brothers.
Her grandmother, Rose Kennedy, made her memorize great quotations, telling her she might use them in speeches. Rose Kennedy never attended college, but was still studying French and German at age 95, she said.
She told her granddaughter about prejudice against the Irish in Boston.
At the Kennedy dinner table, the children were quizzed about current events. They also were told they had an obligation to help the impoverished people that their father had met in Mississippi.
The day after JFK was assassinated, her father, Robert Kennedy, in the midst of grieving and planning the funeral, wrote her a note, she said, quoting it. "As the oldest of the Kennedy grandchildren, you have a special responsibility to be kind to others and work for your country. Love, Daddy.
"He wasn't bitter, angry or vengeful. He was talking about responsibility and kindness and working for his country."
She said she grew up as the women's movement gained momentum. "I went to law school because the women's movement said 'you can do that.' The doors were being opened for women. But there are still challenges."
She was turned down for jobs as a lawyer because she asked about time to care for her children, she said.
But by the time she ran for Lt. Gov., no one was asking why she wasn't staying home with the children, she said. "This is what happens. We prepare ourselves, and when the culture changes we can take advantage of it. But we do have to change the culture."
She proposed new laws against domestic violence, she said, and new help for caregivers who are mainly women.
"We have to be our sisters' keeper. You can make a difference. We think we're alone but we're not. We can build an alternative political movement."
--Elaine Hopkins
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