ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Rock Island Arsenal recognized Women's Equality Day at a ceremony, here, Aug. 26.
Joy Boruff, executive director of the Moline Foundation, was the guest speaker. She highlighted the great work of Carrie Chapman Catt, a big player in the struggle for women's suffrage and president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1915. Catt was also the only female in the 1880 graduating class at Iowa State University, Boruff's alma mater.
In her speech, Boruff pointed out the strides made in identifying and combating sexual harassment in the workplace, adding that, as one of the first women employed in a newsroom in 1976, she was responsible for sewing buttons on the male news anchor's sports jackets, as well as providing the cake for everyone's birthday. She also said that risqué magazines were plainly displayed.
She credited the relentless work of ladies like Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and other women suffragists for paving a foundation of equal treatment.
The Moline Foundation is a partnership of donors, nonprofit groups, and civic leaders who work to raise funds for projects or businesses that focus on community development. Since making its first grant in 1954, the Moline Foundation has given more than $28 million serving the citizens of Moline and the surrounding area.
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