Judge, advocate for abused spouses speak at post

The Garden City Chapter of the Federally Employed Women’s organization at Fort Gordon partnered with the post’s Army Community Services and Special Emphasis Program committee [part of Equal Employment Opportunities] to bring two dynamic speakers to the Gordon Club Oct. 13.

The first keynote speaker to address FEW members and guests was Sheryl Jolly, a judge in the Superior Court, Augusta Judicial Circuit. The mother of three spoke about the “Struggle of Visionary Women.”

“…I don’t know the concept of being a visionary woman, I do know what it is like to be a struggling woman - I know this is not because I am a Superior Court Judge, not because I graduated from law school, not because I have run three contested races for political office, but because I am a mother of a teenage girl,” said Jolly. “The responsibility of that weighs on me most days because as a working mom I want to see that she grows into a successful, graceful, strong, independent, and well educated woman that can balance a family and a career if she so chooses.

“I have always tried to impress upon her that today we live in a world that now requires us to be able to support yourself and that reliance on anyone other than one’s self is a dangerous path to take,” she explained.

“We as American working women owe so much to our foremothers,” Jolly added. “In researching this presentation I learned that the first woman elected to a national legislature in any western democracy was Jeannette Rankin. In 1916, she was elected by a small majority in the State of Montana to serve in the United States House of Representatives where she was nicknamed the “Lady of the House.”

“It’s important to note that this was four years before the woman’s suffrage movement which resulted in the ratification on Aug. 18, 1920 of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution which gave women the right to vote,” said Jolly. “Oddly enough, it was a Tennessee legislator’s mother that talked him into casting the deciding vote for ratification of the 19th amendment.

“We have become the significant change in the workforce,” said the member of the Council of Superior Court Judges. “In 1948 about 30 percent of women age 20 and older was working women. Today women make up 58 percent of the workforce.”

In her speech, the judge cited two visionary women who were born and raised in Georgia. One was Lucy Craft Laney, a former slave of Macon, Ga. Following emancipation she attended a high school for black children in Macon and later opened the first school for black boys and girls in Augusta.

The second visionary woman the judge cited was Julia Lester Dillon. She was the first woman in the United States to hold the job of city landscape architect.

The third example of visionary women cited by the judge was our own mothers and grandmothers. They taught us self respect and to believe in ourselves,” said the Walter F. George School of Law alumna.

Debra Williamson was the second speaker. She talked about her own abusive marriage and a book she co-authored with her brother Fred Williamson, titled: “Concealed Deception: A Courageous Woman’s Journey from Abuse to Triumph.” The successful real estate broker and author concluded her presentation by citing several Web sites to help those who may be in an abusive relationship. A few of the sites were loveisnotcool.com; menstoppingviolence.org; and acalltomen.org.