'Clinton Vs. Palin'

In a recent column, Nicholas Wapshott wrote: "Mrs. Palin can rightly ask, what has feminism ever done for me?" [Opinion, "Clinton Vs. Palin," September 10, 2008].

For starters, it was the feminist suffragists who finally secured the vote for all women in every state for future generations, not themselves.

In fact, Charlotte Woodward, 91, was the sole survivor of those present at the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848, when the hard-fought Amendment finally passed 72 years later.

Governor Palin answered the question herself in the interview with Charlie Gibson. She acknowledged that she was "a beneficiary of Title IX."

That hard-won Supreme Court ruling in 1972 enabled Mrs. Palin to be the Baracuda star point guard for the Wasilla High School Warriors and a hockey mom for her daughters.

Title IX prohibited any federally funded education program from sex discrimination, including sports. Since enactment, opportunities for girls has increased by almost 1,000% at the high school level. College athletic scholarships for females were nonexistent before Title IX.

Feminists — from maverick suffragist leader and reformer Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the mother of seven, and cofounder of the Senaca Falls convention — to Hillary Clinton, the primary pioneer on this campaign's road to the White House — built the bridges for Mrs. Palin to reach this milestone.

Less than 10% of the references in new history textbooks are attributed to women's accomplishments. This may explain why Mr. Wapshott wrongly dismissed the significant role feminists have contributed to Mrs. Palin's position.

The dictionary defines feminism as: the principal that women should have political, economic and social rights equal to those of men. Feminists throughout history have sacrificed and fought for equal rights for all women, most notably Mrs. Palin.

BEVERLY WETTENSTEIN

New York, N.Y.