Feminist politicians celebrate 50th anniversary of "February's Sisters"

On Thursday, April 7, community members gathered in the auditorium at the Lawrence Public Library to listen to a panel called, “Listening to All Voices: Women and Politics.” This panel was made up of Kathleen Sebelius, Barbara Ballard, Christina Haswood, Sandy Praeger, and a prerecorded video of Sharice Davids. This was the second of four panels held in April to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of February’s Sisters. The panel had been pushed back from February to April due to the Omicron Variant. Partners and sponsors included Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, The Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Hall Center for the Humanities, and Watkins Museum of History.

February’s Sisters was a group of 30 women and four of their children who occupied Kansas University’s East Asian Studies (EAS) building, 1332 Louisiana St, on February 4, 1972, demanding change at the university to increase gender equity on KU’s campus. The building was chosen due to its easy access. An EAS staff member had given them a key and the building was peacefully seized by the women and children at 6:00 p.m.

The women who took part in the protest took to dividing the work up into groups to ensure an effective protest. February Sister Christine Leonard explained in an interview, “There was a group who picked the location and planned how to seize and secure it. There was another group studying the issues and writing the demands. Still another working on strategy—how to inform the administration, how to get the word to the public, etc. Others were gathering food for forty people for a week. And of course, typing and copying; typing and copying.”

The women were determined not to leave until their demands were met. These demands included the establishment of a day care on campus, the development of a Women’s Studies program and major, accessibility to birth control pills and gynecological exams through Student Health Services, more women administrators, and the implementation of a federally mandated affirmative action program.

Though the women planned for a week-long protest, the protest only lasted 13 hours, and the women left the building without anything being destroyed, rather leaving apples on all the desks.

As a direct result of the protest, many of their demands came to fruition over the following years including Hilltop Day Care Center being established (1972), the development of a Women’s Studies program and major (1972), Student Health Services began providing birth control pills and gynecological services (1972), the university’s first female Associate Dean Marilyn Stokstad was hired (1972), the Women’s Studies program became an official department (1977), Frances Horowitz was named Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies (1978), and Deanell Tacha was named Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs (1981).

The women who spoke on the panel are or were political leaders in Kansas. Sebelius has been engaged in health policy for decades in the public and private sectors, she served in Former President Obama’s Cabinet as Health and Human Services Secretary and was elected state-wide four times in Kansas as Governor and Insurance Commissioner.

Ballard is the Senior Associate Director at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and has served as Associate Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, Associate Dean for Student Life, and Director of the Emily Taylor Women’s Research Center. She is a member of Kansas Legislature and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 serving on the House Leadership Team as a Democratic Caucus Chair, and is the first African American on Leadership, serving over 15 years.

Praeger was elected to the Lawrence City Commission in 1985-89 and served as Mayor in 1987, she was elected to Kansas House in 1990, to the Senate in 1992-2002, and Insurance Commissioner from 2002-2015. She is now retired serving on many local and state boards.

Representative Haswood represents Kansas District 10, which covers the southeast of Douglas County including Lawrence and Baldwin City. She currently sits on the Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Water, and State-Tribal Relations Committees.

Representative Davids is currently serving Kansas’s Third Congressional District in Congress, becoming one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. She has spent her time in office tackling the issues she sees as most important to Kansas families including strengthening small businesses, lowering the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, and making sure the government is working for the people, not for special interests.

The women talked on what February’s Sisters did for women at KU, the issues that they had confronted and solved and the issues that continue today. The issues they highlighted include equal pay for equal work, affordable healthcare that covers reproductive care, paid leave, and access to childcare in rural areas.