Charlene L Martin

In Her Shoes Charlene L Martin

The First National Woman's Rights Convention was held in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1850. It was the first nationwide call to action and it was attended by men and women from throughout the country and from abroad who addressed the increasing demands for the rights of women. The Worcester Women's History Project was created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this historic event and in 2005 the Worcester Women's Oral History Project developed from a desire to continue to document the lives of today's women for tomorrow's historians. In Her Shoes contains excerpts from the stories of women from different generations, ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds who participated in the first decade of the Oral History Project. The universal themes of striving for work/life balance, commitment to a personal cause, and finding one's path in life despite obstacles big and small, arise as the women's lives are revealed. It is through the sharing of women's stories that we come to appreciate, that despite our differences, there are often common threads that unite all women. Whether reading about the life of a baker, an actress, a mother, an entrepreneur, or a funeral director, we come to respect each woman's experience and the choices she makes. And, perhaps, we achieve a better understanding of life in her shoes.