Let us in through the guarded gate, Let us in for our strength’s sake! —Margaret Widdemer over 100 years ago, in 1917 #WomensEqualityDay

Simone de Beauvoir: Resistance to male stereotypes of beauty can mean greater equality.  Narrated by Harry Shearer. Scripted by Nigel Warburton.

The Women's Litany

Margaret Widdemer

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for our pain’s sake!

Lips set smiling and face made fair

Still for you through the pain we bare,

We have hid till our hearts were sore

Blacker things than you ever bore:

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for our pain’s sake! 

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for our strength’s sake!

Light held high in a strife ne’er through

We have fought for our sons and you,

We have conquered a million years’

Pain and evil and doubt and tears—

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for our strength’s sake! 

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for your own sake!

We have held you within our hand,

Marred or made as we broke or planned,

We have given you life or killed

King or brute as we taught or willed—

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for your own sake! 

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for the world’s sake!

We are blind who must guide your eyes,

We are weak who must help you rise,

All untaught who must teach and mold

Souls of men till the world is old—

Let us in through the guarded gate,

Let us in for the world’s sake!