Guest Perspective on Women's Day 2014

In preparation for Women's Day, fellow team member Robin Baker wrote a guest blog post for Flower Talk. Enjoy her perspective on this holiday, which is coming up Saturday, March 8th. 

Mount Blackburn, at the heart of the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska, stands at an impressive 16,390 feet. I could see its summit from the toe of the Kennecott Glacier over 20 miles away. I was sitting among the wildflowers in front of the lodge where I’d been working for the summer. The peak, the fifth highest in the United States, was first summited by a woman, Dora Keen, on May 19 in 1912, eight years before the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment which granted women the right to vote.

Sitting in the dusky Alaskan sun of late summer, I couldn’t help but be humbled by women like Dora Keen, Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the countless others who paved the way for the women of today. These women and many around me today, remind me not to limit myself to set ideas about what I can or cannot do based on my gender.

Mount Blackburn is the snow covered peak on the left.

We’ve come a long way. If I want to work for a multimillion dollar company, I can. If I want to be a CEO, I can. If I want to be an outdoor guide and summit 16,000 foot peaks, I can. If I want to be an engineer, plumber, doctor, artist, teacher, mechanic…I can. I can choose if, when and whom I want to marry and if and when I have children—a right some in the world are still fighting for.

All that effort, the step-by-step struggle Dora Keen took to reach the summit of Blackburn and the years of fighting and hard work by women like Susan B. Anthony bring us to where we are today. We are not quite at the summit, we are still en route. However, this is something worth celebrating.

Remembering this, I turned my attention from the distant summit of the mountain to the flowers growing beside me on the hillside. I was then sweetly reminded that it took many small details to make up the breathtaking landscape I was enjoying. The height of a mountain cannot dwarf the beauty of a resilient wild Alaskan flower. Instead, they work together to create a world of color that offers a myriad of tactile pleasures to enjoy. 

That’s why, this Women’s Day, I’ll be honoring and celebrating the women in my life by giving them flowers. Flowers remind us to slow down, appreciate the hard work and intricacy of beauty and growth that comes in all shapes and sizes. 

-Robin Baker 

In keeping with Sun Valley's Guiding Principle #3, "Inspire others and always keep learning", Robin also volunteers on the Board of the Emma Center, whose mission is to provide long term, integrated healing services in a safe, empowering environment for any woman who has experienced trauma.