Don’t Expect Her To Just Sit Back And Knit

Women’s Equality Day slipped right past most Idahoans - but not Joanna Peters. A Silver Valley resident since 1992, Peters quickly established a reputation as one of the area’s most energetic supporters of women’s issues.

August 26 was the 76th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. “So I decided I’d better do something,” said Peters, 65.

She spent the day collecting signatures on a petition encouraging Idaho Sen. Larry Craig to support a Senate vote on a United Nations resolution to stop discrimination against women. The resolution has been stalled in the Senate since 1980, Peters said.

“The U.S. and Switzerland are the only two so-called progressive countries that haven’t ratified it,” she said. “It seemed like a good time to draw attention to that.”

By the end of the day she’d visited 23 friends, collected 23 signatures, and at least 23 people - 24 if you count Sen. Craig - were a little more aware of the state of women’s rights.

That kind of direct action is typical of Peters, whose father was a union organizer.

“You don’t need a committee. You need a few people who care enough to go out and do something,” she said.

Peters wasn’t always such a staunch feminist. When she returned to college after raising four children, she still identified herself as “Mrs. William L. Peters.” Some good teachers quickly changed that.

“I’ll never forget the class I took on women’s history. The teacher was a woman who had fought her way through Harvard. What she showed us was maddening to me. I mean, I was furious.”

Some of Peters’ new attitudes changed things felt at home.

“One day my daughter asked: ‘Mom, why do I have to do Steven’s laundry?’ Steven is my oldest son. I thought it over and said: ‘I don’t know. That’s a good question. Tell him to do his own.”’

On another occasion, Peters’ husband asked her to help with a poker party at the house.

“I sprained my foot. It was an accident, but I think in a way it was deliberate. I just wasn’t going to do whatever women do to make poker parties for men. So he took care of it.”

Peters’ marriage survived her changing values, but she said she’s one of the lucky ones.

“A lot of women who believe like I do lost their husbands. But I determined that that would defeat my purpose. I had no desire to be a poor divorcee. My desire was to be a gentle teacher.”

When Peters’ husband retired, the couple moved from Covina City, Calif., to Kellogg. By then, Peters had joined the National Organization for Women, helped to put out a newsletter on women’s issues, and served as press secretary in a political campaign.

“When I walked into Kellogg I said, I’m not going to hang back. If I’m going to be here, I’m going to be a member of the community.”

She set about meeting people - at the Elks, at political meetings, over darts, at golf tournaments. She produced a newsletter on women’s issues, and when that failed to get the response she wanted, she volunteered to write a monthly column on the same topic for The Silver Valley Voice. She worked on Mary Lou Reed’s campaign for state Senate, and last year spearheaded an effort to get out the women’s vote in Shoshone County.

“I had to separate out the women voters myself, separate them and put them in precincts. Then I had women phoning women to get out the vote,” she recalled.

There’s no telling what project Peters will adopt next.

“I’m not going to be happy until men and women are just human beings and gender is dropped,” she declared. “Until then, I’m sure not going to sit back and knit. That’s just not what I’m about.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Bekka Rauve is a freelance writer who lives in the Silver Valley. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.