[Source: Janie Magruder, Arizona Republic] -- Arizona women have made important contributions in farming, ranching, education, government, labor, culture, and domestic history. But you wouldn't know it by history books, which devote as little as 2 percent of their content to American women's achievements, even though women and girls comprise more than 50 percent of the population. A new project, the Arizona Women's Heritage Trail, aims to bridge that knowledge gap.
A partnership of organizations that includes the Arizona State University Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office, and women's studies departments at the three state universities, the multicultural trail should open in time for the state's centennial in 2012. That year also is the 100th anniversary of Arizona women gaining the right to vote, eight years before a federal constitutional amendment granted women suffrage nationwide. The trail isn't what you think -- it won't be a walking, biking, or hiking trail crisscrossing the state. Rather, says project director Joan Meacham, it's envisioned as a collection of ideas, from tourism materials and a Web site to markers at significant historical sites, audio tours, and school curricula. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]
