In Praise of Mountain Women
Roundtable Meeting
8 June 2002
Scott County, Virginia, USA

We Need to Gather and Celebrate

Women in Appalachia, like women throughout the world, have lived in isolation and not been allowed to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. These women have typically been without economic, social or personal power. Although they nurture faith in the families and communities, they have little voice in the policies or celebrations of their institutional churches and belief systems. Unspoken but well-enforced cultural taboos have also kept women silent in situations of physical and emotional abuse. A woman who attended the first gathering of 160 women said, "In the past, if the many women had gotten together they would have been burned as witches." A patriarchal society benefits from the isolation of women.

This gathering grew out of a project begun in 1985 by the Women's Task Force of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia. It is organized by the In Praise of Mountain Women Round Table, a coalition of women from various groups located mainly in southwest Virginia. The Women's Round Table reflects that in recent years women have been the forerunners of community economic development and the protectors of the environment. The Round Table wishes to gather women from a wide range of backgrounds to share their stories, to draw strength from the cultural experience, and to celebrate the rising of women's spirit.