Political Quotes

“I am pleased to bring forward a bill celebrating women from all walks of life who, in difficult, dark days chose to rise to the occasion and serve their country. They did not let themselves be confined to archaic notions of what women can or cannot do, nor did they let others dictate what a woman's place is in society. Let me remind my colleagues that these Rosies were also Rositas, who came from all parts of our country, including our Hispanic community. I would like to read from an interview with Aurora Orozco, one of the Rositas from Cuero, Texas, who laid out how so many Latinas contributed. ``In the valley there were these packing sheds where they packed tomatoes and lettuce . . . there were not enough men to work, so they started hiring women. So that is when it started to change a little more in women's lives. They were calling from the government for women to go and work in the factories . . . then they started calling women into the Army. ``And first it was like, oh, my goodness, `dios mio,' how can these women go over there by themselves? Everybody was shocked because we were not used to seeing women leave the house. You didn't leave the house until you were married. With senoritas, everything was so strict and then came this change . . . and I think that was wonderful because it opened a new world for women. It showed that women can be independent.…”