Jane Mendelsohn, author of I Was Amelia Earhart has written a good piece over at The New York Times about... Amelia Earhart. You would think that the world would be tired of the long-lost Amelia, but you would be wrong. Another world that hasn't forgotten her is the philatelic one. A quick check of the Earhart stamp related items on eBay gives a return of over 100.
In her time, Amelia was known as "The Lady Lindbergh" because men were the big deals in those days: if you didn't compare women to them people didn't know what the achieving females really were. But now, with the likes of Hillary Clinton singing the female flier's praises there is little doubt. Mendelsohn writes: "It is being said more frequently, more loudly and with more evidence and conviction that the 21st century is the century of women."
In my mind, there is little doubt that when the USPS ultimately selects the one it will honor on its first living person on a stamp stamp it will be a woman. And they won't have to describe her as a male anything.
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