By Mary O’KEEFE

Looking at Women’s History Month I turned to my two daughters to have them share with me women they admire. Last week my youngest daughter chose Sylvia Earle, a diver who broke barriers and set records in underwater science exploration.

My eldest daughter is a physicist and works as an engineer, so you might think the women she admires are all about science – and there are several who fall into that category – but when I asked her to give me the name of a woman she admires for this column she said I was her first choice. (What a good daughter … but no.) Then she said actress Meryl Streep was her choice.

Streep graduated from Vassar College with a degree in drama and costume design. She worked in summer stock theatre and studied drama at Yale University. She earned a master’s degree in fine arts in 1975. She moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut that same year; she was in films like “Julia.” But it was her performance in the 1978 film “The Deer Hunter” that got her a lot of recognition. For those who haven’t seen this film, you should. It is a disturbing story of the devastating effects the Vietnam War had on some of our veterans.

In 1979, Streep was in the movie “Kramer vs. Kramer” and though nowadays it may not seem like a ground breaking film it was when it was released because a mom left her family and the dad had to pick up the slack. There had been hundreds of films where a woman was left alone but for a mom to leave – well, that was something different. Streep’s portrayal, however, showed the audience that women, specifically moms, were human and struggled with depression and other mental issues that were at times overwhelming. Although the film focused on the father and child, every time Streep was on screen we could see and feel her pain. She followed this film with works like “Sophie’s Choice,” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” and “Out of Africa.”

Her diversity as an actress is legendary and includes everything from comedy to tear jerkers and historical films. And, of course, to the joy of both my daughters, she was Donna in “Mamma Mia!”

Streep is respected in her career and often uses the platform that comes with that fame as a way to speak for others ­– those who do not have that podium – like she did when accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2017 Golden Globes. There she defended a reporter who had been mocked by a candidate during a political campaign.

“And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence,” she said.

But this is nothing new for the actress. In 2015 she sent a letter to every member of Congress urging them to revive the battle to ratify into the Constitution the Equal Rights Amendment.

“I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment,” she wrote.

In 1989, she co-founded the environmental group Mothers & Others. For 12 years it focused on protecting the health of children, the environment and to support organic and sustainable agriculture. This organization’s achievement was seen in the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act regulating pesticides on food, according to discoverthenetworks.org.

She has supported girl/women organizations and is a voice for equal pay within her own industry.

I think my daughter admires Meryl Streep because the actress could easily just sit back and say nothing. She could do her job and then go home but she uses her celebrity to help others. In an interview years ago, she was asked if she was a feminist; she responded she was a “humanist.” This term casts a broader net. It is not just defending women but defending others.

I understand not wanting the “feminist” title, wanting to fight for equality for all, but for me feminism is something with which I still identify. The word feminism has been used as a shield and a dagger. I remember my babysitter taking me to a “burn your bra” event, and although I didn’t exactly understand the meaning I loved the sisterhood it seemed to create. As I have said before, my mom, grandma and many women in my family didn’t quietly sit back while other women were being mistreated.

My mom had to work in a man’s world; she was not loud but quietly changed the rules right under the noses of her male counterparts. When I was a young adult, feminism was used as a derogatory term. If you spoke out for women’s rights, you were called a feminist as if it were an insult. There were times when I did get loud, especially when the subject of equal rights and equal pay came up, but there were times when I was quiet to prove a point.

I remember working on a film years ago. I was working as a special effects electrician, something one of the other crewmembers did not like. He was very vocal about why there should not be a female crewmember on the set. He questioned everything I did and always had an opinion. I just did my job (and did it a lot better than he did his, by the way). When we wrapped, another male crewmember came over to me and asked if this guy’s behavior was normal. I said, “Yes. Every single day, and every single job.” He apologized to me and said he didn’t think that he responded the same way to female crewmembers but would make certain in the future he gave them the respect they deserved.

I guess no matter what you call yourself it really doesn’t matter as long as you stand up. And I guess it does make sense that Streep likes the term humanist because it includes others, it is a very “female” thing to do, to want to protect not just ourselves but others too.

Temperatures from today through Tuesday will be mild, from mid-60s to low 70s. There will be a lot of cloudy days with a slight chance of showers on Saturday morning, which may include some winds with gusts up to 25 mph.