I am Woman, Hear me Roar

In 1966, an aspiring musician sat at her dressing table before a nationwide, live TV talent show in Melbourne Australia. It was the opportunity of a lifetime; one she had been preparing for since she was five-years-old.

The prize — a flight to New York City and a recording contract with Mercury Records.

Helen had just fled her abusive, alcoholic husband, who had assaulted her when she was pregnant. She had $230 to her name and needed to win this for herself and for her daughter.

But the contest was rigged.

Helen learned that a winner had been preselected. Heartbroken, she decided to perform anyway. She would make the judges face the music. Before walking on stage, she whispered her own personal mantra: “I am strong. I am invincible. I am woman.”

She gave them the performance of a lifetime. The contest was televised live and she was the obvious winner— to the audience, to the judges, and to her fellow contestants.

They all watched the judges argue awkwardly, scrambling to save face. Finally a winner was announced.

Helen found herself on the next flight to New York City with a journal full of songs and a heart full of dreams. She landed in Manhattan with her three year old daughter, a suitcase that contained everything she owned in the world, very little cash and an endless supply of hope.

She took a cab directly to Mercury Records to discuss her new recording contract. She didn’t know a soul in the states, so Helen arrived to the studio with her daughter in tow. This was immediately frowned upon.

Mercury Records balked at her recording contract, with an excuse that it was never guaranteed. They offered to buy her lunch and sent her on her way, explaining, “we just don’t need a female artist.”

Helen was stuck in a new country with no job, no home, and a little girl who looked up to her.

She closed her teary eyes, whispered that same personal mantra to herself, and went out to take any jobs she could find.

After being rejected by 27 labels, Helen repeated that same mantra.

Four years later when she was down to her last few dollars, all her hard work paid off. By 1970, Helen landed a spot on The Tonight Show…a performance that led to a contract with Capitol Records for two songs. 

After recording her songs, she drove from radio station to radio station handing out her EP. When one of her songs charted for nearly 22 weeks straight, Capitol Records offered her a full recording contract. For an entire album.

This was it. This was everything she wanted. But she was tired.

Tired of losing opportunities because of her gender. Tired of being frowned upon because she was a mother and frowned upon for working. Tired of being told to be quiet, even tempered and reasonable. Tired of lyrics about finding a husband, treating your man well, or being heartbroken over that man.

As a whole, women were second-class citizens with limited rights & opportunities. Helen wanted to amplify the voices of women just like her.

This time, she would make her own kind of music. After repeating the same old mantra she always used on herself:

“I am strong. I am invincible. I am Woman” — 

and she turned it into a hit song.

Helen channeled her exhaustion and frustration and wrote an entire album about the female experience. When she presented this song, the male executives looked directly past Helen, at her husband, and said, “That women’s lib crap is gonna kill her. Why are you letting your wife do this stuff?”

Helen wouldn’t take no for answer.

Capitol Records agreed to let her sing her own music. When the finished album arrived in the mail, Helen tucked it under her pillow, the place where she had dreamed the most.

It was released in 1971 — as Roe v Wade made its way from Texas to the US Supreme Court. At first, radio stations refused to play it. It was too political, too radical, too emotional, too aggressive, too loud, and too angry…

for a woman.

Imagine being afraid…of a SONG?

When Helen Reddy’s “I AM WOMAN” was finally given airtime, it resonated with women everywhere… 

& sold more than a million copies. Needless to say, the executives at Capitol Records quickly changed their tune. Through Helen’s lyrics, women discovered that their “problems” were not individual ones but issues deeply rooted in society.

“I am Woman” became their rally cry and a clear call for action during the Women’s Lib movement.

Helen’s song became the anthem for second wave feminism, a movement that profoundly changed women's rights.

It opened up avenues for women that never existed before in education, employment, finances and reproductive rights.

As for the song—

I AM WOMAN became a chart-topping hit that earned Helen a Best Pop Vocal Performance and a Grammy award in 1972.

Upon receiving the award, Helen gave an extra shout out to “God, because She makes everything possible”. 

“I AM WOMAN” remains feminism’s greatest anthem. Its empowering lyrics about roaring “in numbers too big to ignore” have been sung in women's marches around the world for the past six decades.

As you rock your babies and tell them stories of the women who fought tirelessly for our rights, do it all to the tune of Helen Reddy’s I AM WOMAN. And teach them to question the system.

When the world is afraid of a song, the song is not the issue.

Celebrate Helen Reddy with this retro chartreuse poster.

OR Wear the I AM WOMAN tee or onesie from The Lady Rocker’s Collection.

“The most exciting thing about women's liberation is that this century will be able to take advantage of talent and potential genius that have been wasted because of taboos.”

— HELEN REDDY