Over the years, women have not only done amazing things and become famous for them, but have been so strong and in support of men, (who have gotten their reputation because of the women in their lives) that it astounds me that they can be so easily overlooked. It frustrates me no end the popular and modern culture does not recognise more, the contributions of women. Isn't that what the feminist movement is all about? Aren't women seeking the recognition for their contribution to this world? Aren't wee seeking more opportunity?
There have been women philosophers... there have been women doctors, there have been women rulers, there have been women warriors... and on and on it goes. If you don't know them let me introduce you to a few of the ones that come to my mind...
Joan of Arc.... some say that she was crazy because she sad that she had God-given visions, but she died most gruesomely at the hands of the English. She fought for the peasants of France and I believe she was caught in the crossfire between the church... which she loved, and politics. She had a Cause.... And how many of us would love to have the backbone to stand up for what we believe in.... (I'm trying)
Cleopatra.... she was just scary with her power, beauty, brains, and influence. Let alone her hutspa when it came to not being taken alive... I'm not sure I could hold a snake and wait for it to bite.
Katherine the Great... also a scary ruler who knew how to control one of the largest and greatest empires in the world...
Eleanor of Aquitane who was connected to every powerful family in Europe.
Pocohontas who was really the first female American diplomat and Shirley Temple (who's actually in the painting) could only hope to stand in her shoes.
More modern rulers would be Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Hilary Rotham Clinton is another powerful and political woman, though she should have kicked him where it hurts... maybe she did! Then there's Condoleeza Rice who was the Secretary Of State under George W. Bush, Eva Peron who married the president of Argentina and then ran for the presidency after her husband died. Benazir Bhutto who died only a few years ago and was intent on bringing Pakistan into the modern world... too bad she died. I wonder what the world would be like if she hadn't...
Then there's Aung San Suu Kyi... bet you are not aware of her. She is the leader of the Democratic party in Burma and has spent 15 years under house arrest as her country tries to shut her up for speaking about the rights of the people of her country.
Then there is Janet Reno who is less political and more legal... as Attorney General of the US, she must wield a bit of pow'r! And what about Sandra Day O'Conner who probably paved the way for some of these other American women.
Moving right along and out of politics and into health/medical fields, we have...
Agnodice who was a physician in the 4th century BCE who disguised herself in order to practice medicine without reprisal.
Florence Nightingale.... nurse extraordinaire of the Crimean War... who first established nursing as a profession and founded the first professional nursing school in the world.
Clara Barton who established the Red Cross... Yup now there's someone to look up too!
Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first woman doctor in the US and became a leader in encouraging and teaching other women to become doctors as well.
Gertrude Belle Elion who waas a pioneer of research into drugs that eventually led to AZT for the AIDS virus.
Margaret Sanger who was a nurse and sexual educator and established Planned Parenthood.
And of course we can't forget the very modern Dr. Ruth who taught us all to lighten up about our sexuality.
In other areas of science we have Sally Ride... first woman astronaut. Well if they can do it why can't we, and I should include our very own Canadian astronaut... Roberta Bondar who's right up there with all those early astronauts... ra ra sis boom ba! And then there is Simone de Beauvior who was a Philosopher extraordinaire. Also we can't forget Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper who was a significant contributor to this thing that I am typing on and you are reading from without her we would probably still be reading our news off newsprint!
Then we have civil rights activist and humanitarians in general... Of course Joan of Arc again was political but she was more so a humanitarian as she tried to free the french peasants from the rule of the English.
But we have all kinds of women in the bible who were humanitarians... all those Mary's... we can't forget them.
... but closer to home our time we have Lady Diana who almost took down the British Royalty single handedly and brought attention to the disease AIDS, and reminded us that children have a right to walk to school without the worry of having their wee bodies blown to smithereens on a land mine. Claudette Colvin who fought against bus segregation. Susan B. Anthony, who fought for the suffragettes at the turn of the century... its a different kind of civil rights movement than that of black activists but still it comes down to basic human rights... right?
Harriet Tubman who secreted many slaves to safety on the underground train... certainly you learned of her in school.
Mary Harris Jones (also known as Mother Jones) of the US fought for the right to strike for many including and probably most importantly, miners.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a humanitarian indeed. As co-founder of Freedom House she was crucial to the formation of the UN.
Lady Baden Powell, (who is a personal hero...) established the Girl Guides and the Guiding way for many young girls and women. She helped to establish a bursary that to this day helps girls meet their dreams. How can we forget someone like her. She helped us to throw off our skirts and don hiking boots and canvas pants so that we could go out and investigate the wild and wondrous world around us.
Amelia Earhart who taught us to reach out to the sky and fly with our dreams.... she died over the Pacific ocean circumnavigating the world and in search of her own dreams.
And Jane Goodall who befriended gorillas in the jungles of Africa... and reminded us that we humans are still apples that haven't fallen far from the tree.
Then for those sport enthusiasts... we have Nadia Komenich who won award after award with her gymnastics routines in the 70s... and is still WOW!
Billy Jean King.... does anyone remember her playing tennis.... man she was awesome. She won "the Battle of The Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's singles champion, for $100,000, winner take all.
There's tons more but it is so badly acknowledged that when I Googled it I could only find derogatory stuff regarding women in sports like info on sports bras and hotty women in sports that make it worth watching women sports programs ( if you could see me now there would be disgust dripping from every orifice in my body... it might be gross but I can't tell you how incensed I am)!!!!
Historical women authors of fame and influence would include... Beatrix Potter, and Emily Dickensen and certainly Jane Austin.
Then we have popular culture women who are influential (and we have only yet to learn how influential they are). Lets see... Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Gloria Steinem is also influential... in the women's movement. And, I would have to say, though I'm not a fan, Margaret Atwood to a lesser degree than these other women.... especially here in Canada. It's a sad state of affairs, and I don't think she belongs with the likes of Florence Nightingale, but (sigh)... Lady Gaga who is certainly no worse than Cher or Madonna.... has huge influence over our young people. Still, all 3 do have the WOW factor and certainly have a rock em sock em attitude and feel they can do anything.
I'll end on that note by saying that I can only hope that young women today don't allow sexuality and the prominent display of it to be the founding factor of the feminist movement for the future.... anyone can jiggle their boobs. (I do it regularly as I move around casually... not that I want to)! But it is not everyone who can bring our gender... and our species forward into the future with shining possibilities. We are the women of the past, the present, and the future... there are so many things that we can do... and that's the best part. Feminism is all about inspiration.... inspiration to reach for the stars and find them.
Go girls !!!!
PS... I'm exhausted... all that inspiration ... it just tires me out... ; }
3 comments:
A few comment were made to me about this post and that person had difficulty getting her remarks up here so she emailed them to me.. I will include them here in part.
Your rant about feminism brought up some valid point, IMO. Our society not only is prone to a patriarchal mindset, but for some reason a lot of the female population seems to buy into it. It's almost like it's hardwired somehow. Witness how hard our national women's hockey team had to work to get due recognition - and still functions on a fraction of the financial support, despite wide agreement that the women's game is "real" hockey and perhaps more interesting than the men's game. Other national women's teams are afflicted with the same praise for skill/financial neglect syndrome.
And with regard to your lists of notable women, I was a smidge dismayed at the high proportion of American women among the modern choices. Mind, I do have an inbred tendency to view anyone political with a jaundiced eye. Haven't decided if it's the Irish in me or what. However - what about Shirley Douglas, Flora MacDonald (don't care much for the Conservative party, but SHE impressed me throughout her career), Sharon Carstairs, Maude Barlowe, or closer to home, Jenny Kwan and - damn I wish I had a better memory for names - her teammate who did a yeoman job trying to be a fully functional opposition in the face of Gordon Campbell's first, and totally contemptuous, government? Further back in history - the names that resonate with me are women like Grainne Ni Miaille (also known as Grace O'Malley) an Irish chieftain, trader and sometime pirate, who actually met Queen Elizabeth I face to face to discuss governance in her part of Ireland. Or Boudicca, British Queen and war leader, who led a rebellion that came dangerously close to driving the Romans back into the sea. If I went actively digging, I think I could probably track down a few more, but those are all that my memory threw up. As mentioned, I have a lousy memory for names, especially among political types. (Love Margaret Atwood, though - not so much for her writing, though she has written some good stuff, but for her vision and sense of humour. She has a vocal style that should be boring, yet she is one the most interesting interviewees of this era.
See further for my response.
My response was this.
Thanks you for your comments on my Feminist blog... yes I did notice that my blog had a very Western slant... however I really don't know many of the females that are important to Eastern societies and I also think that there has been more done by Western women since we have had the ability to fight more so for our equal rights than in some of the third world and Muslim countries. I did try to include some more modern women who are from outside the US. I did think of Boudicca but decided in the end to leave her out since much is not known for sure about her and there is some debate as to whether Boudicca is actually a woman! Jenny Kwan in my eyes is not someone to look up to...she has grossly undermined the NDP party here in BC and very few people outside of politics would even have heard of her! Sharon Carstairs is certainly a politician supreme here in Canada... but I'm not sure her influence has gone further astray... and sorry but I had to look Maude Barlowe up. I had never heard of Grace O'Malley but wish I had as I certainly would have included her. I should have included Shirley Douglas but again I'm not sure how far reaching beyond Canadian borders her work as an activist has extended. I was just thinking about Terry Fox's mom and certainly should have included her as her work with the Cancer society has certainly had world repercussions... but because we are so limited about remembering famous women names, her name escapes me at the moment... I'd have to look up her first name for sure... Flora MacDonald did not contribute anything to the world stage but certainly at home here in Canada she is a woman of great stature, as was Barbara Frum. I could go on and on with actresses who have done good in the world... American, Canadian and British.. but felt that the ladies that I chose were representative of the kinds of things that could be done... and a good cross section... again the US was weighted just because of their media coverage and their rights being protected by law... I'm sure with all that is going on in the Muslm countries we will hear more and more about influential women and humanitarians... Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, I'm sure there will be more and more as time goes by... mostly I was looking for names of women that were easily recognizable that hadn't been included in the painting, which was what started the whole thing turning in my mind in the first place.
Awesome thoughts on the topic though...
where's the "like" button!?!?!? lovely post, frankie.
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