WOMEN WHO CHALLENGED GENDER ROLES
Added on: 10th Feb 2016
SUSAN B. ANTHONY
One of America’s most famous campaigners for women’s suffrage
(voting rights), Susan B. Anthony was a spirited woman who
defied any gender role she felt to be unjust. Much of her dedication
comes from an old schoolteacher who told her it was irrelevant for
her to learn maths because “a girl needs to know how to read the
Bible and count her egg money, nothing more.” The founder of the
National Women’s Suffrage Association, Anthony infamously refused
to pay a $100 fine for voting illegally in the 1872 election.
JANE ADDAMS
A co-founder of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union),
Jane Addams is a legendary American civil rights campaigner.
Even selected by the 1915 International Congress of Women to
head the commission to find an end to World War I, Addams is most
famous for founding Hull House: a neighbourhood centre in Chicago
aiming to alleviate poverty, the mixing of classes, and research
neighbourhood issues.
BARBARA MCCLINTOCK
Barbara McClintock was a pioneer in cytogenetics: the study of a
cell’s genetic structure and function, especially the chromosomes
and their role in reproduction. Compared to Gregor Mendel in
importance during her reception of the 1983 Nobel Prize for
Physiology or Medicine, McClintock was instrumental in studying
maize and how its chromosomes changed during reproduction.
JOAN OF ARC
One of the better known heroines who defied gender roles of her time,
Joan of Arc is one of France’s most highly-regarded war figures.
The French prince was so moved by Joan’s resolve that he gave
her armour and troops to fight the English in France. Joan of Arc
started bad blood with the English by kicking them out of the city of
Orleans at only 17 years old and beating them in successful battles
of the Hundred Years’ War. She is famously known for being burnt
at the stake at the hands of England’s French allies. Almost 500
years after her death, she was canonized and made a patron
saint of France in 1920.
HELEN THOMAS
A staple in the White House Correspondent’s Room for almost half a
century, Helen Thomas reported on the regimes of 11 Presidents,
from Dwight D. Eisenhower all the way through to Barack Obama.
The first female officer of the National Press Club and first female
member and president of the White House Correspondents’
Association.
HEDY LAMARR
One of Hollywood’s pioneering film stars, Hedy Lamarr was more
than just a pretty face meant for the silver screen. Lamarr’s interest
in applied science led to the development of technologies which laid
the groundwork for Wi-Fi, CDMA, and Bluetooth. Had the U.S. Navy
accepted her work earlier, it’s possible World War II would have
ended sooner, too.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
One of the founders of the feminist movement, Mary Wollstonecraft
stood up to the idea of her time that women were objects and
useful for few things outside the home. Arguing that women were
not inferior to men but merely appeared so due to a lack of education,
Wollstonecraft advocated for a society dominated by reason and
authored many famous pieces on women’s place in society.
MARIE CURIE
Marie Curie’s accomplishments rattle off a long list. The first woman
in Europe to earn a PhD and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
(which she did twice, in Physics and Chemistry), Curie was also the
first female professor at the prestigious University of Paris.
Polish by birth, Marie Sklodowska Curie developed a theory of a
radioactivity (a term she coined) and found the elements
radium and polonium (which she named after her native Poland).
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