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WOMEN WHO CHALLENGED GENDER ROLES

Added on: 10th Feb 2016

 

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

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

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

McClintock_Nobel_Lecture

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

Adolphe_Alexandre_Dillens_-_Capture_of_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

Helen Thomas And Barack Obama 2009

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

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

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

Portrait_of_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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