She’s the Schneiderman who championed women’s rights in the 20th century. By Dr. Jennifer Scanlon Associate Professor and Director of Women’s Studies Bowdoin College Surname: Schneiderman. Jewish. Raised in New York City. Progressive politician. Ally to women. Ally to working people. Ally to immigrants and people of color. Enemy of sexual harassment and assault. Fiery[…]
During the war, the poster on the left, painted by J. Howard Miller, was only on display for only two weeks. Norman Rockwell’s, on the other hand, was seen by millions. Nick Lehr/The Conversation During the war, few Americans actually saw the ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster that’s become acultural icon. By Dr. Sarah Myers and Dr. G. Kurt Piehler / 05.25.2018 Myers: Assistant Professor of History,[…]
Florence Kelley (center) / Public Domain By Dr. Miriam Forman-Brunell Professor of History, Women, and Gender University of Missouri-Kansas City Missing Stories The central story in many textbooks is one of tireless reformers committed to protecting the poor and helping vulnerable children by eliminating child labor and expanding education. Working on all levels, reformers expanded[…]
By Kimberly J. Largent Editor Charge the Cannons Publishing The Early Years Mary Todd Lincoln, the most criticized and misunderstood first lady, experienced more than her share of tragedy during her lifetime. From the time she was six, her life took a melancholy turn from which she never recovered. She suffered from depressive episodes and migraine[…]
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman: a true Amazonian, she is trained in a range of skills in both combat and hunting. Atlas Entertainment, Cruel & Unusual Films, DC Entertainment Since the epics of the Homeric poets, there have been tales of the mysterious, war-like Amazon women. The myth is likely based on the ‘strong, free’ women of the nomadic Scythian tribe. By Dr. Marguerite Johnson / 03.29.2017 Associate Professor of Ancient History[…]
Women’s contribution to art history might have to be revised – for the better. Dean Snow/Society for American Archaeology In France’s Pech Merle cave, which is around 25,000 years old, many hand prints were indeed female. By Dr. Janine Burke / 10.20.2013 Art Historian, Research Fellow Monash University Back in the 70s, when I was writing a[…]
By Lynda Telford / 05.20.2018 Events and Projects Officer Richard III Society, Yorkshire Branch What was the way of life for most ordinary women during the early Middle Ages in England? The answer is surprising. In Anglo-Saxon England – before the Norman Conquest in 1066 – men and women enjoyed relatively equal rights and social,[…]
Tattoo on an ancient Egyptian female mummy / Creative Commons For thousands of years, tattoos have been indicative of the passage from girlhood to womanhood, of female power and female beauty. By Emily Poelina-Hunter / 06.01.2017 Lecturer in the Indigenous Studies Unit RMIT University Almost a quarter of Australian women now have tattoos – a trend some attribute to the influence of feminism. What I find interesting is that the mainstreaming of[…]
Mum’s gone to Iceland. Creatista/Shutterstock The traditional picture of Vikings is one of boatloads of hairy men pillaging their way along the coasts of Europe. True to some extent, they and Norsewomen were also explorers and settlers. By Dr. Daniel Zadik / 12.16.2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Nottingham The traditional picture of Vikings is one[…]
By Dr. Jenna Tonn / 03.15.2018 Visiting Assistant Professor in Science and Technology Studies Boston College The Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University hired Elizabeth Hodges Clark as a specimen sorter in 1873. The energetic Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz founded the MCZ in 1859 as a center for natural history teaching, research, and exhibition in the United[…]
Josephine Baker | AP By Chauncey K. Robinson / 03.01.2018 It seems only fitting with Black History Month closing out, and Women’s History Month beginning, to highlight a Black woman who exemplified strength and resilience in the face of discrimination and oppression. Famed entertainer Josephine Baker was not only a pioneer in breaking color barriers[…]
Searching for role models in the math world. ImageFlow/shutterstock.com By Dr. Jennifer Ruef / 03.12.2018 Assistant Professor of Education Studies University of Oregon When I was teaching mathematics in the 90s, before the internet, I had a book of “women mathematicians.” This was helpful for sharing inspirational stories with my middle school students, but there were[…]
Cornelia Africana / Wikimedia Commons By Dr. Peter Kruschwitz / 03.08.2018 Professor of Classics Fellow of the Pontifical Academy for Latin (Pontificia Academia Latinitatis) University of Reading In 195 B. C., Rome’s women had had enough. It had been for almost exactly twenty years that, due to a decision taken in 215 B. C., at the height of the Second Punic[…]
For 45 years, Susan B. Anthony traveled the U.S. relentlessly, stumping for women’s rights. She endured ridicule, was hanged in effigy and faced many horrid meals on the road. Nevertheless, she persisted. / Corbis via Getty Images By Nina Martyris / 03.08.2018 She was hanged in effigy and mocked in cartoons; laughed at by Congress for demanding[…]
Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm ran for President in 1972 By Dr. Kimberly A. Hamlin Associate Professor of History and Global and Intercultural Studies Miami University in Oxford, Ohio On June 7, 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton secured enough delegates to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. As everyone knows, this will make Clinton the first[…]
The 8th Quinquennial Council Meeting of the ICW in Vienna / Public Domain By Dr. Leila J. Rupp / 06.16.2011 Professor of Feminist Studies University of California Santa Barbara Introduction This article traces the formation of a first wave of transnational organizing among women from the late 19th century through the Second World War. The[…]
Members of the Grand Rapids League of Women Voters organized a city get-out-the-vote parade in 1924. Grand Rapids Herald, Sept. 9, 1924. Image courtesy of the Grand Rapids Public Library By Dr. Liette Gidlow / 01.26.2018 Associate Professor of U.S. Political and Women’s/Gender History Wayne State University The first year of Donald Trump’s presidency has inspired[…]
This group portrait monument to the pioneers of the woman suffrage movement, which won women the right to vote in 1920, was sculpted from an 8-ton block of marble in Carrara, Italy.The monument features portrait busts of three movement leaders: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott. / Architect of the Capitol By[…]
St Lukes Hospital, London: patients case book 1912-1916. Wellcome Library reference: H64/B06/015. What did it mean for a woman to be diagnosed with hysteria? By Charlotte Whittingham / 01.12.2016 Medical Student, Imperial College London Tour Guide and Volunteer Marketing Assistant, Freud Museum London A 1916 casebook from St Luke’s Hospital (then to be found on Old[…]
“Saint Catherine in Prayer,” by the 16th century painter Plautilla Nelli, was restored in 2008. Nelli was featured in 2017 as part of the Uffizi’s new focus on women artists of the past. / Advancing Women Artists Foundation By Anna Bensted / 12.22.2017 When it comes to art, the term “Old Master” is with us for a[…]
Elizabeth Bisland at the time of her trip, from the frontispiece to In Seven Stages / Author’s own scan. Exploring the life and writings of Elizabeth Bisland, an American journalist propelled into the limelight when she set out in 1889 – head-to-head with fellow journalist Nellie Bly – on a journey to beat Phileas Fogg’s fictitious 80-day circumnavigation[…]
Women and children participate in a drum circle in El Cajon, California. Studies have shown that recreational music-making in general and group drumming in particular can decrease stress and change the genomic stress marker. / Photo by Ari Honarvar How music is helping women from war-torn countries express grief and loss. By Ari Honarvar / 12.05.2017 More than three[…]
Women shipfitters working on board the USS Nereus at the U.S. Navy Yard in Mare Island, circa 1943. Department of Defense By Dr. Samuel Redman / 11.29.2017 Assistant Professor of History University of Massachusetts Amherst For many American families, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl struck like swift punches to the gut. New Deal work relief[…]
Fisherwomen have played a significant role in Iceland’s history, and yet their contribution has been, for the most part, overlooked. / Michelle Jones, Sapiens Many Icelandic women fished in the 18th and 19th centuries, but their work has been largely unrecognized. Why did these female seafarers fade from the country’s memory? By Roberta Kwok /[…]
Frances Glessner Lee working on one of her 19 Nutshells By Hillary Moses Mohaupt / 09.14.2017 When Frances Glessner Lee died in 1962, the New York Times obituary called her “a great-grandmother who became an authority on crime” and “a wealthy widow with a consuming interest in real-life mysteries.” The obituary goes on to note that Glessner Lee[…]
Baxter Engine, Souvenir of the Centennial Exhibition (1877), by George D. Curtis. (Google Books | Public Domain) By Robert Davis / 07.20.2017 Professor of History Wallace State College In 1876, the Centennial Exhibition, the first United States world’s fair, opened in Philadelphia to celebrate the nation’s 100 year anniversary. With its mission mandated by Congress to showcase “the nation’s progress in[…]
Maryam Mirzakhani, YouTube Screen Capture By Mehrdokht Poumader / 07.17.2017 Lecturer in Operations Management and Organizational Behavior Macquarie Graduate School of Management On July 14, Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford professor of mathematics and the only female winner of the prestigious Fields Medal in Mathematics, died at the age of 40. In just a few hours, her[…]
Simone de Beauvoir in Paris in 1949. / Photo from Elliot Erwitt, Magnum By Dr. Skye C. Cleary / 03.10.2017 Lecturer Columbia University, City College of New York Simone de Beauvoir is rightly best known for declaring: ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, woman.’ A less well-known facet of her philosophy, particularly relevant today, is[…]
The Intervention of the Sabine Women (detail), by Jacques-Louis David, 1799 / Louvre Museum, Paris By Dr. Katherine Huntley / 04.24.2017 Professor of Archaeology and Ancient History Boise State University Protesting was a key part of Roman political life. And protesting was fueled by the fact that the Roman Republic, from its founding in 509BCE[…]
Indonesian female Muslim students read books in a library. Dadang Tri/Reuters By Dr. Rachel Rinaldo / 06.06.2017 Assistant Professor of Sociology University of Colorado Recent terrorist attacks such as the one in London inevitably lead to coverage of Islamist ideology, Muslim culture and Muslim women’s rights. What is often missing, however, in my view is[…]