Women are often overlooked when it comes to history. We know about famous men, but not many people know about the women who were just as important – if not more so! The truth is that there have been plenty of iconic historical figures who happened to be female. This blog post will discuss why famous women in history don’t get a lot of attention, and what you can do to change it.
Throughout the years, there have been plenty of historical figures who were female – but they often go unrecognized because people are more focused on male icons. This is largely due to the false belief that “women’s accomplishments are not as significant” and that “women’s contributions are less important.” As a result, many of the women who have made major impacts on history often go unmentioned.
Why Women in History Don’t Get a Lot of Attention
Women were supposed to stay home and take care of the kids. That meant their education was usually geared towards domestic duties.
They weren’t allowed to go to college, and once they got married, their husbands made all their decisions for them. They were basically his property.
If they had goals and aspirations, they had to either pretend to be a man, or work closely with a man and let him take the credit.
A lot of famous male authors were really women using a pen name. If they used their own name, they wouldn’t have been able to get published. Some of those great works of literature would surprise you. Just look at these famous authors:
George Elliot, George Sand, Harper Lee, Murray Constantine, and even Vernon Lee were all really women.
This type of bias towards famous men is called gender discrimination – which happens when someone makes decisions based solely on your sex without taking into account other factors such as experience or talent. It’s a form of sexism that has been influencing our society for centuries and is still present in modern culture today.
– In the 1800s, many women were denied access to education because their only goal was seen as domestic duties like cooking or taking care of children. In the 1800s, women were not even able to own property
– Not until 1867 did American woman even have the right to vote
– In the 1920s, women were not allowed to be judges
– It was not until 1964 when a woman first became the U.S. Secretary of State in modern history.
The lack of representation for women has had deep consequences on our society’s perception of them – from which jobs they are qualified for to how they should behave in social situations.
Some may argue that we don’t talk about historical women much because they are too hard for modern people to identify with. Ask yourself this: would you rather read a story about Sally Ride’s life or Neil Armstrong’s?
– In 1977, NASA announced that a woman would be joining the space program. This was after research revealed that women were better suited to handle certain aspects of the job than men.
– Sally Ride’s work with NASA helped make her the first American woman to travel into space. To date, Ride is one of only two women who have been inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.
The other female astronaut in this hall of fame was Janice Voss… but she never even flew a single mission.
This is where we get into gender roles and discrimination…We have come so far in this conversation but there is still more to say. SOOO much more to say.
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So – today I have for you some flashcards – of WOMEN who made great contributions in history. Some you may have already heard of – others may be new to you.
Keep in mind that famous women make up less than 30% of historical narrators and biographical subjects. And famous men are three times more likely to be highlighted as notable, according to recent research published by Purdue University. The absence can feel like an erasure – one that takes away from the importance of women in history.
Let’s change that!
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