There was a time when women didn’t contribute much to society because men prevented them or didn’t listen to them. They laughed when we wanted the right to vote. Today, gender inequality still exists in various forms. Despite men’s rash and unfair opinions, many women decided they would take history into their own hands and change it. March is Women’s History Month, and to celebrate this, here are some women who made large achievements that contributed to the world we live in today.
Marie Curie – Marie was a Polish woman from the late 19th and early 20th century. She is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize Award and the only woman to win a Prize in two different fields: Physics and Chemistry. She worked with her husband, Pierre and discovered polonium and radium. After Pierre died, Marie went on to discover x-rays. The medical world would be vastly different had Marie Curie not be a part of our history.
Amelia Earhart – In 1923, Amelia became the 16th woman to get her pilot’s license. She’s really famous for being the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by flight in 1928. However in this flight she was just a passenger. Her first solo flight occurred in 1932. In 1937, she disappeared while trying to go around the globe from the equator. Various artifacts of hers have been left scattered across pacific islands. Had Amelia Earhart not had the determination to achieve her highest goals, the road may not have been as paved for women who dreamt of being pilots.
Sandra Day O’Connor – Sandra entered her career in government work through her first position as a senator, appointed in 1969 by the Governor of Arizona. She was sent to fill a vacancy and ended up winning two reelections. In 1974, she took a different route and ran for judge of Maricopa County’s Superior Court. In 1979, she was selected to serve on the state’s court of appeals. But by far her greatest leap occurred two years later when President Ronald Regan nominated her for associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and she was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court. She served 24 years on the court before she retired in 2006. She served as the last vote on many cases and was a pioneering force that drove the Supreme Court to where it is today.
Rosa Parks – Rosa sparked many changes in the Civil Rights Movement in 1955. She got on the bus after a long day at work. Although Montgomery did not have a rule requiring blacks to give up their seats to white passengers, bus drivers had adopted this custom. If the black passenger refused, then the bus driver had the right to refuse service and call the police to escort them off. On this day, Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. She felt that she shouldn’t have to give up her seat. She was tired of giving in. She was arrested and taken to police headquarters. Her actions spurred the Montgomery Bus Boycott and many other efforts to end segregation.
Harriet Tubman – Harriet was born a slave in 1820. In 1849, she successful escaped slavery in the South. She returned many times to help others escape from the plantation system. She led them to the North to their freedom and became known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad. This secret network saved the lives of many slaves. Harriet became a leading abolitionist in the North. But she did much more than this. Throughout the civil war, she worked for the Union Army as a cook and a nurse, but she soon became and armed scout and a spy. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, which liberated more than 700 slaves.
Jane Goodall – The London born scientist wanted to study chimpanzees, so she set out for Tanzania to sit among them. This approach when well beyond the normal conditions for experiments but led to many discoveries about their behavior. Things such as social systems and even potential languages they communicated with. This information shaped science and its future discoveries. She is a well-respected woman in the science community.
Maya Angelou – Maya Angelou is a poet and civil rights activist. Her best-seller is a memoir published in 1969 called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This book made literary history when it became the first non-fiction bestseller by an African-American woman. She is an inspiration to many and throughout her life, she spread her wisdom to the young and the old of this country. Her many works delved into the prejudice and adversity she faced throughout her life. Despite the various things that tried to knock her down, she got back up and persevered, continuing to follow her dreams and work towards her life goals.