In today’s world, gender-based hostility feels like it’s at an all-time high. Women no longer need a man for financial stability, careers or independence. Some men, feeling threatened by inability to keep up, have adopted the toxic mindset that women are better left in the kitchen and should stick the household duties. Shockingly, this outdated view is gaining popularity – recent studies like a 2020 Pew study found that 4 in 10 Republican men think women’s gains have come at the expense of men. The main argument? That women have allegedly not contributed to innovation or natural sciences in the last decades, so why change anything now?
And while this narrative makes many women rightfully angry, let me help you counter this statement in your next debate. Because the truth is, there have always been women fighting for visibility and driving innovation – often without receiving proper credit. From groundbreaking technology to everyday conveniences, women have helped shape modern life more than most people realize. Let’s dig in!
Women that powered the auto revolution
And I mean that quite literally. Picture this: you’re driving home for Thanksgiving. It’s pouring rain, visibility is terrible, and you’re trying to stay safe on the road. Before 1903, you would’ve needed to stop every few minutes to scrape of moisture manually from your windshield. Which is not only time consuming, but you will also end up arriving completely drenched and in a bad mood. Good for us, that a smart woman like Mary Anderson existed. She wasn’t an engineer in any way, but she was a clever entrepreneur who saw the opportunity. She designed the first windshield scraper – and even made it removable when not needed. How cool is that?
While we’re on the topic of cars – can you imagine going anywhere without Apple or Google maps? Yeah, me neither. While Mary Anderson made driving safer in 1903, Gladys West helped make modern navigation possible. She developed the mathematical modeling of Earth’s shape, which became the foundation of GPS technology. West was a brilliant computer programmer and project manager for satellite data analysis. She helped calculate that Earth isn’t a perfect sphere but an ellipsoid – a crucial detail for satellite placement and navigation accuracy.
Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.
~ G.D. Anderson
Speaking of GPS, let’s talk about communication. I’m sure every one of us uses FaceTime or Zoom on a daily basis. You can thank a woman named Marian Croak for that. She wanted to improve people’s life through technology. Well, I think we can all agree that she was able to achieve that! She dreamed of something more than just phone lines. Her breakthrough came when she figured out how to convert voice data into digital signal, allowing it to be transmitted over the internet. This is the foundation of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) – a fancy word for the tech behind WhatsApp calls, FaceTime, Zoom and others. She was also able to create the technology that helped users like you and I donate money to organizations via text messaging.
Home Sweet Her-Made Home
And you want to tell me women were just serving dinner in the 19th century? Absolutely not! Josephine Cochrane invented the very first effective dishwasher in 1886! (Not going to lie – I didn’t know they existed that long ago either). While others have attempted to create one, they weren’t really cleaning anything and no one was keen on getting those. But Cochrane changed the game here completely. She was the first to think of using water pressure instead of scrubbers to get rid of the dirt.
Alice H. Parker made our houses warm and cozy with the first gas heater in 1919. And let’s not forget Melitta Bentz, who made sure our coffee was smooth and delicious with the invention of the coffee filter in 1908.
So no – women haven’t just been supporting characters in history. They’ve been behind the wheel, behind the code, and behind the inventions we rely on every single day.
The modern day literally wouldn’t exist without them.