Being a history degree major, I’ve always been interested in the role women have played in shaping important medical, political, economic and social development during the past. So for this blog, I thought I’d share with you some women who have influenced and impacted on the modern day woman, perhaps without you even knowing… Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman awarded the M.D. degree. Elizabeth wished to attain full professional status. All the major medical schools in the USA rejected her, because of her sex. The student body, who thought her application was a joke by another rival school, ultimately accepted her application to Geneva Medical School! Working with quiet determination she earned her medical degree in 1849. She worked overseas and then returned to New York but was barred from city hospitals. So, she set up her own infirmary and eventually she founded a Women's Medical College to train other women physicians. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the most significant book in the early feminist movement. Her tract “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” laid down a clear moral and practical basis for extending human and political rights to women. Helena Rubinstein formed one of the world’s first cosmetic companies. Her business enterprise proved immensely successful and later in life she used her enormous wealth to support charitable enterprises in the field of education, art and health. Wife and political aide of American president F.D.Roosevelt, Eleanor made a significant contribution to the field of human rights, a topic she campaigned upon throughout her life. As head of UN human rights commission she helped to draft the 1948 UN declaration of human rights. Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man indirectly led to some of the most significant civil rights legislation of American history. She sought to play down her role in the civil rights struggle but for her peaceful and dignified campaigning she became one of the most well respected figures in the civil rights movements. The common thread that bonds these women is that they trusted their own judgement. They fought for a cause they believed in and stood up to people who tried to tell them it could not be done. They have impacted they way we live today from being able to be a doctor, your right to vote, your right to dress how you wish and look like you want, the protection of your rights as a human and the right to stand up and refuse to accept unjust laws and regulations simply based on your colour or nationality. Women like this have paved the way to allow the women of today the rights and freedoms that we have. For me, International Woman Day makes me reflect on the enormous contribution and influence woman have had in the world since the beginning of time and the huge potential we have to change the future for our self and more importantly our daughters. |
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