Women Who Changed the World

Last month, it was celebrated the International Women’s Day. This day is celebrated because 190 years ago, some American women left their jobs and protested to demand the rights of the women workers in a cotton factory of Chicago. In 1910, 8ht of March was established as the International women’s day, promoted by some north-European women, like Aleksandra Kolontái o Nadezhda Krúpskaya.

The first celebration of this day was in 1911, when women in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark demanded women the right to vote and to hold public office for women. They also demanded the right to work, professional training and non-discrimination in the workplace. In 1975 the first feminist strike was celebrated in Iceland. That day women didn’t go to their workplaces and they left the child to their husbands.

Although from that day those women needed to reclaim their right to vote or to have an education, the situations of the women had changed a lot in the developed countries, but there is still being a lot of work to do in terms of equality. It’s necessary to finish with the violence against women, the inequality between men and women in the salaries, the sexual harassment or smaller forms of male chauvinism.

And not all the women have had a life as easy as mine to do things like studying or giving my opinion freely. For this reason, I want to explain to you some women that have helped us to reclaim our rights or that had changed our world with their actions.

Flora Tristán (France, 1803-1844)

She was a French socialist writer and activist for the women’s rights, and one of the founders of the modern feminism. She wrote “The Emancipation of Woman”, where she protested about the inferiority of the women in the marriage. Flora Tristan has provided much in the progressing excavation of women’s role in the history.

Susan Brownell Anthony (USA, 1820-1906)

She was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. He also fought against slavery from the age of 17. He travelled thousands of kilometres across the USA and in Europe giving between 75 and 100 speeches per year about the suffrage and the women’s right, for approximately 45 years.

Sojourner Truth (USA, 1797-1883)

She was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826, with only 29 years. After going to court to recover her son, in 1828 she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. Her best-known speech was delivered in 1851 in Ohio and had the title "Ain't I a Woman?"

 Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (France, 1884-1971)

She was a French revolutionary designer of feminine fashion and businesswoman. The creations of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel were originals and had the objective to make the women’s life easier. In the XX century the women were dressed with corsets, with big hats and always with skirts. She popularised the use of trousers in women, and her feminine granger were elegant and comfortable.

Kathrine Switzer (USA, 1947)

After her coach insisted a marathon was too far to run for a "fragile woman", she became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 as a numbered entry. During her run, a race official attempted to stop Switzer and grab her official bib; however, he was shoved to the ground by Switzer's boyfriend, Thomas Miller, who was running with her, and she completed the race. It was not until 1972 that women were allowed to run the Boston Marathon officially.

Marie Skłodowska Curie  (Poland, 186- 1934)

She was a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity and discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice, the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences. She was also the first woman to become a teacher at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be buried on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.

Emma G. Casanova

3rd ESO A