Archive for March, 2009
March 31, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, womens issues · Tagged Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, Kennedy, Massachusetts, Notre Dame, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Special Olymics
It is with a heavy heart that I conclude my series on Women’s History Month. You may ask “Why?”
Because of the complete and total lack of interest, media attention, and involvement on the part of women to help ourselves. Women will go to bat for any ”minority” (who aren’t really minorities anymore but who simply have complained so long and loud that everyone has a knee jerk reaction to their slightest whine of complaint), in fact, they will fight for the rights of any group, except their own.
Sad. Women are still paid less than men, still have little rights over their own bodies, still have less rights under the law than do some minorities, and still live in a world of their own, where only their own tiny family is all they seem to care about. The big picture is being ignored and glossed over.
Society has taught us we don’t matter unless we defend the rights of any group that is underprivileged, as long as it’s not women!
With that said, I bring you the last entry in my attempt to credit brilliant women who have been ignored by history books.
************Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics
Eunice Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on July 10, 1921, the fifth of Rose and Joseph Kennedy’s nine children and their third daughter.
She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Noroton, Connecticut, and Manhattanville College, and received a B.S. degree in sociology from Stanford University in 1943.
Mrs. Shriver has been recognized throughout the world for her leadership on behalf of persons with intellectual disabilities, and has received numerous honors and awards, including: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Legion of Honor, the Prix de la Couronne Francaise, the Mary Lasker Award, the Philip Murray-William Green Award (presented to Eunice and Sargent Shriver by the AFL-CIO), the Association of Art Museum Directors Humanitarian Award, the National Recreation and Park Association National Volunteer Service Award, the Laetare Medal of the University of Notre Dame and the Order of the Smile of Polish Children.
Source Cited: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Biographies+and+Profiles/Biographies/Eunice+Kennedy+Shriver.htm
March 30, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in politics, women world leaders · Tagged Edith Cresson, famous firsts, France, Golda Meir, Great Britain, India, Indira Gandhi, Israel, Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, women in politics
The first woman prime minister of France from 1991-1992; and the fifth prime minister appointed by President François Mitterrand, Edith Cresson (born 1934) was named to the office May 15, 1991. Edith Cresson was born January 27, 1934, in a fashionable Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. Her father was a senior civil servant. Raised by a British nanny, she became fluent in the English language.
Cresson attended the School of Advanced Commercial Studies, earning a degree in business and later a doctorate in demography. A successful businesswoman, she added a second career in politics when she met François Mitterrand in 1965. For the next 26 years the future president helped Cresson advance through the ranks of what is now the French Socialist Party, calling her “my little soldier.”
After Mitterrand became president in 1981, Cresson served first as minister of agriculture (1981-1983), then as minister of external trade and tourism (1983-1984), as minister of industrial restructuring and external trade (1984-1986), and finally minister of foreign affairs (1988-1990).
She resigned from the government on October 3, 1990, to work as a consultant on international development. Meanwhile she was three times elected a deputy to the National Assembly from the Vienne province (1981, 1986, and 1988).
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/edith-cresson
Well known women world leaders: * Indira Gandhi, India, Prime Minister, 1966-77, 1980-1984; * Golda Meir, Israel, Prime Minister, 1969-1974; * Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain, Prime Minister, 1979-1990;
March 29, 2009
· Filed under Women artists, Women's History, womens issues · Tagged actress, director, Ida Lupino, Women artists
Ida Lupino’s search for greater creative control after acting in movies from the 1940-50s, led her to founding a production company with her husband. Serving as producer and director for films she was known to produce movies with controversial content.
Source Cited: http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue05/reviews/idalupino.htm
March 28, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in science · Tagged Conn., Hartford, N.Y., National Science Board, physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Shirley Ann Jackson, Troy, Vannevar Bush Award, women in physics
The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson is the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn., the oldest technological research university in the United States. Last year the National Science Board selected Dr. Jackson as its 2007 recipient of the prestigious Vannevar Bush Award for “a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy.”
Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from M.I.T. (1973) and a S.B. in physics from M.I.T. (1968). Her research specialty is in theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials.
Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., Hartford, Conn., M.I.T., physics, Vannevar Bush Award, National Science Board, women in physics,
March 27, 2009
· Filed under Native Americans, Women's History, environment, politics, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged activist, Anishinaabe, environmental, Native American, United Nations, Winona LaDuke, women in politics, women’s issues
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) is an internationally respected Native American and environmental activist. She began speaking about these issues at an early age, addressing the United Nations at the age of 18, and continues to devote herself to Native and environmental concerns, as well as political and women’s issues. LaDuke also served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections.
Source Cited: http://www.speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=79
Winona LaDuke, Anishinaabe, Native American, environmental, activist, United Nations, women’s issues, women in politics,
March 26, 2009
· Filed under Quotable Women, Women's History, women in politics, women world leaders · Tagged Aruba, Carnival, Maria Liberia-Peters, Netherlands Antilles, New York Times, Prime Minister, Shell Oil, Staten, women in politics, women world leaders
Maria Liberia-Peters, Netherlands Antilles; Prime Minister, 1984-1986, 1988-1993;
In 1982 Maria Liberia-Peters was elected to the Staten, or legislature, of the Netherlands Antilles. She quickly was appointed to be Minister of Economic Affairs by the coalition government in power. This government lasted only a short while before collapsing in 1984.
In September of that year Maria was asked to form a new coalition government, and she was sworn in as Prime Minister. She was soon demonstrating her independence as she chose to dance and participate in the annual Carnival parade instead of sitting in the traditional, reserved seat of the Prime Minister.
She told the New York Times that “she would not feel happy as a spectator … knowing that I am standing at the side.” Liberia-Peters went on to explain that “some people just feel it’s not appropriate for the prime minister. But she added, “In the first place I’m Maria and in the second place I’m the prime minister. So I’m going.” So participants in the parade could see her tall figure dressed in a green and pink lame dress dancing in the streets.
Maria Liberia-Peters served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles on two different occasions. The first time was brief, from 1984-86. The second time was from 1988-94.
She states that her biggest challenge was during the period when Shell and Lago Standard Oil had announced the intended closure of their huge oil refineries on Curacao and Aruba. Liberia-Peters was able to work out an agreement with the Venezuelan state owned oil company, PDVSA, to manage the refinery.
Maria was followed by *Susanne Camelia-Romer, Netherlands Antilles; Prime Minister, 1993, 1998-1999.
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/maria-philomena-liberia-peters
March 25, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in astronomy · Tagged Alexandria, astronomy, Christian, Egypt, Hellenistic Age, Hypatia of Alexandria, women in mathematics
Hypatia of Alexandria was a Greek scholar from Alexandria in Egypt, considered the first notable woman in mathematics, who also taught philosophy and astronomy. She lived in Roman Egypt, and was killed by a Coptic Christian mob who blamed her for religious turmoil. She has been hailed as a “valiant defender of science against religion”, and some suggest that her murder marked the end of the Hellenistic Age.
March 24, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women inventors · Tagged cryogenics, intravenous drip, Justine Wanger, women in medicine
The modern intravenous drip was developed by a team which included Justine Wanger, who worked during the first half of this century. She also helped develop resuscitation techniques for victims of electric shock, and cryogenic therapy to destroy cancer cells.
Source Cited: “WOMEN IN THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY — WOMEN INVENTORS“. Herring, Susan Davis. Presented to the Society of Women Engineers, Huntsville chapter, March 4, 1999, for Women’s History Month.
March 23, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, womens issues · Tagged abolition, activist, human rights, Martha Coffin Pelham Wright, Quaker, slavery
Martha Coffin Pelham Wright’s life as an activist was influenced by her Nantucket Quaker heritage. With a strong female role model in her mother, Anna Folger Coffin, and the Quaker tenets of individualism, pacifism, equality of the sexes, and opposition to slavery, young Martha was well prepared for her future role as an abolitionist and suffragist.
Source Cited: http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=224
March 22, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged China, Communists, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Kuomintang, Soong Ching-Ling, the Mother of China
Soong Ching-Ling, Peoples’ Republic of China; Honorary President, (1893-1981) (Madame Sun Yat-Sen) Leader of the Women’s Department of the Kuomintang
Soong Ching-Ling was born in Shanghai on the 27th of January in 1893 to well-educated, Christian parents. Before marrying Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Ching-ling traveled to the United States for her education; she and her three sisters became the first Chinese girls to be educated in the states. At the age of eighteen, Ching-ling began to speak out against the conditions of women in her country in a non-violent manner which expressed her ideals of Liberty and Equality.
For the next seven decades, Soong Ching-ling became an active character within both the political and social arenas of Chinese culture. She came to be known as “the Mother of China” by both the main political parties, the Kuomintang and the Communists.
Source Cited:http://people.brandeis.edu/~dwilliam/profiles/ching-ling.htm
