Mathematics and Philosophy

Philosophy was the start of anything relating to STEM, originating in countries such as Greece, Egypt, and Rome. From philosophy, mathematics began to form, and many scholars studied both at the same time. One of these scholars was Hypatia of Alexandria. Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and followed in her father’s footsteps in mathematics and Philosophy. Hypatia continued his effort to preserve the Greek mathematical and astronomical heritage during a time they were being erased. She also worked on original pieces  such as commentaries on Apollonius of Perga’s Conics (geometry) and Diophantus of Alexandria’s Arithmetic (number theory). She also worked and commentated on the  astronomical table. These commentaries pushed the program initiated by her father into more recent and more difficult areas and ideas. Hypatia, unfortunately, died from an extremist group against the science and discoveries of Alexandria. However, that did not erase her influence on STEM today.

Psychology and Social Work

The late 1800s and early 1900s was filled with discoveries, more specifically for Psychology and the start of sociology as its own practice. Social science was being taken more seriously, and therapy was developing the practices used today. One of the most common forms of therapy, psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, was coined by Bertha Pappenheim. After the death of her father, she began having extreme anxiety attacks and hallucinations, and began treatment with Joseph Breuer. It started with hypnosis, but then morphed into the early versions of psychotherapy. Breuer published an article about his time with Pappenheim, under the pen name Anna O, and how she experienced the therapy. Pappenheim later went on to be the pioneer of social work in German and put an emphasis on how important the practice was. It paved the way for the practice to be common among middle class women.

Technology

Finally, modern technology wouldn’t have been possible without two outstanding women in the 20th century. Famous for her acting career, Hedy Lamarr moved to America right before the start of WWII. She continued her film career in America, but was also an excellent inventor. She created a Secret Communication System with composer George Antheil during the war. The system used frequency hopping to guide torpedoes and make them untrackable. The invention was incorporated into the US Navy during WWII and was later used during the Cuban missile crisis. This technology was also the predecessor to inventions such as Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. Despite this, Lamarr and Antheil were both not paid a cent for their work. However, they jointly won the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1997.

Shortly after Hedy Lammarr, Marian Croak came into the technological world. She joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1982 and saw the potential in the newly forming Internet. She made the internet and cellular phones her focus and developed Voice Over Internet Protocols (VoIP). This technology converts voice into a digital signal, creating a call directly from a computer or other digital device. She also invented the technology of text-based donations to charity. She won the Edison Patent Award in 2013 and 2014 and is currently working at Google as the Vice President of Engineering.

Our day-to-day life wouldn’t be possible without these incredible women. They have brought us strides in STEM and paved the way for young women all over the world. Women have created today through hard work in the past, and they are still working to create the next future.

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Sources cited:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hypatia

https://www.lbi.org/collections/german-jewish-feminism-in-the-twentieth-century/bertha-pappenheim/

https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/marian-croak

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hedy-lamarrs-wwii-invention-helped-shape-modern-tech

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/psychotherapies

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The misogyny of the arts does not manifest itself in loud ways. Rather, it can be seen in the erasure of women’s history within the humanities and the subtle but strong exclusion within the industry. By learning the history and current statistics of women in the humanities, it is easy to argue that the humanities are almost as misogynistic as every other industry.

Women’s History in the Humanities

Legends are legends because they were able to define or redefine an aspect of life. What would Western philosophy be without Socrates? Would any classical music playlist be complete without Mozart? Could a class on American literature bear to mention F. Scott Fitzgerald? These men, among many others, have carved their name into history. Because history would be incomplete without them – or at least that is what the narrative tells us.

If legends are remembered because of their impact, then why is it that Aspasia of Miletus’ name has been nearly lost to history despite being the tutor of Socrates, who then tutored Plato, who then tutored Aristotle, and so on?  Why is it that even though her musical abilities were on part with her brother’s, Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart’s name is considered a cliff note? Or what about the women like Zelda Fitzgerald, the woman whose diatribes were what made F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing career, but are only remembered as a wife?

None of this is to deny the skill or influence of any of these men. It is simply to question why their legacies can be taught as a degree while women of the same skill and influence are being lost to history with every passing day. By prioritizing the contribution of men and constantly – and intentionally – erasing the contributions of women, the art world is  disgracing the people it could not exist without.

​Side Note:

Here are some legendary but criminally underrepresented women within the arts:

Philosophers: Aspasia of Miletus [2] and Hypatia of Alexandria [3].

Authors: Sophia Tolstaya [4] and Alice Walker [5].

Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola [6] and Ma Xianglan [7].

Musicians: Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart [8] and Teresa Carreño [9].

Women in the Humanities Today:

Misogyny in the arts targets not only historical female artists, but also towards female artists of today. Famously, the Guerrilla Girls discovered that less than 3% of exhibited artists in museums were female, despite women making up 83% of all nude figures in art [10]. In 2024, only thirty-seven percent of artist that made the billboard for top 100 musicians were women [11]. As of 2023, women made up only seventeen percent of literature award winners [12]. These statistics, although shocking, are only snapshots of the current industry.

When Art Prof interviewed female artists about their lived experiences, many reported their art being pigeonhole into romance or motherhood, having job recruiters hire men who they saw themselves in, and having people be physically shocked upon finding out their favorite art was done by a woman. These experiences, amongst countless others, has caused female artists of today to feel like the boys-club that they are trying to enter is not barred by a glass ceiling but rather a brick wall.

Women’s Future in the Humanities

Having been erased from history and covered up today, and with the lack of recognition and support around this issue, female artists are left wondering when – or if – they will be able to make the equitable gains that women in many other industries have made. To support female artists, it is crucial to learn their contribution to art history and their current contributions to the art world. Even if it means knowing Natalia Sedova’s name rather than Leon Trotsky’s. And if you are an artist who happens to be a girl reading this: remember that your work is just as important, keep reminding yourself and the world of that. 

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This statement has become a common and unquestionable fact within our society, but does it hold any validity? Modern Homo sapiens have been on this planet for an estimated 315,000 years [1], and only began farming and building housing during the Neolithic Revolution in the Middle East’s Fertile Crescent around 12,000 years ago [2]. But what of those 303,000 years? What were we doing then? While this article will not delve into all aspects of those 303,000 years, it will examine the hunter-gatherer period of human history and the effect gender had on communal roles. By looking at the origin of the male-hunter/female-gatherer theory, modern research, biological factors, and common sense, it is easy to see how ridiculous our presumption of this history really is.

Man: The Hunter

To understand how society accepted this theory as fact, we have to look at where it started. The theory of men as hunters and women as gatherers is relatively new, emerging in the late 1960s. Much of the support for this idea came from the 1966 symposium Man the Hunter, organized by Richard Lee and Irven DeVore. What is particularly striking about this symposium is that it became one of the most influential theories of hunter-gatherer societies, despite being grounded primarily on assumptions rather than in statistical or genetic evidence. Moreover, it is essential to note that this piece’s main point wasn’t even about men being hunters and women being gatherers, but rather about how hunting and gathering created community for humans.

The assumption was that, because male biological tendencies make men stronger and faster, men did the hunting. This theory went virtually unchallenged for sixty years—whenever human remains were found with weapons, they were assumed to be male. Robert Kelly [3], a professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, stated to NPR [4], “No one,” Kelly said, “had done a systematic tally of what the observational reports said about women hunting.”

Modern Findings

Although feminists have questioned the notion of men doing all the hunting for decades, it wasn’t until 2020 that there was a solid attempt from the scientific community to test who did the hunting and who did the gathering. So, fifty-four years after the fact, Cara Wall-Scheffler, backed by the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University, set out to test if hunting and gathering were based on sex.

Wall-Scheffler and her colleagues studied accounts of prehistoric hunting methods dating back to the 1800s and beyond. This led Wall-Scheffler to discover that, rather than the presumed sex-based system, prehistoric societies were much more relaxed about gendered roles, with 79% of societies having female hunters [5]. Furthermore, the study found that women didn’t just participate in opportunistic or small-game hunts. Wall-Scheffler reported to NPR that “the hunting was purposeful. Women had their own toolkit. They had favorite weapons. Grandmas were the best hunters of the village.”

Effects on Modern Society

So, how does a nearly sixty-year-old theory about our million-year past affect today? The idea that men were hunters feeds the argument that men are natural breadwinners and providers, justifying jobs and positions of power being given exclusively to men. It’s important to recognize that this theory was popularized during the second wave of feminism and by those who sought to push back against change. During this time, it wasn’t uncommon for people to believe that men had natural intellectual superiority over women, so when this theory justified men’s supposed physical prowess, it made them appear naturally better in nearly every category. By making women docile gatherers and reducing their natural role to being mothers, it internalizes the idea of the supposed inferiority of the female sex.

Be the Hunter

The fact of the matter is that women are not primarily created to be mothers to men or to serve a lifelong supportive role to them. We have been given the ability to be hunters, chiefs, and whatever else we want to be. Although this theory has been used to justify the subordination of the female sex, it is debunked daily. Be the hunter you were meant to be.

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Side note: Below, I have pasted some links that go into more detail about this part of our history. I cannot recommend these articles enough: 

Prehistoric hunters weren’t all male. Women killed big game, new discovery suggests | CNN 

Men are hunters, women are gatherers. That was the assumption. A new study upends it. 

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Citations

Rafferty, John P. “Just How Old Is Homo sapiens?” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/story/just-how-old-is-homo-sapiens.

HISTORY.com Editors. “Hunter-Gatherers.” History, A&E Television Networks, 5 Jan. 2018, updated 28 May 2025, https://www.history.com/articles/hunter-gatherers. HISTORY+1

Kelly, Robert L. “Robert Kelly — Emeriti Faculty.” Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, University of Wyoming,

https://www.uwyo.edu/anthropology/personnel/emeriti-faculty/er-kelly.html

Aizenman, Nurith. “Men Are Hunters, Women Are Gatherers. That Was the Assumption. A New Study Upends It.” NPR, 1 July 2023, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/07/01/1184749528/men-are-hunters-women-are-gatherers-that-was-the-assumption-a-new-study-upends-i.

Anderson, Abigail, Sophia Chilczuk, Kaylie Nelson, Roxanne Ruther, and Cara Wall-Scheffler. “The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s Contribution to the Hunt across Ethnographic Contexts.” PLOS ONE, vol. 18, no. 6, 2023, e0287101. 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287101

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In a world where kings lead empires, governments are run by men, and revolutions are remembered through the names of generals, the work of women remains overshadowed, undervalued, and ignored. To such an extent that many believe true feminism is a creation of today. The truth is more unsettling and more inspiring: women were always there, shaping cultures, leading revolutions, writing poetry, and healing communities. It is not that they lacked voices; it is that history chose not to echo them.

The Myth

The prevailing opinion is that women waited their turn and earned their place in society through suffrage and years of oppression, which ultimately led to revolutions. But what if this belief itself is the illusion created by silence? Women were never absent. Enheduanna, a Sumerian priestess in the 23rd century BCE, composed hymns that shaped spiritual life in Mesopotamia and became the world’s first known author. Hypatia of Alexandria, a philosopher and mathematician in the 4th century, taught astronomy and Neoplatonism until her brutal murder for daring to be publicly appreciated. The work was undeniable, yet in the way history has been told, they became exceptions instead of representatives of a wider truth: women were always part of the story, just not credited as storytellers.

Why the Silence?

Silence is not intentional- the women of the past were never in power, and those who did were shut down.
Men, as the dominant record-keepers, decided what was monumental. Wars, treaties, technologies, and
dynasties were “worthy” of preservation. The main influences of women, such as education, sustenance,
and caregiving, were all regarded as “ordinary.”

Ask yourself this, though: in times of hardship, what is more “monumental” than keeping a community alive in famine? Than passing down knowledge when institutions denied you literacy?

The most agonizing truth of all is perhaps this: the society directed by men valued the personality traits typical of them over those of women. Destruction over creation. Power over care. Cleverness over kindness. And so, a system that only allowed measurement for specific things diminished the role of women, not because of its lack of importance, but because it became a regularity. A “great” man does things a regular woman does. If history had been measured by endurance instead of conquest, by nurture instead of dominion, society would have carved women in stone as readily as generals.

A stage for those on the sidelines

Mary Wollstonecraft: In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a manifesto that rattled the foundations of her society. At a time when women were dismissed as intellectually inferior, Wollstonecraft dared to insist that education was a birthright, not a privilege. In her time, men disgraced her memory, but she remains an inspiration. Wollstonecraft laid the groundwork for many major feminist movements that have emerged worldwide. Her courage lies in her dare to dream a world with equality.

Ada Lovelace: Known as the world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace was ahead of her time, envisioning possibilities that came into existence decades later. She laid the groundwork for the digital revolution by predicting that computers could do much more beyond calculations. She believed they might compose music, create art, and extend human thought. Science, especially as a male-dominated field, was where she became the first of so many remarkable women who altered science as we know it today.

The First Suffragists: The women who risked everything—livelihoods, imprisonment, and death —went down in history refusing to be silenced. The women, including Emmeline Pankhurst, Susan B. Anthony, and countless others, dared to demand voting rights at various times across the world. Their persistence cracked open democracy, allowing those who came after them to be acknowledged, if not fully heard. Today, when voting feels ordinary, it’s worth remembering that women once risked everything for the right to mark a ballot.

Modern Reckoning

Today, we acknowledge and appreciate more and more of the women who made it possible for our names to shine, not for the pursuit of academic excellence and integrity but for the imagining of new possibilities. When learning that the first author or programmer in the world was a woman, a girl can feel part of an everlasting legacy. The act of remembering is part of a greater justice that women were denied for centuries. Call it a correction, a way of revoking the errors. But to some, it is a promise that sometime in history someone will know your story. You will have left an impact on the world that goes beyond the understanding of even the most simple-minded individual.

To read about more inspirational women, click here!

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1837 – Mount Holyoke Seminary

Mount Holyoke was the first major higher education institution to allow women to obtain an academic degree. For 61 years, women had no formal, recognized way to obtain a degree. 

1837 – Oberlin College 

Around the same time as Mount Holyoke, Oberlin College was the first mixed-gender higher education facility in the U.S.

1839 – Married Women’s Property Act 

It was 63 years before married women were allowed property in their own name. Before this, all of a married woman’s possessions, wages, and properties were legally their husbands.

1872 – Bradwell v. Illinois 

In 1872, Myra Bradwell sued the state of Illinois because it barred her from taking the bar exam for law school. The Supreme Court sided with the state of Illinois and affirmed that states have the authority to exclude women from certain professions. 

1872 – Victoria Woodhull

Before women were allowed to vote or serve on juries, Victoria Woodhull ran for U.S. president under the Equal Rights Party. After 250 years, our nation has yet to have a female president.

1880 – Belva Lockwood 

Belva Lockwood was the first woman to be permitted to practice law before the U.S Supreme Court. She also ran for president in 1884 and 1888 under the National Equal Rights Party.

1916 – Jeannette Rankin

The 1916 Representative for Montana was Jeannette Rankin. As a representative and suffragette, she used her political influence to support women’s voting rights.

1920 – 19th Amendment Ratified 

The 19th Amendment did not grant all women the right to vote; numerous barriers remained for women of color and lower-income women that persisted into the late 20th century. However, it did prohibit denying the right to vote “on account of sex.” 

1924 – Indian Citizenship Act 

Granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, including women. Despite their citizenship, many states continued denying Native Americans the right to vote until the mid-20th century.

1933 – Frances Perkins 

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet. She played a crucial role in initiatives like the New Deal Labor Laws, Social Security, and the establishment of a minimum wage.

1935 – All Puerto Rican Women get the Vote 

Before 1935 in Puerto Rico, only literate women were allowed to vote. These literacy laws disproportionately affected low-income women. 

1948 – Women’s Armed Services Integration Act (WASIA) 

WASIA allowed women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces for the first time. It still, however, imposed limits on numbers and ranks.

1948 – Harrison v. Laveen 

The Supreme Court prohibited state laws that barred Native Americans, including Native women, from voting.

1961 – Hoyt v. Florida 

The Supreme Court sided with Florida’s laws that require women to serve on juries. This law would later be overturned 14 years later in Taylor v. Louisiana.

1963 – Equal Pay Act 

Although this law mandated that men and women must receive equal pay in the same establishment, the enforcement remains, to this day, very inconsistent, leading to the thriving gender pay gap in the United States.

1964 – Civil Rights Act, Title VII 

This banned discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin. Like the Equal Pay Act, its enforcement remains weak to this day.

1965 – Voting Rights Act 

This outlawed literacy tests and other voter suppression tactics that disproportionately affected lower-income women and women of color. 

1969 – Sail’er Inn v. Kirby 

The California Supreme Court struck down laws that prohibited women from working in bars and other social establishments unless they were the owner’s wife or daughter.

1972 – Education Amendments, Title IX 

This amendment prohibits sex discrimination in all federally funded educational programs and activities. It is important to note that private universities remained entitled to deny women the right to an education.

1973 – Roe v. Wade 

Under the right of bodily autonomy, the  Supreme Court recognized abortion as a constitutional right under privacy protections, legalizing it nationwide.

1974 – Equal Credit Opportunity Act 

Before 1974, women were not allowed to open bank accounts or have credit cards without their husbands’ or fathers’ consent. This law required banks to grant women the right to open accounts, apply for credit cards, take out loans, and obtain mortgages. 

1975 – Voting Rights Act Amendments 

Before 1975, there were few, if any, legal protections for those language-minority groups. This amendment ensured the protection of Indigenous and Asian American women.

1975 – Taylor v. Louisiana 

Under the Sixth Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled that excluding women from juries was unconstitutional. Before this, with the right to serve on a jury, women as a whole were left in a very vulnerable position under the law.

1976 – Margaret Chase Smith 

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to run for the presidency under a major political party. 

1978 – Pregnancy Discrimination Act 

Before 1978, it was a common and expected practice for companies to refuse to hire or fire a woman if she was pregnant. 

1982 – Shirley Chrisholm 

Shirley Chrisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress, as well as the first black woman to run under a major party for the presidency. 

1993 – Family and Medical Leave Act 

The FMLA guaranteed eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for family or medical reasons. 

1994 – Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

It took 218 years before the United States created laws regarding domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

1994 – J.E.B v. Alabama 

The Supreme Court prohibits lawyers from excluding a possible juror solely on their sex. These laws were built upon Batson v. Kentucky, a landmark case that banned race-based exclusion of jurors. 

2007 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 

Reset the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination claims with each discriminatory paycheck, fixing a Supreme Court decision that had made such cases nearly impossible.

2003 – Lawrence v. Texas 

In a pivotal decision for queer women, Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws nationwide, decriminalizing same-sex intimacy.

2022 – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization 

Overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal constitutional protection for abortion and female bodily autonomy. 

It has always been a social and political hot topic whether women deserve rights. This list highlights the key figures and laws that have shaped women’s rights in the United States over the course of 249 years. Like everything else, the progress is not linear. Women’s rights will continue to move forward and backward many more times in the future. However, I have faith that, though not in my lifetime, one day women will go backward for the last time and finally achieve full equality.

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The beginning of the film shows the pressures that Mulan faces as a woman in the early Han Dynasty. Mulan is raised to be dutiful, poised, and polite. Eventually, when she is of age, she will be presented to the matchmaker for marriage. She can only bring honor to her family by entering a successful marriage. Mulan is scrubbed, wrapped in silks, and painted white to be acceptable for her audition to be the “perfect wife.” The lyrics only add to the absurdity of the situation: “Men want girls with good taste / Calm, obedient, who work fast-paced.” Listening to this as a child, it is easy to cast off the situation as something fantastical for the sake of the movie. But for centuries, this wasn’t satire; it was reality.

The fight for women’s suffrage was long and arduous, yet effective.

Initially, the fight for women’s suffrage was a slow process. Women were accustomed to traditional roles, including marriage, motherhood, and domestic responsibilities. After the 1950s, many believed that women should take more independent roles. They did, for a while. Today, women are regressing as the rise of conservatism and the “trad-wife” aesthetic through apps like TikTok. Women think that dependency is empowerment and assume that men are the providers and the “easy way out.” This narrative is false. True feminism isn’t about the kind of life you choose but who truly holds the power within that decision.

Now, the younger generations are taking back their independence.

Gen Z looks to TikTok and Instagram as their mediums to promote women’s suffrage, feminist movements, and even express themselves through edits and other digital art forms. A new trend has emerged recently on TikTok, utilizing the song “Honor to Us All.” Screens flash with the lyrics overlapping clips of powerful women, such as Serena Williams, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Anna Wintour, Kamala Harris, Greta Thunberg, and Princess Diana. The song, which once confined girls to submissiveness and strict household roles, is now being used to celebrate women’s accomplishments and failures, as well as their independence.

Mulan didn’t just teach girls that the only victory was Mulan’s defeat of the Huns, but instead proved that honor is taken, not given. Today, girls face subtle battles: being “too loud,” “too emotional,” “too selfish,” or not caring about their home and surroundings. Today, women are becoming more than just porcelain dolls; they are becoming their own individuals and role models.

Read more about women’s suffrage here, or check out some other movie reviews here!

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If you are looking for a new genre to start watching to switch up your normal replays, I would greatly suggest these period films/historical dramas. Fictional or not, these movies provide a way to look back on an unknown past in a relatable and compassionate way. The girls in all these films have such brave and likable spirits that make you fall in love with the movies. I would also suggest reading each of these books if that is more your style and would like a greater look at each of these powerful women’s stories.

• Little Women

Little Women is of course one of the most classic period films no matter what remake you watch. Whether you read the novel or watch the movie, you still get the beautiful story of the March sisters. Set in 1868, the four March sisters have an unbreakable bond due to certain events in their lives that draw them together despite some rising feuds. It follows their lives, and them finding and chasing their passions. Jo March played by Soarise Ronan in the 2019 remake is truly inspiring in her monologue expressing how much women have to offer society that may not be seen by all. Little Women is a tearjerker but also a must watch for everyone everywhere.

• Emma.

Emma. is a film released this year based off of Jane Austen’s novel. Emma is a young woman in 1815 trying to help her new friend find the perfect love. Little does she know, she will find some of her own despite her refusal on multiple accounts. This movie is lighthearted and joyous to watch, and the scenery makes it ten times better. Everything about Emma. is visually pleasing which adds so much to the spirit of the movie. It is the perfect mixture of historical fiction, romance, and comedy all in one.

• Pride and Prejudice

Another classic movie for time in need of a tear shed, Pride and Prejudice is always there for you. Another great adaptation of Jane Austen’s famous work, Elizabeth Bennett is becoming of age to where she is needed to marry quickly in order to save the family legacy. When the rich and handsome, Mr. Darcy comes into town, her parents seize the moment for an introduction only to be rudely pushed away by him. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth continue to form a strange love-hate relationship that oddly makes you want to travel back to 1812 and join the Bennett sisters in search of love and happiness despite your differences.

• The Duchess

The Duchess shows an inside look of the harsh realities inside the marriage of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. It gives a sad perspective on what is going on behind the seemingly perfect scenes. Kiera Knightly gives an incredible performance that fills you with sorrow for Georgiana. Georgiana is unable to “play her part” in her marriage contract which deeply impacts her life, her new friend Bess’, and her new found lover. It gives a great look on an unknown part of history.

Want more on empowering women? Check out these articles: Influential Women from the Past Decade and Quiz: Important Women of History.

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This summer, I spent my time working at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. During my time here, my eyes opened to a world of exposure that I had yet to see. One key aspect I remember most is how many women led the fight for civil justice. These women should absolutely be more common in the civil rights conversation. So, here are tributes to 3 women whose names and stories should be heard. 

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons

Simmons was a fearless fighter and project director of the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project in 1964. Only one out of three women chosen to lead, Simmons took her role with great importance. She had to pave the way for herself and her community. She said, “We had to fight for the resources, you know. We had to fight to get a good car because the guys would get first dibs on everything. It was a struggle to be taken seriously by the leadership, as well as by male colleagues”. Through her role as project leader, Simmons triumphed through an additional circumstance of adversity in order to demand justice. 

Claudette Colvin

Claudette Colvin was a courageous woman who, actually, gave up her seat before Rosa Parks did. As part of the NAACP, Colvin along with 4 other women, were in an effort to stand up against segregation laws and promote change. However, the NAACP chose to not show her case to challenge segregation laws during the Montgomery Bus Boycott because of her young age and because she was pregnant and not married. However, her courage to sacrifice her life and reputation for civil equality deserves to be heard and respected. 

Diane Nash

Diane Nash was a women ready to persevere and make a change within the civil rights Movement by founding the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As the leader of this organization, Nash would train teenagers to endure hair pulling, coffee spilling on their heads, and physical abuse in order to prepare for the sit-ins that they would be in every day. However, Nash’s determination for civil justice did not stop there as she helped lead the freedom bus riders from Washington all the way to New-Orleans. 

For more on influential women, check out GirlSpring’s Influential Women from the Past Decade and Quiz: Important Women of History. Still want to learn more? Check out Biography.com’s 51 Famous Women in History.

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A couple of weekends ago, I sat down and talked with my mom specifically about her job. A while back, I started a Women in Business Interview Series, and this year, I decided to kickstart it with one of the best in the game I know! No bias here! 

Who is Kari Wilbanks?

My mom, Kari Wilbanks, runs her own interior design firm and has for seventeen years. She is a designer that focuses mainly on new construction for homes. She earned her degree at the University of Alabama, but it was not the route she thought she was going when starting her college education. This has been very reassuring in my own college search to know that things do change, and it is okay to find your passions later on! Ultimately, she landed on interior design because it was the best combination of some of the things she loved: being creative, working with others, and process thinking. As a kid, finding new designs, whether it was just around her room or rearranging her mother’s things, was never uncommon for Wilbanks, and she credits this time to being steps that lead her to interior design for a living. 

Starting Kari Wilbanks Interior Design!

For the first seven years as an interior designer after internships here in Birmingham, Wilbanks was faced with a new challenge because of her husband’s relocation to Tampa. Fortunately, she was encouraged by those around her to take a leap of faith. Kari Wilbanks Interior Design was officially open for business!

While she enjoys being her own boss, Wilbanks recognizes that it is not the strategy for everyone. She loves the flexibility that managing yourself provides, especially when my sister and I were younger, it was very helpful to accommodate our schedules. When opening your own business, Wilbanks says it is very important to be a self-motivator. Being able to hold yourself accountable and encouraged to work is the key to success.

At the beginning of a new business, the motivation is necessary because of additional work such as accounting that may not be able to be hired so soon. To those looking into entrepreneurship, Wilbanks notes to “not listen” to the fears that people may project onto you. She says to stay confident in your work, believe you can always get it done, and know that you can do a good job. Your work is solely yours so believing in your abilities is the first step towards being a successful entrepreneur.

Wilbanks’ Advice on Entrepreneurship!

Although confidence in yourself is necessary, Wilbanks advises to never discount the lessons that others can teach you. She suggests finding a role model in your field that inspires you to be just as successful and provide a “footprint” for your work. Interning for interior design really puts into perspective the detail that the job revolves around. She says real-world experience shows the true nitty-gritty of the design field, especially if you are interested in the job’s route that deals with everyone else like builders, contractors, etc (what my mom does). 

Yes, Wilbanks agrees, interior design is fun, but she wants to make clear there is so much more to it than that. Wilbanks uses the analytical side directly with her creative mind in her work. Something many people do not realize is the large amounts of math involved in interior designing. There are many numbers to account for that will ultimately determine the beauty of your work and satisfaction of clients. 

Why Wilbanks’ Is An Inspiration!

By satisfying clients, Wilbanks finds a sense of empowerment. She is able to listen and deliver her clients wishes while knowing they trust her to perfectly execute something they want to spend the rest of their lives in. To Wilbanks, interior design is a collaboration. She strives to find the best fit for her clients while implementing her own expertise to make a home they truly love. In order to stand out in her field, Wilbanks knows authenticity is of utmost importance. She does not believe this is limited to just interior design; authenticity allows a connection to those you are working with and the best end result for all. 

I have felt so lucky to grow up with a mom who truly exemplifies these traits. She has taught my sister and I the same qualities that she applies to her job: staying confident in yourself and learning from others. Although I do not wish to follow in her footsteps, I truly admire my mom’s dedication to her job that has not faltered throughout my life. Remember that your passion may not be apparent at first, but it will come in time and self motivation will follow! IF you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to me, and I (or my mom) can answer! 

Check out Sherrod’s first Women in Business Series article on Cookie Fix’s, Amy Jason — here!

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Dr. Amani Ballour

Dr. Amani Ballour is the first and only woman to have managed a hospital—and an underground hospital, at that—in rebel-held Syria. The challenges that her hospital faced were like no other. They had little-to-no resources. Bombs were constantly hitting above ground, and they didn’t have any anesthetics. She says that the hardest challenge was choosing which patient to help with the little resources they had.

A documentary by National Geographic Documentary Films called “The Cave” (which is what the underground hospital was called) showed what Dr. Ballour accomplished and how she was able to run a hospital in such an atmosphere. In the documentary, there were instances where men questioned Dr. Ballour and her work. She says that even though a lot of men questioned her and other women’s work, there had been a shift in perception in the community when she worked in “the Cave.”

In one scene, Dr. Ballour comforts a girl that is hurt badly by telling her to think about what she wants to become when she is older.

“Every day some children died at the hospital and I wanted to say to her that, ‘You will survive and you have to think of the future. You can be teacher, you can be doctor,’” Dr. Ballour explains. “This is very important to me because no one said that to me when I was a child. No one said to me that I have rights. No one said to me that I can be an important person in the future… All the people around me, they said, ‘You can get married and have children and work in the home.’ This is the idea about women, and all the time I was wondering why I can’t do something else, why do I have to get married, what kind of life is this? I don’t want this life.”

Lena Waithe

Lena Waithe is an American screenwriter, producer, and actress. She starred in the Netflix comedy-drama series “Master of None.” She became the first black woman to win an Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series. A lot of her work comes from her own experiences of being a black lesbian from Chicago.

The “Thanksgiving” episode in “Master of None” portrays Waithe’s own experience of coming out to her mother. She works to give young LGBTQ+ individuals a space to see themselves and their experiences on the screen—something that, growing up, she didn’t have. Waithe is a big believer in representation and progression. She changed the film/TV industry and she continues to do so.

In an interview with The Undefeated, she gets into the complex subject of being black and gay and out and verbal about it all in Hollywood.

“I’m so confused by it,” she said. “Maybe I shouldn’t be, because I can somewhat understand why some people want to keep their sexual orientation private — typically African-American people who are in the public eye. I guess to some extent, but I think that our children are literally killing themselves. Our queer children are thinking that they’re less than. Are thinking that they’ll never be loved. Are thinking that they’ll never have a normal, happy life. No. Their lives are priceless.”

Breanna Stewart

Breanna Stewart was the 2016 WNBA rookie of the year, the WNBA MVP of the regular season in 2018, and a two-time finals MVP. She is also known as one of the best college basketball players of all time. She is an amazing basketball player but also a great activist.

When she won the 2016 ESPY for Best Female Athlete, she gave a speech calling out the media for its lack of coverage of women’s sports. She also used her platform to spread awareness for Black Lives Matter and joined protestors at the LA international airport against the Muslim ban. In 2017, she stood up for the LGBTQ community and highlighted the inclusive culture of WNBA. In October of 2018, she came forward as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse with a moving first-person essay with The Players’ Tribune. She then went on to launch a national campaign in partnership with RAINN to help other victims and their families.

For her on-court and off-court accomplishments she was named 2020 Sportsperson of the Year. She said this during her 2016 speech:

“During my time in college I received an enormous amount of media attention, I’m grateful for that. And now that I’m in the WNBA, playing with other amazing female athletes, I’m trying to understand why we, as professional female athletes, don’t receive anywhere near the fame. This has to change.”

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is an American television producer, screenwriter, and author. She is best known for Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and the new Netflix period series Bridgerton. When she moved from working with ABC to working with Netflix, she says that the culture was completely different. She said she had to adapt to discussing her ideas with bigger groups of people.

Shonda Rhimes is a huge inspiration for young women who dream of getting into the film/TV industry, which is largely dominated by men. She partnered with Dove on a photography database, #ShowUs, showcasing more than 5,000 images of diverse women and non-binary individuals to promote more accurate representations in the press.

Shonda Rhimes is able to portray society’s stereotypes of women and the sexism they face every day in a lot of her TV series. For example, Grey’s Anatomy touches on sexism a lot with most of the main characters like Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Miranda Bailey, and Addison Montgomery. She uses her platform to address the lack of representation in the media and tries to show her audience what women experience in society. She once said,

“I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a bad-a**.”

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor grew up in the Bronx in public housing complexes, and ever since she was ten years old, she has wanted to become an attorney. She was awarded a full scholarship to Princeton University, and now she is the first Hispanic and Latina Supreme Court Justice. She is known to be a person of integrity and discipline and is one of the most respected people in America.

Sotomayor overcame the challenges that came with growing up in public housing projects as a young woman of color. She dominated a field known to be mostly male-dominated. She persevered when people told her she couldn’t. Any young girl can look at her and where she has come and be inspired. Her main life advice to young people is to just ask rather than assume the worst in people and in situations. She speaks about the value of seeing and respecting differences. She once said,

“I realized that people had an unreal image of me, that somehow I was a god on Mount Olympus. I decided that if I were going to make use of my role as a Supreme Court Justice, it would be to inspire people to realize that, first, I was just like them and second, if I could do it, so could they.”

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is one of the best tennis players in the world. She is currently ranked 10 in Women’s singles and has won three Grand Slams. She is an inspiration on the court with her big forehands and huge serves, but she is also a force off the court with her activism.

Osaka says that she wants to use her platform to spread awareness and start conversations about the inequality people of color face in the US and around the world. She also launched the Nike Play Academy, which is a program solely made to change the game for girls in order to level the playing field. The program is made to give girls confidence not just in sports but also in their everyday lives. She said this in an interview with Britannica:

“I often think about the phrase gambaru/gambare. It’s a classic Japanese phrase and basically means that no matter the hardships or challenges that one may encounter in life, it’s important to face them with a tenacious spirit and to try one’s best. That ethos is what I carry to practice and matches.”

Radhika Jones

Radhika Jones is an American magazine editor and the fifth editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair. Jones completed her undergrad at Harvard before heading to Columbia where she received a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature.

Jones changed Vanity Fair by increasing the diversity of its covers and representing more women in them. She herself noticed the discrimination and the lack of representation in Vanity Fair’s covers before she took over as editor-in-chief. She aims to change not just Vanity Fair’s magazine, but also how the media portrays people of color. Jones believes it is important to change the media to actually make significant changes in the world.

“I was determined to change it when I took over as editor in chief—not just as a corrective measure but because it is my job, and the magazine’s job, to center people who are visionaries, who are moving the culture forward. We are not bound to continue the cultural hierarchies we inherit.”

The Future is Female

People say that the “future is female” and these women have helped push that to the forefront. So many young people have big dreams but they look at the TV or their phone and they don’t see big names that sound like their own or people who look like themselves. This may seem like a small, irrelevant factor, but it isn’t, as shown by the women on this list. Representation of different genders and ethnicities matter for the up and coming generations and pave the way to make a more just society.

Check out more articles from GirlSpring on influential women:

• • Black Women in the Women’s Suffrage Movement
  • Women Who Fought for the Vote

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