Patriarchy and sexism have been engraved in the history pages for centuries. Women have been discredited, silenced and snubbed for their achievements and work. The biggest shocker to this unfortunate series of events is that, even though the list of the women who were crushed by society is way longer than youâd imagine it to be, the songs of victory and achievements were all only about the men. The fame, the claims, the artworks, the discoveries have all been twisted and painted with the shade of men.Â
But, on a closer look, itâs sad and infuriating how the role of being a homemaker was pushed onto women and the moment they tried to break into male-dominated spaces and succeeded, they were just pushed away. Some male came in to either discredit or make their claim.
Here are some of the women whose victory song remained unsung:
- Zelda Fitzgerald: Literary Work
âThe Great Gabsyâ is a great work famous under the Fitzgerald name. Little did we know he needed a lot of help from others to get enough name and success in his work. Zelda, his wife, was a huge contributor and, sadly, a victim of his work. One of the most famous lines by Daisy in âThe Great Gatsbyâ is âI hope sheâll be a foolâthatâs the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.â This quote was not F. Scottâs own words, but Zeldaâs after their daughter was born. Zelda was known for her wit and rebellious traits. She was an artist- a dancer, a painter and most importantly a writer. For years, she was called his âmuseâ, when in reality he had plagiarised her work from her diary.
- Marion Donovan: Disposable Diapers
In the â40s, there were barely any options for baby diapers rather than cloth diapers. Cloth diapers had their challenges of regularly washing, cleaning, and having enough of them. Marionâs first patent was for a diaper cover. She had used her sewing machine to create a reusable, leakproof diaper much better than the rubber baby pants available back then.
Donovan called her first diaper the âboaterâ. The final product was made of nylon parachute cloth and featured an additional innovation: Donovan had replaced safety pins with metal and plastic snaps. This new method helped keep children and clothes cleaner and dryer while helping with rashes. Diaper companies at first ignored her patent, however, Donovanâs patent was granted in 1951. By then, Donovan had begun an even more essential innovation: the disposable paper diaper. This was not as easy to create as it may sound since to prevent a rash, the material had to not retain the moisture inertly. After much experimentation, Donovan designed a composition of sturdy, absorbent paper that did the job well.Â
U.S. paper companies laughed at her for proposing such an âunnecessaryâ and âimpracticalâ item. It took nearly ten years for someone to capitalize on Donovanâs idea; namely Victor Mills, creator of Pampers.
- Katherine Johnson: The Women Who Sent America to Space
Katherine was one of the few African American women hired to do computing in the navigation and guidance department at Langleyâs Research Center in Virginia. These women fought the battle of racism and sexism. She was excellent in her work field and many astronauts made sure that she had verified all the numbers before taking off for the expedition. In 1962, Ted Skopinski and Katherine were working on equations to track, land and manoeuvre a spacecraft in an orbital flight. The equations in that report (which were mostly Johnsonâs equations) provided the mathematical backbone for Americaâs first spaceflight in May 1961 and Americaâs first orbital mission in February 1962. It was a prestigious thing to claim credit for, especially for a woman of colour back in the 1960s. Not surprisingly enough, Henry Pearson, the supervisor, was pushing her coauthor, Ted, to go ahead and put his name on the final report. Ted later insisted Katherine do so because she had done most of the work.
- Hedy Lamarr: Radio Guidance system (GPS and WiFi)
Hedy was a star of the silver screen during the golden age of Hollywood. She collaborated with composer George Antheil to create a radio system for Allied Torpedoes. She was discovered by a director at the young age of 16. After a few years in the industry, she met Howard Hughes. He fueled the spark of innovation that Lamarr held and gave her a small set of equipment to use in her trailer on set. She continued to work on her inventions at home and in between takes.
In 1940, Hedy met George Antheil at a dinner party. The two came up with an extraordinary new communication system used to guide torpedoes to their targets in war. The system involved the use of âfrequency hoppingâ amongst radio waves, with both transmitter and receiver hopping to new frequencies together. The idea was taken to the Navy, and it played bluff by pretending it wasnât interested but then later stealing the idea and classifying the patent.
These are only a handful of women whose work was stolen by men or pushed down by society.
Some more of the women who faced the tragedy of a patriarchal society are:
- Ada Lovelace: The Mother of ProgrammingÂ
- Chein- Shiung Wu: Nuclear Physics
- Lise Meitner: Nuclear Fission
- Vera Rubin: Dark Matter
Candace Pert: Neuroscience Findings
Margaret Keane: Artwork Stolen by Husband, Walter Keane
And many moreâŠ
The list can go on and on, with different inventions, research or work by different women, but the same tragedy of the failed patriarchal society within all.
Itâs tragic and sad, that even to date, some of these women are a topic of debate when talked about; if they are even credible when they were in reality stolen off of their success. So many of these women died fighting to engrave their names into history pages or gain true recognition.
Even though the years have passed and society has changed, there still prevails a huge gender gap in STEM fields, women are still ignored for their true ability, and intelligence is still being judged on the level of conventional attractiveness they hold.Â
People still ask why feminism is needed. Feminism is needed so that women can have their stand in society; itâs needed for the women in the present world, to be able to mark their name down in history without being crushed by a patriarchal society.
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