By Jamie Wu
The month of March is known as Women’s History Month, a time for everyone to recognize the rich past of all females. We have worked to earn the right to vote, the right to own property, and so much more. Here are some of the most influential women that changed the course of our future, whose legacy still exists to this day.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie paved the path for women in STEM. Discriminated against as a woman and facing suspicion as a foreigner, Curie managed to discover radium and utilize it to treat tumors. She was the first female to win the Nobel Prize, the first female professor at the University of Paris, and the first person ever to win a second Nobel Prize. Her discoveries are still relevant today and are used for cancer research that saves lots of lives everyday.
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union. She led women to actively demand for their own rights in the United Kingdom. She encouraged militant tactics and endured thirteen imprisonments. In 1918, the Parliament granted women restricted suffrage, and ten years later, British women were given full voting rights. Her motto “Deeds Not Words” still remains the Women’s Social and Political Union’s slogan.
Jeanette Rankin
Jeanette Rankin was an American politician and was the first woman to be elected to Congress. She was the first woman’s voice to be heard during political debates, and represented the millions of women who have been ignored for so long. As a part of the women’s suffrage movement, she advocated for the rights of women and for our equality. Rankin voiced, “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last.”
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