Important Women All Over the World
Women’s History Month is from March 1 to the 31. It’s a very meaningful event for several women, and it reminds everyone of how far women have come. To celebrate, I decided to bring some attention to important women’s rights activists from all over the world.
United States of America: Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was an abolitionist and suffragist. She became well known in 1950 after organizing and giving a speech at the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. After giving said speech, which was printed in the international press, she continued to give speeches all over the US and Canada for 5 years. In 1869, she broke with several other suffragists over passage of the 14th and 15th amendments, which allowed black men to vote, but not women.
United Kingdom: Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst was a political activist. She is well known for founding the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. The union would often protest for women’s rights, and whenever bills didn’t grant the rights Pankhurst and her group were protesting, they often resorted to more violent protests, such as breaking windows, to be noticed. Many were arrested during the protests. When World War I began, the women in the Union began helping out the men who were fighting in the war, and thanks to that, the British government granted them limited voting rights. In 1918, women were allowed to be elected for Parliament.
The Feminist Five are five women named Li Maizi, Wu Rongrong, Zheng Churan, Wei Tingting and Wang Man. After planning to celebrate International Women’s Day by handing out stickers to the public, they were arrested on March 6, 2015. After the rest of the world heard of the arrest, they set out on social media to convince the Chinese government to free them, with hashtags such as #freethefive. After 37 days in prison, they were let out on bail due to the pressure China was getting from the arrest. Unfortunately, they were all placed under state surveillance after getting out of prison and still are today.
Vida Goldstein was a suffragist. In 1902, she spoke at the International Women’s Conference in the US, was elected secretary, and gave evidence in favor of women’s suffrage to the US Congress. She was also one of the four women to be nominated and to stand for election from the British Empire. In the years of 1891 to 1919, Goldstein helped found and supported the National Council of Women, the Victorian Women’s Public Servants’ Association and the Women Writers’ Club. She was even invited to give speeches at the Women’s Social and Political Union.
Eva Perón was the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952. During her husband, Juan Perón’s presidency, she increased the wage of any union who supported him and replaced the Sociedad de Beneficencia with the Eva Perón Foundation. She was very involved with the passage of the women’s suffrage law and formed the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949. Eva was nominated for Vice President in 1951 even though she was dying of cancer. However, the army forced her to withdraw. She was such an inspiration to everyone around the world. So much so that the musical (and later film adaptation) Evita is based on her life.
Nebila Abdulmelik is a writer and women’s rights activist. She created an online petition called #JusticeforLiz after a 16 year old Kenyan girl named Liz was sexually assaulted in 2013, and the offenders were never punished for their actions. The petition had over 2 million signatures. It is unknown whether the offenders were brought to justice.
