international women's day

AMELIA EARHART

Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. Amelia was already defying traditional gender roles from a young age by playing basketball, taking an auto repair course, & briefly attending college. During World War I, she served as a nurse aid in Toronto, Canada. While in Canada, she began to watch pilots in the Royal Flying Corps train at a local airfield.⁠
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Amelia took an interest in Aviation and took her first airplane ride in California in 1920 with famed World War I pilot Frank Hawks. Shortly after, Amelia started taking flying lessons & purchased herself a plane. In 1921, Earhart passed her flight test & earned a National Aeronautics Association license.⁠
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Amelia set several flying records throughout her life. In 1922, she became the first woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet. In 1932, she became the first woman & second person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross, an award for demonstrating heroism & extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. Amelia was the first woman ever to receive the award. In that same year, she became the first woman to fly a solo, nonstop flight across the United States. She also became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland in 1935.⁠
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Amelia consistently worked to promote opportunities for women in aviation. She helped form & became the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for female pilots. This organization still exists to this day. In 1937, Amelia departed from Oakland, California, in her second attempt to become the first pilot ever to circumnavigate the globe. She had 7,000 more miles to go before completing this journey when she disappeared en route. After a two-week search for her & her partner, they were declared lost at sea.⁠
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Amelia's passion, dedication, and courage created many career opportunities for women in aviation and other male-dominated professions.

KATHERINE JOHNSON

Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Spring, West Virginia, in 1918. She was intellectually gifted, which put her several grades ahead in school.
In 1937, Katherine graduated from West Virginia State College with the highest honors, & began teaching at a Black public school in Virginia.
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Katherine ended up leaving her teaching job after being admitted to West Virginia University. At this time, Black students were not allowed to attend the state’s flagship school. Katherine enrolled in the graduate math program but decided to begin a family & continue teaching shortly after.
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In 1952, she was told about open positions at the all-Black section of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA), later renamed NASA. She spent the next 4 years analyzing data from flight tests & worked on an investigation of a plane crash. Katherine analyzed the first human spaceflight & co-wrote a report on it, making her the first woman in the Flight Research Division to be given credit for a research report.
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In 1962, NASA was preparing for the orbital mission of John Glenn. The astronauts were worried that the computer programs doing all the mathematical calculations for their mission might have errors, so Glenn asked for Katherine. She ran the same numbers & equations the computers were supposed to run by hand. The flight was a success & marked the turning point in the competition between the U.S. & the Soviet Union in space.
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After this success, she went on to help on numerous projects & published many research papers until finally retiring in 1986. In 2015, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Katherine Johnson died in February of 2020 at 101 years old. Her work is still a vital piece of history for NASA & space aviation as a whole. Katherine Johnson pioneered the way not just for Black women but for all women to be a leading face of science & mathematics, proving a “woman’s place” is anywhere she wants it to be.

FRIDA KAHLO

Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calerón in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico on July 6, 1907. ⁠
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In 1922, Frida was enrolled in a National Preparatory School, making her one of few female students. On September 17, 1925, Frida & a classmate were involved in a car accident that resulted in numerous injuries calling for several weeks of recovery. During her recovery process, she found painting & used it as an outlet for her pain.⁠
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Her personal experiences, such as her marriage to Diego Rivera, her difficulties with pregnancy, & her numerous health-issues, are what she used as inspiration for her paintings. She was not only a woman of the arts, but she was very politically involved. She would often merge both passions & paint murals for the communist revolutionary movement. Her political & artistic activities caught the eye of many, & in 1938, Frida had her first major exhibition in the New York City gallery, where she sold about half of the 25 paintings shown there. Frida was invited by Andre Breton, a French writer, to live in Paris, France, in 1939. Kahlo moved to Paris & exhibited some of her paintings & quickly became friends with other artists, including Pablo Picasso. Shortly after arriving in Paris, The Louvre purchased her painting "The Frame," making it the first artwork by a 20th-century Mexican artist ever purchased by the internationally renowned museum.⁠
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In 1953, Kahlo received her first solo exhibition in Mexico. She was bedridden at the time, but that did not stop her from being there at the exhibition's opening. She arrived by ambulance & had a bed set up in the gallery to be there. This would be one of her last public appearances before her unfortunate passing on July 13, 1954, at 47.
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Frida Kahlo's work broke many gender barriers & continues to inspire many artists to break stereotypes & change the status quo.⁠

ROSA PARKS

Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. She enrolled at Alabama State Teachers college but unfortunately had to leave college to take care of her ill grandmother. In 1932, Rosa got married to Raymond Parks, who actively fought to end racial injustices against the Black community. During this time, racial Segregation laws governed the city. Black people could only attend certain inferior schools, could only drink from specific water fountains, & more. ⁠
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On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks took her regular bus route home from work. At this time, there was a policy where Black people had to sit on the back of the bus, & only White people could sit in the front. On the bus route, a white man entered the bus to see no more room in the designated "White" section. The bus driver told the passengers in the first four rows of the "Colored" section to stand so the White man could sit. Everyone got up from their seats, but Rosa Parks refused, which resulted in her arrest. ⁠
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Once released, Rosa became the plaintiff in a case that was set to end segregation laws. The Black population of Montgomery began to boycott the buses on the day of Parks' trial. Unfortunately, she was found guilty of violating segregation laws; however, little did she know she had sparked a movement. The Montgomery Movement Association was formed shortly after this, & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the organization's president. ⁠
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Many lawsuits were filed until Parks' case reached the Supreme Court & in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. In 1999, Rosa was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal & became the first woman in the nation's history to lie in honor in the U.S Capitol after her passing in 2005. Rosa Parks left behind a legacy of resistance against racial inequality & discrimination. She will forever be honored & recognized as the first lady of the civil rights movement. ⁠

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan, in 1997. She had developed a love for education and a passion for knowledge early due to her father running an educational institution in their city. She eventually attended this institution and was very academically successful.⁠
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However, in 2007, the Taliban took over Mingora and became the dominant socio-political force throughout Pakistan. Girls were soon banned from attending school and from many activities like watching television and dancing. Malala was determined to go to school and stand up for girls' right to an education. In 2009, she started to post blog entries about life under Taliban rule using the name "Gul Makai" to protect her identity. She was only 11 years old when she wrote her first blog entry, "I Am Afraid."⁠
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Malala and her father became known throughout Pakistan for their determination to give Pakistani girls a free, quality education. Unfortunately, this activism resulted in Malala getting shot on a bus by members of the Taliban. Malala was airlifted to an intensive care unit in England, where she was put in a medically induced coma. After weeks of treatment and surgeries, she recovered and began to attend school in England in 2013.⁠
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Malala's story resulted in a global outpour of support for her. On her 16th birthday, she visited New York and spoke at the United Nations. That same year, she published her first book, "I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban." In 2013, the European Parliament awarded Malala with the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Malala continued to fight for girls' right to education throughout the world. In 2014, Malala became the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Today, Malala runs an organization that empowers girls to be strong leaders through education and advocates for girls to be agents of change in their communities. Malala Yousafzai proves that no matter your age, race, gender, or religion, you, too, can make a change.⁠

RUTH BADER GINSBURG

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, her mother significantly influenced her life & taught her the value of receiving a good education. Ruth followed her mother's advice by attending Cornell University in 1954, where she graduated at the top of her class. That same year, she married her husband Martin & had her first child in 1955. Her husband was later drafted into the military, which led to Ginsburg putting her education on hold. ⁠
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In 1956, Ginsburg began attending Harvard law school while taking care of her recently cancer-diagnosed husband & her daughter. Despite all of her struggles, she graduated at the top of her class & furthered her education at Columbia Law. And, by no surprise, she graduated at the top of her class. Ruth, however, found it challenging to find a job due to gender discrimination in the workplace. She luckily was offered a job as a clerk for a U.S District Judge, & she worked there for 2 years until she wound up teaching at Columbia Law School.⁠
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She led the fight against gender discrimination & successfully argued 6 landmark cases before the U.S Supreme Court. This led to President Carter appointing Ruth to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served on the court for 13 years until Ruth was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993. She became the court's 2nd female justice as well as the first Jewish female justice. ⁠
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As a judge, she wrote the landmark decision that stated the Virginia Military Institute couldn't refuse to admit women. She famously dissented in the Ledbetter V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Her plaintiff, a female employee, paid less than her male co-workers with the same qualifications, sued under Title VII. Unfortunately, she was denied relief. But as we already know, this did not stop Ruth from seeking justice. In 2009, President Obama passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Ruth proved she was a force to be reckoned with until her death on September 18, 2020. Ruth Bader Ginsburg will always be remembered for her strong voice against gender inequality and discrimination.

ROSIE THE RIVETER

Rosie the Riveter was the star of a World War II campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defense industries. During World War II, women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers to compensate for gaps left by men who had enlisted in the war. The aviation industry, in particular, saw the most increase in female workers. The munitions industry also saw heavy recruitment of female workers, which is illustrated by the U.S. government’s Rosie the Riveter propaganda campaign.
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Rosie, pictured as a strong, bandanna-clad woman, became the face of the most successful recruitment tool in American history and the most iconic image of working women in the World War II era. The campaign stressed the need for women to join the workforce. Rosie’s prototype was first created in 1942 by a Pittsburgh artist named J. Howard Miller and was featured on a poster for an electric corporation under the headline “ We Can Do It.” In 1943, a popular song called “Rosie the Riveter” was released by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, and the name went down in history.
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Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27% to 37%. By 1945, nearly 1 in 4 married women worked outside the home. The call for women to join the workforce was meant to be temporary, but many women stayed in the workforce even after the war. Men could no longer claim superiority over women after seeing women’s selfless efforts during the war. Many women got a taste of freedom and independence and sought more. The impact of World War II on women changed the workplace and resulted in women’s roles continuing to expand in a postwar era.