2021 International Women's Day

The Era of Women

Copyright@2008, 2021 by Monica Stevens

We are definitely in the Era of Women. We can vote, work outside the home, run for office, participate in the Olympics, and even go into space. Women's cultural, socioeconomic, and political achievements are common today. Just in the United States, for the first time ever, there is a woman VP, Kamala Harris. Women today are self-sufficient, strong, and independent. International Women's Day this year celebrates gender equality, but things have not always been that good for women,

There is indication that the Era of Women began a long time ago. It did not begin with women’s suffrage in 1848 through the hard works of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Even though the addition of the 19th Amendment to the American Constitution granting women voting rights was great, women’s movement began many centuries before and in other parts of the world.

Let’s start with Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni (c. 60 BCE). The Iceni were part of the warring Celtic race, in what is now known as Norfolk, England. In these tribes, women had the particular characteristic of fighting alongside their husbands and sons in battle, carrying swords and axes. Following her people’s tradition, Queen Boadicea fiercely fought the Romans who had invaded her land, and left the Roman Ninth Legion in shambles.

We can continue with Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt (1st Century BCE), as yet another great example of powerful women in history. Her motto was: “I will not be triumphed over”. A beautiful and ambitious politician, Cleopatra became queen at the age of 18, exercising a strong influence on the Romans, guardians of Egypt at the time. By using her feminine skills, she exercised a strong influence over two important Roman leaders: Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, who allied with her. Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh of Egypt and clearly one of the most powerful politicians of her time.

Cleopatra became a legendary, romantic figure. As such, she has been the subject of many English literary masterpieces, such as Antony and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare; Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw; and All for Love, by John Dryden.

We can also take a look at Blanche of Castille, Queen of France in the 13th Century. Queen Blanche was a shrewd ruler who managed to persuade her English adversaries to keep the peace with the French, at the same time as maintaining a delicate balance of relations with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick in the convoluted Medieval Times.

On the other side of the world, Catherine the Great, powerful Empress of Russia, set new guidelines for women leaders in the 18th Century. Catherine ruled for 34 years and during that time she managed to do away with the barbaric image of her country. She Europeanized Russia by encouraging French arts and culture finally bringing Renaissance into her country.

Even in traditionally masculine societies, there have always been progressive and courageous women who refused to be limited by social constraints and who have set the example for generations to come.

Beautiful Benazir Bhutto managed to become Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, but her work was not easy. Mrs. Bhutto was arrested on several occasions and spent time in prison for her leadership of the opposition party, Pakistan People’s Party. In spite of it all, she continued her political struggle until she achieved success and became the first woman to head an Islamic State. After she was elected, she fought to improve social conditions in Pakistan, and for this she received the Bruno Kreisky Award for Human Rights in 1988. Benazir Bhutto was later deposed, exiled, and when she finally returned to her beloved Pakistan, she was murdered in October 2007, while still fighting against corruption in her country.

Another example was the admirable Maria Corazón Aquino, President of the Philippines. Cory, as she was generally known, went from being a housewife and mother of five children, to becoming a strong ruler from 1986 to 1992, after her husband’s assassination in 1983.

Aquino was awarded many honors such as "Woman of the Year" and the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1986. She also received the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit Award in France in 1989, the United Nations Silver Medal, the Canadian International Prize for Freedom, and the International Leadership Living Legacy Award presented by the Women’s International Center. In 1996, she received the Fulbright Award for International Understanding, and in November 2006, Cori Aquino was recognized in the Special Anniversary Issue of Time Asia as one of the Asian Heroes. Cori Aquino also had numerous PhDs bestowed upon her by a number of universities around the world.

And what about Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (and nicknamed the “Iron Lady” with good reason)? With a BS in Chemistry and an MBA in Law specialized in Taxation, Mrs. Thatcher became Britain’s first female Prime Minister in 1979. She was the longest serving Prime Minister in 150 years, re-elected three times between 1979 and 1990. As a strong leader and close ally to the United States, Mrs.Thatcher re-established the reputation of the United Kingdom as a world economic power, defeated General Galtieri during the Falklands War against Argentina, and exerted strong influence in the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Well into her seventies, Mrs. Thatcher was still active in politics and her newly acquired title of Baroness in 1992 allowed her to sit in the House of Lords in England.

Baroness Thatcher supported the campaign “Keep Britain in Europe” during demonstrations held the day before voting in the UK on the Common Market Referendum in 1975. She died in 2013, and in 2016 she was posthumously named "the most influential woman of the last 70 years" by BBC Radio in 2016.

Latin America has also had its share of strong ladies. 

Mexican poet Juana de Asbaje (better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) was probably the first activist in the American Continent (1651-1695). Juana became Sister (Sor) Juana Inés de la Cruz when she joined a convent in order to be able to freely do research and write. From an early age, Juana had demonstrated unusual intelligence and a strong desire to study and learn, something uncommon and unacceptable for women in 17th Century New Spain (today Mexico). She wrote numerous poems and plays, many of them a social criticism, particularly towards men and their treatment of women. Eventually the church considered her writings too dangerous, took away her paper and quill, and demanded that she limit herself to pray and help the needy and sick, like other nuns.

Juana died at age 43 of typhoid fever while caring for other nuns in 1695. She is considered the first feminist – and first poet and writer -- in the Americas. Known as “The Tenth Muse” and “The Phoenix of America”, 323 years after her death, her poignant poem “Hombres Necios que acusáis a la mujer sin razón, sin ver que sóis la ocasión de lo mismo que culpáis…” ("Foolish men who blame women with no reason, without stopping to think that you yourselves are to blame precisely for that which you criticize…") is still popular and continues to be one of her most published works.       

In the 20th Century, Violeta Chamorro became President of Nicaragua (1990 to 1996). She was the first woman to be elected president in any nation on the Western Hemisphere -- including the USA. President Chamorro’s main achievement was that after years of a relentless civil, she finally brought an end to the Sandinista period of armed conflict in Nicaragua.

Today, there have already been 10 women presidents in the American Continent, plus our new American VP, and for 58 days in 2014 there were four women presidents in Latin America (Chile, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brazil) at the same time.

"The election of four female presidents punctuated a longer-term shift in Latin American political culture: from 1995 to January 2019, women increased their presence in national legislatures from 13.7% to 30.7%. By mid-2019, women held 28.5% of the region’s cabinet positions." (E. Sweigart, Americas Quarterly, 9 December 2019)

Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), was a living example of the continuation of the Era of Women. President Michelle was not only the first woman president in Chile, but she was also a single mother, a pediatrician, a socialist, and a former political prisoner and survivor of torture during the regime of Dictator Augusto Pinochet.

In the Caribbean, another impressive example was Dame Maria Eugenia Charles, Prime Minister of the Island of Dominica from 1980 to 1995. Dame Charles was the granddaughter of slaves, but she still was able to become the first woman lawyer on her island, and later served three terms as Prime Minister of Dominica. Dame Charles was always involved in politics, even before becoming Prime Minister. She was one of the founders of the Dominica Freedom Party that finally achieved Dominican independence from Britain in 1978.

In the 21st Century, we also have the extraordinary Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (2005-2021) who became the strongest leader in Europe, and Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, both considered two of the greatest leaders of our times.

In the US, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was only the second woman to serve in the Supreme Court. She was the most important advocate of women’s rights in the United States, and her powerful dissensions in Court served to protect the rights of women for decades (since 1993). Justice Ginsburg recently passed away at the age of 87 after bravely fighting to continue her work in favor of women’s rights.

Powerful and influential women exist everywhere. Let us not forget the brilliance and courage of Frida Kahlo, Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, Amelia Earhart, Sojourner Truth -- not to mention the extraordinary political and social activist, author, and fundraiser, Helen Keller.

And as the proverb goes "better late than never", we are now able to recognize the extraordinary contributions by African-American women Mary W. Jackson, mathematician Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan (expert programmer in computer language FORTRAN), who worked in the 1940s at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, prior to becoming NASA) as NASA's first "human computers".

The invaluable work performed by these three scientists was finally made public in 2016 through Margot Lee Shetterly's book "Hidden Figures" (later made into a film). And in 2021, NASA deservedly named its headquarters in honor of Mary W. Jackson.

We women have always been strong. We have excelled in all areas, at all times, at any age, and around the entire world. Think of Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, environmentalist Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank, Marie Curie, Indira Gandhi, Sojourner Truth, Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, Aung San Suu Kyi, Golda Meir, Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Diana Spencer, and so many others – from Europe to Kashmir and the United States, from Russia to Pakistan and Latin America. Look anywhere and you will find extraordinary, courageous women who have become terrific leaders and an example to follow throughout the history of mankind.        

As comedian Lucille Ball once said:  “I′m not funny; what I am is brave!”

 (Women’s Voices: Quotations by Women@ Jone Johnson Lewis, 1997-2003)