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Amazing Women - Women's History Month

Posted by: palmettobug53, 2:37 AM GMT on March 08, 2010

I've been watching a good bit of TV lately. I caught a couple of things recently that have got me thinking about women and their roles in society and in history. Women who defied the odds, overcame obstacles or who tried to make a difference. Women who redefined their roles in society.

The first was a movie on HBO: Temple Grandin I had read something about this woman in the paper some time before the movie aired. I was a bit taken aback by the fact that she is known for designing slaughterhouses. It is not something you'd think a woman would even be interested in doing.

I was totally captivated by her story. She is a high functioning autistic. She 'sees' the world in pictures. In fact, in doing some reading about her online, I've found that there was a BBC documentary about her called, The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow. She is an associate professor at Colorado State University, an author and lecturer.

An Amazing Woman.

The second thing I watched was an episode of American Experience on PBS. Dolley Madison was the wife of our fourth president, James Madison. She is known primarily as the woman who saved Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington, the Landsdowne portrait, from the British as they invaded and burned Washington during the War of 1812. She was our first "First Lady". No other woman before her had been given that title. She was political, when it was not considered the "lady-like" thing to do. She was a true partner to her husband during his political career and presidency. Dolley Madison, the PBS documentary.

An Amazing Woman.

These two shows got me to thinking about other Amazing Women.

Eleanor Roosevelt Even though she was born into a well known, wealthy family, she was an advocate for civil rights, the working women's role in the job force, as well as homemakers, and spoke out about poverty. She was active in the Democratic Party and actively campaigned for her husband in his bids for office. She was an author, writing columns for newspapers and articles for magazines. She was in demand as a public speaker. She overcame many obstacles in her marriage and family life.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon I think what I admire most about the late Queen Mum were her actions during WWII. She refused to relocate herself and her children to Canada, when urged to do so. She kept a high profile in public, visiting bombed out areas of London, expressing her concern for how the people were faring. She even expressed relief, when Buckingham Palace was bombed, saying, "I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face."

Boadicea This lady did not take things lying down. After her husband's death circa AD 60, the Romans annexed her kingdom, had her flogged and her daughters were raped. She led a subsequent revolt against the Romans. Her army won several victories but was finally defeated by the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Boadicea committed suicide, rather than be captured.

As I started doing some online research on the subject, I found that March is Women's History Month. I'm not surprised. It seems that we have special months, weeks and days for just about everything now. I'm sure you'll enjoy browsing the following sites and learning more about the contributions of women throughout history.

What women in history, living or not, do you admire and why?

Women's History Month on The History Channel

National Women's History Project

History's Women

Distinguished Women

Create your own visitor map!

Updated: 3:02 AM GMT on April 06, 2010

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About palmettobug53

WU member since Oct. 2005. I enjoy reading, crafts, crosswords, puttering in the yard, old movies and hanging out with my friends on WU.

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