Women have come a long way in the last 200 years. We have gained the right to vote, we've made our way into major leadership positions, and we have the right to receive an adequate education. These are rights that we may overlook today as obvious, but it has not always been this way. We have many women in history to thank for these beautiful rights. Here are five badass women who helped pave the way for us today.
1. Jeanne Manford (1920-2013)
Jeanna Manford was an amazing pioneer activist for the LGBTQ community. She founded the group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). PFLAG is the Unites States' first and largest LGBTQ organization. Manford began her activism in 1972 after her gay son, Morty, was beaten relentlessly while handing out flyers in a political dinner. Later that year, she marched with her son in the New York pride parade while carrying a sign that said "Parents Of Gays Unite In Support For Our Children". Manford went on to receive a Presidential Citizens Medal for her activism.
2. Margaret Hamilton (1936- )
Margaret Hamilton was the main coder who got the United States to the moon. She pioneered (and coined the term) software engineering all while she was in her 20's! Hamilton legitimized the now $400 billion, mainly male-dominated industry.
3. Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015)
Amelia Boynton Robinson led the first of the three Selma marches, during which she was beaten, gassed, and left for dead. She never gave up. She even persuaded Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the last two of the Selma marches. At the age of 104, Robinson helped lead a group across the Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside Michelle and Barack Obama.
4. Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927)
Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to ever run for President. She did this at the age of 34 (even though the required age is 35) and 50 years before women could vote. Woodhill broke many societal rules as she published a newspaper that promoted free love, contraceptive rights, sexual education, and the rights for women everywhere.
5. Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)
Margaret Sanger was the overcoming nurse who gave us birth control. She was arrested 3 separate times because she attempted to open the first low-cost family planning clinic. Sanger went on to establish the American Birth Control League, which we know today as Planned Parenthood.
These powerful and daring women challenged the societal standards of their times to get us to where we are today. Without them, we wouldn't have the freedoms and rights that we've come to know and love.
