During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I did not marry, nor did she bare any children.
When she died, she was remembered as; The Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess, and Gloriana.
Another great female leader was Queen Victoria.
Victoria's long reign witnessed an evolution in English politics and the expansion of the British Empire, as well as political and social reforms on the continent. France had known two dynasties and embraced Republicanism; Spain had seen three monarchs and both Italy and Germany had united their separate principalities into national coalitions. Even in her old age, she maintained a youthful energy and optimism that infected the English population as a whole.
Some women who have changed the world are the Suffragettes.
The move for women to have the vote had really started in 1897 when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage. "Suffrage" means the right to vote and that is women wanted – the right to vote.
Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful protest. She felt that any violence or trouble would persuade men that women could not be trusted to have the right to vote.
However, Fawcett's progress was very slow. She converted some of the members of the Labour Representation Committee (soon to be the Labour Party) but most men in Parliament believed that women simply would not understand how Parliament worked and therefore should not take part in the electoral process. This left many women angry and in 1903 the was founded by and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. They wanted women to have the right to vote and they were not prepared to wait. The Union became better known as the Suffragettes. Members of the Suffragettes were prepared to use violence to get what they wanted.
The Suffragettes refused to bow to violence. They burned down churches as the Church of England was against what they wanted; they vandalised Oxford Street, apparently breaking all the windows in this famous street; they chained themselves to Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family were seen to be against women having the right to vote; they hired out boats, sailed up the Thames and shouted abuse through loud hailers at Parliament as it sat; others refused to pay their tax. Politicians were attacked as they went to work. They homes were fire bombed.
Suffragettes were quite happy to go to prison. Here they refused to eat and went on a hunger strike. The government was very concerned that they might die in prison thus giving the movement martyrs. Prison governors were ordered to force feed Suffragettes but this caused a public outcry as forced feeding was traditionally used to feed lunatics as opposed to what were mostly educated women.
Soon, the Suffragettes became more extreme. The most famous act associated with the Suffragettes was at the June 1913 Derby when Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King's horse, Anmer, as it rounded Tattenham Corner. She was killed and the Suffragettes had their first martyr. However, her actions probably did more harm than good to the cause as she was a highly educated women. Many men asked the simple question - if this is what an educated woman does, what might a lesser educated woman do? How can they possibly be given the right to vote?
It is possible that the Suffragettes would have become more violent. They had, after all, in February 1913 blown up part of David Lloyd George's house - he was probably Britain's most famous politician at this time and he was thought to be a supporter of the right for women to have the vote!
However, Britain and Europe was plunged into World War One in August 1914. In a display of patriotism, Emmeline Pankhurst instructed the Suffragettes to stop their campaign of violence and support in every way the government and its war effort. The work done by women in the First World War was to be vital for Britain's war effort. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed by Parliament.
Many women have achieved fantastic things, for example, Florence Nightingale. Florence Nightingale is most remembered as a pioneer of nursing and a reformer of hospital sanitation methods. For most of her ninety years, Nightingale pushed for reform of the British military health-care system and with that the profession of nursing started to gain the respect it deserved.
Florence Nightingale's two greatest life achievements--pioneering of nursing and the reform of hospitals--were amazing considering that most Victorian women of her age group did not attend universities or pursue professional careers. It was her father, William Nightingale, who believed women, especially his children, should get an education.
Another of these great women is Marie Curie.
Marie Curie, or rather Marya Sklodowska, was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. Through her discovery of radium in 1898, Marie Curie paved the way for nuclear physics and cancer therapy.
Marie’s husband, Pierre tested radium on his skin. It caused a burn, and then a wound: its effect on man was thus proven. Soon radium was being used to treat malignant tumors: Curietherapy was born. In 1903, Marie defended her thesis. The Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery of natural radioactivity. Their happiness was short lived. In 1906, Pierre, weakened by radiation and overworked, was run over by a car. Marie was forced to continue alone. She took charge of educating her two children; she took up the position which her husband had finally obtained at the Sorbonne, and thus became the first woman to be appointed professor there.
She also had to fight the prejudices of her day: hatred of foreigners and sexism, which, in 1911, prevented her from entering the Academy of Science.
But then war broke out. "We must act, act," she would say, motivating her daughter Irène to follow suit. She felt that X-rays would help to locate shrapnel and bullets, and facilitate surgery; also, that it was important not to move the wounded, whenever possible. And so she created X-ray vans. But she did not stop there, and went on to provide equipment for hospitals. The only protection at that time was a metal screen and fabric gloves. All she needed to do was convince reticent doctors and find well-trained manipulators. No sooner said than done. Marie trained 150 female manipulators.
With the war over, she went back to work in her institute, with Irène by her side.
Marie died of leukemia in July 1934, at the age of 67, exhausted and almost blinded, her fingers burnt and stigmatized by "her" dear radium.
Women and academic achievement is an interesting subject. Through research, I have found things that women are better than men at.
A study at Ohio State University shows they have found that women are better than men at remembering the appearance of others.
Women appear to be better investors than men. When it comes to making money from investments, it's the women who are winning. At least, that's the finding of a survey by Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.
Some men may not want to hear this - but scientists have found women are better at holding their drink than men.
Women are better at talking to babies than men, researchers say. - But experts warn the finding should not be used as an excuse for men to leave women holding the baby.
Stereotypes about the superior color sense of women may well be rooted in genetics. Brian Verrelli, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, is co-collaborator on a study suggesting that natural genetic selection has provided women with a frequent ability to better discriminate between colors than men.
Another interesting topic is women and health.
Through research on the Internet, I have found many studies, which determine that women tent to eat healthier than men.
Also, men may think that they can handle pain, but in my opinion, if men were to experience even half the pain a woman goes through during childbirth, he would die.
Hey, here’s another joke for you:
“A married couple went to hospital to have their baby delivered. Upon arrival, the doctor said that the hospital was testing an amazing new hi-tech machine that would transfer a portion of the mother’s labour pain to the baby’s father.
He asked if they were willing to try it out.
They both said they were very much in favour of it. The doctor set the transfer to 10 percent for starters, explaining that 10 percent was probably more pain that the father had ever experienced before.
But, as the labour progressed, the father felt fine and suggested the doctor go ahead and kick it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20 percent pain transfer.
The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor then checked the husband’s blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this point, they decided to try for 50 percent. The husband continued to feel quite well.
Since the pain transfer was obviously helping the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer all the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain, and the husband had also experienced none. She and her husband were ecstatic.
When the husband got home from saying goodnight to his wife and newborn baby, he found the postman dead on the porch.”
Women's life span depends on the balance of two forces, according to Thomas Perls, a geriatrician at Harvard Medical School. One is the evolutionary drive to pass on her genes; the other is the need to stay healthy enough to rear as many children as possible. "Menopause draws the line between the two," Perls says. It protects older women from the risks of bearing children late in life, and lets them live long enough to take care of their children and grandchildren.
As for men, Perls believes "their purpose is simply to carry genes that ensure longevity and pass them on to their daughters. Thus, female longevity becomes the force that determines the natural life span of both men and women."
Women have been given a lack of opportunity over the years, and if we were given the same opportunities as men, we could be just as successful.
Men are given more vocational education opportunities than are women. Women and girls enrolled in vocational education are clustered in fields that are traditionally female and pay less. In 1992, 70% of enrollees in health courses and 76% of students enrolled in occupational home economics were women. Men accounted for 77% of enrollees in trade and industry courses and 72% of students concentrating in technical education.
Women have made great strides in education due to Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally-funded education, and affirmative action programs that have increased hiring, promotion, training, athletic and admission opportunities in educational institutions.
What do women really have to offer? Well, one thing I can tell you for sure is, women have a lot more to offer than simply being at home.
“Women –
Women have strengths that amaze men. They carry children, they carry hardships, they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous.
Women wait by the phone for a ‘safe-at-home call’ from a friend after a snowy drive home.
They are childcare workers, executives, lawyers, stay-at-home mums, bikers, babes and your neighbors. They wear suits, jeans and they wear uniforms.
They fight for what they believe in. They stand up for injustice. They walk and talk the extra mile to get their children to the right schools and their family to the right healthcare. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
Women are honest, loyal and forgiving. They are smart, knowing that knowledge is power. But they still know to use their softer side to make a point.
Women want to be the best for their friends, their family and themselves.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They have sorrow for the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.
A woman can make a romantic evening unforgettable.
Women come in all sizes, in all shapes and colours. They live in homes, apartments and cabins. They drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show you how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what makes the world spin!
Women do more than just give birth, they bring joy and hope. They give compassion and ideals.
They give moral support to their family and friends, and all they want back is a hug, a smile and for you to do the same with who you come into contact with.
Men –
Men are good at lifting stuff.”
Women can offer a lot of things in the workplace. Compassion, understanding, sympathy, common sense.
For example:
“If three wise women had traveled to Bethlehem, they would have asked for directions, arrived in time to deliver the baby and brought practical gifts like nappies, bottles and a breast pump. They would have cleaned the stables, made a casserole and there would have been peace on Earth for evermore.”
Men usually do not seem to have much common sense, or if they do, they don’t use it very often.
For example:
“Moses wandered in the desert for 40 years. He wouldn’t ask for directions.
A man would rather be burnt at the stake than admit to a woman that he’s lost.”
In my view, a woman’s place is where she is most effective, where she is most needed. It is a woman’s decision where she wants to be, not a man’s. Women have a lot more to offer than just being at home. I believe than men and women are equal. Women may even be better, but we’ll never know if we can’t break free from the male chauvinist pigs of our time. Men have been suppressing women and their views for hundreds of years. Men have ruled over women for far too long. I say: it’s our turn!
By Patricia Bielby.