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fantastic_jackieFor International Women's Day, I attempted to make homemade chocolate chip cookies like scores of women who have come before me... and frankly currently populate the planet. >.> I failed.
Well, I failed to begin with. Mind you, this wasn't my first time to bake cookies, but I've only done it a handful of times. At first, we didn't have all the ingredients (srsly, what happened to that vanilla extract??) and I had to wait a few hours before being able to drive. (Which means I fell asleep while waiting.) Then I finally had all the stuff...and I mixed it in the wrong order. ANYway, the cookies are finally finished, and they are indeed tasty. I'm sure it was a woman who came up with that recipe, so thank you, whoever you were: the world is a much more incredible place with chocolate chip cookies. :D
I was highly tempted by the International Women's Day fanfic meme going around, I wasn't in a mood for fictional writing today. Instead, I decided to look up some history stuffs regarding women in general. :) Mom and I discussed a lot of it; it evoked some interesting differences of opinion. I hope you find something interesting below...
Struggles of the Past
There were and still remain uncountable struggles, but most of these were ones I looked up because I never knew about them.
* As a huge fan of Disney, this section would not be complete without the infamous Disney letter written to Miss Frances Brewer of Van Nuys, California. In 1939, she wanted to be an animator for Disney, and this is part of the reply she received:
* The Olympics
It's an Olympic year, so you may find these facts interesting.
Though women were not allowed to even be present for the original Olympic Games on pain of death, did you know there was a tournament of only women that occurred every four years? It was called the Games of Hera, and like the Olympic Games, started out as only footraces for the sixteen competitors. They competed nude or in short dresses, and men were allowed to watch them - namely because the competitors were virgins, and the men were looking for wives.
Coming to our current Olympics, they started in 1896; women were allowed to compete in the 1900 Olympics, but only in limited areas - golf and tennis were where the 11 women competed. Most of the struggle occurred in reference to track events. It wasn't until 1928 that women were allowed to participate in track and field events. However, in that Olympic year, many women collapsed after the 800-meter race, and thus women were banned from the events again all the way until 1960.
As for the Winter Olympics, they first occurred in 1924, and women were only allowed to compete in one event: figure skating.
* Staying on the line of sports, did you know a woman struck out Babe Ruth AND Lou Gehrig? Her name was Virne "Jackie" Mitchell, and she was the first professional baseball player. It's probable that her performance in that game played a part in women being banned from the sport, as only days later Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the baseball commissioner, voided her contract and declared women unfit for the sport because it was "too strenuous."
* Last sporty thing, I promise; I just found myself stuck looking up all this info I never knew. The story of Roberta Gibb was quite entertaining. In 1966, she was the first woman to run and finish the Boston Marathon. She uhm... didn't get any credit for it, though. Reason: women weren't actually allowed to run in the marathon until 1972. That didn't stop her from winning the '66, '67, and '68 runs, though. \o/
Women in Government
These are rather straight-to-the-point, but no list is complete without government! ;D
* New Zealand was became the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893.
* Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-Georgia) was technically the first woman Senator in 1922. She served just 24 hours, appointed to fill a vacancy. In 1938, Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-Arkansas) was the first woman to be elected to the Senate after originally being appointed to serve the remainder of her late husband's term.
* In 1917, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in Congress.
Firsts in Career Roles
I tried to look into some unique career fields...
* The Tale of Genji is credited as being the world's first novel. It was published around 1000 A.D. in Japan, and its author was a woman. Her name was Murasaki Shikibu. It's still around today, having been translated into several languages and recognized for its well-written contents.
* In the world of animation, Lotte Reiniger is recognized as the first woman animator. She used cut-paper silhouettes, and she invented a system of hinge pins to manipulate the joints of her animated characters. From 1919-1979, Lotte Reiniger directed 42 titles, including “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (1926), one of the first animated feature films in history.
* The world's first "qualified" woman veterinarian was Dr. Mignon Nicholson who graduated from Chicago's McKillip Veterinary College in 1903. Not much is known about her, but two women who graduated seven years later, doctors Elinor McGrath and Florence Kimball, were considered pioneers on two fronts: that they were women vets and that they specialized in small animals.
Random Cool Stuff
Because it was too cool to pass up.
* At one time in Britain, the Queen firmly believed that makeup was "impolite." The year was 1770, and the British Parliament proposed a bill that would have had women wearing makeup punished for witchcraft. The thing was that makeup wasn't looked upon too kindly in those days; it was believed that the women who wore makeup, perfumes, or even wigs were doing so to lure men - aka, they were making men lust after them, which was considered the work of the devil. LOL I didn't find anything that said the bill passed, though.
* Chicks invented the following: the car heater, Kevlar, white out, bras, the circular saw, non-reflective glass, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, disposable diapers, petroleum refining methods, the fire escape, and windshield wipers among other things, of course.
* Paul Revere and other men were not the only ones racing through the night to warn that the British were coming in revolutionary times. In 1777, a sixteen-year-old midnight rider by the name Sybil Ludington rode fast and hard on a trail double the length of Paul Revere in order to warn New York patriots that the British were attacking nearby Danbury, CT. The importance: Danbury housed that entire region's munitions and supplies!
Linkage
March is Women's History Month: you have all month long to check these out and more!
50 Fascinating Facts for Women’s History Month
Women in Congress
First Woman Veterinarian
10 Noteworthy Women Animators
The Mystery of the Female Disney Animator <-- Very Interesting.
Well, I failed to begin with. Mind you, this wasn't my first time to bake cookies, but I've only done it a handful of times. At first, we didn't have all the ingredients (srsly, what happened to that vanilla extract??) and I had to wait a few hours before being able to drive. (Which means I fell asleep while waiting.) Then I finally had all the stuff...and I mixed it in the wrong order. ANYway, the cookies are finally finished, and they are indeed tasty. I'm sure it was a woman who came up with that recipe, so thank you, whoever you were: the world is a much more incredible place with chocolate chip cookies. :D
I was highly tempted by the International Women's Day fanfic meme going around, I wasn't in a mood for fictional writing today. Instead, I decided to look up some history stuffs regarding women in general. :) Mom and I discussed a lot of it; it evoked some interesting differences of opinion. I hope you find something interesting below...
Struggles of the Past
There were and still remain uncountable struggles, but most of these were ones I looked up because I never knew about them.
* As a huge fan of Disney, this section would not be complete without the infamous Disney letter written to Miss Frances Brewer of Van Nuys, California. In 1939, she wanted to be an animator for Disney, and this is part of the reply she received:
"Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for the training school. To qualify for the only work open to women one must be well grounded in the use of pen and ink and also of water color. The work to be done consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions."
* The Olympics
It's an Olympic year, so you may find these facts interesting.
Though women were not allowed to even be present for the original Olympic Games on pain of death, did you know there was a tournament of only women that occurred every four years? It was called the Games of Hera, and like the Olympic Games, started out as only footraces for the sixteen competitors. They competed nude or in short dresses, and men were allowed to watch them - namely because the competitors were virgins, and the men were looking for wives.
Coming to our current Olympics, they started in 1896; women were allowed to compete in the 1900 Olympics, but only in limited areas - golf and tennis were where the 11 women competed. Most of the struggle occurred in reference to track events. It wasn't until 1928 that women were allowed to participate in track and field events. However, in that Olympic year, many women collapsed after the 800-meter race, and thus women were banned from the events again all the way until 1960.
As for the Winter Olympics, they first occurred in 1924, and women were only allowed to compete in one event: figure skating.
* Staying on the line of sports, did you know a woman struck out Babe Ruth AND Lou Gehrig? Her name was Virne "Jackie" Mitchell, and she was the first professional baseball player. It's probable that her performance in that game played a part in women being banned from the sport, as only days later Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the baseball commissioner, voided her contract and declared women unfit for the sport because it was "too strenuous."
* Last sporty thing, I promise; I just found myself stuck looking up all this info I never knew. The story of Roberta Gibb was quite entertaining. In 1966, she was the first woman to run and finish the Boston Marathon. She uhm... didn't get any credit for it, though. Reason: women weren't actually allowed to run in the marathon until 1972. That didn't stop her from winning the '66, '67, and '68 runs, though. \o/
Women in Government
These are rather straight-to-the-point, but no list is complete without government! ;D
* New Zealand was became the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893.
* Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-Georgia) was technically the first woman Senator in 1922. She served just 24 hours, appointed to fill a vacancy. In 1938, Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-Arkansas) was the first woman to be elected to the Senate after originally being appointed to serve the remainder of her late husband's term.
* In 1917, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in Congress.
Firsts in Career Roles
I tried to look into some unique career fields...
* The Tale of Genji is credited as being the world's first novel. It was published around 1000 A.D. in Japan, and its author was a woman. Her name was Murasaki Shikibu. It's still around today, having been translated into several languages and recognized for its well-written contents.
* In the world of animation, Lotte Reiniger is recognized as the first woman animator. She used cut-paper silhouettes, and she invented a system of hinge pins to manipulate the joints of her animated characters. From 1919-1979, Lotte Reiniger directed 42 titles, including “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (1926), one of the first animated feature films in history.
* The world's first "qualified" woman veterinarian was Dr. Mignon Nicholson who graduated from Chicago's McKillip Veterinary College in 1903. Not much is known about her, but two women who graduated seven years later, doctors Elinor McGrath and Florence Kimball, were considered pioneers on two fronts: that they were women vets and that they specialized in small animals.
Random Cool Stuff
Because it was too cool to pass up.
* At one time in Britain, the Queen firmly believed that makeup was "impolite." The year was 1770, and the British Parliament proposed a bill that would have had women wearing makeup punished for witchcraft. The thing was that makeup wasn't looked upon too kindly in those days; it was believed that the women who wore makeup, perfumes, or even wigs were doing so to lure men - aka, they were making men lust after them, which was considered the work of the devil. LOL I didn't find anything that said the bill passed, though.
* Chicks invented the following: the car heater, Kevlar, white out, bras, the circular saw, non-reflective glass, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, disposable diapers, petroleum refining methods, the fire escape, and windshield wipers among other things, of course.
* Paul Revere and other men were not the only ones racing through the night to warn that the British were coming in revolutionary times. In 1777, a sixteen-year-old midnight rider by the name Sybil Ludington rode fast and hard on a trail double the length of Paul Revere in order to warn New York patriots that the British were attacking nearby Danbury, CT. The importance: Danbury housed that entire region's munitions and supplies!
Linkage
March is Women's History Month: you have all month long to check these out and more!
50 Fascinating Facts for Women’s History Month
Women in Congress
First Woman Veterinarian
10 Noteworthy Women Animators
The Mystery of the Female Disney Animator <-- Very Interesting.
