March 8th is International Women's Day (if you're wondering if men have a day too? it's November 19th.) International Women's Day is a day of remembering the historical, cultural, and political achievements of Women across the World and showing the value of Women in our society.
What better way of starting off International Women's Day than by discussing the History of how the day came about?
International Women's Day was born on the backs of women and stems largely from the influence of the Women Suffragette movement. During the Civil War, political activists and Women's rights advocates, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought to bring about change in America's amendments. Anthony and Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and continued to fight for women's rights throughout their lives, creating a waterfall affect on the women who came after them.
During the Early 1900's women had no voting rights, they were overworked and underpaid, and still being snuffed at for jobs that were seen as "men only".
In 1908 fifteen thousand women marched through the City of New York to demand equality rights. Most of these women were a part of/or had similar goals as The Socialist Party of America (SPA) and after the suggestion from Women's Activist Theresa Malkiel (who was part of the SPA) February 28th 1909 became the very 1st observed National Women's Day in History.
In 1910 during an International Women's conference, German suffragette and leader of The Women's Office proposed that a special Woman's Day should be recognised annually. That following year, Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland honoured the day with more than one million attending the rallies.
Over the years that passed Women continued to push and advocate for Women's rights not only on once a year but around the clock. It is what has led to the ability for both Black and White women being able to vote in politics, hold jobs that were once forbidden to Women, and not be seen as objects that are owned and used by Men.
While we've come along way, there is still much to be done, International Women's Day is a reminder not to fall backwards in History, to strive forward for equality and not to forget your worth.
To help remember how valuable Women have been and still are in Scotland, we've comprised a list of some (by no means all) of the;
Notable Women in Scotland.
Lady Agnes Campbell
Born into nobility, one often assumes an easy life for a noble, history will tell you this has never been true for a woman. Despite this, Lady Campbell used her nobility to her best advantage, in her life she manage to seal the pact of friendship of two clan enemies (The MacDonnell's and Campbells) by one of her marriages. Brought over to Ireland her own army of 1,200 Highland Troops, which at first was seen to be a dowry to her next husband, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, who soon realised Gaelic custom allowed her to command these troops herself. She directed her troops and kept loyalty to her Scottish ties against English forces and was well known to be the true power behind Turlough O'Neill, who took a submissive back seat during their marriage, agreeing to nearly all her behests. She raised Scottish support for the rebellion against the English and became the talks among the English nobles who had become impressed with her leadership skills especially with whom she negotiated with in both English and Latin. She later devoted her life to helping her children in politics, securing and mobilising Scottish support for the Irish.
Mary Queen of Scots
The youngest ever British Monarch having become Queen at the age of 6! Mary was shipped off to France from the ages of 5 -13. It is believed that not only did Mary learn French and English, she knew Scottish Gaelic, Latin, Italian, Greek and Spanish, making her a vital asset in political negotiations and influences. Being incredibly tall (around 5ft 11') and both elegant and intelligent, with rights to the English thrown, she was tossed into a bubbling cauldron of jealousy at birth when it came to her cousin Queen Elizabeth I; who spent most of her life in envy of Mary Queen of Scots, terrified Mary would take her thrown. On top of her many capabilities, Mary was a very good rider, hunter and believe it or not, code breaker. She herself, wrote in code so complex that when she was imprisoned it took many very skilled codebreakers to decipher her letters. Forced into abdication after the birth of her Son, James I, she would be ripped from his side when he was only 10 months old, never to see him again. When it came to her death it took two attempts to decapitate her during her execution. To make matters worse she purposefully wore a wig so that when they went to hold up her head after being executed, it dropped to the floor leaving the wig without a head in the executioners hand.
Taki Handa & Ella Christie
Miss Issabella (Ella) Christie, a wealthy adventurer from The Midlothians in Scotland, became one of the 1st Women of the West to travel from Samarkand to Khiva and meet the Dalai Lama. Miss Christie travelled to many places in her lifetime, often in hostile conditions such as camping in the snow at Chorbat Pass, sailing in a cargo ship full of pigs, travelling by pack horse and cart in the Kashmir wilderness, and trekking by foot for 60 miles in the Desoi Mountains. So it came as no surprise when returning from Asia she used contacts she had made on her travels to find a horticulture student at Studley College in Warwickshire named Taki Handa to design her a Japanese garden on her Dollar estate in Scotland. Taki Handa was employed for only two months, but in that short time she managed to come to Scotland 3 times, once to plan the garden, and twice more to oversea the work being taken to her design specifications, before returning to Japan. The result was Sha-Raku-En, ‘the place of pleasure and delight’, a seven acre strolling garden built around a man-made Loch. Taki Handa's garden design was so well planned that the garden and it's features merged into surrounding hills and countryside like it had always been there. Because of both Christie and Handa's vision they created one of the most breath-taking and true to Japanese style garden's the West had ever seen. The garden was passed down from family member to family member and tended to by Japanese workers such as Shinzaburo Matsuo, who had lost his entire family in an earthquake, then came to Scotland and worked in the garden until he died in 1937. In 2010 Taki Handa's granddaughter visited the Garden in Clackmannanshire. The garden is still open to visitors today.
Victoria Drummond
Say hello to the first woman marine engineer in the UK and the first woman member of Institute of Marine Engineers. Victoria Alexandrina Drummond was named after her Godmother, Queen Victoria, and like many noble women she was Educated at home. As she grew it became apparent that she was quite interested in mechanics and stunned her family when she declared she wanted to become a marine engineer. For Victoria the timing was perfect, the war had created many openings for women in jobs and Victoria became and apprentice Northern Garage, Perth, from 1916-1918. It wasn't long before she moved to the Caledon Ship Works in Dundee where she stayed until 1922. With her knowledge and hard work, she sat the chief engineer exam only to fail it 37 times! Victoria began to wonder if it was because she was a woman? Especially after being awarded a Panamanian chief engineer's certificate rather than a title. Her persistence and dedication showed to be worth noting further down the line however as she was awarded an MBE and Lloyds war medal for bravery at sea during the Second World War after her ship was attacked by enemy aircraft in the mid-Atlantic in 1940.
SOURCES:
Comments