Category Great Women

Empress Dowager Cixi ruled over China for about a half a century, and was one of the most powerful women in the world at that time. She was born on the 29th of November 1885, as the daughter of an ordinary official. When she was sixteen, she was chosen to be a concubine- or one of the many wives-of the Emperor. The birth of a son gave her the maximum status possible in China. Cixi was elevated from total obscurity to the central political stage of China as a figure of unique importance to the survival of the dynasty.

In 1861, Emperor Hsien Feng died, and with that, Cixi’s son became emperor. She then got the title of empress. Cixi became more and more powerful, until finally in 1865, she seized the throne. It was because; she masterfully maintained a balance between the conservatives and the different sects of the time that the empress was able to ensure her power. She was a strong ruler, and put down the rebellions which endlessly threatened her. During her years in power, the Western nations gained great influence in China. Many people thought that, the best way to stop the outsiders, from taking over completely was to strengthen China with modern inventions like trains and telegraphs. However, Empress Cixi and her advisors were conservative, and resisted these changes.

The empress usually put her sawn interests ahead of the nations. She seized whatever she wanted by any means. She surrounded herself with money and banquets, jewels, and other luxuries. She was served 150 different dishes at a single banquet. She drank from a jade cup, and ate with golden chopsticks. She used navy funds to build herself a lavish summer palace. At the end of her life, her jewellery vault held 3,000 ebony boxes of her ‘everyday jewels’. Her lavish lifestyle made the country poorer, and the military weaker, and was later responsible for the defeat of the war against Japan.

There is no doubt that Empress Dowager Cixi had a sharp political sense and decisive mind, but under her rule, the Qing Dynasty grew more and more corrupt, and lost its power.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. She was the finest women poet in America, in the 19th century. She wrote in short stanza form, and simple rhyme.

Regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, Emily is also well known for her unusual life of simplicity and seclusion. As a young child Emily proved to be a bright and conscientious student. She was able to create many original writings of rhyming stories, delighting her fellow classmates. Emily was both a keen artist, and accomplished musician. In her college years, she enjoyed singing, and also had a sharp eye for beautiful art and bright colours. Emily was also well read, choosing writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Dickens, John Ruskin, and nineteenth- century poets like the Browning and the Bronte sisters.

As well as writing over 1,700 poems, Emily was a prolific letter writer. Her letters gave her the opportunity for contact with others. These letters reflect her love of language, which is seen in her poetry as well. She remained unmarried, with no children her whole life, though many people think she had a secret love. Very few of her poems were published during her life, most having been found in a dresser after her death.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821- 1910) became the first woman in America to earn the M.D. degree. She supported medical education for women, and helped many other women’s careers. She claimed that, she turned to medicine after a close friend who was dying suggested she would have been spared her worst suffering, if her physician had been a woman.

Elizabeth had no idea how to become a physician, so she consulted with several physicians known to her family. She convinced two physician friends to let her read medicine with them for a year, and applied to all the medical schools in New York and Philadelphia. They all rejected her, but finally, she was accepted by The Geneva Medical College in New York, in 1847. The faculty thought that the all-male student body would never agree to a woman joining their ranks, and allowed the students to vote on her admission. As a joke, they voted ‘yes’, and she gained admittance! On the morning of Tuesday, January 23rd, 1849, Elizabeth received from the hands of the President of The Geneva Medical College, a diploma conferring upon her the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thus, after many years of determined effort, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to complete a course of study at a medical college, and receive the M.D. degree. In 1875, she was appointed Professor of Gynaecology at the London School for Medicine for Children, and she remained there until she retired in 1907 after a serious fall.

Clara Barton is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross. She began a lifetime of helping others at the beginning of the Civil War, when she organized medical care for wounded soldiers.

Clara was a school teacher. But, when the Civil War began, she accompanied the U.S. Army as it marched and fought in Virginia, nursing the wounded soldiers at great risk to her own life. In one battle, a bullet passed through the sleeve of her dress, killing the wounded man she was helping.

Her efforts to bring better medical care, and to help locate missing servicemen, laid the groundwork for her future role as the founder and leader of the American Red Cross, which she began in 1881. On a trip to Europe, she learned of the International Red Cross, an organization to which the United States did not belong. Observing Red Cross volunteers at work with the wounded during the 1870 – 1871 Franco – Prussian War, she saw the need for the United States to form its own branch of the Red Cross. One feature of the U.S. Red Cross that she added was the idea of Red Cross assistance in times of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. 

Susan B. Antony was America’s foremost champion of women’s rights. She was born into a Quaker family in Massachusetts. The family was opposed to slavery, and her father avoided purchasing cotton for his mill which had been raised by slave labour. Susan was involved in many causes. She joined the movement which sought to prohibit the production of alcohol and its consumption. She also became interested in the Women’s Rights movement. At that time, women could not own property, or vote.

Susan was instrumental in the passage of the Married Women’s Property Bill in New York which stated that a woman had the right to hold property, carry on a trade, and collect and use her own earnings.

Susan started petitions to outlaw slavery. Over time, she obtained 400,000 signatures. In April 1864, the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery passed the Senate. With some financial help, Susan started a newspaper ‘The Revolution’, to promote a woman’s right to vote. The publication not only sought to promote the vote for women, but to establish justice for all, who were oppressed.

Susan longed to see women voting throughout the world, but when she died in 1906, just one month after her 86th birthday; this dream had only been realized in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho, and far away in New Zealand and Australia. 

Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. She was the daughter of a well-to-do family in England. She was born in Florence, Italy on 12 May 1820. By the time she was 12, she was determined to ‘do something worthwhile’. She wanted to look after the sick, and used every spare minute to learn from nursing books she had secretly obtained. She also visited hospitals in London, and the surrounding area.

Her parents tried to get her to change her mind, but she was adamant about becoming a nurse. She was an excellent student, and after her graduation, she returned to London, and got a job running a hospital.

During the Crimean War, she was put in charge of nursing. She went to the battlefield with 38 nurses, cleaned up the huge, dirty old building that served as a hospital, and managed somehow or the other to get urgently needed supplies. Through her efforts, thousands of lives were saved. At night, she would visit the sick and the injured, carrying a lamp, and so she became known as ‘the lady with the lamp’. She will always be remembered for the fact that she changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession, with very important responsibilities. 

          Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 in Maryland in the United States. Her parents were slaves, so she also was a slave when she was born. However, she escaped slavery in 1849, and travelled to the north of her country. She then became a conductor for the Underground Railroad, and helped slaves flee to freedom in the North. The Underground Railroad was a secret system of people of all races who helped slaves escape to the North-it was not an actual railroad at all.

          Harriet Tubman made 19 dangerous rescue trips over 10 years, rescuing over 300 slaves from Southern states. During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman served with the U.S. Army in South Carolina, as a nurse, scout, spy and soldier. She led the Combahee River expedition, under the command of James Montgomery, and helped to blow up Southern supply lines and free hundreds of slaves.

          After the war ended, Harriet spoke for the rights of women and African Americans. She helped to organize the AME or African Methodist Episcopal Church, and also set up a home for poor aged African Americans. An incredibly brave woman, she was known as the ‘Moses of her people’, because she devoted her life to fighting slavery, helping slaves and ex-slaves, and championing the rights of women. 

           Catherine de Medici played an important part in the history of sixteenth century France. She had a sad childhood, for both her parents died when she was just a year old. She was brought up by nuns, who trained and disciplined her. As she grew older, she became very well-educated.

            Catherine married King Henri II of France and had ten children, seven of whom survived. Three of her sons became kings of France, and through her children, Catherine wielded enormous power in the land. In fact, she was a major force in French politics, especially during the thirty years of the Roman Catholic-Huguenot wars. Catherine was a Roman Catholic, but when trying to create a balance with religions, she sometimes agreed with the Huguenots. By doing this, she created a policy of peace between the Catholics and the Protestants.

           Catherine had a great interest in architecture, and she demonstrated this with her authority over the building of the new wing of the Louvre Museum, the construction of the Tuilleries Gardens, and the building of the Chateau Monceau. As a great patron of the arts, she helped the Renaissance flourish, and is sometimes called a ‘renaissance woman’.

Joan of Arc was born in 1412, in the little village of Domremy in France. Her father had often told her of the sad condition of France, how the country was largely in the possession of England, and how the French king did not dare to be crowned. This made Joan very sad, and she brooded over the matter so much that she began to have visions of angels, and heard strange voices, which said to her, ‘Joan, you can deliver the land from the English. Go to the relief of King Charles of France’.

Joan believed that she had a mission from God, and she was determined to try to save France. Though everyone tried to dissuade her, she did not change her mind. She went to the king, and asked him to allow her to lead his soldiers to victory against the English. The king agreed, and when she was just 18 years old, Joan led an army of about 5000 men against the English, who had surrounded the city of Orleans. Mounted on a fine war-horse, and clad in white armour from head to foot, she rode along past the cheering multitude. In one hand she carried an ancient sword, and in the other, a white banner embroidered with lilies.

Joan was able to enter Orleans, and she led her men to victory after victory against the English. Her fame spread everywhere, and the English as well as the French thought she had more than human power. At last, the English were driven far to the north of France. Then Charles, urged by Joan, went to Rheims, with twelve thousand soldiers, and there, in Joan’s presence, was crowned king.

Sadly, Joan was later betrayed and accused of being a tool of the devil. She was tried, and was burned at the take. Later, she was declared to be a saint by the Catholic Church, and to this day, she is considered to be the national heroine of France. 

                Eleanor of Aquitaine was fifteen years old in 1137 AD, and not yet married, when her father, the Duke of Aquitaine, died suddenly. Eleanor had no brothers, so she inherited her father’s duchy, which included most of Southern France. This inheritance made her one of the richest women in Europe.

                  Eleanor was well educated. She could read and write Latin, and was well versed in music and literature too. She married the King of France Louis VII, and moved to Paris, where she set a trend for luxury and sophistication in the medieval world. She was an ardent supporter of the Crusades and she created a sensation when she dressed like an Amazon, and galloped through the crowds on a white horse, urging people to join the Crusades too. She herself even went on a Crusade with Louis.

                          Eleanor later divorced Louis, and married Henry who became the King of England. She lived into her eighties, surviving her son Richard, and saw her son John become King of England. Her last years were spent, as the abbess of a convent in Aquitaine, where she died at the age of 82.