Awesome Stuff Women Did

Because women have done more in the past 10,000 years than just pop out babies and make sandwiches.

DISCLAIMER: We make no claim that all women featured here are saints. They did awesome stuff; the women themselves might not have been. Keep that in mind before sending angry notes.

Pioneered entomology. Documented the life cycles of 186 insect species, including the transformation of caterpillars to butterflies.  Proved definitively that insects do not spontaneous generate from mud, as believed by most contemporaries.  Published her findings (including her detailed paintings) in German instead of Latin, allowing the non-scientists to understand insects.  Went on a self-funded scientific expedition of Surinam, unheard of for women of her time, becoming the first European to observe and record much of the plant and insect life there.  One of the first naturalists to observe insects directly. (Maria Sibylla Merian)

Pioneered entomology. Documented the life cycles of 186 insect species, including the transformation of caterpillars to butterflies.  Proved definitively that insects do not spontaneous generate from mud, as believed by most contemporaries.  Published her findings (including her detailed paintings) in German instead of Latin, allowing the non-scientists to understand insects.  Went on a self-funded scientific expedition of Surinam, unheard of for women of her time, becoming the first European to observe and record much of the plant and insect life there.  One of the first naturalists to observe insects directly. (Maria Sibylla Merian)

femaleartists: Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1630s, Artemisia Gentileschi (July 8, 1593 - 1653)   The victim of rape at a young age at the hands of her painting teacher, Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi’s works were often critiqued by using this event as an automatic translator for her works. Paintings such as this are largely ignored in favor of more violent pieces. These pieces, depicting strong women in positions of aggression toward men, have come to be thought of as a trademark of Gentileschi’s work. In her Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, she presents another kind of painting that expresses her identity as a woman and a painter. Many of her paintings have been confused for Orazio Gentileschi’s, her father. He also has been accused of painting works and attributing them to her.  Because someone once asked for a more in-depth post about her

femaleartists:

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1630s, Artemisia Gentileschi (July 8, 1593 - 1653)

 

The victim of rape at a young age at the hands of her painting teacher, Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi’s works were often critiqued by using this event as an automatic translator for her works. Paintings such as this are largely ignored in favor of more violent pieces. These pieces, depicting strong women in positions of aggression toward men, have come to be thought of as a trademark of Gentileschi’s work. In her Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, she presents another kind of painting that expresses her identity as a woman and a painter.

Many of her paintings have been confused for Orazio Gentileschi’s, her father. He also has been accused of painting works and attributing them to her. 

Because someone once asked for a more in-depth post about her

Played the harpsichord before King Louis XIV at the age of five. Was noticed by Madame de Montespan, and was kept on in her entourage.  Her opera Céphale et Procris was the first written by a woman in France. Composed some of the earlist French examples of the sonata. Composed early examples of the new genre of accompanied harpsichord works, where the instrument is used in an obbligato role with the violin. (Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre)

fyeahblackhistory:

The Dahomey Amazons

The Dahomey Amazons were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. They were so named by Western observers and historians due to their similarity to the legendary Amazons described by the Ancient Greeks.

King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Amazons as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. During the 18th century, the king had some of his wives trained as royal bodyguards.

Houegbadja’s son King Agadja (ruling from 1708 to 1732) developed the female bodyguard into a militia and successfully used them in Dahomey’s defeat of the neighbouring kingdom of Savi in 1727. European merchants recorded their presence, as well as similar female warriors amongst the Ashanti. For the next hundred years or so, they gained reputation as fearless warriors. Though they fought rarely, they usually acquitted themselves well in battle.

The group of female warriors was referred to as Mino, meaning “Our Mothers” in the Fon language by the male army of Dahomey.
From the time of King Ghezo (ruling from 1818 to 1858), Dahomey became increasingly militaristic. Ghezo placed great importance on the army and increased its budget and formalized its structures. The Mino were rigorously trained, given uniforms, and equipped with Danish guns (obtained via the slave trade). By this time the Mino consisted of between 4000 and 6000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army.

The Mino were recruited from among the ahosi (“king’s wives”) of which there were often hundreds. Some women in Fon society became ahosi voluntarily, while others were involuntarily enrolled if their husbands or fathers complained to the King about their behaviour. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life. Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun.

The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. Discipline was emphasised. In the latter period, they were armed with Winchester rifles, clubs and knives. Units were under female command. Captives who fell into the hands of the Amazons were often decapitated.

Conflict with France
European encroachment into west Africa gained pace during the latter half of the 19th century, and in 1890 King Behanzin started fighting French forces in the course of the First Franco-Dahomean War. According to Holmes, many of the French soldiers fighting in Dahomey hesitated before shooting or bayoneting the Mino. The resulting delay led to many of the French casualties. Ultimately, bolstered by the Foreign Legion, and armed with superior weaponry, including machine guns, the French inflicted casualties that were ten times worse on the Dahomey side. After several battles, the French prevailed. The Legionnaires later wrote about the “incredible courage and audacity” of the Amazons. The last surviving Amazon of Dahomey died in 1979.

Settled the bloody religious conflict in England by setting up the Anglican church Refused to marry but used the possibility of doing so as an effective diplomatic tool.  Oversaw the expansion of English naval power, which ultimately lead to the defeat of the Spanish Armada—at that point the most powerful navy in the world.  Raised the status of England on the global stage.  Her reign is associated with a flourishing of English literature and culture, including Shakespeare, Spenser, and Marlowe.  (Elizabeth I)

Settled the bloody religious conflict in England by setting up the Anglican church Refused to marry but used the possibility of doing so as an effective diplomatic tool.  Oversaw the expansion of English naval power, which ultimately lead to the defeat of the Spanish Armada—at that point the most powerful navy in the world.  Raised the status of England on the global stage.  Her reign is associated with a flourishing of English literature and culture, including Shakespeare, Spenser, and Marlowe.  (Elizabeth I)

xicanagrrrl:

i wonder how many Mayan, Mixtec, indigenous to the Americas women like this had their legacies erased in patriarchal colonialism. 

That is a fascinating question, and it goes both ways too.  I remember in college, we read a biography of Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman from the 17th century who has been nominated for sainthood.  Her French priests and hagiographers considered her worthy largely because she was an enthusiastic convert who had once rejected a suitor.  They considered the latter a sign of her dedication to chastity even before she was a Catholic.  It did not occur to them, nor did they bother to find out, that Mohawk women actually were given agency over their marital options and were not forced to marry whomever their fathers chose.

How many other indigenous people were killed instead of beatified for sticking with the practices of their people?

(Source: awesomestuffwomendid)

Painted this. (Artemesia Gentileschi)

Painted this. (Artemesia Gentileschi)

Pioneered science fiction