Hats off to you ladies of the age gone by

The twenty first century woman

 

 



  The celebration of Women's Day last month just got me thinking about how lucky I am as woman in the 21st century to have access to the things I call normal but , were not a reality in the past. Today i have the privilege of being a univesity graduate,able to vote  and have a job  because of great women who stood up dor what they  believed in. I am just taking a walk through memory lane to see how I came to be in the privileged position that I am today.

 

In the early 1800s women in Europe were a marginalised portion in the society whose main role was to be bare foot and pregnant. The main responsibility of the woman was to cater for the home ie cater for the needs of her children and husband. The majority of women were uneducated with the exception of the elite class . In Africa when education was introduced by the missionaries it was chiefly boys who went to school as families felt that educating a female child was a waste of the families resources.

 

Women were slowly integrated in the workforce but this was the beginning of a long battle for emancipation.In 1848 the suffrage movement in America began the first women rights convention was held where women outlined their grievances and this became the basis of the women's rights movement. The list of grievances included the right to vote and improved wages and working conditions among them maternity leave. Women also fought for the rights to utilise birth control with Margaret Sanger opening the first birth control clinic in the US which was closed ten days later and she was arrested.

 

 

 

Women were granted the right to vote in August 1920 after more than 50 years of advocacy.The pill was finally legalised is 1965 in the US .However , many countries are still lagging behind in these respect with women in Saudi Arabia still advocating for the right until 2011 .There are many women who have championed for the rights of women over the ages and I am truly amazed in the way they have shown determination in campaigning for what we take for granted today.

 

 

 

Today women can become anything they want to be . Beyond the sky is indeed the limit. These are the faces of women today.

 

 

 

These are the faces of women today .The women who we see today have attained to levels which were unimaginable before. Today as I reflect on these women I am in awe for these women.

My life has been impacted by these names and faces I will never know who have paved the way for women to enter the upper echelons of society . The women  like Magaret Thatcher, Joyce Banda,Indira Ghandi and Madam Curie are only part of the legacy of these women . I salute these women and the only question that remains is. What shall be said of my generation. How shall we impact history as women? Food for thought hey.