Best known for the (exaggerated) tales of her miserliness,
Hetty Green was arguably the greatest female
investor in history. During the
1907 Bankers' Panic, her loan of $1.1 million helped keep New York City solvent. Her estate - greater than that of J.P. Morgan's - was valued at more than $2 billion in today's money.
[more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Feb 5, 2012 -
18 comments
Though her nomination was a joke, instigated by a group of men hoping to inhibit the local activities of the Women's Christian Temperance Union by embarrassing female voters,
Susanna Madora "Dora" Kinsey Salter surprised the pranksters by winning two-thirds of the vote in the mayoral election of 1887 in tiny Argonia, Kansas, becoming not only America's first female mayor, but also earning the distinction of being the first woman elected to
any political office in the United States. Her official notice of election read:
Madam, You are hereby notified that at an election held in the city of Argonia on Monday April 4/87, for the purpose of electing city officers, you were duly elected to the office of Mayor of said city. You will take due notice thereof and govern yourself accordingly. Though she only served one term and had no further political ambitions, she became a hero of the early women's suffrage movement.
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posted by amyms
on Sep 1, 2010 -
28 comments
The
American Academy of Pediatrics is proposing that
doctors be authorized to perform a “ritual nick” on the genitals of pre-pubescent girls in order to satisfy cultural requirements and hopefully stave off more invasive forms of Female Genital Cutting (FGC):
Most forms of FGC are decidedly harmful, and pediatricians should decline to perform them, even in the absence of any legal constraints. However, the ritual nick suggested by some pediatricians is not physically harmful and is much less extensive than routine newborn male genital cutting. There is reason to believe that offering such a compromise may build trust between hospitals and immigrant communities, save some girls from undergoing disfiguring and life-threatening procedures in their native countries, and play a role in the eventual eradication of FGC. It might be more effective if federal and state laws enabled pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick as a possible compromise to avoid greater harm. (source: PDF; not safe for work, contains line drawings of female genitalia.)
posted by Rumple
on May 7, 2010 -
162 comments
I regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life. Belle Starr, also known as the
Bandit Queen, was a well-educated "
spoiled, rich girl" who grew up to prefer the
company of outlaws. Her unconventional life inspired song lyrics [
1,
2,
3,
4], movies [
1,
2,
3], even manga [
1,
2].
posted by amyms
on Dec 27, 2008 -
9 comments
Pickering and the Female Computers. In 1881,
Edward Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory, became so impatient with a male lab assistant’s work that he famously declared his maid could do a better job. Rather than take offense, his 24-year-old maid,
Williamina Fleming, instead took him up on the offer. She ended up working at the Observatory for the next 30 years, supervising the tedious work of cataloging photographic plates, but also discovering variable stars and novae, helping to develop a classification system—and,
perhaps even more importantly, hiring nearly 40
female assistants, many of whom went on to have
distinguished scientific careers.
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posted by mothershock
on Sep 20, 2008 -
27 comments
"
Women and children, first," is a familiar cultural refrain, with its popular roots in the gallant sacrifice made by the male contingent aboard the doomed
Titanic. Their sacrifice has inspired
poetry,
sculpture,
male social clubs, and, of course,
cinema. Yet, this sacrifice of near-mythic scale
was in some respects a myth, with
survival statistics skewing well in favor of men of higher social and economic class than children (and, to a lesser extent, women) of lower status.
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Aug 25, 2008 -
70 comments
Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps. Early in 1941 Congresswoman
Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts (the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives) met with General
George C. Marshall, the Army's Chief of Staff, and informed him that she intended to introduce a bill to establish an Army women's corps, separate and distinct from the existing
Army Nurse Corps. Rogers remembered the female civilians who had worked overseas with the Army under contract and as volunteers during World War I: serving without benefit of official status, they had to obtain their own food and quarters, and they received no legal protection or medical care. Upon their return home they were not entitled to the disability benefits or pensions available to U.S. military veterans. Rogers was determined that if women were to serve again with the Army in a wartime theater they would receive the same legal protection and benefits as their male counterparts. After a long and acrimonious debate, the following year the bill was finally approved by Congress and signed into law by FDR.
Oveta Culp Hobby, chairman of the board of the Houston Post, was
appointed as Director of the
WAAC.
(more)
posted by PenguinBukkake
on Sep 4, 2005 -
4 comments
The women's petition against coffee "the Excessive use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish
Liquor called COFFEE, which Riffling Nature
of her Choicest Treasures, and Drying up the Radical
Moisture, has so Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled
our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent,
as Age, and as unfruitful as those Desarts whence that
unhappy Berry is said to be brought." (
via)
posted by dhruva
on May 3, 2005 -
43 comments
The Quilts of Gees Bend Amazing quilts from a town in Alabama, these are quilts as abstract art. Women in the town have been making them for years, and now they are featured in an art exhibition. The designs are incredible, as is the history of the women who make them.
posted by Salmonberry
on Feb 6, 2005 -
15 comments
Big Hats and Eroticism is just one of the many features of
Tallulahs.com, an excellent site dedicated to images of the
vintage nude. There's also lots of wonderful trivia and commentary, such as a
brief biography of the
Mante sisters (immortalized in the brilliant ballerina images of painter
Edgar Degas), and the story of
Liane de Pougy, convent girl turned runaway wife, turned
celebrated dancer of the French stage, turned
Romanian Princess. Or you can read about the
mystery of H. Traut,
elusive photographer of "the gentle eroticism of fairyland" whose
images graced hundreds of postcards for several years until he
seemingly vanished from the scene some time before WWI. Interested in
drawing or painting nudes yourself? Here's a page of
classical nude poses - studies in various categories that you can work from, including "
The beauty of butts" and "
seductive smoking"! Plus, you can peruse
Tallulah's own art nudes, and a fabulous
links page. NSFW, obviously.
posted by taz
on Aug 9, 2004 -
4 comments
Shiseido Women. 'In Japan, womens fashion, like makeup, continues to
evolve, reflecting the moods and mores of the times.
The following photographs of women provide tantalizing
glimpses into some of the radical changes that have
marked the past century. '
Related interest :-
An American Visit to Japan, 1923.
posted by plep
on Apr 18, 2003 -
7 comments
