Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for your inspirational historical women or

168 replies

Furbulousnous · 04/02/2022 15:08

men at a push that a 9 year old girl might like to learn about/ be inspired by??
DD loves non/ fiction biogs and we’ve done the obvious ones like Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, Anne Frank etc and ALL the female pirates!
So looking for ideas for either books your child has read or a great role model type that we can Google and read about! She likes reading about women more than men, and the more adventurous the better!

OP posts:
Westerman · 04/02/2022 22:04

How about Gertrude Bell? She was the daughter & granddaughter of pioneering industrialists so might have been expected to live a grand, luxurious life. But she rejected that.
She travelled extensively in the Middle East at a time when this wss most unusual for women. She was very highly thought of by British officials and became a very influential and powerful woman.

000YourMum000 · 04/02/2022 22:09

Catherine of Aragon.

Such was Catherine's impression on people, that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History."

Frazzled50yrold · 04/02/2022 22:39

I'd be looking at novelists, particularly those who had to pretend to be men to sell their books.

Frazzled50yrold · 04/02/2022 22:43

I agree with the poster who refers to women with your own family.My grandmother's were remarkable women who faced early widowhood and huge poverty with such courage.One of them was widowed at 23 when she was pregnant with her 2nd child. She reared pigs in her front garden and saved enough to buy her rented home and a smallholding.

FastFood · 04/02/2022 22:51

Highly recommend Brazen by Penelope Bagieu, it's a graphic novel about loads of great women.

PerkingFaintly · 04/02/2022 22:57

@000YourMum000

Catherine of Aragon.

Such was Catherine's impression on people, that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History."

Yes indeed. It's worth remembering that Catherine of Aragon was the daughter of Isabella I of Castile, who was mentioned above.

Catherine was a very well-educated, intellectual woman with a great deal of political nous. She was extremely well matched with Henry. She was also slightly older than him, so probably very influential when he came to the throne aged only 17.

If the couple hadn't lacked sons for the succession, I doubt Anne Boleyn would ever have been able to displace her.

MyFieldOfFucksIsBarren · 04/02/2022 22:59

The We Have Ways of Making You Talk episode on Grace Taylor is also great

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 04/02/2022 23:12

@sst1234 Actually, I'm as left wing as they come & fundamentally disagree with Thatcherism on just about every level, but I do agree with you in terms of what she achieved. I can admire her success, without liking what she did.

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 04/02/2022 23:14

Jessica Mitford's another one for me. Absolutely bonkers upper class family, but she went her own way and lived a full life. Probably not an easy woman, but she had fire in her belly.

GrouchyKiwi · 04/02/2022 23:15

Evelyn Cheesman
Katherine Johnson
Leymah Gbowee
Maria Tallchief
Helen Keller

GrouchyKiwi · 04/02/2022 23:18

Also Kate Shepard, who was one of the suffragist leaders in NZ.

Nannyamc · 04/02/2022 23:25

Countess Markievicz ..first woman to be elected to UK Parliament. 1918 refused her seat . Only women elected to new irish Parliament and was minister for labour.

AnneElliott · 04/02/2022 23:29

Came on to say Elizabeth 1. Said the most sensible thing about religion and kept the country together and avoided invasion from Europe.

Also Jane Austen.

APurpleSquirrel · 04/02/2022 23:29

Vivian Maier - a reclusive American nanny who secretly took over 100,000 street art photos & hid them all away until they were disco by chance. There's a fab documentary about her available on Amazon Prime. Her photos are stunning.

https://watch.amazon.co.uk/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.f0b95242-c303-ba84-656d-10eb30d10e6e&territory=GB&ref=shareeiosmovie&r=web

randomchap · 04/02/2022 23:32

@BeanbagSurprise

Seconding the Night Witches. My 12 yr old has been captivated by their story and I can't believe I never heard of them before!
On a similar theme, the USSR had female snipers during WW2, the most famous Lyudmila Pavlichenko.

I'm not sure that inspirational is the right term exactly, but these women took the same risks as male soldiers and showed themselves to be just as capable.

AdaColeman · 04/02/2022 23:33

Gertrude Jekyll, influential garden designer and craftswoman.

Lee Miller, Vogue model, wartime correspondent & photographer.
See the famous photo of her in Hitler’s bath, at his flat in Munich, just days after his death.

Pegasushaswings · 04/02/2022 23:40

Billie Holliday for Strange Fruit

Dorothie fielding WW1 nurse,also Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker the ‘nurses of Pervyse’

forinborin · 05/02/2022 00:34

Apologies for not rtft, but have Rejected Princesses been linked already?

www.rejectedprincesses.com/

IrishMama2015 · 05/02/2022 00:48

I think it pretty much goes without saying that Margaret Thatcher needs to join the ranks of the other women who have been deemed 'problematic' on this thread......

sanbeiji · 05/02/2022 00:52

Gladys West she invented the GPS
Also NASA black female mathematicians there was a movie about them

RobbieWeirdicht · 05/02/2022 01:28

@Westerman

How about Gertrude Bell? She was the daughter & granddaughter of pioneering industrialists so might have been expected to live a grand, luxurious life. But she rejected that. She travelled extensively in the Middle East at a time when this wss most unusual for women. She was very highly thought of by British officials and became a very influential and powerful woman.
I was just about to say Gertrude Bell but you beat me to it. She must have been a pretty amazing and brave woman.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell

Glendaruel · 05/02/2022 02:54

Caroline Norton social reformer. Following her experience as a piece of property of an abusive husband, she campaigned for rights of women and children. Her work led to many changes in the law that impact us today including that women can apply for custody of their children.

Following her separation her husband took her to court and argued anything she earned from her writing was his as she was his property. She was trying to earn money as she had nothing to live on. He was successful. So she ran up debits and then successfully argued they were her husband's as she was only a piece of property.

WorstXmasEver · 05/02/2022 03:02

There's an astronaut lady that's been into space more than anyone. Can't remember her name though.

wizzler · 05/02/2022 08:14

Ada Lovelace

VaddaABeetch · 05/02/2022 08:43

Grace O’Malley the pirate queen

Irish folklore has lots of strong women, Queen Maeve, Niamh.

Also Irish saints like St Brigid, probably most of the stories based on folklore!

I had a brilliant teacher at that age who read us a story twice a week about strong women. A nun, she’s my hero!

Swipe left for the next trending thread