help - fantasy dinner party

[Flingingmelon]

DH has been asked to do something for his company to mark Woman's month. One of the questions he was asked was;

Which women would you invite to a fantasy dinner party, alive or dead?

Obviously he wants to talk about some inspiring women, but he wants to pick women who are less well known.

I thought this would be a good place ask for recommendations, but I also want to hear about some obscure amazing women myself.

Any suggestions?

Bump for evening traffic.

What industry is he in? There might be some interesting women in the industry, past or present (obvious, but eg if he's in tech, Ada Lovelace)

What a bloody brilliant question.

I would love to invite Bessie Coleman. For anyone who doesn't know, She was a black female aviator in the 1920s. I have a bit of a thing for all pilots tbh and I love reading about early female pilots but she really stands out as someone determined to succeed despite many obstacles and I find her totally awe inspiring.

He's in consultancy / sales / management. So nothing especially niche. I think he could pick anyone.

Patti Smith and Tilda Swinton.

Stevie Nicks because I wanted to be her when I was 16

Katherine Ashley, who was responsible for Elizabeth I's remarkable educational foundation as her first teacher.

And for dead women,
Audrey Hepburn
Vivien Leigh
Angela Carter.

Nancy Wake sounds like an amazing woman. Brief intro here

What about Hedy Lamarr? An inventor as well as an actress.

Aletta Jacobs
Dickey Chapelle
Gertrude Bell
Annie Sullivan

Eleanor Roosevelt (not obscure, but a hellava woman nonetheless)

Dorothy Parker- sharp, witty, entertaining, defender of human and civil rights

These are all great, we have a lot of googling to do.

We also found;

Dowager Empress Cixi

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmpressDowagerr_Cixi

How to define obscure?

I'd choose Lynn Margulies for proposing that mitochondria and chloroplasts evolved from symbiotic bacteria.
Rosalind Franklin of DNA non-fame.
And
Mary Leakey of human evolution fame.

I think we are getting the obscurity level about right here. I haven't heard of about fifty percent of the women on this list and I'd describe myself as being averagely clued up for degree level education.

I've learnt loads tonight.

Oh no! Not the Dowager Empress Cixi! Mad as a hatter, she was...

True, but can you imagine what she'd be like with half a bottle of wine in her?!

There was an empress of China: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian

Wu Zetian was much more positive, I think. And Chinese history has always treated her badly because she was a woman.

I second Eleanor Roosevelt. And, like your DH, she was also in sales.

The late wonderfully erudite dynamo that was Prof Lisa Jardine, Geena Davis for some Hollywood glamour, Hildegarde of Bingen, Gloria Steinem, Helena Kennedy QC and then, to give us a laugh, the late and wonderful Linda Smith and the little bouncy Scandi woman who went off to found the WEP. Would argue with her, especially on their ridiculous trans policy all night until Jardine or Kennedy shut me up.

Mary Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Gaskell for me

And Jenni Murray to keep us in order and make sure we get to bed on time. Though reckon she'd have some great tales to tell after a couple of glasses of wine.

Aphra Behn
Artemisia Gentileschi
Mira Rai

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, granddaughter of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, Lion of the Punjab.

She was a god daughter of Queen Victoria, and became a social campaigner and suffragette.