Women on a mission
Sisters are doing it for themselves. Marion Mcmullen looks at the achievement of famous female Brits as the countdown begins for International Women’s Day
BRITISH women have taken to the air and space, they have campaigned for the vote and changed the very society around them. International Women’s Day takes place this year on March 8. It celebrates the ongoing achievements of women around the world. Here we highlight some of the pioneering Brits who boldly went where no woman had gone before.
THE astronaut
Helen Sharman made history when she became Britain’s first astronaut in 1991.
The Sheffield chemist beat 13,000 applicants for a place aboard the Soviet Union’s Soyuz TM-12 craft to the Mir space station. She applied after hearing an advert on her car radio saying: “Astronaut required. no experience necessary.” She learned Russian for the mission and blasted off from Kazakhstan – taking a photograph of the Queen with her.
She has said: “I still dream about being on the space station with the feeling of being weightless.” THE Cook
Isobella Beeton was making her mark in the kitchen long before the rise of the celebrity chef.
The Victorian writer was married to a publisher and her Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management became one of the most famous cookery books in the world. The first instalment was published in 1861 and sold more than 60,000 copies in the first year alone.
She coined the phrase “a place for everything and everything in its place” and her recipes included roast suckling pig, jugged hare and sausage meat cakes. Desserts for those with a sweet tooth ranged from peach fritters to currant dumpling.
Her layout for recipes with ingredients and clear instructions has been widely used ever since in cookery books.
THE aviator
AMY Johnson was the UK’S first female aviator and the first woman to fly solo from england to Australia in 1930... the journey took her 19 days.
She went on to set many records, including becoming the first pilot to fly between london and Moscow in just one day. It is said her husband, fellow pilot Jim Mollison, proposed only eight hours after meeting her.
Amy also served as a pilot during the Second World War and once said: “Had I been a man I might have explored the Poles or climbed Mount everest, but as it was my spirit found outlet in the air.”
THE Politician nancy Astor made history 100 years ago when she became the first female MP to take her seat in Parliament. Viscountess Astor won her husband Waldorf Astor’s former seat of Plymouth Sutton when he entered the House of lords. She served as the MP for the constituency from 1919 until her retirement in 1945.
Her clashes with Winston churchill were legendary and led to the exchange in which she told him: “If I was your wife I would poison your coffee.” He retorted: “If I were your husband I would drink it.”
nancy was an outspoken politician and a strong supporter of women’s rights. She famously said: “Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women.”
THE nursing reformer Florence nightingale became the first woman to receive the order of Merit for her tireless efforts to improve nursing during the crimean War.
nursing was not held in high regard until the “lady with the lamp” came along. She wrote 830 pages on hospital reform after the war and her work was acknowledged by Queen Victoria.
Florence later founded a hospital and nurse training school and said: “I attribute my success to this – I never gave or took any excuse.”
THE ACTIVIST
MANCHESTER’S emmeline Pankhurst was leader of the women’s suffrage moment that campaigned for the vote for women.
Her beliefs led to her being imprisoned and going on hunger strike. She was once released and re-arrested 12 times in one year.
Her autobiography, My own Story, was published in 1914.
emmeline famously declared: “We are here, not because we are law-breakers, we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.”
THE Family Planning Pioneer MARIE Stopes revolutionised the lives of women by openly talking about birth control and sex education in books like Married love and Wise Parenting.
Married love sold 2,000 copies within the first two weeks when it was published in 1918. She opened Britain’s first birth control clinic in london in 1921 called The Mother’s clinic.
It offered a free family planning service to married women and was followed by others across the country.
Marie explained in Married love: “In my own marriage I paid such a terrible price for sex ignorance that I feel that knowledge gained at such cost should be placed at the service of humanity.”