Women’s History Month and the 1893 Congress of Women

Gabrielle Birchak/ March 7, 2025/ Late Modern History, Modern History

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTS

Wel­come to Math! Sci­ence! History!’s Fri­day Flash­card. Today’s flash card is women in lead­er­ship. I love that phrase. Just three words. Women in lead­er­ship. On Feb­ru­ary 26, 2025, the Unit­ed States gov­ern­ment instruct­ed NASA to remove those three words from all pub­lic-fac­ing pages under an order signed by Don­ald Trump. Women weren’t removed from lead­er­ship roles. That’s yet to be seen. But, the Unit­ed States gov­ern­ment is no longer giv­ing women the spot­light for being suc­cess­ful women despite our recent recog­ni­tion over the last 100 years. And that’s just 150 years of recog­ni­tion final­ly achieved after about 3000 years of being silenced. Yeah, 3000 years. Trust me, I’ve done the math.

Anoth­er pow­er­house at the Con­gress was Mary Put­nam Jaco­bi, a physi­cian, writer, and med­ical researcher. Jaco­bi was a fierce advo­cate for women’s med­ical edu­ca­tion and fought against the pre­vail­ing notion that women were too frag­ile for rig­or­ous intel­lec­tu­al pursuits.

At the 1893 Con­gress of Women, Jaco­bi pre­sent­ed her research on women’s health and med­ical edu­ca­tion. She chal­lenged wide­ly held beliefs about female phys­i­ol­o­gy, par­tic­u­lar­ly the myth that men­stru­a­tion made women unfit for aca­d­e­m­ic or pro­fes­sion­al work. Through exten­sive sci­en­tif­ic stud­ies, she debunked these ideas. She demon­strat­ed that women were just as capa­ble as men in med­i­cine and science.

Jacobi’s con­tri­bu­tions extend­ed beyond her speech at the Con­gress. She was the first woman to attend the École de Médecine in Paris. She became one of the lead­ing fig­ures in women’s health research. She wrote exten­sive­ly on pedi­atrics, neu­rol­o­gy, and pathol­o­gy, empha­siz­ing the need for evi­dence-based medicine.

Her lega­cy is profound—her work paved the way for future gen­er­a­tions of female doc­tors and med­ical researchers. Thanks to her relent­less advo­ca­cy, med­ical schools began open­ing their doors to women, allow­ing them to train along­side men.

The third remark­able woman we high­light today is Chris­tine Ladd-Franklin, a math­e­mati­cian, logi­cian, and psy­chol­o­gist. She pio­neered the study of col­or vision and was one of the first women to con­tribute sig­nif­i­cant­ly to math­e­mat­i­cal logic.

Ladd-Franklin was main­ly known for her work on the the­o­ry of col­or per­cep­tion, which chal­lenged the dom­i­nant the­o­ries of the time. She argued against the wide­ly accept­ed Young-Helmholtz the­o­ry of col­or vision, propos­ing her own evo­lu­tion­ary mod­el that explained how col­or per­cep­tion devel­oped in humans.

Despite earn­ing a Ph.D. in Math­e­mat­ics from Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty, she was not offi­cial­ly award­ed her degree until 44 years lat­er due to insti­tu­tion­al gen­der bias­es. At the Con­gress of Women, she spoke about the chal­lenges women faced in acad­e­mia and the need for greater inclu­sion in math­e­mat­i­cal sciences.

Ladd-Franklin’s advo­ca­cy helped advance the fight for women’s recog­ni­tion in high­er edu­ca­tion and research. Her per­sis­tence in push­ing against gen­der bar­ri­ers made her an inspi­ra­tion for future women in STEM.

The 1893 Con­gress of Women declared that women were here to stay in sci­ence, med­i­cine, and acad­e­mia. The speech­es and dis­cus­sions at this Con­gress echoed for decades, inspir­ing women to push bound­aries in their respec­tive fields.

Ellen Swal­low Richards’ work laid the ground­work for envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and home eco­nom­ics. Mary Put­nam Jacobi’s med­ical research led to bet­ter health­care and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for women in med­i­cine. Chris­tine Ladd-Franklin’s con­tri­bu­tions to math­e­mat­i­cal log­ic and vision sci­ence are still stud­ied today.

This Con­gress was a turn­ing point, demon­strat­ing that women’s intel­lect and con­tri­bu­tions were essen­tial to sci­en­tif­ic progress. While gen­der bar­ri­ers still exist­ed, events like this made it impos­si­ble to ignore the grow­ing pres­ence of women in academia.

So why is it essen­tial to have Women’s His­to­ry Month? Why is it impor­tant to note women in lead­er­ship roles, espe­cial­ly on gov­ern­ment pages like NASA? Well, we live in a world that’s shaped by the work, courage, and resilience of count­less women. Yet, for much of his­to­ry, their sto­ries were left out of text­books, ignored by the media, and side­lined by the pub­lic. Women’s His­to­ry Month is a reminder to high­light these incred­i­ble con­tri­bu­tions that often go unrecognized.

First, rec­og­niz­ing Women’s His­to­ry Month allows us to reflect on the vast impact women have had in every field, includ­ing sci­ence, pol­i­tics, art, edu­ca­tion, and beyond. Con­sid­er these trail­blaz­ing women: Marie Curie, who rev­o­lu­tion­ized sci­ence with her work on radioac­tiv­i­ty, or Maya Angelou, whose words gave voice to gen­er­a­tions of mar­gin­al­ized peo­ple. These names may be famil­iar, but count­less oth­er women’s sto­ries remain untold and could even­tu­al­ly dis­solve away, much like Hypatia’s sto­ry did. This month invites us to remem­ber them.

By high­light­ing women’s accom­plish­ments, we also break down bar­ri­ers. Young girls today can see them­selves in roles they might have nev­er imag­ined like astro­nauts, engi­neers, and lead­ers. Boys can grow up rec­og­niz­ing women as equals and be empow­ered to appre­ci­ate their con­tri­bu­tions to soci­ety. Boys even­tu­al­ly go on to become fathers, some to daugh­ters. I can’t begin to tell you how many women in the world are empow­ered by their moms and their dads.

Anoth­er rea­son Women’s His­to­ry Month mat­ters is because it helps chal­lenge the stereo­types that still exist today. Learn­ing about women who defied the odds opens doors for more inclu­sive con­ver­sa­tions and crit­i­cal think­ing. A diverse per­spec­tive enrich­es our under­stand­ing of his­to­ry, cre­at­ing space for dif­fer­ent voic­es to be heard.

We’re all famil­iar with the famous names—Rosa Parks, Fri­da Kahlo, and Sal­ly Ride—but there are so many more unsung heroes whose work still impacts us today. There’s Dr. Mae Jemi­son, the first African Amer­i­can woman in space, or Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elect­ed to Con­gress. As we rec­og­nize their sto­ries, we ampli­fy those often left out of main­stream narratives.

When we rec­og­nize women’s achieve­ments, we reframe how we view his­to­ry. It becomes more inclu­sive, more accu­rate, and more empow­er­ing. Just think about the shift in cul­tur­al con­ver­sa­tions: from the role of women in the work­place to women in pol­i­tics to women in sports. The more we learn and cel­e­brate, the more we cre­ate a future where equal­i­ty is the norm—not the exception.

Women’s His­to­ry Month does more than hon­or the past. Women’s His­to­ry Month shapes the future. Rec­og­niz­ing women’s con­tri­bu­tions cre­ates a soci­ety that val­ues every­one equal­ly, regard­less of gen­der. It’s a step toward jus­tice, progress, and oppor­tu­ni­ty for all.

So, take the time to learn, share, and reflect. Seek out sto­ries of women who inspire you. It’s the sci­en­tist who shaped your career path, the artist who changed how you see the world and the activist who chal­lenged the sta­tus quo. Women’s sto­ries mat­ter. Women are worth recognizing.

Thanks for tun­ing in to Math! Sci­ence! History!’s Flash­cards. Until next time, carpe diem!