Womanica
Thinking back to our history classes growing up, we had one question: Where the ladies at? Enter, Womanica. In just 5 minutes a day, learn about different incredible women from throughout history. On Wonder Media Network’s award-winning podcast, we’re telling the stories of women you may or may not know — but definitely should.
Episodes
Lucy Parsons (c.1851-1942) was an anti-capitalist labor organizer.. She founded the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) and The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), and advocated for the 8-hour workday.
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Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) was a prominent German Marxist theorist, activist, and advocate for women's rights. She played a pivotal role in the early socialist and communist movements, particularly in championing women's suffrage and equality. Zetkin also initiated International Women's Day, which is still celebrated globally today as a day of advocacy and solidarity for women's rights.
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Florence Knoll Bassett (1917-2019) ushered in a new modern and sleek aesthetic for the American office during the postwar era. The pioneering architect and interior designer believed the design process should incorporate every element — from furniture textiles to artwork to doorknobs. Her work at Knoll Furniture brought us some of the most recognizable furniture silhouettes from the modernist era — including the iconic “womb chair...
Mary Macarthur (1880-1921) was a trade unionist who fought for women workers. She founded the National Federation of Women’s Workers, helped pass the 1909 Trade Boards Act, which guaranteed a minimum wage for women workers, and led multiple strikes against employers who refused to pay their workers fairly.
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Pat Schroeder (1940-2023) was a trailblazing force in American politics, known for her advocacy for women's rights and social justice. As the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado, she championed progressive causes from gender equality to reproductive rights to education throughout her 24-year tenure.
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Irene Fernandez (1946-2014) was a Malaysian human rights activist. She co-founded Tenaganita, a non-governmental organization that promotes the rights of migrant workers. When she raised the alarm about migrant workers’ welfare in government detentions, she became the subject of one of the longest trials in the country’s history
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Emma Tenayuca (1916-1999) was a Mexican-American labor organizer and civil rights activist who led a wave of strikes by women workers in Texas during the Great Depression. She is known as la pasionaria de Texas, or the Passionate One.
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Maria Moreno (1920-1989) was a farmworker and labor union activist during the Farmworkers' Movement of the 1960s. She is the first woman to be hired as a union organizer. During her time with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, Maria led strikes and fought for workers’ rights.
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Sue Cowan Williams (1910-1994) was a teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas, who filed and won a lawsuit to end pay discrimination against Black teachers in the segregated South. Hher case helped shape the organization’s legal strategy for civil rights in schools across the country.
Special thanks to the Central Arkansas Library System for access to their Oral History collection, 1973-2001, UALR.ORH.108. UA Little Rock Center for Arkans...
Florence Reece (1900-1986) was a writer, musician, and poet who wrote about unions, coal miners’ rights, and her own lived experiences. Florence was a coal miner’s wife and experienced the bloody Harlan County War, which she used as inspiration for her material. She is best known for her song “Which Side Are You On”, and her poetry and labor song collection Against the Current.
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Ela Bhatt (1933-2022) was an activist and organizer who founded the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), which serves primarily low-income women across India. She went on to become an influential figure, known internationally for her work in cooperatives, labor organizing, and microfinance.
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Mina Miller Edison (1865-1947) was the second wife of American inventor and businessman Thomas Edison. She was an advocate for acknowledging the domestic labor required of women. She called herself a “home executive” and emphasized the importance of women’s work as actual work, not an idealized calling.
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Florence St. John (c.1896-1970) was a General Motors factory worker who led her co-workers in a lawsuit against the company demanding equal pay for women. The win was the first significant damages payout in a discrimination case in the history of America law.
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Sue Ko Lee (1910-1996) was a labor organizer who participated in one of the longest strikes in the history of San Francisco’s Chinatown. She and other garment workers joined forces with a white-led union to win better pay and shorter hours — and a huge victory for the Chinese American workforce.
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Margo St. James (1937-2021) was a prominent advocate for the rights of sex workers. In 1962, she was wrongfully arrested on prostitution charges – an experience that inspired the rest of her life of activism.
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Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894) was an early suffragist, editor, and social advocate. After writing about a less-restrictive style of dressing for women, she became inextricably linked with it. She’s the reason we think of pantaloons as “bloomers.” And ever since, the women’s rights movement has used them as a symbol of protest and equality.
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Elizabeth Duncan Koontz (1919-1989) was an educator and civil rights leader, known for her pioneering efforts in advancing racial equality and women's rights. She was the first Black president of the National Education Association and later became the first Black woman to serve as the director of the Women's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Whitney Duan, or Duan Weihong, (1966-unknown) is a Chinese real estate billionaire who made her fortune by mixing business with politics. In 2017, she suddenly went missing and has only resurfaced a handful of times since.
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Suzanne Roussi Césaire (1915-1966) was a Martinican writer whose essays criticized colonialism, civilization, and Caribbean identity. She helped found, write, edit, and publish Tropiques, a literary journal that gave voice to the Caribbean experience under colonialism. Although she was a significant contributor to Caribbean literature and Afro-surrealism, much of her efforts are attributed to her husband or other male writers.
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Rose Valland (1898-1980) was an art historian and curator based in Paris during the Nazi occupation. She hid in plain sight as a secretary, documenting the shipments of artistic masterpieces out of France, and is responsible for the discovery and protection of over 60,000 pieces of looted artwork.
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