With a nod to the powerful feminists Flora Tristan, Emmeline Pankhurst, and Alexandra Kollontai- all three very brave and influential women, I am going to focus instead on two female innovators in the arts and sciences.

I was intrigued by the digital textbook's reference to pacifist and writer Bertha von Suttner. Through a little online research, I learned that not only was she the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, she was the inspiration (to Alfred Nobel) for the prize itself. Here is an excerpt from her writings:

"The adherents of the old order have a powerful ally... inherent in humanity... a natural defense against change. Thus pacifism faces no easy struggle... the beneficial results of a secure world peace are almost inconceivable... the advocates of pacifism [are] servants of the greatest of all causes". http://www.quoteland/author/Bertha-von-Suttner-Quotes/649/ (Links to an external site.)

While I had heard of Florence Nightingale all my life, I had no idea that she was such a prolific writer and statistician. Just a personal comment here- too often we relegate such historical figures into our brains under some over-simplified heading such as "famous nurse". Hardly does her justice, does it? I'm learning that I need to dig deeper. There's only so much time, I'm all too aware of that. But it's worth the effort.

Here's a comment that I think (and hope) will stir some response. I've noticed over the past few years, since beginning my college education in the liberal arts, that quite a bit of focus is given to both civil rights and women's rights- whether the class is Psychology, Sociology, American Government, or various literature classes. I certainly applaud the fact that they are an important part of the curricula, because these issues matter.

But does anyone find it ironic that we here on the Humanities path are the students that need this information the least? That they're "preaching to the choir"? How much exposure to women's rights does a student of business, math, or the hard sciences receive in comparison? I look forward to your opinions.

@Stephanie Davis:

Stephanie- you make some good points about the Industrial Revolution's influence on women's rights. If you think about it, there never was a whole lot of awareness of certain issues until mechanization gave families more leisure time and options. It took women actually entering the workplace in sufficient numbers before the wage inequality became apparent. While in all fairness, governments and the church had been discriminating against women for centuries- (The Bible is appallingly patriarchal from the story of Eve on), it took moving out of a mostly agricultural society before the loftier ideas of feminism took hold.