Egyptology is often remembered through its most dramatic moments: an archaeologist in the field, a tomb uncovered, a discovery entering the history books. But behind those moments were women whose notes, correspondence, teaching, research, and relationships helped build the field.

In this episode of TheCollector Podcast, we speak with Dr. Kathleen (Kate) Sheppard, professor of the history of science at Missouri S&T and author of Women in the Valley of the Kings and Tea on the Terrace. She explores the overlooked contributions of women in Egyptology and the social networks that shaped the field, revealing a history that looks very different when we move beyond its most famous names.

Historians weren’t necessarily looking for the women behind the resources. They were looking at what happened on a site, rather than asking who took the notes, who preserved the records, and whose work made it possible for us to know what happened there.

Women in Egyptology and the Making of the Field

Modern Egyptology took shape in the 19th century as scholars learned to read ancient Egyptian texts and archaeologists developed new ways to study and record the past. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Egyptology was drawing a swath of enthusiastic scholars, archaeologists, and travelers to Egypt.

Women were always part of this burgeoning field. Because Egyptology was still taking shape institutionally, women had unique opportunities to participate through research, teaching, and fieldwork. Still, many of their contributions aren’t mentioned in the most famous stories from the field, which tend to focus on headline-grabbing discoveries made by men.

In the episode, Dr. Sheppard shares her research on these women, the records they left behind, and the networks that supported their essential work. She also considers Egyptology’s ties to European imperialism and colonialism, offering a fuller picture of how the field developed and who helped shape it.

The Stories Hidden in Egyptology’s History

Dr. Sheppard’s research brings many of these overlooked figures back into view. In Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age, she introduces us to Egyptologists like Margaret Murray and Caroline Ransom Williams. Their stories show why seemingly ordinary records can matter so much to historians. In some cases, the careful records women kept are the reason we know what happened at all.

In Tea on the Terrace: Hotels and Egyptologists’ Social Networks from 1885–1925, Dr. Sheppard examines social environments like hotels where Egyptologists gathered, revealing how informal social networks shaped the discipline. Together, these studies offer a broader picture of Egyptology—one built not just on famous discoveries, but on the conversations, correspondence, and invisible labor that made those moments possible.

Women were not always allowed to participate in politics or even vote. It was a long fight for women to have their voices heard. Even today, in some parts of the world, women are seen as less than their male fellow citizens. Throughout history, many pioneering women had to fight hard, risk their lives, and even willingly sacrifice to achieve equal rights. This article will explore the inspiring lives of four fascinating women in political leadership who left an everlasting legacy on global politics and shaped our world.

1. Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE)

In antiquity, one of the most fascinating women in leadership was Cleopatra VII Philopator. She was a legendary ruler, one of the most influential political leaders, and the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, which faced the aggressive expansion of the Roman Republic.

The Ptolemaic dynasty, Macedonian by descent, ruled the Kingdom of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. After Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII, died in 51 BCE, the Kingdom of Egypt faced a power struggle between Cleopatra and her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII. It was then that Cleopatra realized that she would need to develop her diplomatic skills and find strong allies.

She saw a perfect opportunity in the Roman ruler, Julius Caesar. During the political conflict with her brother, Cleopatra fled Egypt to Syria, where she gathered an army to fight her brother. It was at that time that she allied with Caesar. According to some legendary tales, she was smuggled to her meeting with Caesar, arriving rolled up in a carpet. She partnered with the Roman leader and secured her throne in Egypt.

In addition to forming a military and economic partnership with the Roman Republic, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar became lovers. They were a power couple, bettering each other and securing their political stances. According to Plutarch, they welcomed a child together and connected two powerful states in every sense. However, their happiness and partnership were short-lived due to Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE. Cleopatra was in Rome at the time.

With Caesar’s assassination, Cleopatra lost the father of her child and a powerful ally. Faced with an unstable situation, she had to be decisive and secure the future of her state. She found a new ally in Mark Antony, a famous Roman general and member of the Second Triumvirate.

Mark Antony found Cleopatra to be a fascinating woman. They formed a powerful allyship but also a passionate romantic relationship. Together, they were a strong political and military unit. Cleopatra saw a downfall with the rise of Octavian (the future emperor Augustus), the political nemesis of Mark Antony. Octavian defeated the couple in the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. A year later, Cleopatra committed suicide. According to most Classical authors, she took her life with the help of an asp, a venomous snake.

Cleopatra not only made strong political alliances but was also an astute policymaker. She was determined to boost the Egyptian economy and education. Cleopatra encouraged international trade and guided her people through an extremely challenging period. Although she ultimately did not secure her state’s independence, she refused to surrender without a fierce fight and chose to end it on her terms. Cleopatra is one of the most recognized and fascinating political leaders.

2. Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

Queen Elizabeth I was one of the strongest English monarchs, changing the course of world history. Her life was far from easy, and solidifying her position and authority was challenging. She was the last ruler of the famous Tudor dynasty, and her reign is considered a golden age of English history, also known as the Elizabethan Age.

Elizabeth was the daughter of one of the most controversial royal couples in history, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Due to the multiple marriages of her father and the beheading of her mother, Elizabeth’s childhood and teen years were difficult.

Elizabeth became a queen at the age of 25, and her legitimacy was questioned every step of the way. Being a woman in the leading role, especially considering her family history, was quite uncommon at the time. However, Elizabeth proved her political opponents wrong.

Elizabeth inherited the English throne and crown during a tumultuous period, with religious and political conflicts raging across the kingdom. However, she successfully resolved the dispute between Catholics and Protestants, establishing herself as a strong monarch, the epitome of absolute monarchy. In 1559, the Elizabethan Religious Settlement (composed of the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity) led to a more moderate and tolerant tone to the Church of England, ultimately bringing religious stability to the land.

Elizabeth was also a pragmatic leader, knowing when to turn to diplomacy and when to wage a war. She famously defeated the Spanish Armada sent by King Philip II and turned England into a naval power. During her reign, the Kingdom of England started to explore unknown lands, paving the way for the future colonial empire. Elizabeth chose not to get married and was remembered as the “virgin queen” bringing religious and mythical elements to her persona. She may have been the last Tudor sitting on the English throne, but she is one of history’s most influential monarchs.

3. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1964)

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most influential political voices in the United States’ contemporary history. She was the first lady and wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Besides her political and social advocacy, she is credited with being the first president’s wife who changed the role of the first lady from being ceremonial to being more proactive and influential. Indeed, she was involved in many causes, from women’s rights to civil rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman who was not afraid to speak her mind. During the presidential campaign and after, she frequently visited different media outlets and discussed causes and issues she supported. She also wrote and held press briefings, ensuring women’s voices were heard and acknowledged. Eleanor, for example, was among the first women in such a public space to discuss gender equality and rights.

Besides being a women’s champion, Eleanor Roosevelt was also a civil rights advocate. She opposed racism and was against the ongoing segregation. In 1939, her resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution organization due to its refusal to allow American singer Marian Anderson to perform was widely reported in the media, drawing attention to the issue of racism. After stepping down from the organization, Eleanor invited the singer to perform at the Lincoln Memorial.

When her husband died in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt continued to be involved in American politics. Because of her experience and skills, President Truman appointed her a delegate to the United Nations, where she excelled and greatly influenced important policies and declarations. She was a member of the UN when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948.

Through her groundbreaking work, Eleanor Roosevelt left an undeniable legacy and influence. Even after her time at the UN, she continued to work on various human rights causes and fight for a better and brighter future.

4. Angela Merkel (1954- )

Angela Merkel is a German politician and one of the most influential people in modern and contemporary politics. She was the German chancellor from 2005 to 2021, becoming the first woman to hold the office and the longest-serving since Otto von Bismarck. Merkel broke many barriers for female political leadership and left an everlasting legacy in Germany and world politics.

Angela was born in East Germany (the DDR) during the extremely challenging Cold War years when the Berlin Wall divided the country into two political entities. She showed various interests in science from a young age, so it’s not surprising that she became a physicist. Her scientific background and analytical mind made her a strong, pragmatic, and fact-based political leader.

When she decided to enter the political scene, her approach was methodical and decisive. In 2000, she joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and became its leader. By working hard and spreading her party’s program regarding economic and social strength, Merkel quickly became one of Germany’s most respected politicians and, finally, the German chancellor in 2005.

Her time as a counselor was far from easy. Germany and Europe faced several challenges, including the Eurozone crises (2009-2012), which caused many markets to crash. Angela Merkel handled the situation well, seeking to stabilize the Euro and the economy in Germany and other countries that were part of the economic bloc and dependent on each other.

Another challenging moment Merkel faced as the German chancellor was the 2015 refugee crisis. She supported the so-called “open door policy” which meant allowing people seeking safety and fleeing their country because of wars, destruction, and famine to find refuge in Germany. Her humanitarian decisions showed her empathetic side and awareness that political leaders have to take responsibility and model humanitarian behavior that would become the standard in world politics.

While Merkel was praised for her political decisions, her “open-door policy” provoked a backlash from right-wing groups, highlighting the polarizations dividing Germany’s political landscape.

Angela Merkel achieved so much during her time in office that countless books and documentaries have been made to express admiration for her and her political legacy. She stepped down in 2021, leaving a legacy of economic success and political integrity. She deservedly earned the nickname Mutti, or Mother.

These four women in leadership lived in four different eras of human history. They faced various difficulties and discrimination but persevered and successfully challenged existing political establishments. Their determination and fight for women’s place in political leadership inspired and paved the way for women to have more agency and participate in political decision-making.

Although the 14th and 19th Amendments to the US Constitution had seemingly put women on equal legal status with men in the United States, the reality was that sexism was deeply entrenched in all parts of life. However, the growing successes of the Civil Rights Movement (1948-1965) inspired women to launch their own movement for greater equality. In the 1960s, women began organizing and protesting for equal rights in the areas of employment, marriage, health care, and personal finance. During this era, women were often denied access to many jobs, forced to remain in unhappy or oppressive marriages, and had to receive their husbands’ or fathers’ approval for certain medical care or financial transactions.

Setting the Stage: Early Feminists Urge Equality

There was little gender equality in early America, but there were still many individual women who fought hard to make positive changes in this area. Perhaps the original American feminist was Abigail Smith Adams, wife of the second US President John Adams. Remembered for her famous quote to the Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies,” Abigail Adams was an intelligent and hardworking woman who handled her family’s business affairs while her husband was away from home as a diplomat. In a rarity for the time, Adams deeply appreciated and respected his wife’s advice on political affairs.

More widely known as an original feminist is Susan B. Anthony, who was born around the time of Abigail Adams’ death. Anthony believed in equality and was an abolitionist who argued passionately against slavery. She and Elizabeth Cady Stanton held conventions beginning in the late 1840s to advocate for women’s suffrage, or the right to vote. The most famous of these, held in 1848 by Stanton and fellow suffragist Lucretia Mott, was the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. This event is considered the first Women’s Rights event in the United States.

Setting the Stage: The Suffrage Movement

Despite the best efforts of Susan B. Anthony, who passed away in 1906, the suffrage movement faced staunch resistance from social conservatives. However, Anthony’s death occurred during the Progressive Era, when American society was more receptive to government and social reforms. Suffragettes were well-organized during the early 1900s and had the support of many Progressive Era reformers. Many individual states began granting women the right to vote, though most Southern states did not.

Although a US Constitution amendment to grant women the right to vote had been proposed as early as 1878, shortly after Anthony and others cast their own ballots in violation of the law, women’s groups were only firmly united behind passing this amendment in the 1910s. In 1917, the changing of New York state law to allow women to vote swayed US President Woodrow Wilson to support the women’s suffrage amendment and created a critical mass (necessary minimum to grow) of support behind the amendment. Three years later, in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified by the states, granting women the right to vote in all elections.

Setting the Stage: World War II and Factory Labor

Sadly, the right to vote did not significantly change women’s positions in society as many suffragettes and progressives had hoped—at least not very quickly. There was slow progress in increasing women’s ability to work outside the home, which reached approximately 50 percent of single women by 1930. However, only 12 percent of married women worked outside the home, and most were relegated to domestic employment (household help), nursing, or clerical work (typing and other secretarial tasks). During the Great Depression, women’s employment prospects were actually harmed as jobs went to men, who were seen as the default breadwinners for families.

World War II erupted in December 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and swiftly pushed the United States into full mobilization for war. As men entered the military, their jobs needed to be filled to maintain industrial production and keep society running. For the first time, large numbers of women took on industrial jobs and skilled positions, proving they could handle such tasks with distinction. In both World War I and World War II, the legal basis for equal pay for equal work was established but was often ignored or manipulated by factories to underpay women. Despite lower pay, women worked admirably and constituted 37 percent of the civilian labor force by 1945.

1946-1950s: Women Forced Back Into Domesticity

When World War II ended in September 1945, millions of men returned from military service and retook their previous positions in industry. Women were forced out of jobs, and many employers that had hired women during the war changed their policies to only hire men. If women did remain employed, they sometimes saw their pay reduced due to changing job descriptions. Part of this reversal of women’s employment was due to fears of men being underemployed (working jobs with lower pay or lower skill), and part was due to Cold War societal pressure on women to become homemakers to contrast with working women of the Soviet Union.

An economic boom during the 1950s reduced the need for most white women to work, and most sources of influence on young girls—educators, mass media, and political leaders—pushed the narrative that women should quickly get married, have children, and stay home to run the household. However, women continued applying political pressure to be included in government and given equal pay for equal work. Underneath the positive imagery of the 1950s economic boom, many low-income and minority women did not enjoy what the media depicted and were forced to work outside the home for unfairly low pay. However, their feelings of oppression were about to be met with two tools: a powerful social movement and increased education that provided tools for change.

1963: The Feminine Mystique Sparks a Movement

The Civil Rights Movement, considered by many to have begun in 1948 when US President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military, became widespread in the South during the 1950s. Black men and women used peaceful protest to demand desegregation and equal treatment and slowly achieved victories through boycotts, sit-ins, marches, and lobbying public officials. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal law regarding equal rights for minorities since the Reconstruction Era after the American Civil War. Women saw these victories and questioned their own condition of being treated as less-than-equal.

In 1963, author Betty Friedan published a book that received a small initial printing of 3,000 copies: The Feminine Mystique. The book was the result of research Friedan had conducted on women college graduates and the lives of women, including media portrayal, during the late 1950s. Women found the book groundbreaking, as something finally detailed their feeling unfulfilled due to societal expectations of domesticity, and it triggered demands for equality. The fight for women’s equality surged to unprecedented levels since the suffrage movement, and US President John F. Kennedy added women’s rights to his civil rights platform.

Late 1960s: Women Seek Liberation From Oppressive Standards

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, proposed under Kennedy and signed into law by his successor, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, included gender as a protected class. This was a major legal victory for women’s equality and complemented the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Unfortunately, some business leaders resisted and argued that it was costlier to employ women. While women had won political and legal victories, many societal leaders still expected women to take subservient roles. Second-wave feminism arose to fight oppressive social standards that had almost as much power as the previous legal standards.

Gloria Steinem became a leader of second-wave feminists by fighting to increase abortion rights for women in 1969. Up through the 1960s, many women had no legal access to abortion and were forced to give birth to children in impoverished or unsafe homes. Pregnancy could be used to trap women into unhappy and even violent relationships. Steinem and Freidan, who had founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, helped grow a women’s movement to pursue equality in non-employment areas like marriage, personal finance, and health care to prevent women from being trapped in bad relationships.

1967-71: Incremental Improvements for Women

Although laws in 1963 and 1964 granted equal pay and hiring/termination protections for women, some employers resisted by avoiding hiring women. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson used executive orders to expand requirements that federal government agencies and contractors (companies that provide services for government agencies) provide equal employment opportunities for women. This prevented many jobs from being labeled as “men only.” In 1968, regulatory agencies determined that job openings could no longer mention a gender preference or requirement.

The year 1969 was a landmark year for women’s rights, with single-sex job requirements being deemed unconstitutional in the case Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive. Women had to be given the chance to meet gender-neutral standards of strength and skill, opening up many industrial jobs and first responder positions. Socially, a major breakthrough in women’s liberation was achieved that same year, with California becoming the first state to allow no-fault divorce. Previously, women could be trapped in bad marriages if they could not sufficiently prove abuse or adultery to a court. By 2010, all US states had legalized no-fault divorces.

1972: Congress Passes Title IX and Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Three years after the landmark victories of 1969, two major federal acts energized women’s participation in American society. The first was the passage of the Title IX amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This periodically amended education law applies to all public institutions that receive federal funding assistance, including colleges and universities. Title IX requires equal funding to be provided to girls’ and women’s extracurricular activities and requires institutions to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination. It revolutionized education for girls (K-12) and women (higher education) by opening up many programs, extracurricular activities, and sports.

An even greater political event occurred with Congress’ passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of 1972. The simple amendment to the US Constitution would have allowed Congress greater power to prevent any state from “denying or abridging” anyone’s rights on the basis of sex. This groundbreaking event, which had been attempted previously in the 1870s and 1920s, was finally achieved with the help of new women legislators in Congress, especially Shirley Chisholm of New York, who introduced the ERA in the US House of Representatives in 1969.

Late 1970s-1980s: Legal Movement Wanes

To ratify the ERA, 38 of the 50 US states needed to approve it through their state legislatures. Quickly, 30 states did so, but then momentum stalled. There was a 10-year time limit for ratification, so the June 1972 passage by Congress meant a deadline in June 1982. Sadly, the ERA expired with 35 of the necessary 38 states having ratified. In 2020, the 38th US state, Virginia, ratified the 1972 ERA. Although the amendment has expired, subsequent state ratifications signal support for women’s equality.

The loss of momentum for ERA ratification in the late 1970s was part of renewed conservatism in American society. In 1980, Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan helped usher in the New Right and a reinvigorated conservative movement. His political ally, conservative attorney Phyllis Schlafly, successfully criticized the ERA as having gone too far to grant women equality. She said the amendment would subject women to a military draft and hurt women when it came to legal and child custody issues.

Today: Women’s Equality Still a Socio-Political Movement

Despite the renewed conservatism of the 1980s, women still held an unequal role in American society. In the early 1990s, the return of a more liberal administration to the White House, with Democratic US president Bill Clinton and outspoken First Lady (and later presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton, helped usher in the age of third-wave feminism. Women pushed for more political representation and more inclusive policies in education and employment that prevented women from being tacitly punished for being mothers. Although women often seemed equal to men on paper, they routinely faced glass ceilings that prevented them from holding executive positions.

In the mid-2000s, the continued fight against glass ceilings was joined by the Me Too movement against sexual harassment. The movement gained prominence in 2017 when Hollywood actresses began speaking out against sexual harassment and assault they had experienced in their careers. This began nationwide discussions about discrimination still faced by women through personal relationships, including employers. Power differentials explained how many women in the 2010s and 2020s, although equal on paper, were manipulated or trapped into harmful relationships that limited their social, educational, or professional potential.

The Diary of a Young Girl, written by Anne Frank, a teenage German Jew, while in hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, is perhaps the most widely read account of the Holocaust. Quotes from Anne Frank’s diary and other writings are often part of official commemorations of the Holocaust and school curricula worldwide. Written under exceptional circumstances, Anne Frank’s account is a testament to perseverance and humanity in the face of the constant threat of persecution and death.

The Diary of Anne Frank

Anne Frank received her diary, a red-and-white plaid notebook, on her 13th birthday on June 12, 1943. At the time, the young Anne was living in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands with her older sister, Margot, and her parents, Otto and Edith Frank. Like many other German Jews, Otto had decided to leave Germany after Adolf Hitler seized power in 1933. In Amsterdam, Anne’s father opened a pectin firm, and, despite the initial financial struggles, the family began to feel at home, temporarily safe from the anti-Semitic persecution waged by the Nazi regime.

In the first entry, dated June 12, Anne expressed her hope to turn her diary into a close confidant: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” At the time, the 13-year-old did not yet know that the plaid journal would become her lifeline in the following years, a way to try to make sense of the unprecedented historical circumstances she was forced to witness. In the two years spent in hiding, writing in her diary “kept her company and kept her sane,” as Nathan Zuckerman, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer (1979), remarked.

Anne Frank and her family went into hiding on July 6, 1942, less than a month after Anne’s birthday, when Margot was notified of her imminent deportation to a work camp in Nazi Germany. “So there we were, Father, Mother and I, walking in the pouring rain, each of us with a schoolbag and a shopping bag filled to the brim with the most varied assortment of items,” wrote Anne in her diary.

After unsuccessfully trying to secure visas to immigrate to the US, Otto began turning an extension, the “secret annex,” on the second floor of his firm’s headquarters at 263 Prinsengracht into a hiding place. Otto’s business partner, Hermann van Pels, and his family and dentist Fritz Pfeffer later joined the Franks in the annex.

Until August 4, 1944, when a group of German soldiers discovered and arrested them, along with their Dutch helpers, Anne recorded her daily life in the annex, her fears about the present, and her hopes for the future in her diary. She wrote letters addressed to a real and imaginary group of friends, mainly Kitty, a character created by Dutch writer Cissy van Marxveldt in the Joop ter Heul book series.

Anne Frank’s Quotes on Nazi Rule

The Frank family’s hopes that the Netherlands could provide a stable refuge from the persecution and anti-Semitic violence of the Nazi regime shattered on May 10, 1940, when German troops crossed the country’s borders (even though the Dutch government had declared its neutrality) on their way to France. The Dutch army surrendered five days later, on May 15.

As the Nazi authorities took control of the country, the approximately 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands had their rights and freedom gradually stripped away, as the Nazis, led by the Reichskommissar (Reich Commissioner) Arthur Seyss-Inquart, sought to exclude them from society. Soon, Jews were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothes with the word Jood, meaning “Jew” in Dutch.

In her diary, Anne reported the worsening situation in an entry written on June 20, 1942, and listed the long series of restrictions introduced by the Nazi authorities against the Jewish population:

“Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were required to wear a yellow star; Jews were required to turn in their bicycles; Jews were forbidden to use street-cars; Jews were forbidden to ride in cars, even their own; Jews were required to do their shopping between 3 and 5 P.M.; Jews were required to frequent only Jewish-owned barbershops and beauty parlors; Jews were forbidden to be out on the streets between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M.; Jews were forbidden to attend theaters, movies or any other forms of entertainment; Jews were forbidden to use swimming pools, tennis courts, hockey fields or any other athletic fields; Jews were forbidden to go rowing; Jews were forbidden to take part in any athletic activity in public; … You couldn’t do this and you couldn’t do that, but life went on. Jacque always said to me, ‘I don’t dare do anything anymore, ’cause I’m afraid it’s not allowed.’”

The Dutch population initially protested against the anti-Semitic measures, organizing a general strike in February 1941 following the arrest of several hundred Jews. In the following years, however, the Nazis began to systematically round up the Jews residing in the Netherlands and send them to the Westerbork and Vught camps. From there, starting in the summer of 1942, most prisoners were transported to the concentration and death camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The survival rate among the Dutch Jews was especially low, with only 27 percent of the deportees managing to return home after World War II. Adolf Eichmann, one of the main coordinators of the Holocaust, was favorably impressed by the efficiency of the deportation from the Netherlands, commenting, “In the beginning you could say that the trains from the Netherlands were really rolling; it was quite wonderful.”

In the “secret annex,” Anne Frank frequently commented on the unprecedented situation she lived in and the horrors of the Holocaust. “The world’s been turned upside down. The most decent people are being sent to concentration camps, prisons and lonely cells, while the scum of the earth rules over young and old, rich and poor,” she wrote on May 25, 1944.

On October 9, 1942, she had already confided to her imaginary friend Kitty:

“Dearest Kitty,

Today I have nothing but dismal and depressing news to report. Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they’re sending all the Jews. … If it’s that bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they’re being gassed. Perhaps that’s the quickest way to die.”

Unbeknownst to Anne, in January 1942, 25 high-ranking Nazi officials had coordinated the so-called “Final solution to the Jewish question” at the Wannsee Conference, setting in motion the plan for the systematic deportation and extermination of European Jews.

Anne Frank’s Quotes on Self

Anne Frank’s diary is not only an eyewitness account of a young Jewish girl living under Nazi rule, but it is also a literary work depicting the emotional, psychological, and ethical maturation of a young woman and writer. While the earlier entries focus on her outings with friends to ice cream parlors and encounters with the first admirers, in hiding, Anne turned to introspection, reflecting on her identity and place in the world.

“Even though I’m only fourteen, I know what I want, I know who’s right and who’s wrong, I have my own opinions, ideas and principles, and though it may sound odd coming from a teenager, I feel I’m more of a person than a child, I feel I’m completely independent of others.”

March 17, 1944

“I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.”

April 14, 1944

Some of the most widely known of Anne Frank’s quotes, these excerpts allow readers to get a glimpse of the young writer’s self-awareness regarding her personal development. During the long hours spent in careful silence to prevent any noise from betraying their whereabouts, Anne often turned to her diary for comfort and sanity. In his The Development of Anne Frank, John Berryman remarked how her unprecedented circumstances heightened Anne Frank’s “power of expression” and forced her to mature more quickly, drawing a parallel between her “conversion of the child into a person” to the conversion described by St. Augustine in his Confessions.

Anne Frank’s penchant for self-reflection also emerges from the following quote taken from the final entry on August 1, 1944:

“I’m afraid that people who know me as I usually am will discover I have another side, a better and finer side. I’m afraid they’ll mock me, think I’m ridiculous and sentimental and not take me seriously. I’m used to not being taken seriously, but only the ‘light-hearted’ Anne is used to it and can put up with it; the ‘deeper’ Anne is too weak.”

Anne Frank’s Quotes on People

Anne Frank’s surprising belief in the goodness of humanity despite the horrors of the Holocaust is perhaps her most famous quote:

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

July 15, 1944

After World War II, when news of the death camps began to spread, Anne’s remark on human nature turned her diary into an emblem of prevailing humanity in the face of a systemic oppression specifically designed to negate her and her fellow Jews’ very right to exist. “Consider if this is a man,” famously asked Holocaust survivor Primo Levi in his poem, “Who toils in the mud/ Who knows no peace/ Who dies for half a loaf/ Who dies by a yes or a no.”

However, it would be mistaken to write off Anne’s quote as a naive faith in the goodness of humanity by a 15-year-old girl. Rather, her declaration is a desperate effort to find meaning in a suddenly meaningless world, and to hold on to hope amid a growing sense of doom.

In an essay titled Give!, Anne had already argued that “Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.”

Reaffirmed against the backdrop of persecution, her faith becomes more poignant, a testament to her powerful voice that would resonate with so many generations of readers.

Anne Frank’s Quotes on the Future

During the two years spent in hiding, Anne Frank and the other inhabitants of the “secret annex” alternated between despair and hope regarding their future after the war. While news of the Allies’ advance increased their optimism, the forced proximity, lack of privacy, and frequent quarrels led to frustration and demoralization.

In a series of entries from 1943, Anne expressed her mounting dread, comparing her plans for the future to a “castle in the air.” A couple of quotes from October and November give readers a sense of her struggle against despair and emphasize the power of art:

“I wander from room to room, climb up and down the stairs and feel like a songbird whose wings have been ripped off and who keeps hurling itself against the bars of its dark cage.”

October 29, 1943

“I see the eight of us in the Annex as if we were a patch of blue sky surrounded by menacing black clouds. The perfectly round spot on which we’re standing is still safe, but the clouds are moving in on us, and the ring between us and the approaching danger is being pulled tighter and tighter. We’re surrounded by darkness and danger, and in our desperate search for a way out we keep bumping into each other.”

November 8, 1943

Stuck in a present of constant danger, Anne saw her writing as a way to reaffirm her identity and secure her memory against the threat of erasure.

“I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me!”

April 5, 1944

In April 1944, Anne had already begun editing her diary, deleting some previous entries and adding some new ones. Her plan to publish her writing after the war dates back to March 1944, when she heard a speech by the Dutch Minister of Education in exile exhorting his fellow citizens to document their wartime experiences for posterity. For the young Anne, writing then became an act of self-assertion in the face of a hostile force that sought to annihilate her and her family.

Anne’s plan for her future tragically died with her in February 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she and her sister Margot contracted typhus. Her diary and other writings, however, survived the war thanks to Miep Gies, who kept Anne’s journal and other papers after the Franks’ arrest in 1944. After the war, she returned them to Otto, the only inhabitant of the “secret annex” to survive the Holocaust. Moved by his daughter’s writings, Otto published them in 1947 with the title Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex), the title Anne herself had chosen.

Today, the Diary of a Young Girl has been translated into over 75 languages, making Anne Frank a symbol of perseverance and her writings a “bid for immortality.”

The one thing most people know about Anne Frank is that she wrote a diary documenting her experience during the Holocaust. Such a one-dimensional understanding of her life downplays the tragedy of the loss of a young girl. Most, unfortunately, do not even know the cause of her death. Anne and her sister, separated from their parents, persevered through the harsh conditions of the concentration camp yet were ultimately taken by typhus, contracted as a direct outcome of the conditions in which they were forced to live.

Who Was Anne Frank?

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on June 12, 1929, to parents Edith and Otto Frank. The pair also had one daughter before Anne, Margot. Despite the hardships facing Germany, Otto was a successful, experienced businessman who owned his own business.

As Adolf Hilter started to gain power in Germany, everyday life began to change for Jewish people. Hitler and the Third Reich adopted and repurposed ancient symbols like the swastika to harken back to their Aryan past and present themselves with an air of invincibility. Through widespread violence like Kristallnacht, the Nazi regime raided Jewish communities across Germany, from large cities to small villages. In October 1938, thousands of Jews living in Germany were rounded up and expelled in what was known as Polenaktion.

The Frank family chose to move to Amsterdam, where Otto could find work. As time went on, Anne and the rest of the family felt at home in Amsterdam. She went to school and made friends while her father continued to work. Anne learned Dutch and lived a normal life.

Why Did Anne Frank Go Into Hiding?

World War II started when Anne was 10 years old; by 1940, Nazis had invaded the Netherlands. On May 10, Queen Wilhelmina fled to London, and within five days, Nazis overtook the country. The same restrictions that the Frank family had fled in Germany were now implemented in Amsterdam.

Anne began to lose her freedoms; for example, she had to attend a segregated Jewish school. Her life became more insular as she began to lose common, everyday liberties like going to parks or the movies. As a Jewish man, Otto was suddenly barred from owning his own business.

By 1942, Jewish citizens had to wear the Star of David, and there were whispers that they would soon have to leave Amsterdam. When Anne’s sister received a call to report to a German labor camp in July 1942, they chose to go into hiding to protect themselves.

What Was the Secret Annex Like?

Anne, her sister, mother, and father went into hiding in July of 1942, where they would remain for the next two years. They stayed in a hidden apartment on Prinsengracht Street.

Otto used to work at the business where this secret apartment was located. Friends of Anne’s father helped create the space for them to stay. The apartment got its name from Anne’s diary, in which she referred to it as the Secret Annex.

The Franks were not alone in the small, cramped Secret Annex space. Four other Jewish people stayed with them: Auguste, Hermann, and Peter van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer.

The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne documented what her life was like while living in the Secret Annex in her diary. Anne addressed her diary entries to a fictional person named Kitty, and this character seemed to portray the person with whom Anne would have liked to share all her struggles.

In just over 300 pages, Anne chronicles what life was like for Jews living in Amsterdam and for Dutch Jews overall. This likely was not her goal at the time of writing, but her diary became one of the best, most thorough firsthand accounts of what life was like during the occupation and the Holocaust.

Anne could talk about her fears and hopes for the future as well. Writing was one of the few things that Anne was able to do to pass the time—she could not move around, make noise, or play as a normal child of her age might.

Anne, however, was unable to finish her diary.

When Was Anne Frank Caught?

Anne and the others in the Secret Annex were discovered and captured on August 8, 1944. Two men who helped hide the Franks were also taken.

Anne and her family were first taken to prison in Amsterdam, then to the Westerbork Transit Camp. In early September, nearly one month after they were captured, everyone was taken to Auschwitz.

Auschwitz is one of the most well-known concentration camps due to the number of people killed there. Men like Heinrich Himmler made killing efficient with the introduction of the first gas chamber at this camp. While some contend that concentration camps actually helped both sides of the war effort because the human experimentation conducted within ultimately allowed scientists to learn to treat soldiers on the front lines, it is difficult to acknowledge advances in science drawn from such evil.

Where Was Anne Frank Taken?

Anne and her family were first taken to Auschwitz, where they were then separated, men from women. Ultimately, the family did not stay together in Auschwitz either. Anne and her sister were transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in November 1944, about two months after they first arrived at Auschwitz. They would remain at Bergen-Belsen until their deaths in early 1945.

Otto Frank did not leave Auschwitz, and their mother, Edith, also remained at Auschwitz until her death in January 1945. She died of starvation and exhaustion.

What Did Anne Frank Die From?

Perhaps surprising to some, it was not the outright slaughter carried out at the camp that killed her. She was not one of the unfortunate victims of the gas chambers. She also did not pass from other common causes, like starvation. Instead, Anne and her sister both died from typhus. Anne was only 15 years old when she passed away.

Historians disagree about when specifically Anne died; it is estimated to be somewhere between February and March, 1945—just weeks before the Allies would liberate the camp.

What Is Typhus?

Typhus is caused by the Rickettsia prowazekii bacteria. While typhus had many different names over time—often based on the locations in which it occurred—it was frequently found in the same conditions: filth and starvation.

Typhus is spread by body lice, made worse in poor living conditions, such as those Anne and other Jewish people faced in the camps. Lice often live in clothing, bite their host, and lay eggs. The lice multiply at a frenetic pace, leaving behind feces. Once a person with lice scratches themself, the wound creates an entry point for the feces, which carry the Rickettsia prowazekii.

Once infected with typhus, the victim suffers muscle pain, headaches, nausea, and a fever well over 100 degrees. The fever often causes the person to become delirious. They also get a rash all over their body. The infection can stay in the body for up to three weeks. Without antibiotics, typhus kills about 1 in 5 people and is more fatal among persons weakened by other conditions, like starvation.

Did Anyone in Anne Frank’s Family Survive?

There was only one person to survive in the Frank family: her father, Otto. Otto was also the only survivor among everyone who was hidden in the Secret Annex.

There are estimates that as many as six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. The exact number of Jews liberated from concentration camps has proven difficult to determine, but it is not as high as one might hope. Some estimates suggest that just 7,000 Jews were liberated from camps like Auschwitz.

Anne Frank’s Lasting Legacy

The Second World War officially ended just months after Anne’s death on September 2, 1945.

While Europe and the rest of the world reeled from the devastation of World War II, the Frank family would never be the same either. Otto survived but lost his wife and two daughters. He was given his daughter’s diary after his liberation by one of the people who helped hide his family in 1944.

Moved by what he read, he decided to publish his daughter’s writings in 1947, giving the world one of the best accounts of the Holocaust. Since its publication, the book has sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated into more than 70 languages.

Today, visitors to Amsterdam can step into the Secret Annex, which is now a museum that tells the story of both Anne Frank’s life and the Holocaust. Anne’s diary, as well as the Secret Annex, are lasting testaments to what can happen when discrimination and racism come to power.

Empowering communities for almost half a century, The Green Belt Movement has been hard at work in Kenya, building climate-resilient ecosystems and sustainable environments, while also empowering women. A continent away, in the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous women take to the frontlines to save their livelihoods and their environments from the destruction caused by extractivism. Meanwhile, women across the globe guide humanity’s future in high-profile forums, as they fight for sustainable futures in a world increasingly affected by climate change.

The fight for gender equality has led women to become inextricably linked to environmental concerns. What is this relationship, and how has the challenge for women’s rights become so intertwined with green initiatives?

The Environment and Its Impact on Gender

By examining societies worldwide and how different genders interact with their environments, it becomes clear that environmental degradation disproportionately threatens women.

According to the United Nations, women and girls make up the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent than men on local natural resources to sustain their livelihoods. From a general perspective, and especially in rural areas in developing nations, women are responsible for securing food, water, and firewood for their families. When these are scarce, women work harder and walk farther to find them.

They face backlash when these resources cannot be obtained, and in such skewed patriarchal societies, the effects are massively disproportionate. In these areas, women are 14 times more likely to die from extreme weather disasters. This is due to a lack of information, restricted mobility, and diminished agency. Of those displaced by climate change, 80% are women.

Meanwhile, research indicates that women in industrialized countries are more likely than men to be concerned about climate change. Data from the Pew Research Center’s polls in the US, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Australia, Spain, and the UK show that the difference between men and women in this regard is approximately 10%, with the US having the largest difference.

In the US poll on whether global climate change is a serious problem, 66% of men responded yes, while 83% of women agreed, with additional data indicating that more women than men believed climate change would affect them personally.

A History of Action

Although its roots date back further, modern environmental activism really took off in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Even from this early period, women were an integral part of the movement. An example of this is the Chipko Movement, which began in the 1970s and relied heavily on women’s participation. Villagers banded together, confronting commercial loggers, forcing the abandonment of deforestation ventures.

“Chipko,” literally meaning to “hug” or “cling” in Hindi, was a highly effective form of protest, as the protestors would literally hug trees to prevent them from being cut down. This is where the term “tree hugger” originated in popular modern usage. The method was inspired by the Bishnoi people in Rajasthan, who, in 1730, hugged trees to stop them from being cut down to build a palace. The massacre that followed resulted in a royal decree protecting trees, proving the effectiveness of such actions despite having to pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Inspired by the success of Chipko, a similar, successful movement called the Appiko Movement took place in Kalase forest near Salkani in western India in 1983. Like with the Chipko Movement, men, women, and children banded together in peaceful protest to stop loggers.

Education and Empowerment

The interplay between education and women’s traditional roles is well documented. Of prime consideration is the factor of population growth. Research shows that the spread of education amongst women results in more opportunities, thus allowing for more careful consideration when it comes to having children.

With maternal burdens lessened, women have far more agency. A slowdown in population growth is a major outcome that benefits the environment by reducing resource demand. Thus, education not only furthers gender equality but also benefits green initiatives.

Given women’s general views on climate change and its effects on their traditional roles, it is logical to recruit leaders from this demographic who can guide communities and nations toward a more sustainable future. Education and empowerment of women are key in addressing this leadership concern.

Placing women at the center of sustainable development is not just ethically sound, but massively beneficial from a practical perspective. Research shows that women spend around 90% of their income on their family, compared with just 35% for men. This represents food, healthcare, education, and housing; major factors in creating a sustainable future that is better equipped to support future generations. This gap persists, even in developed nations with greater equality. This dynamic of spending has a cumulative effect, creating more prosperous and stable communities. Thus, the empowerment of women is not simply a moral imperative but a potent catalyst for achieving broader development goals.

Women as Leaders

While women may not have achieved equal representation in governmental bodies and other climate authorities, they are well represented in leading local initiatives, particularly in the Global South.

Wangari Maathai was one such leader who challenged the status quo and brought environmentalism to the fore in Kenya. She established the Green Belt Movement, which focused on planting trees and fighting for women’s rights. For her efforts, she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, becoming the first African woman to do so.

Today, one of the most widely recognized figures in the fight against climate change, Greta Thunberg, rose to prominence in 2018 during the Fridays for Future or Schools for Climate movement. On September 23, 2019 at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York City, she gained viral attention by lambasting world leaders for their “empty words.” Since then, she has become a global icon of resistance and broadened the scope of her activism to include humanitarian support for Palestine, amongst other initiatives. Her social presence has been a major driver of global youth engagement.

While Thunberg represents protest and direct action, others have engaged with climate activism by challenging the structures of industrial and corporate agriculture and promoting ecological knowledge. Having authored 20 books, Vandana Shiva is a prominent voice in this regard, and her efforts have earned her the moniker “the Gandhi of Grain.”

An anti-globalist, Shiva has argued for the rights of small-scale farmers who are often dispossessed and forced out of business by monocultural corporate practice, which dominates ecology rather than working with it. As such, Shiva is an eco-feminist who argues that the domination of nature and the domination of women stem from the same patriarchal systems of control. Limiting the power of that source not only frees women but also benefits the environment. In this regard, feminism and environmentalism are closely connected. As Shiva has noted,

“The recovery of the feminine principle is an intellectual and political challenge to maldevelopment as a patriarchal project of domination and destruction, of violence and subjugation, of dispossession and the dispensability of both women and nature.”

—Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development

Meanwhile, the Amazon has no shortage of protectors, with many women stepping up to lead conservation efforts. Txai Suruí is a Brazilian environmentalist who founded the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia, from which another activist, model, and actor, Zaya Guarani, hails. Also from Brazil is Vanda Oregta Witoto, who continues to advocate for community rights in Parque das Tribos.

Ecuador has also produced many activists, such as Nina Gualinga from the Kichwa community, who has led the fight against the destructive practices of oil and mining companies, and her younger sister, Helena, who co-founded the Polluters Out movement with Isabella Fallahi and Ayisha Siddiqa.

Representing the Waorani people from the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo is a co-founder of the Ceibo Alliance, which protects indigenous lands from oil concessions.

Of course, there are many others around the world who deserve recognition, and the list of names grows ever longer as women take up the mantle of leadership.

Women Still Face Many Barriers

In STEM, it is no surprise that women have historically been underrepresented in a dynamic that persists. Some regions of the world, particularly in the United States, show a marked increase in the ratio of women to men. However, from a global perspective, women make up 35% of STEM graduates. According to UNESCO, this is a figure that has remained stagnant for the past decade.

The underrepresentation is not limited to STEM fields, either. Women are regularly excluded from positions of authority and face significant barriers to attaining power within governments worldwide. Because governments are powerful actors in discussions of climate change, women generally do not have the same influence as men. The World Economic Forum reports that women make up just 30% (on average) of environmental ministries around the world. Thus, gender parity in the decision-making process is rare.

Given that climate change is a greater concern among women than men, it is unsurprising that UNESCO research shows that parliaments with a higher proportion of women are more likely to ratify environmental treaties. Thus, it can be said that women represent a more powerful force for combating climate change.

Overall, the picture is quite clear. Empowering women is an effective way to advance environmental goals and represents a formidable weapon in humanity’s quest to overcome the challenges of climate change. Men and women alike have made valuable contributions in this regard, and women continue to assume leadership roles in many contexts, exercising agency as leaders, academics, scientists, artists, farmers, or simply as members of their communities. These are powerful voices that are integral to transforming the world in which we live into a place that is sustainable and productive for all.

Maria Callas, a Greek-American operatic soprano, was one of the most influential opera singers of the 20th century. Her distinctive voice and charismatic stage presence dazzled audiences at the most famous opera houses, from La Scala in Milan to the Metropolitan in New York City, turning her into an icon in the 1950s and 1960s. As she began experiencing vocal problems, however, her career declined until she retired from the scene in 1965, when she was only 41 years old.

Maria Callas’ Biography: The Early Years

Maria Callas was born Maria Cecilia Sophia Anna on December 2, 1923, in New York City, the third child of Evangelia and George Kalogeropoulos. Her father later changed the family name to Callas, a word easier for English speakers to pronounce. Her parents, both Greek immigrants, already had a daughter, Yakinthi (“Jackie”), and a son, Vassilis, who died of meningitis in 1922 when he was only two years old. The increasingly worsening relationship between her parents turned Maria Callas’ childhood years into a challenging period. In 1937, after the end of her marriage, Evangelia returned to her native Greece with her two young daughters (Maria was 13 at the time).

From an early age, Maria Callas’ musical talent became evident to her mother, who pushed her youngest daughter to perform. The relationship between Maria and her mother, however, was rocky, with the young singer feeling her mother preferred her older sister.

“My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a cruel thing to make a child feel ugly and unwanted… I’ll never forgive her for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was mostly good and everything they did to me was mostly bad,” declared Maria Callas in a 1956 interview with Time.

Upon her return to Greece, young Maria enrolled at the National Conservatory, where she studied with singer Maria Trivella. At the time, her voice was still in the contralto range, the lowest female singing voice. However, when she continued her studies at the Athens Conservatory under the guidance of Elvira de Hidalgo, Callas’s voice rose to the soprano range, the highest human vocal register. The word soprano comes from the Italian sopra (meaning “above”), which, in turn, can be traced back to the Latin superius, a term used to refer to the highest register in the 13th-16th centuries polyphonic (multipart) music.

In 1942, the young singing prodigy was ready to start her professional career, making her debut in the title role of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca in Athens. By that time, Fascist Italy had already invaded Greece. The following year, the Italian forces were joined by the German army. Greece remained under Axis control until 1944. Little is known about Callas’ life during World War II, but the singer later accused her mother of forcing her to entertain Italian and German soldiers with her singing. As a result, Maria severed all contact with her mother. While Callas’ operatic career was set back by World War II, she nevertheless continued to perform.

La Divina: An Opera Icon

After the end of the war, 22-year-old Maria Callas returned to her native New York City. By that time, she had already sung in seven operas with a total of 56 performances. While her scheduled performance as the title role of Puccini’s Turandot for the inauguration of a new theater in Chicago fell through, her career soon took off in Italy. In 1947, she made her debut at the Arena in Verona in the title role of Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda in a production featuring the Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, her future mentor.

In the 1950s, her career skyrocketed, with Maria Callas performing in all the most prestigious opera houses in Europe and overseas. In the 1940s, she had mainly tackled traditional “heavier roles,” such as Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, Isolde in Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the mysterious Kundry (in Wagner’s Parsifal), and Brünnhilde (the valkyrie from the Norse mythology that inspired Wagner for his Ring Cycle). Tullio Serafin, however, encouraged her to take on “lighter roles,” especially from the so-called Italian bel canto repertoire.

Meaning “beautiful singing,” bel canto is a type of operatic singing born in the 16th century that requires vocal agility and control from the performers. In the mid-1950s, Maria Callas took the operatic world by storm, performing in operas by Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti (both bel canto composers) as well as Verdi, Rossini, and Cherubini. Due to her success in these roles, the singer is often credited with reviving bel canto after a period of decline due to its technical difficulties.

In 1950, Callas made her debut at the prestigious La Scala theater in Milan in the title role of Verdi’s Aida. In the following decade, she was the lead singer in the theater’s opening night six times. Her performance as Violetta, the tragic courtesan of Verdi’s La Traviata (literally meaning “the fallen one”), in the 1953 production directed by award-winning Italian stage and film director Luchino Visconti, is still considered a benchmark. Outside of Italy, she dazzled audiences in New York City, Mexico City, Berlin, London, Paris, Chicago, and Vienna, earning the nickname La Divina (“The Divine One”) from her fans. Maria Callas, with her distinctive eyes (and capped teeth), appeared on multiple magazine covers and in television shows.

Besides her distinctive vocal tone (almost melancholic in quality), Maria Callas became known for her acting ability. While most operatic singers tended to stand in the middle of the stage and sing, Callas had an innate sense of theater and the ability to portray her roles with charisma and passion. “She had an unusual ability to seek out the emotional nuance in phrases, in her arias and in her dramatic roles that went along with that particular timbre she had,” remarks opera critic Conrad L. Osborne.

While her exacting standards and dedication to her roles made her an icon of the operatic world, they also earned her a reputation as a demanding diva, causing disagreements with theater managers. In 1958, for example, Antonio Ghiringhelli, the manager of La Scala, lowered the curtains while she was still bowing to the audience. In the same year, her dispute with the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera was widely reported in the media.

Callas also made headlines due to her feud (that divided the operatic world into two opposing factions) with Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi, whose melodious and bright voice earned her the nickname voce d’angelo (angelic voice) and turned her into an international star.

What Were Maria Callas’ Most Famous Roles?

Throughout her career, Maria Callas sung more than 40 roles and recorded 20 operas. While her vocal range allowed her to perform a wide variety of roles, Callas moved theatergoers worldwide with her heartfelt interpretations of two operas: Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma and Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca.

Written by the 19th-century bel canto composer in 1831, Norma is a tragedy set in ancient Gaul, where the druids, led by King Oroveso, vow revenge against the occupying Roman troops. Overoso’s daughter, high priestess Norma, is in love with Roman proconsul Pollione, with whom she has two children. Pollione, however, has fallen out of love with Norma and is now courting another young novice priestess, Adalgisa.

Distraught, Norma contemplates murdering her children but cannot bring herself to do it. Meanwhile, Adalgisa promises to persuade Pollione to return to Norma. As news of the arrival of a new Roman official spreads, Overoso calls for a rebellion and demands a sacrificial victim. Norma offers herself as the victim, revealing to the druids that she has broken her vow of virginity. Deeply moved, Pollione joins her on the sacrificial pyre.

Widely praised for her powerful interpretation of the tragic but noble priestess, Callas became especially known for her rendition of Casta diva (Chaste goddess), the opera’s most famous piece, a desperate plea for peace.

Based on a French play with the same title, Puccini’s Tosca is a political and romantic tragedy set in Rome in 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars. The famed singer Tosca does not know that her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, supported the newly dissolved free Roman Republic. While working on a portrait in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, Cavaradossi discovers fugitive Cesare Angelotti, a former consul of the republic, and agrees to help him hide from Baron Scarpia, the sadistic chief of police, in his secluded house in the countryside.

Sensing that Cavaradossi is hiding something from her, Tosca becomes convinced he is betraying her with another woman. When Scarpia storms into the church, he quickly realizes the painter has helped Angelotti escape. Meanwhile, Tosca arrives to tell Cavaradossi she has to cancel her date to perform in a gala. To arouse Tosca’s jealousy, Scarpia presents her with an alleged proof of Cavaradossi’s betrayal. Enraged, Tosca wants to confront her lover. A gloating Scarpia orders his men to follow her.

Upon realizing her mistake, Tosca tries to plea for her lover’s life with Scarpia, who taunts her by ordering his guards to torture Cavaradossi. Desperate, Tosca reveals Angelotti’s hiding place. Meanwhile, a messenger arrives with news of Napoleon’s victory at Marengo. Cavaradossi exults, and an enraged Scarpia sentences him to death. Tosca tries to negotiate a ransom, but Scarpia tells her he will only agree if she gives herself to him.

After singing Vissi d’arte (I lived for the art), asking God why he had forsaken her in her hour of need, Tosca reluctantly agrees to Scarpia’s proposal. The chief of police promises her he will stage a mock execution. When he tries to embrace her, Tosca stabs him to death, declaring É morto! Or gli perdono (He is dead! Now, I forgive him), a line Callas uttered with contempt mixed with anguish.

Tosca then goes to Castel Sant’Angelo, where Cavaradossi is held, explaining to him about the fake execution. The firing squad, acting on Scarpia’s orders, however, kills him. As a group of policemen arrives to arrest her, a desperate Tosca throws herself off Castel Sant’Angelo.

Who Was Maria Callas’ Husband?

During her career, Maria Callas made headlines not only for her performances but also for her love life. In 1949, she married wealthy brick manufacturer Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a man 20 years her senior who became her manager. While her husband was a shrewd businessman who managed to secure high fees, Callas later accused him of exploiting her and robbing her of her earnings.

In 1959, Callas and Meneghini were among the guests of a Mediterranean cruise organized by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on his yacht, the Christina. During the cruise, Callas fell in love with Onassis and later left her husband. Callas and Onassis’ affair was widely publicized by the media, but in 1968, the Greek businessman married Jackie Kennedy, the widow of US President John F. Kennedy.

Maria Callas’ Last Years and Cause of Death

By the time Maria Callas met Onassis, rumors had already begun to spread that her voice was experiencing a notable decline. In particular, music critics and supporters noticed her voice trembled and sometimes seemed on the verge of breaking when in the higher register. In the 1960s, as the troubles with her vocal cords increased, she decreased the number of her performances and ultimately retired in 1965. Her last operatic performance was in the title role of Tosca at the Covent Garden in London on July 5. She was only 41 years old.

In 1969, she starred in the film Medea by Italian poet and director Pier Paolo Pasolini. A few years later, in 1972, she taught a series of master classes on operatic singing at the Juilliard School in New York City. Two years later, she went on a world concert tour with Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano, her long-time colleague (and lover). They held performances in Europe, North America, South Korea, and Japan.

The cause of the decline of Maria Callas’ voice has been the subject of endless speculation and studies. Many believe her extreme weight loss in the mid-1950s (she lost over 60 pounds in a year) and packed singing schedule are mostly to blame (in 1955 alone, she appeared in around 30 productions). Her colleague and close friend, operatic singer Tito Gobbi (who performed Baron Scarpia with Callas in several productions), however, claimed that Callas “simply” lost her confidence. According to Callas herself, her vocal troubles were caused by the weakening of the diaphragm.

In her book Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas (2021), Lyndsy Spence declares that health issues led to the singer’s early retirement. Indeed, in the 1950s, Callas began to experience a troubling loss of vision coupled with sore teeth. During a rehearsal of Tosca, her wig caught fire when she stood too close to some candles. Her colleague Tito Gobbi had to improvise to avoid a tragedy. According to Spence, Callas’ issues were due to dermatomyositis, an autoimmune condition that causes muscle weakness. To ease her symptoms, Onassis unfortunately introduced the singer to prescription drugs.

Maria Callas died from a heart attack on September 16, 1977, in Paris, where she had lived as a recluse in her later years.

Maria Callas’ Legacy

Maria Callas’ later years have sometimes overshadowed her accomplishments. While many portray her as a “tragic figure,” heartbroken by Aristotle Onassis’ betrayal, she was a trailblazer in the operatic world. Her undeniable commitment to her art and high standards made her one of the most influential singers of all time, and her performances continue to inspire younger generations of opera singers.

As her international career coincided with the spread of LP records, opera fans can still enjoy her vocal prowess and interpretations in countless recordings (both official and pirated). Maria Callas’ life has also been analyzed and retold in fiction and non-fiction books, documentaries, and films. In 1995, American playwright Terrence McNally staged her classes at Juilliard in Master Class. In 2002, Italian stage director Franco Zefirelli, who worked with Callas in several productions, directed Callas Forever. More recently, Angelina Jolie depicted the legendary singer in Maria (2024).

Most Americans have heard of Susan B. Anthony and rightfully associate her with the women’s suffrage movement, but she was also active in the abolitionist and temperance movements of the 19th century and lived a life that deviated from the traditional expectations for women of her time. In her refusal to mute her voice, hide her intelligence, or temper her passion when faced with criticism and adversity, she stands as one of the bravest and most influential Americans in history.

Anthony’s Early Life

Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15th, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. She spent much of her early childhood in Battenville, New York, where the family moved when she was six. The panic of 1837, which initiated a recession in the United States, hit her father hard, and they lost their home. They eventually moved to Rochester, New York, which was becoming a hotbed of reform movements in the antebellum era.

Anthony was an intelligent child who could read and write by the age of three. She was raised in the Quaker tradition, which espoused the view that men and women were equal in the eyes of God. She joined the Society of Friends when she was thirteen, and as Quakers promoted education for both boys and girls, attended the Friends’ Seminary near Philadelphia and also eventually taught younger children herself.

Early Causes: Abolition and Temperance

The Anthony family was extremely involved in the abolitionist movement, which was concerned with using consciousness-raising and moral suasion to end the immoral system of slavery. They welcomed antislavery Quakers and notable abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison to their farm almost every Sunday. Some historians posit that the house was also a site for the Underground Railroad.

Anthony was not a fan of compromising with slaveholders and thus disagreed with Abraham Lincoln’s early, moderate stance. Her outspokenness on the issue, coupled with her gender, made her a notorious figure in upstate New York, and she was once burned in effigy and figuratively dragged through the streets.

Anthony was also interested in temperance, believing the drinking of alcohol sinful, and formed the Women’s New York State Temperance Society after she was denied the right to speak at a temperance meeting in Albany due to her gender. The Society failed to successfully petition New York’s state legislature to pass a law limiting the sale of liquor, as the petitioners were mostly non-voting citizens like women and children, and Anthony concluded that the right to vote needed to be secured for any real change to happen.

Feminism: Fighting for Gender Equality

Anthony was working as a teacher when she discovered that female teachers made $2.50 a month compared to male teachers’ $10 a month. As Marisa Mathias notes for the National Women’s History Museum, “This experience with the teacher’s union, along with her previous abolition activism and Quaker values, inspired her dedication to gender equality.” Anthony told Nellie Bly in an 1896 interview that she’d “barked up the temperance tree, and… barked up the teachers’ tree and I couldn’t do anything. I had learned where our only hope rested. I got petitions signed for property laws and for suffrage.”

In 1851, Anthony attended an antislavery meeting in Seneca Falls, the site of the first women’s rights convention in 1848, and met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Though Stanton was married and a mother, while Anthony was a lesbian who had several same-sex partners (though this was not widely known during her life), the two women saw themselves as kindred spirits in their endeavors to fight for abolition and women’s rights. They co-formed the American Equal Rights Association and its newspaper, The Revolution, in which they called for “Men their rights and nothing more, women their rights and nothing less.” Stanton remarked once that, with herself more of a thinker and Anthony more of an organizer, she “forged the thunderbolts, [Anthony] fired them.”

Post-Civil War: A Schism

After the Civil War, Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which used gendered language to guarantee male citizens over 21 the right to vote, and the 15th Amendment, which stated that the franchise could not be prohibited on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Unfortunately, women did not receive the right to vote, and many suffragists were bitter about this. Anthony famously said that she would “cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman” and that she did not support the 15th Amendment “not for what it is, but for what it is not. Not because it enfranchises black men, but because it does not enfranchise all women, black and white.”

Anthony turned her attention fully to women’s rights, organizing and representing the Working Women’s Association of New York and founding, along with Stanton, the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). The NWSA was opposed to the 14th and 15th Amendments’ failure to include women.

Anthony on Trial

Anthony tried to cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election, which pitted incumbent Republican Ulysses S. Grant against Democrat Horace Greeley. She and 14 other women went to their local polling station in Rochester, New York, and demanded their ballots on the basis of being tax-paying citizens. She ended up casting a vote for Grant but was subsequently arrested and indicted.

Anthony was given a trial (with a jury of 12 white men) but was not allowed to testify on her own behalf, and the judge had actually written up a verdict of “guilty” before proceedings even began. She was fined, refused to pay the $100 fine, and was fortunately left alone afterward. This trial, which she called “the greatest judicial outrage history has ever recorded,” made her even more famous (some might say infamous), and she embarked upon a speaking tour. In 1888, she helped merge the NWSA with the American Woman Suffrage Association to create the National American Women’s Suffrage Association and served as its president from 1891-1900.

Later Years and Death

In the 1880s and early 1900s, Anthony, Stanton, and other notable suffragists worked on a six-volume History of Woman Suffrage, which compiled primary documents and essays on the women’s movement. In 1880, Anthony helped create what would become the International Council of Women and secured its recognition by world leaders such as Queen Victoria of Britain, Empress Augusta Victoria of Germany, and US President Grover Cleveland. In 1893, she attended the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, where she gave notable speeches about the current condition of women.

Anthony’s long and inspiring life came to an end on March 13, 1906. She had, understandably, mixed feelings about what her decades of work had accomplished—or not accomplished. She lamented, “I have been striving for over sixty years for a little bit of justice no bigger than [the right to vote], and yet I must die without obtaining it… It seems so cruel.” But she also said in her last formal speech that “Failure is impossible!” and wrote to Stanton, acknowledging their decades of friendship, that “we little dreamed when we began this contest, optimistic with the hope and buoyancy of youth, that half a century later we would be compelled to leave the finish of the battle to another generation of women. But our hearts are filled with joy to know that they enter upon this task equipped with a college education, with business experience, with the fully admitted right to speak in public—all of which were denied to women fifty years ago. They have practically one point to gain—the suffrage; we had all.”

Anthony’s Legacy: The 19th Amendment

Anthony and Stanton’s work did indeed pay off, 14 years after Anthony’s death. Congress and the states added the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting abridging the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was nicknamed the “Susan B. Anthony amendment” (or just the “Anthony amendment”) almost right away.

Anthony was honored on a U.S. Postal Service stamp in 1920 and was the first American woman to be depicted on a U.S. coin in 1979. Her childhood homes in Adams and Rochester have been turned into museums, the latter designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 2025, the Trump administration commemorated her birthday by issuing a statement praising her as “a warrior for women and hero of Equality, Justice, and the Constitutional rule of law” and stating that “for her entire life, Susan B. Anthony was fiercely devoted to the principle that every American, regardless of race or sex, is born with the God-given right to enjoy the blessings of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Years later, her fearless crusade for Equality culminated in the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution.”

Some people had a profound role in changing the social landscape in dangerous times. One of them was Rosa Parks. Her life and story of perseverance, activism, and the fight for racial justice serve as an example of bravery and standing up against violence and discrimination. Her legendary Montgomery Bus Boycott was a pivotal event that sparked a wave of change in the US. This article will shed light on the life of this brilliant woman and her dedication not only to activism but to her family and husband, Raymond Parks.

Childhood and Early Life

Rosa Luise McCauley (1913-2005) was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. Her parents were working-class people. Her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona Edwards McCauley, was a teacher. From a young age, Rosa’s parents insisted on the importance of education and self-perseverance.

Rosa’s parents separated when she was only two years old. Leona brought Rosa and her brother to live with her parents in Pine Level, a small town close to Montgomery, Alabama. Her grandparents were formerly enslaved people who gained their freedom after the Civil War (1861-1865).

At the time, in Alabama and all other southern states, there were the so-called Jim Crow laws in action, meaning that Black people were discriminated against and segregated. Besides not being allowed to use the same water fountain or public restrooms as white people, Black children were forced to walk to school while their white peers could ride the buses to school.

Rosa’s family insisted on her getting an education, realizing it could help her better her life options and opportunities. She attended Montgomery Industrial School for Girls, and after the institution closed in 1928, she enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. Unfortunately, she had to stop her education at one point due to her grandmother’s poor health. Rosa was needed at home to help her mother and grandmother with house chores and obligations. She even started to work as a seamstress and housekeeper to support her family.

Meeting her future husband, Raymond Parks, and eventually marrying him changed Rosa’s life. He introduced her to civil rights activism and encouraged her to return to school to continue her education.

Love, Marriage, and Support

Rosa Parks, then McCauley, met her future husband, Raymond Parks, in 1931. Raymond was a barber and activist who actively supported the civil rights movement. Although he was almost ten years older than Rosa, he managed to capture her attention with his intelligence, courage, and charm. Raymond liked Rosa very much and was not afraid to show it. He courted her diligently and loved her for her values, character, and intelligence. Eventually, Rosa accepted his marriage proposal, and they married in December 1932.

Rosa and Reymond had a lovely and supportive marriage built on a foundation of mutual respect and admiration. Even before she met her husband, Rosa started to develop her interest in civil rights, but with him, she got directly involved in that world.

Raymond was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization that fought racial discrimination. In 1943, Rosa also became involved with the organization. Raymond supported and encouraged his wife to continue her education, which led to her getting a high school diploma.

The couple faced numerous challenges and difficulties due to their activism and involvement in anti-discriminatory organizations. Living in the segregated South during the Jim Crow era was extremely dangerous for Black people, especially for those who were outspoken regarding segregation and racism. After being arrested for her protests and refusing to give up a seat on a bus (more about that later), Rosa was fired, which also brought more severe financial difficulties.

People often ask: “Did Rosa Parks’s husband have a car?” The answer is yes! While the Montgomery Bus Boycott was going on, and people refused to ride on buses, many of them depended on carpooling and different systems to reach their destinations (more on that later). The couple also had a lot of violent threats and faced harassment. They decided to move to Michigan, Detroit, in 1957 in the hope of getting more safety and stability. In Detroit, Rosa continued to be involved in political and activist work.

Rosa and Raymond were each other’s biggest supporters and champions. They stayed in love until the end of their marriage, which lasted over 45 years. Although they did not have children, they were a strong unit that overcame challenging difficulties, demonstrating their bond. Raymond passed away in 1977, and Rosa would always talk about him as her strength and source of perseverance.

Activism

Rosa Parks is best known for her role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a protest organized after her famous refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus. However, her activism started before that event and continued long after the boycott. After she joined the NAACP in 1943, she became the secretary of the organization’s chapter in Montgomery. The NAACP worked very hard on civil rights activism and was in pursuit of ending racial discrimination.

One aspect of her work for the organization was to chronicle and document different situations and cases of racism and violence against Black people in Alabama. During her work, she documented instances where Black men were falsely accused of assaulting white women and Black women being violently attacked by white men.

The racial violence was widespread, and the activists who were working to put an end to the discrimination were often in danger and under attack by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white national groups. Brave civil activists, such as Rosa Parks and her husband, continued to bring attention to racial injustice and violence, even though they faced numerous life threats.

The historical event when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger happened on December 1, 1955. Living in Alabama, a segregated state, Black passengers were required by law to give up a seat to white passengers if asked.

By refusing to do so, Rosa Parks violated the law and was arrested, which provoked unrest and outrage among the Black community. The indignation and Rosa’s arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a civil rights protest that lasted 381 days. Many leading civil rights activists participated in this protest, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The protest ultimately led to a November 1956 Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks lost her job and faced intense scrutiny, harassment, and threats to her life. She moved to Detroit and became one of the most influential civil rights activists. She was outspoken about racism, discrimination, and racial violence in the South. In 1965, she became directly politically involved when she started working for Congressman John Conyers’s cabinet.

In her later years, Rosa Parks continued her activist work. In 1987, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development to help younger generations. She deliberately named the institution after her and her husband, wanting to cement the memory of him and his dedication to civil rights activism. Until her death in 2005, Rosa Parks gave speeches and advocated for civil rights causes.

Legacy and Recognition

Rosa Parks faced a challenging period when her husband passed away in 1977. To make matters worse, her brother died later that year, and her mother died in 1979. These continued tragedies left Rosa alone without any living close family members since she and her late husband did not have any children.

She channeled her grief into activism and helping young people. Through her work for Congressman John Conyers in Detroit, Rosa supported people in the Black community in their struggle to find housing, jobs, and better opportunities. She worked in public service for over two decades until she retired in 1988.

In 1996, Rosa Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton, the highest civilian honor in the United States of America. In 1999, Rosa also received the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of her contribution to civil rights activism.

Unfortunately, Rosa Parks faced financial difficulties at the end of her life. Her health was also rapidly deteriorating, making matters worse. She was 92 years old when she passed away on October 25, 2005. After her death, she received one of the rarer honors in the US, and her body lay in state in the central hall of the United States Capitol in Washington DC, where people could pay their respects. This kind of honor is only reserved for the most respected Americans who dedicate their lives to the service of their country. She was later buried in Detroit, Michigan.

Rosa Parks, deservedly known as the “mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” was one of the most influential civil rights activists. Her legacy is everlasting and profound. She risked her life and livelihood in the pursuit of justice, racial equality, and a world without discrimination and bigotry.

While societies around the world have made significant progress in the fight for gender equality, undoing millennia of repression in the process, the road is long, and there is still much to be done to ensure that women are treated fairly and have the same opportunities in a world that is still very much patriarchal in nature.

Being at the vanguard of the struggle for equality, the HeForShe campaign, launched by Emma Watson, is a bold movement that invites men and people of all genders to work towards equality and stand in solidarity with women.

Emma Watson and the Launch of HeForShe

In 2014, Emma Watson, best known as the actress who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, gave a powerful speech at the UN Headquarters, advocating for equality by launching the UN Women HeForShe campaign. Although more widely known as an actor, Watson had become involved in education initiatives for women as well as humanitarian efforts in places such as Bangladesh and Zambia. She was sought after by Elizabeth Nyamayaro, the founder and head of HeForShe, to be the face of the movement.

Having recently been appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador, Watson spoke on her feminist beliefs and the need to address negative stereotypes that hindered the move towards gender equality.

In her speech, Watson noted the problematic dynamic of feminism becoming perceived as “man-hating,” pointing out that, as a result, many women choose not to identify as feminists, yet in reality, feminism stands for equality and the belief in achieving parity in a world where no country can be said to have achieved complete gender equality.

She extended an invitation to men to be part of the movement for gender equality, saying that gender should be seen as a spectrum rather than two sets of opposing ideals in which both men and women are trapped by perceptions of gender expectations.

The speech garnered massive worldwide attention, especially online, where the video went viral. In the space of two weeks, 1.1 million #HeForShe tweets were registered. Since then, Watson has traveled the world, speaking to and gaining the support of world leaders.

She has used her growing influence to champion the efforts of many other organizations that campaign for women’s rights and empowerment. Such organizations include Girl Up, Malala Fund, CAMFED, and UNICEF amongst many others.

The Growth of a Worldwide Phenomenon

Since the start of the campaign, the HeForShe movement has achieved phenomenal success and worldwide attention, gaining the support of millions. The movement, however, is not just about gaining the support of individuals. Key to the success of HeForShe has also been the commitment of businesses and corporations, as well as efforts by entire communities and even governments.

In so doing, the HeForShe movement has engaged with societies across the world, acting as a catalyst for countless conversations about gender inequality. HeForShe has also helped shape policies within organizations, many of which have launched their own campaigns to address gender issues.

Vodafone is an exemplar in this dynamic, and in 2024 launched its own “1 in 3” campaign aimed at highlighting the issue of domestic abuse. The name refers to the fact that on a global level, approximately one in three women suffer from domestic abuse at least once during their lifetime.

Hashtag Movement Momentum

Recent years have shown the power of social platforms and their ability to generate huge amounts of interest through hashtag movements. They have seen marked success in raising awareness, mobilizing people, and pressuring governments into taking action. Popular hashtag movements often get support from businesses that see opportunity in joining them, improving brand reputation in the process.

HeForShe has added significantly to the online phenomenon and launches hashtag campaigns that run parallel to campaigns that take place outside of the social media realm. One such example was the #MorePowerfulTogether campaign which was highly publicized and generated tens of thousands of gender-equality pledges. Twenty-five iconic landmarks around the world, including the Empire State Building in New York City, the CN Tower in Toronto, and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, switched off half their lights to signify the power that is lost when half the world’s population is underrepresented in society. According to the 2024 HeForShe Alliance Impact Report, more than 560 million social media impressions were generated worldwide.

Other such hashtag campaigns include the #ChangeThePunchline campaign, which challenges misogyny in comedy and entertainment. The #RespectfullyDisruptive campaign is designed to challenge sexism in the workplace and corporate world, while the #JustSayBro challenges patterns in everyday language that contribute to a sexist dynamic.

The #IDo campaign, launched in 2021, encourages boys and men to become positive role models. The tagline, inspired by marriage vows, calls on boys and men to take vows against gender discrimination.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, HeForShe launched the #HeForSheAtHome campaign which focused on gender inequalities brought about by forced societal changes. Central to the campaign were issues of unpaid care work, and the spike in gender-based violence. The campaign called on men to take responsibility in sharing the burden of care in equitable relationships. In India alone, the campaign resulted in over one billion TikTok views.

HeForShe Initiatives

Since its launch, HeForShe has initiated campaigns worldwide to address a host of issues across the social spectrum. These initiatives are not limited to hashtag campaigns; they also exist in the physical world and have had a real impact on the lives of millions of people. They have changed the way we think about gender issues and informed how we change our behaviors and address concerns.

HeForShe Taverns is an initiative in South Africa where there exists a strong dynamic of gender-based violence, especially around taverns and tavern culture. The initiative, which started in the town of Klerksdorp in the North West Province, aims to create a safe space and foster a sense of unity and collective responsibility around the issues of gender-based violence and HIV.

Reaching a wider audience, HeForShe Equality Stories is a collection of short films that highlight the impact that HeForShe supporters have had on their communities. These stories follow the journeys of activists who have pledged to create a more just and equal society, breaking stereotypes and changing themselves and others in the process.

HeForShe has also become a force within the world of sports, partnering with major football clubs such as Spain’s Valencia CF and Turkey’s Fenerbahçe SK. The Fenerbahçe website states that the club organizes awareness workshops for its athletes and employees and participates in increasing the number of women as sportsmen (sic), spectators, managers, employers, and trainers. In doing so, the club also works to eliminate gender stereotypes and sexist chants.

Powerful Advocates

The HeForShe movement has attracted powerful advocates (dubbed HeForShe Champions) who have helped advance the cause of gender equality. In the political sphere, many world leaders have become involved in the HeForShe movement. Of note are Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain, President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Former national leaders include President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone and Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén of Sweden.

The movement has also garnered the commitment of prominent leaders in the corporate world, including Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, Al Cook, the CEO of De Beers, Ralph Mupita, the president and CEO of MTN, Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, the president, CEO & Representative Director of the Board of Recruit Holdings, and Joakim Reiter, the Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Group.

Global Reach

With a reach that spans the entire globe, the HeForShe campaign has an international footprint that has changed lives and generated much-needed discussion on the issue of gender equality, from closing the gender pay gap to issues on violence against women.

The movement has achieved remarkable success in many areas around the world, and in a wide variety of places. Thanks to HeForShe initiatives, Malawi has fewer child marriages, Kenya has safer universities, Turkey has more inclusive factories, and Iceland has statutory equal pay. Indonesia has integrated social protection to protect women and children from violence, and Sweden has promoted fathers’ use of parental leave to encourage gender equal parenting.

HeForShe partners in the corporate world have increased the number of women in the workplace, management, and senior leadership positions. De Beers has accelerated female entrepreneurship. Standard Bank Group has endeavored to increase the number of female chief executives. The UK Police has worked to increase gender equality in how it looks as well as how it operates. The list goes on, and is growing.

However, the world today is a dynamic and ever-shifting place. While some parts have progressed towards gender equality, others have regressed, and some places, once considered bastions of progressive development, find themselves under threat from governments that wish to roll back advances made over the past few decades. As such, it remains imperative that HeForShe and other such movements maintain a global presence in developed nations and the Global South.

In a global survey conducted in 2020 by YouGov, Emma Watson was found to be the sixth most admired woman in the world. Her role in the HeForShe movement has generated widespread acclaim for her efforts, and her achievements have resulted in her becoming an icon in the quest for global equality. Watson has become a positive role model for millions of people, representing justice in a world filled with challenges that lie in the path of achieving true gender equality.