Women in History - 22 December

Mukhopadhyaya

Mukhopadhyaya was the wife and spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a nineteenth century mystic of Bengal. Sarad Devi is also reverentially addressed as the Holy Mother. Sarada Devi played an important role in the growth of the Ramakrishna Movement.

Lucy Burns

American suffragist and women’s rights advocate, formed the National Woman’s Party with Alice Paul

LucyBurns (July 28, 1879 – December 22, 1966) was born in New York to an Irish Catholic family. She was so inspired by their activism and charisma that she dropped her graduate studies to stay with them and work in the Women's Social and Political Union, an organization dedicated to fighting for women's rights in the United Kingdom. While working with the WSPU, Lucy Burns met Alice Paul at a London police station. Both women had been arrested for demonstrating, and Alice Paul introduced herself when she noticed that Lucy Burns was wearing an American flag pin on her lapel.

Burns was the first woman to speak before the Congressional delegates in 1914 when the Anthony amendment finally made it out of committee and into the House. Burns and other suffragists had been told by the chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage that the House would not pass a suffrage amendment before 1920. To their surprise, it was announced in late 1917 that the House would make a decision on January 10, 1918. She died on December 22, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York.

Women in History

Nancy Astor

-1919- Nancy Astor was elected a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons.

Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964), rallied the supporters of the incumbent government, moderated her Prohibition views, and used women's meetings to gain the support of female voters. A by-election was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1 December as a Unionist (also known as "Tory") Member of Parliament. Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw helped her through some of her problems, although his own nonconformity caused friction between them. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments. However, his own tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her political career. Astor was challenged by the rise of Nazism. She criticized them for devaluing the position of women, but was strongly opposed to the idea of another World War. Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter Nancy Astor's home at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire.