Was Mary Her Beard A Feminist Tradition

A Feminist to Remember
Leadership and legacy are both attributes that several feminist leaders have shown throughout history. Though the rights granted to women today were obviously due to the combined efforts of numerous women over time, Mary Ritter Beard is the one woman who made the most extreme positive changes in a short period of time.
Mary Beard did more than just protest and fight for what she believed in with her whole heart, she also wrote books and other pieces on feminism and why women should possess the same rights as men as well. Without her, feminism and the Feminist Theory would not be as evolved as they are today.
Before analyzing the reasons behind what made Mary Ritter Beard such an outstanding feminist leader and the legacy she left behind, the general ideas and goals of feminism must be explained. Feminism is the act in which women engage in movements and enacting laws in order to ordain women having the same rights as men. A “hen” was a derogatory term often used to describe a woman during the early 1900’s. A “hen party” or “party of hens” was used to describe a group of feminists (MRB). Men looked down upon women and refused to believe that any of their efforts would go anywhere. This just made the women want to work harder- this is still one of their main motivators today, though significant changes have already been made involving women’s rights, most feminists believe that there is more that can be done. “"Suffragette" was a term coined in the latter part of the nineteenth century to describe a female supporter of the extension of the vote to women in political elections. A "suffragist" was a unisexual term describing such supporters irrespective of their gender” (Baker). Despite what most men thought a...

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...ed social construction because males are dominant to females in practically every area of life. Ross Douthat wrote another article revolving around abortion titled Divided by Abortion, United by Feminism where he stated, “But the best pro-choice rebuttal to the young idealists and the professional women who lead today's anti-abortion groups isn't that they're too reactionary -- it's that they're too utopian, too radical, and too naïve” (Douthat). The leadership of Mary Beard reflected neither matriarchy nor patriarchy, because she wrote books regarding feminism with her husband.
As you can see, Mary Ritter Beard was an extraordinary leader who left behind a significant legacy through her strong feminist leadership. She influenced the world today in several ways, and will never be forgotten because of the many admirable qualities she showed throughout the years.