Who Are Your Heroes?
FreiFem2011Tuesday was International Women’s Day, a global celebration of women, and a time to reflect on the progress of women’s political, economic and social rights around the world.
Who are the historical or mythical female heroes in our “frei” movement?
Which women from the Jewish tradition have advocated for women’s rights and/or demonstrated a woman’s ability to have impact in her society?
How about:
- Miriam, sister of Moses, for counseling her parents (to conceive another child) and her leadership of women, dancing with them during the Exodus
- Yael, for bravely murdering Sisera
- Sara Schenirer, for advocating (albeit within the system) for women’s education
- Malky Schwartz, for founding an organization (Footsteps) that serves the needs of people leaving the religious community
I am embarrassingly ill-informed on this subject. Who else* can we add to the list?
(*Many of the most famous feminists have Jewish roots, for example: Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinam, but I’m looking for women who came from a religious background)
Recovered from the Wayback Machine (copy of 2013-08-01). Original page in the Wayback Machine.
4 Responses
Well — Sara Schnierer…?
Imagine where we’d be today without Bais Yakovs….
Yeah- I take that one back… I admire her efforts to push women’s education, but, if I remember correctly, she was actually responding to the fact that girls were being “corrupted” by secular schools…kal vchomer the consequences of modern day Bais Yaacov….
Bertha Pappenheim, aka Anna O.
Fascinating Anna – thank you for adding her. I never knew “Anna O” had such an important story. What a courageous and interesting woman!