We
all know male revolutionaries like Che Guevara, but history often tends
to gloss over the contributions of female revolutionaries that have
sacrificed their time, efforts, and lives to work towards burgeoning
systems and ideologies. Despite misconceptions, there are tons of women
that have participated in revolutions throughout history, with many of
them playing crucial roles. They may come from different points on the
political spectrum, with some armed with weapons and some armed with
nothing but a pen, but all fought hard for something that they believed
in.
Let’s
take a look at 10 of these female revolutionaries from all over the
world that you probably won’t ever see plastered across a college
student’s T-shirt.
Nadezhda Krupskaya
Many
people know Nadezhda Krupskaya simply as Vladimir Lenin’s wife, but
Nadezhda was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician in her own right.
She was heavily involved in a variety of political activities, including
serving as the Soviet Union’s Deputy Minister of Education from 1929
until her death in 1939, and a number of educational pursuits. Prior to
the revolution, she served as secretary of the Iskra group, managing
continent-wide correspondence, much of which had to be decoded. After
the revolution, she dedicated her life to improving education
opportunities for workers and peasants, for example by striving to make
libraries available to everyone.
Constance Markievicz
Constance
Markievicz (née Gore-Booth) was an Anglo-Irish Countess, Sinn Féin and
Fianna Fáil politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and
socialist. She participated in many Irish independence efforts,
including the Easter Rising of 1916, in which she had a leadership role.
During the Rising, she wounded a British sniper before being forced to
retreat and surrender. After, she was the only woman out of 70 to be put
into solitary confinement. She was sentenced to death, but was pardoned
based on her gender. Interestingly, the prosecuting counsel claimed
that she begged “I am only a woman, you cannot shoot a woman”, while
court records show she said “I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot
me”. Constance was one of the first women in the world to hold a
cabinet position (Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic, 1919–1922),
and she was also the first woman elected to the British House of
Commons (December 1918)—a position which she rejected due to the Sinn
Féin abstentionist policy.
Petra Herrera
During the Mexican Revolution, female soldiers known as soldaderaswent into combat along with the men although they often faced abuse. One of the most well-known of the soldaderas was
Petra Herrera, who disguised her gender and went by the name “Pedro
Herrera”. As Pedro, she established her reputation by demonstrating
exemplary leadership (and blowing up bridges) and was able to reveal her
gender in time. She participated in the second battle of Torreón on May
30, 1914 along with about 400 other women, even being named by some as
being deserving of full credit for the battle. Unfortunately, Pancho
Villa was likely unwilling to give credit to a woman and did not promote
her to General. In response, Petra left Villa’s forces and formed her
own all-woman brigade.
Nwanyeruwa
Nwanyeruwa,
an Igbo woman in Nigeria, sparked a short war that is often called the
first major challenge to British authority in West Africa during the
colonial period. On November 18, 1929, an argument between Nwanyeruwa
and a census man named Mark Emereuwa broke out after he told her to
“count her goats, sheep and people.” Understanding this to mean she
would be taxed (traditionally, women were not charged taxes), she
discussed the situation with the other women and protests, deemed the
Women’s War, began to occur over the course of two months. About 25,000
women all over the region were involved, protesting both the looming tax
changes and the unrestricted power of the Warrant Chiefs. In the end,
women’s position were greatly improved, with the British dropping their
tax plans, as well as the forced resignation of many Warrant Chiefs.
Lakshmi Sehgal
Lakshmi
Sahgal, colloquially known as “Captain Lakshmi”, was a revolutionary of
the Indian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National
Army, and later, the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind
government. In the 40s, she commanded the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, an
all-women regiment that aimed to overthrow British Raj in colonial
India. The regiment was one of the very few all-female combat regiments
of WWII on any side, and was named after another renowned female
revolutionary in Indian history, Rani Lakshmibai, who was one of the
leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Sophie Scholl
German
revolutionary Sophie Scholl was a founding member of the non-violent
anti-Nazi resistance group The White Rose, which advocated for active
resistance to Hitler’s regime through an anonymous leaflet and graffiti
campaign. In February of 1943, she and other members were arrested for
handing out leaflets at the University of Munich and sentenced to death
by guillotine. Copies of the leaflet, retitled The Manifesto of the Students of Munich, were smuggled out of the country and millions were air-dropped over Germany by Allied forces later that year.
Blanca Canales
Blanca
Canales was a Puerto Rican Nationalist who helped organize the
Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist
Party. She was one of the few women in history to have led a revolt
against the United States, known as the Jayuya Uprising. In 1948, a
severely restricting bill known as the Gag Bill, or Law 53, was
introduced that made it a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any
material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government. In
response, the Nationalists starting planning armed revolution. On
October 30, 1950, Blanca and others took up arms which she had stored in
her home and marched into the town of Jayuya, taking over the police
station, burning down the post office, cutting the telephone wires, and
raising the Puerto Rican flag in defiance of the Gag Law. As a result,
the US President declared martial law and ordered Army and Air Force
attacks on the town. The Nationalists held on for awhile, but were
arrested and sentenced to life in prison after 3 days. Much of Jayuya
was destroyed, and the incident was not fairly covered by US media, with
the US President even saying it was “an incident between Puerto
Ricans.”
Celia Sanchez
Most
people know Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, but fewer people have heard
of Celia Sanchez, the woman at the heart of the Cuban Revolution who has
even been rumored to be the main decision-maker. After the March 10,
1952 coup, Celia joined the struggle against the Batista government. She
was a founder of the 26th of July Movement, leader of combat squads
throughout the revolution, controlled group resources, and even made the
arrangements for theGranma landing,
which transported 82 fighters from Mexico to Cuba in order to overthrow
Batista. After the revolution, Celia remained with Castro until her
death.
Kathleen Neal Cleaver
Kathleen
Neal Cleaver was a member of the Black Panther Party and the first
female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She served as
spokesperson and press secretary and organized the national campaign to
free the Party’s minister of defense, Huey Newton, who had been jailed.
She and other women, such as Angela Davis, made up around 2/3 of the
Party at one point, despite the notion that the BPP was overwhelmingly
masculine.
Asmaa Mahfouz
Asmaa
Mahfouz is a modern-day revolutionary who is credited with sparking the
January 2011 uprising in Egypt through a video blog post encouraging
others to join her in protest in Tahrir Square. She is considered one of
the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution and is a prominent member of
Egypt’s Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution.
These
10 women are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female
revolutionaries. Let us know in the comments who we’ve left out and what
you think about the actions of those included on our list!
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