The names of some amazing women throughout history
Originally published on the CN&CO blog in February 2020 under a slightly different title.
If you read our blog then you’ll know that podcasts are my new thing. As I get more and more into them I keep finding new and interesting podcasts to listen to and my latest obsession is one called “Encylopedia Wommanica” by Wonder Media Network.
As the name suggests it’s all about women. Jenny and Lisa Kaplan from Wonder Media Network (WMN) created this podcast to celebrate women in history “who you may not know about but definitely should”. Jenny narrates it and each podcast is about 5 minutes or less.
I started listening to the podcast near August last year (fitting in South Africa as that is women’s month) but the podcast started a few months before in June 2019. They are uploading a new podcast every week day for a year and each month is themed so it stays interesting. Plus, no era is ignored and no continent is overlooked so there is great diversity in the women profiled. This especially appeals to me as I find Africa is often overlooked when people celebrate amazing achievements around the world and, as we know, Africa is filled with amazing people with incredible achievements.
Why I love it
I enjoy learning new things and this podcast shares new knowledge in fantastic bite-sized chunks. I also love the themes: from STEMinists to villains, they cover all sorts of women who made some kind of impact in their field.
Some podcasts from previous months
Camille Claudel was a French Sculptor. Listen to her story in the “Dreamers” series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
July: Dreamers
This month is all about “women who made a significant impact through their creative work”. It spans creative industries, languages, and continents.
Below are some of the women profiled in this series. This time there were many names I recognised and only a few I did not. Even so, there was information in most of the podcasts that I hadn’t known before.
Zora Neale Hurston – author, lecturer, anthropologist
Al-Khansa – 7th century Arabic poet
Isabel Allende – author
Maya Angelou – author, activist, poet, and singer
Sofonisba Anguissola – Renaissance painter
Ella Fitzgerald – yes, the First lady of Song
Frida Kahlo – painter
August: Villainesses
The best way to describe this is to give you what Jenny Kaplan narrates: “Women have historically been put on pedestals and the feminine is often equated with purity and goodness. But women, like all people, are complex and diverse.”
Below are some of the women profiled in this series.
Ma Barker – matriarch of the infamous Barker-Karpis Gang
Griselda Blanco – notorious drug lord of the Medellin Cartel
Charlotte Corday – French Revolution assassin
Sarah Howe – a fraudster from the 1800s
Imelda Marcos – former First Lady of the Philippines – she and her husband are said to have amassed huge fortune while in power
Credonia Mwerinde – Cult leader
Seema Parihar – former bandit turned politician
Ching Shih – pirate
September: STEMinists
Some of the STEMinists profiled in the series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
I have found this to be one of the most fascinating months because I learnt about so many incredible women who made life-changing contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (that’s what the STEM stands for). Jenny, in beginning the series, shares a very sad truth: these are “dramatically male-dominated fields but there are extraordinary – and sometimes forgotten – women who should be remembered for their contributions to those fields throughout time.”
The range of women include Nobel laureates and those whose work was stolen or credited to their male colleagues or partners. Let’s celebrate these STEMinists.
Below are some of the women profiled in this series.
Louisa Atkinson – botanist
Annie Jump Cannon – astrologer who basically created the contemporary stellar classification system
Marie Colinet – surgeon and midwife who created new techniques including the C-section
Marie Curie – the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two scientific fields and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Hypatia of Alexandria – philosopher, scientist, and mathematician
Mae Carol Jemison – engineer and the first black woman to travel into space
Hedy Lamar – actress and inventor often credited as the mother of Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth
Two of the women profiled in the series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
October: Witches and Saints
This month is interesting as we hear about women who were influential in a religion and are often remembered as either “witches” or “saints”. I like that the podcasts share some information and almost seem to leave it up to the listener to decide if they are witches or saints even if the history records have something different.
Below are some of the women profiled in the series.
Brigid of Kildare – one of Ireland’s patron saints
Nehanda Charwe – spiritual leader, medium, struggle icon, and activist
Ann Goody Glover – she was hanged as a witch but contemporary literature and law suggest otherwise
Joan of Arc – I’m sure you recognise her name and may have even seen the 90s movie with Mila Jovovich
Khadījah – businesswoman and wife of the Prophet Muhammed
A Nong – warrior and activist
Doreen Valiente – Wiccan who wrote much of the early Wiccan literature
The legendary chef, restauranteur, and tv personality Joyce Chen. Photo © Wonder Media Network
November: Tastemakers
This month is about tastemakers in the literal meaning of the term. Yes, it celebrates women who made some delicious and game-changing culinary contributions to the world.
Below are some of the women profiled in this series.
Joyce Chen – credited with popularising Chinese cuisine in the US. She was also a chef, tv personality, and restauranteur
Julia Child – credited with bringing French cuisine to the American mainstream. There’s a movie about her starring Meryl Streep
Barbe-Nicole Clicquot – she’s the brains behind the champagne brand and even revolutionised how champagne is made. The way it’s done now was invented by her!
Petrona C. de Gandulfo – chef and media personality. Apparently, her cookbook was such best seller in Argentina it is said to have been outsold only by the Bible
Edna Lewis – credited with popularising American Southern cooking and emphasised the use of fresh, in-season ingredients
Agnes Faye Morgan – chemist and nutritionist
Sylvia Woods – chef, author, and founder of the famous soul food restaurant Sylvia’s in Harlem, New York
Philosopher and political theorist Hanna Arendt is one of the women profiled in the series. Hear her story in the “Beautiful minds” series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
December: Beautiful minds
Philosopher and political theorist Hanna Arendt is one of the women profiled in the series. Hear her story in the “Beautiful minds” series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
This month celebrates “intellectual giants whose work had an extraordinary impact”. As you can tell, the series gets more and more interesting and for this month I really struggled to keep this list, of some of the women profiled, short.
Nana Asma’u – princess, activist, and poet
Simone de Beauvoir – writer and philosopher considered by many to be a foundational feminist
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw – lawyer and activist who developed the theory of intersectionality
Juana Inés de la Cruz – poet, scholar, writer, and nun
Sylvia Plath – poet and writer
Ayn Rand – writer and philosopher
Bertha von Suttner – the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
Gargi Vachaknavi – Ancient Indian philosopher and one of the few prominent women scholars involved in the Vedic religion, the ancient precursor to Hinduism
Virginia Woolf – revolutionary author who helped define modernism
Ban Zhao – first female historian of Ancient China
Olive Schreiner – South African author
Hear the story of pirate queen and politician Sayyida al-Hurra in the “Leaders” series. Photo © Wonder Media Network
January: Leaders
With January 2020 being a new month and the start of a new year and a new decade, this month of podcasts celebrates leaders throughout history. There are quite a few African women celebrated this month which is great.
Below are some of the women profiled in this series.
Sayyida al-Hurra – politician and pirate queen whose fleet controlled the Western Mediterranean
Anacaona – Taíno queen who stood up to colonizers
Taytu Betul – Empress and founder of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
Benazir Bhutto – former two-time Prime Minister of Pakistan and the first woman in modern history to lead a Muslim nation)
Cleopatra – This includes more info on the queen than the romanticised movies and plays share.
Hatshepsut – one of the most successful Ancient Egyptian pharaohs and one of the few female ones
Labotsibeni Mdluli – Swati queen who is recognised as one of the most brilliant African rulers
Pokou – Queen, Ashanti kingdom ruler, and founder of the Baoule tribe in what is now known as Côte d’Ivoire
Razia Sultana – the only female ruler of the sultanate of Delhi
Elizabeth I – the former queen of England
February is all about warriors and it has started with a bang. We have already heard about a genius military strategist and the only female emperor of China, among others. Download the podcast wherever you listen and learn more about some of the amazing women who shaped history. You can also check out the Wonder Media Network website.
You can see a full list of the female Nobel laureates here. There are many and it’s wonderful! Check out the podcast and let me know what you think.
