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On August 26 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, and women got full voting rights. It was the day the Suffrage battle was won, and is today celebrated in the USA as Women’s Equality Day. For many centuries, women were discouraged from pursuing higher education because it was culturally considered unnatural for a woman to be educated, although the way to attaining equal status in society was mainly through education. In Colonial times girls were only taught to read and write. Oberlin College, the first university to accept women and Afro-American students was founded in 1833 in Ohio. By 1910 women made up 39 percent of all collegiate undergraduate students and even 20 percent of all college faculty. In 1945, the first woman was accepted to Harvard Medical School.

Even today there are still changes to be made, as key research has found that social stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities contribute to the inequality. The National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE), is a nonprofit organization of more than 50 groups dedicated to improving educational opportunities for girls and women. The organization provides advocacy for the development of national education policies that benefit all women.

And last but not least, only 41 Nobel Prizes and Prizes in Economic Sciences have been awarded to women while 765 have been given to men between 1901 and 2009.  Girls, it’s time to increase the score!

Source: Wikipedia and nobelprize.org

Tags: Harvard Medical School, National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, United States, Women´s Equality Day