International Women’s Day is celebrated annually in March. The women’s suffrage movement changed so much for so many women. Across the Commons, we see the advances women have made in the last century . . .

Hedwig Reicher, a German actress, poses as Columbia, a poetic name for the United States and a symbolic personification of the feminine. See all the Commons suffrage photos here.

Library of Congress

Thanks to the political achievements of the women of the 1910s, woman are . . .

Athletes . . . Women’s athletics and gymnastics debuted at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

Nationaal Archief

Scientists! Maria Skłodowska-Curie in 1934: the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in different science fields.

Smithsonian Institution

Aviators . . . Nancy Bird Walton became the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot’s license. See another famous aviatrix, Amy Johnson.

State Library of New South Wales

Actresses . . . The best-known actress of the golden age of Portuguese cinema was Beatriz Costa. There are many actresses represented in the Commons.

Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Politicians themselves! First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 1943, with General MacArthur’s wife, Jean Marie MacArthur, on an Australian tour.

State Library of Queensland, Australia

Rosie the Riveter! During World War II, women worked in manufacturing plants as men went off to fight war.

Library of Congress

Happy International Women’s Day! Honor the women in your life on the 8th. Find more photographs of women in the Commons.

Tags: Bain News Service, International Womens Day, Library of Congress, Nationaal Archief, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of Queensland Australia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Across The Commons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.