Four Figures on a Step (c. 1655–60) by Bartolomé Esteban MurilloKimbell Art Museum
An incredible advancement in optics which helped many people engage in life and literacy, eye-glasses are one of history's most significant inventions in terms of inclusivity. Unsurprisingly, they've become a symbol of learning and sophistication.
As something which helped increase access to knowledge and learning, spectacles have played a real and a symbolic part in the history of women's rights. Scroll on to meet world-changing women who wore glasses.
LIFE Photo Collection
Sojourner Truth
Truth, an abolitionist and women's rights activist, was the first black woman to win a legal case against a white man in 1828. A former slave, she wore glasses despite being illiterate, fighting for black people and women’s rights, without ever learning to read or write.
First female graduates who studied at Trinity (1906)The Library of Trinity College Dublin
First women to graduate from Trinity College
Women gaining access to education hugely impacted women’s rights. Women were first admitted to university in the UK in 1868, while the first woman to earn a degree in the US graduated in 1840.
This picture shows the first female graduating class from Trinity College.
Mrs. George H. [Anne Jane Hartley] Gilbert (c. 1860-1870) by Attribution: Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 - 1894Original Source: See this work of art on the National Portrait Gallery website
Anne Hartley Gilbert
Gilbert (1821-1904) was a British actress who grew up in London, immersed in theatre and dance. Emigrating to the US when she was 28 years old, she found success and enjoyed a long acting career, making her first star appearance at the age of 82.
Ellen Swallow Richards Video Biography (2015-06) by NWHMNational Women’s History Museum
Ellen Swallow Richards
Industrial engineer and environmental chemist, Richards (1842-1911), founded the Home Economics movement, whose aim was to bring science into the home. The movement was later criticised by 60s feminists, who saw it as a push to restrict women to domestic obligations.
Dr. Virginia Apgar by Library of CongressNational Women's Hall of Fame
Virginia Apgar
The Apgar Score System, developed by Apgar in 1952, helps doctors quickly assess if newborns need medical attention and is still used by doctors today. Dr Apgar was the first female physician to be made professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the US in 1949.
Rachel Carson by Library of CongressNational Women's Hall of Fame
Rachel Carson
Carson inspired the modern environmental movement by writing Silent Spring. The 1962 book, which has sold over 2 million copies, offers a portrait of a nature destroyed by pesticides. Carson is pictured here testifying before Senate on the impact of pollutants.
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Rachel Carson's Cottage in Southport Island, Maine
Use arrows to click or drag to see where Rachel Carson spent summers, writing in her study in rural Maine, with views of both the sea and woods.
Bring U.S. Together. Vote Chisholm 1972, Unbought and Unbossed (1972) by Unidentified ArtistSmithsonian's National Portrait Gallery
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm was both the first black woman elected to the US Congress in 1968 and to seek the nomination for the US presidency. Usually pictured wearing signature cat eye glasses, she said she wanted "to be remembered as a woman…who dared to be a catalyst of change.”
Kate Millet and Gloria Steinem (1970) by Associated PressGloria's Foundation
Gloria Steinem
Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971. Female owned and run, it was one of the first popular magazines to cover women's reproductive rights and domestic violence.
Steinem, pictured here in her signature 1970s aviator glasses, remains one of the most trailblazing, vocal and visible faces of the American Women’s Rights Movement, leading the National Women’s Political Caucus and campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment.
