As Black History Month is approaching, let’s talk about some really outstanding females. Back in the day it was hard for women to actually achieve something, but it was even harder if they weren’t white.
Let’s have a closer look at NASA, for example. Men didn’t trust calculations by machines and considered this women’s work. This is where a lot of overqualified women found work.
And as for education, well, it was hard to actually pursue a higher education if you weren’t a white male. What seems so ridiculous today was a rocky road to overcome. When the first computers made their way to NASA, the men who were taking care of the computers employed women of colour to help them figure out the computers. These women had basically taught themselves computer programming, which was a pretty smart move.
It was up to these women to solve all sorts of computer problems. They helped send satellites into orbit. We should thank them for that, considering how often our devices use satellites for navigation nowadays.
There’s not a lot of credit given to these hidden figures in history, but they are there. And if it wasn’t for them and their smarts, who knows, we might still be unfolding our maps like in the “good old” days.
These women had a hard life, and not only at NASA. They had to use separate washrooms and separate working environments as their colleagues. And yet they were striving to work for the good of humanity.
I just wonder how strong of a person you must be to endure such discrimination and yet be so extraordinary. To me, separating people by gender and skin colour is a very absurd construct. Do things work better when they are categorized, separated? It doesn’t seem so, and these women are proof.
I’m so glad that they stood up for themselves and showed not only the man’s world, but also the white world, that it better watch out. So whoever wants to put you into a category and box you, don’t let them. After all, all brains are a pink, jelly-like mass, so maybe we could categorize humans that way instead, overcome all this ridiculous box thinking, and finally just be able to give credit where credit is due.