Hi Everyone, I'm Courtney, the writer. It's nice to read everyone's comments - I think whether or not it's necessary to highlight specifically female stories is a valuable question. One focus in making this was to suggest a few interesting role models for girls who don't often find themselves reflected back in history reading. I also hoped to bring these narratives to the imagination of both genders -- about curiosity persevering over perceived limitations. Thanks for watching it.
And let's not forget journalist Nellie Bly, who set out to go Around the World in Eighty Days, and beat the deadline by four days. Her writings are the real achievement though.
Nellie Bly was a journalist but she actually pretended to be insane to be admitted to a mental institution that no other reporter was allowed to go into. After she got her story and reveled herself to be sane she was not allowed to leave. Until her paper stepped in to save her. This was in the 1800s when woman reporters only talked about fashion or gossip or didn't exist.
That was pretty gutsy - few journalists male or female would have had the courage to risk being committed to an asylum for a story. I've read that account and it's chilling.
There are probably those who get ticked off by videos like this, focusing on female contributions throughout history. They might think it somehow downplays the contributions of men, who in many cases have done as much or more in the same fields and are far more famous. But they're missing the point. The point is rather to highlight little known stories of females fighting the odds in less equal societies, and showing that women can be just as capable as men if given the chance. This is an important effort if people are to stop thinking men are somehow inherently better at certain things than women (and vise versa), which unfortunately too many people still think. It's about breaking those invisible barriers that still surround gender issues. Also the stories of these remarkable women are really cool too!
would you have any idea why they dont let through a comment pointing out some *factual* inaccuracies and say 'subtle indoctrination' in the narrative of the video? a comment asking to provide a source of the thing Alexandra David-Neel reportedly, according to the narrator, "wrote"? (which she never did btw)
back in those days men would often take credit for their wive's work. They'd sign their wives paintings, writings and so on as if they had produced it themselves. I learned that in my art history class.
+constellation Sometimes the man in the woman's life wouldn't have to do anything, the 'experts' in a field would often accredit work to the man even if both the man and the woman denied it.
Natasel dude, women were not allowed to have a bank account til '50. They were passed from father to husband. Often their work were credited to men or historian (who were also men) simply didn't want to write about wonen achivments. Society back then was not like nowadays. They could be beaten or killed. It i not that they couldn't sign their work, maybe they did, but men took the credit. There are many examples
Natasel the women didn’t really have a choice. And also, what are you doing with your life? These women did huge things in a time when they weren’t supposed to. And because they weren’t supposed to be able to do stuff like this your calling them idiots and cowards while sitting on your laptop typing angry UA-cam comments.
It pains me to think how many brilliant minds (Female) have gone to waste or ignored in the course of history. Bravo!! to all the pioneering women of yesteryear's.
I believe that TedEd, Vsauce, Scishow and other great channels should be used as educational systems around the whole world, would get kids animated about stuff like this at an early start.
mae victoria actualy , the word history has nothing to do with man stories , in fact , if the word was englished correctly , it would be "Istory" now "Estory" sounds a bit dumb :P
This video was not just about these women's discoveries, but the difficulties that they had to overcome to make them. One of these difficulties that they all shared because of the time period they lived in was that they were women. While the end results are of course very important, it is important to remember what it takes to get there.
I wish there is a school like Ted, I will never miss a day of class nor will I sleep because we get to watch videos all day rather than sitting and reading.
Great video - love the image of the child at the end with bits of the 3 women's kit. As to you critics - simple fact is that men and women are conditioned almost from birth into roles despite what we consider their empowerment. This is a lesson to girls that they can break out of those roles and it's a bloody good lesson.
These women are amazing and brave. They fought through the odds to get what they were passionate, regardless of their gender. What separates them from people like them today, is that the women before didn't care that they were women. Women like that today did it because they are women, and to prove a point. There's a difference.
welll maybe because there aren't many flowers to be painted in antarctica? ;) Alma Karlin from slovenia was the first female world traveller from slovenia. she wrote several books. =)
In those times women who did not fill the status quo of 'quiet reserved housewife' were outcasted. Women were oppressed and restricted heavily while men walked freely, doing as they pleased, women stayed indoors cleaning and caring for children. She is highlighting the fact that they were able to break the mold, given young women and girls hope of controlling their own destinies, even today. So of fucking course she's happy women did these things. We're damn proud of it.
actually i'm a french student in highschool and our teacher showed us this video this week, I'm glad she did it and I wish more teachers would do the same
I am not a woman, but knowing that all these women did what their hearts desired makes them, for me, people to look up to and to always remember to follow what I really want to be.
It's interesting that people need to bitch about this video being about women. If the video had been about men the discussion would have been about their contributions, not their sex. The video did a great job by recognising their gender while not glorifying them solely because of that. Their persistence should definitely be noted, but it's easy to forget the persons findings if you concentrate on the gender they happen to be. Great video. ^^
I was happy reading this on only the first page of comments and seeing it was already up-voted by others. It's the certain acuity you showed in pointing out the pivot from one side of gender bias to another. They could have had a male presenter, also. I feel like that would have represented an ideal balance. This all feels like a very tedious and mature version of "So what, girls can do it too!" which only adds to arguments.
We should promote living people and present the great things they have done, for both men and women... In my opinion, the day we will present a great woman, without having to mention it's a woman, will be the first time of actual equity and respect toward women...
It's amazing how gender differences have and still are held in place by culture rather than any material or biological reasoning. I don't think I could stand being so thoroughly pressured by my society to stay indoors and commit my life to household chores and child-rearing against my will
i love the fictional story leviathan because it is similar in Deryn sharp's point of view when she serves on an airship disguised as a man. even though the world is different in the book the idea is real.
Not to be a party pooper, but Mary Kingsley's story sounds like absolute bullshit. "fighting with crocodiles", "caught in a tornado", "falling in a spiky pit" sounds like complete fiction. Either she was exaggerating or this video is.
I'm tired of it being pointed out, that the person is a woman first. The day I see both genders discussed in the same topic, by their name and what they've accomplished, is when I know society has finally progressed. This topic could have been, "The contributions of real adventurers." and just acknowledge them by name and what they've accomplished. Stop pointing out the fact that they are woman, black or gay. It's time we progress together as a human race.
She seems more happy that women did these things, rather than they where advances in certain feilds, you have no place to speak when you put the sex of the achiever infront of what they achieved.
Parakeet34 Way to miss your goal. My point was that the narrator makes it sound as if sitting at home doing chores is such a terrible fate. While in reality millions would kill for such a comfortable existence.
Because they are given no freedom to go out to prove themselves & are treated as less than men. Not everybody is happy with such a meaningless humble existence.
Hi Everyone, I'm Courtney, the writer. It's nice to read everyone's comments - I think whether or not it's necessary to highlight specifically female stories is a valuable question. One focus in making this was to suggest a few interesting role models for girls who don't often find themselves reflected back in history reading. I also hoped to bring these narratives to the imagination of both genders -- about curiosity persevering over perceived limitations. Thanks for watching it.
You did a great job
Your story by far my TedEd favorite
And let's not forget journalist Nellie Bly, who set out to go Around the World in Eighty Days, and beat the deadline by four days. Her writings are the real achievement though.
Yes! She was and still is such an inspiration! And she's actually Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman ;)
Nellie Bly was a journalist but she actually pretended to be insane to be admitted to a mental institution that no other reporter was allowed to go into. After she got her story and reveled herself to be sane she was not allowed to leave. Until her paper stepped in to save her. This was in the 1800s when woman reporters only talked about fashion or gossip or didn't exist.
That was pretty gutsy - few journalists male or female would have had the courage to risk being committed to an asylum for a story. I've read that account and it's chilling.
She did both, and actually beat the round-the-world deadline by 8 days.
Cassie Anderson there's a whole season like that on American horror story
There are probably those who get ticked off by videos like this, focusing on female contributions throughout history. They might think it somehow downplays the contributions of men, who in many cases have done as much or more in the same fields and are far more famous. But they're missing the point. The point is rather to highlight little known stories of females fighting the odds in less equal societies, and showing that women can be just as capable as men if given the chance. This is an important effort if people are to stop thinking men are somehow inherently better at certain things than women (and vise versa), which unfortunately too many people still think. It's about breaking those invisible barriers that still surround gender issues. Also the stories of these remarkable women are really cool too!
Thank you!!!
No. People nowadays piss off because despicable hacks like to point out that to generate controversy. Positive contributions of any kind are okay.
Good comment i agree. That’s what people should go for in today’s soucitry
would you have any idea why they dont let through a comment pointing out some *factual* inaccuracies and say 'subtle indoctrination' in the narrative of the video? a comment asking to provide a source of the thing Alexandra David-Neel reportedly, according to the narrator, "wrote"? (which she never did btw)
Domingo Montoya there are books, a Wikipedia page and pictures of her....
back in those days men would often take credit for their wive's work. They'd sign their wives paintings, writings and so on as if they had produced it themselves. I learned that in my art history class.
+constellation Sometimes the man in the woman's life wouldn't have to do anything, the 'experts' in a field would often accredit work to the man even if both the man and the woman denied it.
Natasel her husband would threaten her
Natasel dude, women were not allowed to have a bank account til '50. They were passed from father to husband. Often their work were credited to men or historian (who were also men) simply didn't want to write about wonen achivments. Society back then was not like nowadays. They could be beaten or killed.
It i not that they couldn't sign their work, maybe they did, but men took the credit. There are many examples
I wonder how many paintings were claimed by husbands because they thought, or knew, that it wouldn't sell if people knew the wife was the artist?
Natasel the women didn’t really have a choice. And also, what are you doing with your life? These women did huge things in a time when they weren’t supposed to. And because they weren’t supposed to be able to do stuff like this your calling them idiots and cowards while sitting on your laptop typing angry UA-cam comments.
It pains me to think how many brilliant minds (Female) have gone to waste or ignored in the course of history. Bravo!! to all the pioneering women of yesteryear's.
😃👍
UA-camr- Urban Historian
"-and didnt take no for an answer
snaps fingers like a BOSS
@Ted-Ed: More women's history like this, please!
+Rachel Moreschi If you're interested; I really enjoyed David E. Jones' book "Women Warriors." =)
Let's not forget and Freya Stark, the woman who ventured into remote areas which few Europeans had ever set foot.
Yes, she was a female version of T.E. Lawrence or Wilfred Thesinger.
I dont get why they dont teach any of this in school. It would have been interesting
Agreed
I believe that TedEd, Vsauce, Scishow and other great channels should be used as educational systems around the whole world, would get kids animated about stuff like this at an early start.
Forget The Revenant and Indiana Jones - where's the movie about Mary Kingsley?!
these beautiful strong women inspire us all! May all us women fight harder to push all boundaries with these heroes in mind.
Why was this only recommended to me now? This is such a great video!!!
Herstory, my bitches!
mae victoria
actualy , the word history has nothing to do with man stories , in fact , if the word was englished correctly , it would be "Istory"
now "Estory" sounds a bit dumb :P
This video was not just about these women's discoveries, but the difficulties that they had to overcome to make them. One of these difficulties that they all shared because of the time period they lived in was that they were women. While the end results are of course very important, it is important to remember what it takes to get there.
I wish there is a school like Ted, I will never miss a day of class nor will I sleep because we get to watch videos all day rather than sitting and reading.
This video was awesome. I loved the Animation!
Great video - love the image of the child at the end with bits of the 3 women's kit.
As to you critics - simple fact is that men and women are conditioned almost from birth into roles despite what we consider their empowerment. This is a lesson to girls that they can break out of those roles and it's a bloody good lesson.
Loved the artwork and animation. And very inspirational and quite informative.
These are such beautiful inspirations. I cant stop crying
These women are amazing and brave. They fought through the odds to get what they were passionate, regardless of their gender. What separates them from people like them today, is that the women before didn't care that they were women. Women like that today did it because they are women, and to prove a point. There's a difference.
CynicalCactus but history promoted the boys. It shoved the girls to the back.
welll maybe because there aren't many flowers to be painted in antarctica? ;) Alma Karlin from slovenia was the first female world traveller from slovenia. she wrote several books. =)
+kristijan ahcin which sets the question: what happened from that age to this? the modern feminist is a drama queen. how
this is possibly the best video I have seen. The power of women are underestimated and unnoticed. And is not sexist at all
In those times women who did not fill the status quo of 'quiet reserved housewife' were outcasted. Women were oppressed and restricted heavily while men walked freely, doing as they pleased, women stayed indoors cleaning and caring for children. She is highlighting the fact that they were able to break the mold, given young women and girls hope of controlling their own destinies, even today. So of fucking course she's happy women did these things. We're damn proud of it.
Yes. I don’t get how some males in the comment section (years ago) be so threatened that these women diminishes men’s work
Really fascinated by the lovable video pictures and monotonous but actually educational statements.
I really enjoyed this video 😊
this is fucking amazing. so inspiring. thank you again ted-ed and sorry for the language. :D
girl power!
"Not taking 'no' for an answer." *Snap*
Love it!!!
I love all the bobbin animations!
Great story, hilarious animations. Thanks!
Mary Kingsley kicks ASS!!!
I need a movie about all of them! Just imagine a movie about Mary Kingsley! It’d hilarious
Why don’t we learn this in school?!
Alright lets drop physics and learn about women who wrote books on Tibetan religion and painted flowers
TheRiyad1 aNd Let’s DrOp GeOmEtRy aNd LeArN aBoUt PaSt InDiAn TrIbEs.. no one said anything about dropping other subjects, but why not add?
TheRiyad1 ugh you know what she meant
actually i'm a french student in highschool and our teacher showed us this video this week, I'm glad she did it and I wish more teachers would do the same
the way i clicked the video to see if anyone mentioned the pеntagrams in the comments lmao
Not Victorian era but another fun female explorer is Catalina de Erauso.
I am not a woman, but knowing that all these women did what their hearts desired makes them, for me, people to look up to and to always remember to follow what I really want to be.
Go women explorers! I
YES! We need more women like these!
Best video ever!!! I watched it 7 times in a row!!
You could add Isabella Bird and Freya Stark to this list.
This man tips his hat these and other brave women of the world
Talk about Gertrude Bell, she was also a explorator
Up
Ti's is Inspiring. Like them we should inspire, young girls to believe in themselves and march forward to achieve their Goals.
It’s very interesting I always wanted to know about female explorers .
I have a question does anyone know what country paid for Mary Kingsley's voyages please. I have searched it on the internet and nothing comes up
What a lovely teducation video.
That was really Awesome there should another video like this
Mary Kingsley is my favorite here
thank u for this cool video. I loved it u helped me and my school with explores. u are a hero. karlee
It's interesting that people need to bitch about this video being about women. If the video had been about men the discussion would have been about their contributions, not their sex.
The video did a great job by recognising their gender while not glorifying them solely because of that. Their persistence should definitely be noted, but it's easy to forget the persons findings if you concentrate on the gender they happen to be.
Great video. ^^
Agreed. Those misogynistic comments are now down and are generally unseen. Powerless.
Thank you
How come they don’t teach us stuff like this is school also who is watching during lock down cuz meh is doing home work about this by the way
the harder the journey, the better the story (y)
harder the journey... better the story
What about Sacagawea
Bravo kartun adios
The lady who lived in the jungle sounds amazing, but also scares me
Beautiful..! :)
I was happy reading this on only the first page of comments and seeing it was already up-voted by others. It's the certain acuity you showed in pointing out the pivot from one side of gender bias to another.
They could have had a male presenter, also. I feel like that would have represented an ideal balance. This all feels like a very tedious and mature version of "So what, girls can do it too!" which only adds to arguments.
We should promote living people and present the great things they have done, for both men and women...
In my opinion, the day we will present a great woman, without having to mention it's a woman, will be the first time of actual equity and respect toward women...
1.06 where is North East India??
Not expected this teded
Woop woop!
That’s the way to go my sisters
Could you do a video about Sayyida-Al-Hurra, the islamic pirate queen?
It's amazing how gender differences have and still are held in place by culture rather than any material or biological reasoning. I don't think I could stand being so thoroughly pressured by my society to stay indoors and commit my life to household chores and child-rearing against my will
+TED-Ed why is the title on Danish?
OMG! I was just about to say that!
The dislikes are from anti-SJWs and incels
2:23 'Sierra Leone or bust' - is that a reference
i love the fictional story leviathan because it is similar in Deryn sharp's point of view when she serves on an airship disguised as a man. even though the world is different in the book the idea is real.
themegamariobros1
I LOVE that book! I'm halfway through and it's AMA-ZING!!!
Sure it's interesting. Marianne North and so on, but why present them in the frame of being female?
good
Did Kingsley actually fight crocodile bec if she did she would be dead
Can we include Lillian Linton too?🤔😃😃
great =D!
She travelled in a floor-length gown....
The map of India is wrong. You missed the 7 sisters. Just putting that out there.
WOMEN ARE THE BEST
Im back as king of comments last
Not to be a party pooper, but Mary Kingsley's story sounds like absolute bullshit. "fighting with crocodiles", "caught in a tornado", "falling in a spiky pit" sounds like complete fiction. Either she was exaggerating or this video is.
💪
but could she out suvive bear crils
Yes.
I doubt it
never saw bear grils in a gown
exactly
I call bullshit on most of what Mary Kingsley said. Caught in tornado? Fighting crocodile? Poking hippopotamus? Yeah right...
HOW can a hill be blue?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm tired of it being pointed out, that the person is a woman first. The day I see both genders discussed in the same topic, by their name and what they've accomplished, is when I know society has finally progressed.
This topic could have been, "The contributions of real adventurers." and just acknowledge them by name and what they've accomplished. Stop pointing out the fact that they are woman, black or gay. It's time we progress together as a human race.
That's erasing part of their identity. She was a women adventuring in a male dominate world.
She seems more happy that women did these things, rather than they where advances in certain feilds, you have no place to speak when you put the sex of the achiever infront of what they achieved.
Miss Kingsley seems full of bulls**t ,haha!! Doing those things in a single lifetime 😂
BOLAS
Yiu go girls :D
i dont get it
How to waste time and still learn
Well to be fair, most men didn't go anywhere either.
This narrator kind of sounds like Greta Gerwig
norm
الي المطبخ بسرعة
0:19 JAJAJAJA silly first world you and your Meritocracy ....
And of course the comment section if flooded by anti-women rants.
While men were dying in wars and from scurvy thousands of miles away from home, women were doing house chores. You're right, must've been awful.
You really need to research some more on women's history. It seems you're misinformed.
Parakeet34
Way to miss your goal. My point was that the narrator makes it sound as if sitting at home doing chores is such a terrible fate. While in reality millions would kill for such a comfortable existence.
Because they are given no freedom to go out to prove themselves & are treated as less than men. Not everybody is happy with such a meaningless humble existence.
Peter Timowreef Watch Mulan.
C'mon, now that's sexist. The kitchen is a nice place to be in, it's the cleaning after that sucks.
Correction. The European woman's contribution. Not all cultures were as chauvinistic as the European culture.
Most of non-European cultures were and still are very chauvinistic..not all of them, but most.
+Carlos Álvarez That's not true.
Carlos Álvarez chutiya saala
i'm genuinely interested in what you said, would you be able to give some examples of less sexist cultures around the world?
upsettuh non-european women contributed in many ways too.