The 21'st Century Woman: From a Multicultural Perspective
Deaf women
There are many Deaf women around the world. Almost all of them have experienced some kind of discrimination or oppression from society and their parents, some of whom may be overprotective of their children. Because they were perceived as having little to no communicative abilities due to their deafness, most deaf women grew up in isolation within their home. But now, due to a new collective understanding of deafness and rapid advances in technology, Deaf women are now able to do anything but hear !
Many deaf women have sparked a revolution within the gender, but many more of them have not been recognized for their contributions to the improvement of the female gender as a whole. Here is a list of the women who HAVE been recognized for their contributions.
| Alice of Battenberg (1885-1969) | Alice of Battenberg came from a Royal British family, and was a princess in England. Her full name was Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julie Marie. She became deaf when she was a young girl. She took care of many orphaned children. One of her favorite things to do was travel around the world. Did you know she was married to King Henry VIII ?? |
| Helen Keller (1880-1968) | Helen Keller is probably the most famous deaf and blind woman that has ever lived. In fact, there was a deaf and blind school named after her. From the time that she was a little girl, she devoted her entire life to helping other deaf and blind people |
| Juilette "Daisy" Gordon Low (1860-1927) | "Daisy" Low had a dream, and it came true when she founded the Girl Scouts of America. She got her nickname, "Daisy", because she was a very stubborn and outspoken person. The Girl Scouts were founded in 1912, and when she died, there were 167,000 girl scouts. Now, there are 3,000,000,000 Girl Scouts across the country. |
| Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) | Harriet Martineau reached out to the world with her pen. She was independent, stubborn, and ambitious, which were all good traits for a very good writer. She wrote articles in the newspaper using a man's name because of oppression reasons. When her Brother found out she was that author, he was shocked and encouraged her to become a writer. Her mom was very picky on her about Harriet's behaviors, which were not like an English lady. Harriet became deaf when she was 14 years old. At 19 years old, she became a famous Journalist. She wrote around 30 books, not to mention thousands of articles. She wanted to make the world a better place, so she wrote about many different issues, including her experiences, traveling, opinions, fictions, history, and much more. |
| Laura Catherine Redden Searing (1840-1923) | Laura Searing covered the Civil War and wrote for "Reform Nation". She was a well-known journalist for America. In her writing, she used the surname "Howard Clyndon", because of the same reasons as Harriet Martineau. Laura became deaf at the age of 11. She strongly supported the Union, and was a ardent Republican. She wrote about many different subjects, including President Abraham Lincoln. |
| Regina Olson Hughes (1895-1993) | Regina Hughes was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She was a botanical artist who really loved plants. Regina was especially passionate about flowers such as Orchids. She became deaf at the age of 10. She got her Masters degree at Gallaudet in 1920. She knew many languages such as French, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, Germany, Norse, and Romanian, as well as being a volunteer working at the Smithsonian Museum painting and analyzing flowers and plants. She was a true admirer of the field, and received USDA's Superior Service Award for Botanical illustration and technical translation in 1962. She got her Honorary Doctor of Humanity letter from Gallaudet. She won several awards for her hard work. |
| Frances Woods (1907- ) | Frances Woods was well-known as one of the truly great dancers. In the past, people knew her and her partner as "The Wonder Dancers". During a premature birth, she emerged from the womb as a Deaf girl, but she was still filled with the joy of music. She and her dancing partner are documented in "Ripley's Believe it or Not!". To this day, Frances stills dance no matter what kind of situation she is in. |
| Nellie Z. Willhite (1892-1990) | Nellie Willhite was the first deaf pilot to earn her pilot's license. She was born at Box Elder, South Dakota, and became deaf when she was four. She participated in many air shows, and she really loved to fly. She did scare many people, including her manager, when she would prove them wrong with amazing tricks in the air. She stopped flying planes in 1944. |
| Frances "Peggie" Parsons (1923- ) | Frances Parsons was born deaf due to a premature birth. She was an advocate of Total Communication. She wrote for the "Sound of the Stars" journal in 1971. In her prime, she was very athletic and she believes in total communication. She traveled to many countries for the purpose of helping deaf children. Because of this, she joined the Peace Corps and paved the way for many other deaf people to join the Peace Corps. |
| Marcella M. Meyer (1925- ) | Marcella Meyer was the Chief Executive Officer of the GLAD (Greater Los Angles Council on Deafness) organization. She became deaf when she was six years old. She learned and supported oral methods. She founded the GLAD organization in 1969, which is one of the best and most powerful deaf organizations in the country. The GLAD organization has impacted the lives of many hearing and deaf people. |
| Gertrude Scott Galloway (1930- ) | Gertrude S. Galloway grew up in a deaf family in Washington, D.C. She is an administrator and advocate of deaf women. As a girl attending Kendall, she learned via the oral philosophy. She got her Doctorate degree at Gallaudet, and was the first women president of National Association for the Deaf. She participated in many organizations, and is known as the first deaf superintendent AND the first women superintendent at the state. She was also President for CEASD (Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf) in 1996. |
| Alice L. Hagemeyer (1934 - ) | Alice Hagermeyer was born in Mitchell, Nebraska. She is a librarian for the deaf community. She works for DCPL (District of Columbia Public Library). Her desire in life was to develop more awareness about deafness. She became deaf when she was three and half years old. |
| Bonnie Poitras Tucker (1939 - ) | Bonnie Tucker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. She is an attorney and professor of law. She became deaf when she was 2 years old. She faced lots of discrimination, and ended up getting divorced by her hearing husband (who was a lawyer before she was). The divorce occurred because her husband could not accept her deafness. This incident made her motivated to become a lawyer. She has worked really hard and won several awards related to law performance. |
| Judith Viera Tingley (1939 - ) | Judith Tingley was born in Oakland, California. She became deaf when she was a senior in high school. She got her Masters degree in Education of Exceptional children in 1966. In 1988, she became president of Teletec international sales and marketing of Ultratec products. She helped many deaf people in other countries and she has published information about the telecommunication and relay services. She participated in many different organizations throughout the country. |
| Shirley J. Allen (1941 - ) | Shirley J. Allen was born in Tyler, Texas and she was the first deaf African-American women to recieve her Ph.D. She was nuts about music until she became deaf at 20 years old. She got her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester. |
| Phyllis Frelich (1944 - ) | Phyllis Frelich was born in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. She was a Tony Award-winning Actress. She was raised in a deaf family. She really loves performing on stages and front of cameras for audiences everywhere. She graduated from Gallaudet in 1967, and has won many awards for drama. She participated with the National Theatre of the Deaf. Her most popular movie performance is from a movie called "Bridge to Silence." |
| Linda Bove (1945 - ) | Linda Bove is one of the "Sesame Street" stars. She was raised in Deaf family and got her Bachelor's degree in Library Science at Gallaudet in 1963. She really loves Drama and participated with the National Theatre of the Deaf. The "Sesame Street" television program has won several Emmys awards. |
| Kitty O'Neil (1946 - ) | Kitty O'Neil, the world's fastest woman, was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was a stuntwoman and racer who became deaf when she was four years old. She got her credentials in teaching at the University of Texas. She studied the methods of teaching deaf children, and is a founder of "School Listening Eyes" in Witchita Falls. She taught deaf children using oral methods. She won many diving championship awards and craves new challenges, such as dangerous sports. She rode a speed boat at the velocity of 285.23 miles per hour, and has been on water skis at 104.85 miles per hour in 1970. She has driven in many vehicle races. She also did stunts for the movie called "Bionic Woman" and "Wonder Woman". She was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, because she traveled at a speed of 512.710 miles per hour. She did many different stunts. |
| Julianna Field (1947 - ) | Julianna Field was born in Minnesota. She won an Emmy Award as an actress and producer. She was born deaf. She wanted to be an actress ever since she was four years old. She participated in the National Theatre of the Deaf, and was a student at Gallaudet. She was involved in a movie called "Love is Never Silent", and was also in several other movies. |
| Kathie Skyer Hering (1950 - ) | Kathie Hering was a champion of late-deafened adults programs. She is a social services worker supporting groups for late-deafened adults. This programs helps these adults to develop communication skills and preventing isolation. The Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) is the fastest growing deaf organization which has gone international. She graduated from the University of Illinois while majoring in History Education. She became deaf when she was 28 years old. She got her Masters degree in rehabilitation counseling in 1981 and she became president for the Chicago chapter of ALDA in 1991. |
| Mary Lou Norutsky - (1954 - ) | Mary Lou Norutsky was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She is well-known as a co-producer and co-host for the "Deaf Mosaic" TV show. She has worked there for ten years. She won five Emmy awards, which reflect television's highest honor. She majored in Psychology at Gallaudet University and graduated in 1979. She was very athletic. She used to work for the National Captioning Institute for two years. The television program "Deaf Mosaic" was shown around the world and it is about Deafness. |
| Marlee Matlin (1965 - ) | Marlee Matlin was born in 1965 in Morton Grove, Illinois. She is an Oscar-winning actress. She starred in "Children of Lesser God", which helped her to become famous. She acted in movies, stages, television programs, and much more. She participated in the National Theatre for the Deaf. She became deaf at 18 month old but her deafness was not identified until she was 2 years old. She grew up frustrated because of her deafness. |
| Bridgette Bourne (1967 - ) | She is one of Deaf President Now leaders. She was born deaf. She is a leadership, traveler, athletics, and loves to help and involve in deaf community. She interned at the National Academy and got her Masters degree in Public Administration in 1992. She works as a conference coordinator in the Conference Management Unit within the College of Continuing Education. |
| Shelley Beattie (1967 - ) | Shelly Beattie was born in Santa Ana Orange County, California. She is a champion bodybuilder who is best known as one of the "American Gladiators". She became deaf at three years old. Because of difficulty adjusting to her deafness, she was placed in a foster home when she was 14 and 17 years old. She loves to compete in sports and body building. She studied Child Psychology in Oregon for a while. She holds the 1988 and 1989 National and World record for fastest time with co-ed handcar team, and also hold high school track heptathlon records. She is also the world bench press record holder at 315 pounds. She won several bodybuilder competitions. |
| Heather Whitestone (1973 - ) | Heather Whitestone was born in Dothan, Alabama. She became deaf when she was 18 months old. She became "Miss America" in 1995. She really loves ballet, ever since she was 5 years old. She grew up learning via oral methods at the Central Institute for the Deaf at St. Louis (CID). |
| Emmanuelle Labroit | She was Oscar-nominated in 1998 for the film called "Beyond Silence." She wrote the book called "The Cry of the Gull". She was born in France. She grew up wanting to become a famous actress. She recently visited Gallaudet to talk about her experiences and to film a movie on Gallaudet campus that will be released in 2001-2002. |
The Education of Women from a Historical Perspective
Women, as shown from culturally diverse places in the World
Extras - information about Women's Health Issues and other links