The Only Woman in the Room, by Marie Benedict

A review by Airin Dutta, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who received the Zonta International Foundation Amelia Earhart Fellowship in 2020. 

“The Only Woman in the Room” by Marie Benedict was a glimpse into the gripping life of Hedy Lamarr, otherwise known to the world only as a Hollywood star, with her technological contributions merely treated as intriguing footnotes. Her captivating beauty was a curse, as she observed, “My face has been my misfortune, a mask I cannot remove.” 

Her life is truly stranger than fiction -- she survived the persecution of Jews through marriage to a powerful arms dealer, escaped the abusive marriage and Austria in the face of invasion by Hitler, only to land in Hollywood, fending off advances from predatory producers and having a successful yet unsatisfactory movie career of portraying vacuous femme fatale. Undeterred by her struggle, she became a role model for modern women as a single mother, that too through child adoption, in the prime of her career. 

Trying to assist in the Allied war effort coupled with survivor’s guilt, as well as being privy to military secrets discussed during armament deals with the Nazis and the knowledge she acquired from scientific journals available to her back in Austria, finally came to fruition in 1941. She with her friend, a composer and pianist George Antheil, developed a device for synchronizing the guidance signal for radio-controlled torpedoes between the transmitter and receiver, because this signal would be distributed over several frequencies to protect from enemy jamming. However, in a blatant act of sexism, the US Navy was not receptive of a technology invented by a “beautiful” woman, even though they were struggling with the torpedo system. Additionally, the National Council rejected the implementation, citing its bulkiness for integration with submarine systems, although it was roughly the size of a watch. To add insult to injury, she was told to do her job which was to captivate crowds with her charm and raised funds for the war. It was only in the 1960’s, that the invention eventually led to the creation of Bluetooth and WiFi technology in the modern-day cell phones. She, with her partner, received their long overdue credit when inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

All enlightened women and I are grateful to her for fighting to make a better world for us. Hedy Lamarr, your truly beautiful soul shall inspire us to carry on the struggle to uplift many more unfortunate beings. I am thankful to the author to bring to light her achievements, buried deep beneath the failures of humanity. Though, this book has a watered-down version of her scientific efforts, it was enough to pique the curiosity of interested readers. Finally, my takeaway was the “Da-vinci”-esque ultimate unification of art and science. From a scientific mindset, I was amazed by their idea of frequency hopping inspired from changing scales while playing a musical piece. 

Finally, here I am with her star on the “Hollywood walk of Fame”! 

 

Muslim Women Are Everything: Stereotype-Shattering Stories of Courage, Inspiration, and Adventure

 

Muslim Women Are Everything: Stereotype-Shattering Stories of Courage ...

Seema Yasmin, Fahmida Azim - Art - 2020 - 192 pages

Winner of the 2020 Best Book Awards in Women’s Issues

A full-color illustrated collection of riveting, inspiring, and stereotype-shattering stories that reveal the beauty, diversity, and strength of Muslim women both past and present. Tired of seeing Muslim women portrayed as weak, sheltered, and limited, journalist Seema Yasmin reframes how the world sees them, to reveal everything they CAN do and the incredible, stereotype-shattering ways they are doing it. Featuring 40 full-color illustrations by illustrator Fahmida Azim throughout, Muslim Women Are Everything is a celebration of the ways in which past and present Muslim women from around the world are singing, dancing, reading, writing, laughing, experimenting, driving, and rocking their way into the history books. Forget subservient, oppressed damsels—say hello to women who are breaking down barriers using their art, their voices, and their activism, including: Tesnim Sayar from Denmark, a Muslim goth-punk who wears a red tartan mohawk on top of her hijab American superstar singer SZA Nura Afia, CoverGirl’s first hijabi ambassador Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, America’s first Muslim congresswomen Ilyana Insyirah, a hijaab-wearing scuba-diving midwife from Australia Showcasing women who defy categorization, Muslim Women Are Everything proves that to be Muslim and a woman is to be many things: strong, vulnerable, trans, disabled, funny, entrepreneurial, burqa or bikini clad, and so much more.

Business Networking Essentials: How to Network like a Pro for Fun and Profit, by Helen Vella

Empowered women, empower women!  Ever wonder how to best represent Zonta, or how to effectively tell potential members about Zonta?  Don't know many people to talk to about Zonta?   This short book can empower you!   Step by step, you will easily learn the networking fundamentals from the well-defined tools presented within the pages of this success book. Keep it in your Kindle to read again and again, until the techniques become a natural part of how you communicate.  Become more comfortable speaking and see your connections and relationships rise. This book will give you insider tips on how to network like a professional such as, how to craft your elevator pitch, how to communicate who you are & what you do, how to help people you meet, and how to identify what kind of referrals you're looking for, in a clear, authentic manner (in sixty seconds or less!) The author, Helen Villa, finds that empowering, inspiring and encouraging people to be balanced and to live their best life is very rewarding. Find out more about the author and coach at her website, https://hvella.com.  

Women In Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures

 Written by Karen Bush Gibson.  Published by Chicago Review Press, 2014, 234 Pages

                                                                      Reviewed by Theresa Harris

 

This book is listed in our local library as a Young Adult book, perhaps because of its simplicity; but it’s easily enjoyable by readers of all ages.   The actual writing itself is a little stilted, making it sometimes difficult to get into a smooth reader’s flow, but if you are interested in achievement of women, the essence will send you into orbit! 

Women In Space profiles 23 pioneers and provides terrific basics that will leave you wanting to know more.   Conveniently, the book also provides sidebars of additional information and suggests further reading with references including internet links.  The stories demonstrate the vital role women have played in the quest for scientific understanding and ignite a flame of interest in space programs for all readers. 

Divided into four sections: The Apollo 13 Women, Cosmonauts, American Astronauts, and World Astronauts, it includes Eileen Collins, born in Elmira, New York in 1956, graduated from Syracuse University in 1978, who became the first woman to command the space shuttle; Peggy Whitson, who logged more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station; and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space; as well as astronauts from Japan, Canada, Italy, South Korea, France, and more. 

 

The book is filled with fact and also dotted with interesting anecdotes such as when the first African American female astronaut, Mae Jemison, who loved astronomy and science fiction stories as a girl told her kindergarten teacher she wanted to be a scientist, her teacher said, “You mean a nurse.” 

 

These women are “SHEroes”…the names and stories of whom we all should be familiar. 

 

I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book and be inspired and proud of women’s stories.  It will help you understand the reasons why Zonta International chooses to award (35) US$10,000 Fellowships annually to women pursuing Ph.D./doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering and space sciences, to be used at any university or college offering accredited post-graduate courses and degrees in these fields.

 

 

Nevertheless, She Wore It

Nevertheless, She Wore It, by Ann Shen

A review by Amy Quinn

Today is the book birthday of “Nevertheless, She Wore It” by author and illustrator Ann Shen and let me say, it is FANTASTIC. 

Shen’s newest book is phenomenal, timely and iconic! 50 different looks are featured, chronicling women’s style trends against culture and world history and it is truly fascinating. Did you know that when the bob hair style came into the early 20th century, young co-eds could be expelled from school for getting one, and that the Washington Post wrote an article in 1925 called “The Economic Impact of the Bob”? (There were only 5000 beauty parlors in 1920, but over 21,000 in 1925, once this hair style became popular.) 

Mary Tyler Moore wanted to wear capris and flats on The Dick Van Dyke Show...because that's what women were really wearing at home.... but she had to alternate her capris with looser fitting pants in various scenes because network executives were concerned about the “cupping under” of her form-fitting capris, and wanted to go easy on viewers as they became used to seeing her behind.  

TV executives didn’t like belly buttons either, and though Jeannie, Ginger and Mary Ann dared not bare theirs, Cher (and the women on Star Trek) braved the frontier, defying the Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters that was in place until NINETEEN EIGHTY-THREE.  #what

With sharp illustrations that capture every look from du-rags to denim shorts to dissent collars, you'll want to grab this book for anyone who loves culture, history and fashion. It would make a great gift, but you should probably just go ahead and gift yourself one, too. I did.  

Thanks to #netgalley for letting me have an advance reader's copy of this great book with the BEST title! It was a joy to read! 

$22.50 UDS at Target

At The Dark End of the Street

At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power 

by Danielle L. McGuire, 2010, 324 pages, paperback.

 Selected and reviewed by Joanne Shawhan

A history of America's civil rights movement traces the pivotal influence of sexual violence that victimized African American women for centuries, revealing Rosa Parks' contributions as an anti-rape activist, years before her heroic bus protest.

Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage with this collection of books

 

A MIGHTY GIRL says:   "For children today, it's hard to imagine a time when women couldn't vote; realizing that they've had that right for under 100 years is astounding. It's equally shocking when they learn that women had to fight for 72 years before the 19th Amendment — which stated that no citizen could be denied the right to vote on account of sex — became law. So it's imperative that we teach today's children about the struggle for women's suffrage, not just to honor the dedication and sacrifices of the women who led the Women's Suffrage Movement, but also to ensure that future generations don't take the right to vote for granted."

This month, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the US 19th amendment with  books and films about women's suffrage in the United States: the history of the movement, the women who led it forward, and the tremendous challenges that they faced in their quest to ensure that women's voices could be heard at the ballot box. These stories will both educate kids about a critical period in women's history and inspire them to see the power of determined activists and political leaders to make big changes in the world.

Search the web for books about suffrage in both the US and around the world, as well as voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement.  Some are pictured above. Share a book with a girl today!  Happy reading!