This exhibition highlighted the lives and legacies of twenty-one of these women, just a fraction of the many who made lasting contributions in their fields. From the beginning, the movement for equality was a global one. It was fought both by suffrage campaigners, and by individual pioneering women who defied convention.
Many of these women benefited from the support of a partner, family member or colleague as they strategically navigated a male-dominated society on their own terms.
The exhibition was a joint collaboration of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum and Herstory. Research by Dr Angela Byrne, DFAT Historian-in-Residence at EPIC.
Featured in the exhibition
Cynthia Longfield
The international dragonfly expert and intrepid explorer also known as ‘Madame Dragonfly’.
Annie Bessant
Trade unionist, socialist, Indian nationalist leader and one of the first women to endorse birth control.