Ooh Box Celebrates the Inspiring and Pioneering Ladies in English History

Here at Ooh we are celebrating #InternationalWomensWeek, we have listed just a fraction of the pioneers and ground breaking women who have helped shape the world we live in today.

How do you celebrate the inspirational women in your life?

From land girls to working women and hard at work home carers, we have gift boxes for all the women who support us and our communities.

Whatever you are looking for, we have a whole host of gifts for her in our collections.

Whether it’s a gardening gift box for your very own land girl or a Deskmate for the hard working business woman, or why not check out our Relaxation Gift Sets for that just for her treat. 

And how fortuitous: #InternationalWomensWeek ends on Mothering Sunday, the perfect time to show your gratitude with one of our mother’s day boxes.

We have so many gift boxes for women, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Throughout history women have pushed the boundaries of all aspects of life and continue to do so.  Here is a short list of some of England great female role models.

Mathematics:

Ada, Countess of Lovelace  (1815-1852) was a mathematician and computing pioneer. She has been called the world’s first computer programmer because of her work on the analytical engine developed by Charles Babbage, arguably the inventor of the computer. 

Science:

Rosalind Franklin’s (1920-1958) research into DNA molecules helped Watson and Crick identify the structure of DNA in 1953. Her life was cut tragically short by cancer, and she didn’t live to see Watson, Crick – and her supervisor Maurice Wilkins win the Nobel Prize in 1962. In fact, Franklin was effectively written out of the story for many years, and it is only quite recently that her role in a major scientific breakthrough has been recognised.

Flight:

On 5 May 1930, when Amy Johnson (1903-1941) set off from Croydon in a second-hand De Havilland Gipsy Moth, she was virtually unknown. Nineteen days later, when she arrived at Port Darwin, she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, and was hailed as an international celebrity and a model of courage and determination. She went on to make and break many flight records, and was the first British woman to qualify as a ground engineer.

Women’s Rights:

Josephine Butler (1828-1906) was a campaigner for women’s rights, focusing on sexual health and the double standards faced by men and women. Her most well-known battle was against legislation which forced any woman suspected of being a ‘common prostitute’ to submit to an internal genital exam by a male doctor. In 1871 she delivered a petition signed by 300,000 women which (eventually) succeeded in repealing the Contagious Diseases Acts.

National Security:

When the Second World War broke out, Violette Szabo (1921-1945) was living at home and working in the perfume department of the Bon Marché store in Brixton. But, described by her father as a ‘tomboy ready for excitement and adventure’ – as well as being a crack shot and strikingly good-looking – she joined the French Resistance in 1942.  Violette was sent into occupied France twice. Shortly after her arrival the second time, she was captured by the Germans. After months of captivity, during which she refused to speak under interrogation, she was executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was posthumously the first British woman to be awarded the George Cross.

Agriculture:

The Women’s land army was created in 1915 to recruit women to work the land keeping farming and agriculture intact thus feeding the nation during WW1.  Disbanded in 1919 it was revived in 1939 under the same name due to WW2.  It wasn’t until 2012 that the first memorial to the contributors to this essential group of hard-working women was unveiled.

Check out this great blog for more inspirational women. https://blog.english-heritage.org.uk/19-things-done-by-inspirational-women-in-english-history/