6 Historical Women Who Received No Credit For Their Contributions To Society

By Kate Harveston

It’s a historical fact that many contributions to society were made by women — but then men took credit for them. Recently brought to life in movies and books like “Hidden Figures” and “Big Eyes,” it’s taken years for women to finally get credit for what they did. Here are some of those remarkable women.

1. Elizabeth Magie

You’ve most likely heard the story of Charles Darrow coming up with the game Monopoly in the 1930s. However, the origins of the game started decades earlier with Magie’s Landlord’s Game. Her version was actually a protest against monopolies, containing an anti-monopolist and monopolist version. Darrow took a version of the monopolist set, passed it off as his own and became a millionaire, while Magie earned a mere $500 for her original game.

2. Rosalind Franklin

Probably one of the most famous, Rosalind took a picture that led to crucial knowledge about DNA structure. Her colleague, a man, took one of her pictures without permission and showed it to their competitor. The colleague and competitor then published their groundbreaking findings, giving Franklin no more than a footnote — even though she was the one who had actually made the discovery.

3. Margaret Keane

A story recently showcased in the movie “Big Eyes,” Margaret was the painter of art featuring big-eyed children that became extremely popular in the 60s. Her husband Walter was the one that claimed he painted them all. Margaret came forward, leading to courtroom complications and a massive legal battle. Looking back, it makes sense, with Margaret painting her own feelings into this art. You can see it came from her pain.

4. Candace Pert

Pert was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins when she discovered the opiate receptor in the brain, something scientists had been searching out for some time. Sol Snyder, who she was studying under, shared the Lasker Award with two British scientists that had discovered endorphins. Refusing to stay silent, Pert wrote angry letters about her lack of recognition. Snyder later acknowledged that the two probably should’ve shared the award.

5. Martha Coston

Coston played a huge part in making signal flares a reality for communication. Taking the pieces of research that her late husband left behind, she took his half-developed ideas and made them a reality. However, he was the one that got credit for the patent — even though he had been dead for the ten years that Coston had been working on it.

6. Anna Arnold Hedgeman

Hedgeman made her mark as the only woman assisting the organization of the 1963 March on Washington. She roused groups of people to participate, as well as helping with transportation and refreshments for people marching. However, history books credit the “Big Six” with organizing the March — and you won’t find a woman among them.

Of course, these aren’t the only women that had their contributions grabbed by men. Throughout history, you’ll find dozens more women that have had this happen to them, and probably even more that just had their contributions lessened. Let’s hope we’ve learned from our mistakes and that this won’t be a problem in the future.