7 Fearless Women Statues That Should Replace The Fictional, Infantilized 'Fearless Girl'
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<p><strong>Emily Roebling, Field Engineer / Bridge Builder</strong></p><p>As the two men before her (husband Washington, and his father John) took ill, <a href="https://www.engineergirl.org/Engineers/HistoricalEngineers/4425.aspx">Emily Roebling</a> was left in charge of completing the Brooklyn Bridge, becoming the "first woman field engineer" in the process. "Emily became such a major participant in the project that many people began to believe she was Chief Engineer," and she was, even if her husband was officially left with that title. "In addition to answering questions about the bridge from officials and contractors, Emily also kept all the records, answered Washington's mail, delivered messages and requests to the bridge office, and represented Washington at social functions," all while developing an "extensive knowledge of strength of materials, stress analysis, cable construction, and calculating catenary curves." </p><p>She was the first to cross the bridge in 1883, and was honored at that time by Abram Stevens Hewitt, who said the bridge was "an everlasting monument to the sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she has been too long disbarred." You can find a plaque at the Bridge dedicated to her, Washington, and John A. Roebling, but give this woman a damn statue.</p>
<p><strong>Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman</strong></p><p>Brooklyn native <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/shirley-chisholm-9247015">Shirley Chisholm</a> was an educational consultant for New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare from 1959 to 1964, before becoming the nation's first African-American congresswoman in 1968. She repped New York State in the House of Representatives for seven terms, and in 1972 became "the first major-party black candidate to make a bid for the U.S. presidency." She tirelessly fought for social justice throughout her career, and eventually went on to become a teacher, before dying in 2005. Ten years later, in 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This hardly encompasses everything Chisolm accomplished in her lifetimeâfor that, we recommend reading her book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unbought-Unbossed-Expanded-40th-Anniversary/dp/098005902X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8">Unbought and Unbossed</a></em>.</p>
Jane Jacobs at a Committee to Save the West Village press conference, 1961. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
<p><strong>Merle Hoffman</strong></p><p><a href="http://gothamist.com/2016/04/11/choices_abortion_clinic_merle_hoffman.php">Merle Hoffman</a> founded what has become the largest, licensed abortion clinic in New York State. Choices (previously named Flushing Women's Medical Center) was America's first ambulatory abortion center, and was founded by Merle Hoffman in the early 1970sâtwo years before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion nationally. This healthcare pioneer has fought for decades for women's rights and reproductive freedom.</p>