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Chloe Black

Professor Fordham

History 0130: Western Civilization to 1500

7 September 2021

The Struggle for Female Representation

The history of female contribution to society is masked by male counterparts in order to

preserve male superiority. Women are widely stereotyped as fragile or weak; but in reality,

women are strong leaders who exert passion and zeal, such as Elizabeth I. She is the prime

example of a ruling woman that had no desire or need for male influence. The continuous

struggle for female representation in every social structure is the core issue in gender equality

and the advancement of society.

Women leaders have been excluded from history books because it goes against the

structure of society. Matriarchal systems are often looked down upon because of sexist traits that

men have branded women: weak, emotional, and passive. People refuse to accept the importance

of women because they don’t want the generational norms to be altered in any way. Men are

traditionally the dominant gender which has fueled internalized misogyny to the point where

women leaders are ignored and laughed upon; however, this was not always the case. Elizabeth I

successfully and independently ruled England throughout battles and hardship without the

council of a husband or kin, and was absolutely adored by her country. So why won’t our history

books include her, or other women leaders' spectacular successes? The answer is so simple.

Women can’t be taught to have the same qualities as a man, or they will dominate the political

scene resulting in a major decrease of male importance.

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Within Elizabeth 1 reign of England, she successfully led her troops to defeat the

powerful Spanish Armada, which started the formation of the British Empire. She inherited an

extremely poor, uneducated country, and transformed it into a booming empire because of her

vigorous leadership skills. She had countless strengths, such as her drive to educate England,

refusal to co-rule with a man, wisdom in battle, ability to transform an entire country, and

disallowance of religious differences to separate her people. While these are undeniably

dominant characteristics of her reign, she had some fall throughs that can be seen as

“weaknesses”. The most evident example is the graciousness of her exiled cousin, Mary. There

were conspiracies that Mary was fleeing into England in order to seize power of the throne;

however, Elizabeth gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her a royal stay while on house

arrest (Tudor History). This backfired after Elizabeth had been delivered proof of Mary’s

intentions, which were in fact to take over the throne. Elizabeth’s trusting heart resulted in

treachery that could have cost her England.

The role that women play in history is not only to overcome the label men have put on

them, but to prove to following generations that their contributions are exceedingly important in

the advancement of society. Women have shown, century after century, that how scarcely they

are recognized has no relation to their true significance to humankind. Women all around the

world are demonstrating just how powerful they can be, such as Benazir Bhutto. She founded an

underground organization to resist Pakistan’s dictatorship, and gained so many followers that she

became the first woman prime minister in any Islamic country. She taught amazing values, such

as women empowerment and the importance of democracy (ONE). This goes to show that there

are women all over the world making milestones that will be a part of history, whether they are
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displayed or not. Overall, women’s role in history is indicated as trivial, but can be proven as

anything but that.

The marvelous Elizabeth I is incredibly vital to our historical narrative because she

formed a strong country which went on to be a booming empire. Not only is she important in the

geographical side of things, but in the aspect of values and advancements that can be completely

credited to her. She is the face of female empowerment and independence that has greatly

influenced our world history, and will continue to do so throughout the following centuries. She

proved that a matriarchy is successful, and debunked the stigma that women are weak and

powerless. Elizabeth I will go down forever as a powerful, not just woman, human. It is very

limiting to classify that a “woman” is powerful because of all the restrictions that are put onto

them, making their power seem less important.

Women will always have a stigma to them due to narrow-minded individuals that choose

to believe women are less important than men. People are comfortable in believing certain

stereotypes of a woman's role in the world because of their refusal to accept that history books

lied to us. They fail to teach us the depth of women’s tribute to the advancement of society, and

will continue to do so in order to save any part of the dying belief that men contribute more to

the world than women.

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Works Cited

“Elizabeth I.” Rose, tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/queen.html.

6 March 2020. “12 Women Who Changed the World.” ONE, 8 Mar. 2021,

www.one.org/us/blog/12-women-who-changed-the-world/.