Once upon a time, women were imprisoned, forced to wear a cage, and forbidden to leave their nests. Once they sang out loud, has their chirp been heard? Was the door finally...half-opened?
A couple of years after Santos-Dumont’s invention, on the windy morning of May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart achieved the record as the first woman to make the transatlantic trip with the red Lockheed Vega 5B plane. However, behind a successful woman, there is a powerful tribe of other women who hold her back.
A little-known fact about Lady Lindy’s famous journey was that her mentor was the one and only Neta Snook. For those that do not know, she is the pioneer female aviator who accomplished a varied list of firsts.
Additionally, Bessie Coleman was the first Black woman to fly in the world's skies during her short life. She earned her pilot’s license in France, two years before Earhart. Sadly, she died in her early 30s due to an engine issue and crashed, like Icarus' myth.
90 years ago, Katherine Cheung achieved a remarkable place as the first Chinese woman to receive a pilot’s license and a commercial flying license in the United States.
The British Roberta Cowell was the first trans fighter pilot during the horrors of the Second World War.
Simultaneously to these iconic flights, in the Western soils, there were the Suffragettes aiming at voting. Even if it was limiting, as the right was only for white women. Previously, their rights were restricted to owning property and studying.
At the apex of the Cold War (1947-1991) during the space race, the Russian Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963, finally could feel the breeze of the stratosphere.
While in the troposphere, Black women fought for a space in the ballot boxes. Others stand for equality in the workplace and family, and rights over their own bodies with contraceptive methods. Following the ideas of the French philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir and the American writer Betty Friedan.
Minorities were kept in the shadows of society on a terrestrial and extra-terrestrial scale.
Only…
Thirty-nine years ago, Mae Jemison reached the second layer of the atmosphere of the planet Earth on the mission Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Thirty-four years ago, Olga E. Custodio was recognised as the first Latina pilot in military and commercial aviation in the United States.
Sixteen years ago, Anousheh Ansari was the first Iranian descent and Muslim woman to go into space.
Ten years ago, on the iconic June 16th, Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman to fly into space.
The first Latina is controversial, and up for debate. Some consider Ellen Ochoa 1993, an American-born Mexican descendant through her paternal grandparents, while others point to Katya Echazarreta as the first Mexican-born woman about to reach the Milky Way.
The minority groups joined the third wave of feminism in the 1990s with more diversity and individuality. There was power acquired from previous generations. Further, the privilege of a female group in comparison to other results in the focus on the non-acquired rights of marginalized groups. Besides that, all of their rights are quickly and constantly spread in modern ways through social media tools-repeated as their voices were not heard enough in all the corners of the world.
To this day, there are hunters on every square meter with many hidden traps in their hands. Not all the skies have birds, many of them are still locked. Maybe one day all the flocks will touch a cloud, lean into the wind, and finally soar with proud.
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