The Hidden Words of Women

By Audrey Hwang

Partnerships never end well.

In the cases of Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, two friends who were supporting each other in connecting the internet, it only led to lawsuits and stolen credit.

Since the beginning of modern day achievements, some marital partnerships have ended the same way.

The achievements of women throughout history have gotten overshadowed by their spouses.

Hours of hard work, research, and training have been passed on as the work of men, leaving their story’s silenced and left behind.

While it may not seem common, instances of stolen credit happen far too often to the point where it has a name: The Matilda Effect.

The Matilda Effect is understood as the work that women have done throughout history that has never reached posterity. Although their contribution has been noted, their names have gone completely unnoticed.

For example, Einstein, who is largely renowned as the revolutionizer for physics, is one of the more famous cases where the Matilda Effect has taken place. Mileva Marić, his first wife, is an alleged co-author of the famous relativity paper of 1905. Her story is one of the many have have been forgotten. While Einstein gets the historical praise for changing physics, the contributions of Mileva lie unheard.

Another famous name, Pythagoras, claimed credit for the work Theano of Crotone, an early female philosopher who worked in mathematics.

Margaret Keane got six-decades of her art stolen from her by her husband, Walter Keane, who claimed that he had actually been the one painting her work. He was found to be a scam when she challenged him to a paint-off on live television.

Katinka Hosszú shattered the world record in the 400 individual medley in 2016, however the announcers accredited her husband for her win. They claimed that he was the one responsible for her performance, even though he was under suspicion for verbal abuse towards Katinka.

There are so many stories that go silenced every year. The credit towards women is almost never given fairly, poorly representing their sacrifices towards furthering great achievements. 

Every single woman is always given the short end of the sick. So many women do what they can with the hand that they are given, and when they accomplish great things, men overshadow them and take hours, days, years of hard work as their own.

Women deserve the same credit as men receive for equally important discoveries. You can not praise Paul Ehrlich without praising Katharine McCormick.

The work that a woman puts into an achievement, is just as valuable as the work of a man.