BELFIELDBANTER -HERSTORYEDITION-
“HISTORY OF WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH” CHLOE ZOU '25
History of Women's History Month
Made to correspond with International Women's Day on March 8, Women's History Month is celebrated during March in the U S , Australia, and the U K In 1969, women's rights activist Laura X pushed for the extension of the already existing Women's History Week into Women's History Month. After a series of celebrations of Women's History Week such as in Sonoma, California in 1978 and at Sarah Lawrence College in 1979, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed it as an official US holiday. Finally, in 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as Women's History Month
Why No Men's History Month?
The existence of Women's History Month is essential, as it not only educates others about the contributions of women in the past but also allows young women and girls to see what is possible for their future. Some might ask: Why is there no Men's History Month? While men's contributions are important, they are, as a collective, not at risk of being unrecognized. On the other hand, there has historically been little effort to highlight women's voices Even now, this gap in recognition can be seen in many aspects of our lives For example, in American Studies, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was the only book we read by a woman.
“THE WOMAN OF THE STARS” KATE CHENG ‘26
Renowned yet often overlooked scientist and physicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin wrote one of the most fundamental PhD theses in astronomy while still in grad school, helping to revolutionize the study of stars Payne attended Cambridge University and quickly fell in love with astronomy. She joined the Royal Astronomical Society as a Fellow and later became an Associate. However, Payne soon decided to move her education to America seeing no further pathways in astronomy in Britain because of gender bias. She arrived at Harvard in 1923, taking up a permanent residence in Massachusetts, what Payne called her “stony-hearted stepmother.” Using the Harvard collection of photographed stellar spectra, she studied the material composition of faraway stars and applied herself to a painstaking analysis of the limited data. In 1925, she wrote her dissertation describing her findings and hypothesizing that stars consisted of hydrogen and helium Despite her confidence in the theory and her substantial data to back it up, her other male colleagues ignored the new idea They declared the amounts of elements proposed by Payne to be mathematically absurd and refused to take the time to test any alternative conclusions
But Is It Really Necessary?
Some might wonder about the necessity of Women's History Month. Doesn't it seem like women can do whatever men do nowadays? I also once had this belief and looking back, I see how lucky I was to grow up in an environment that supported and protected me, while many others do not have the same privilege. This also shows how we are often made to be ignorant of gender inequality until we confront it firsthand, how our inclination towards avoiding conflict leads us to overlook problems in society, and how Women's History Month educates and brings to attention issues that need to be addressed
It's true, many challenges still exist for women The gender pay gap, higher rates of violence targeting women, and political underrepresentation are just some of the problems plaguing the US, not to mention many issues such as child marriage, restricted (often prohibited) access to education, and other human rights concerns that are more prevalent in other countries. But at the same time, there are women working all across the world to solve these problems, exerting tremendous effort and sometimes even endangering their safety to help women build better lives for themselves. This is why Women's History Month must exist. It not only recognizes the challenges women face, but also the degree to which women are willing to fight for themselves, how far they have come, and the hope they give to you and me.
As we know today, Payne ended up precisely correct. Nevertheless, she wasn’t done there. The brilliant astronomer continued to pursue research in the heavens. She analyzed star luminosity, studied the structure of the Milky Way, and expanded upon Harvard’s star data collection. She became the first female professor at Harvard and the first female department chair. In 1976, she won the highest honor given by the American Astronomical Society: the Henry Norris Russell Award Her takeaway, featured in her acceptance speech, reveals she made it not just in the eyes of academic circles, but in her personal goals too “The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person in the history of the world to see something or to understand something ”
“INVENTIONS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE FROM WOMEN”
Throughout history, many intelligent and innovative women have invented numerous creations that affect many of our lives today Sadly, countless of these inventions have either been stolen, credited to men, or underappreciated due to worldwide systemic sexist practices. For this reason, I have selected various inventions throughout history to highlight the imaginative women behind them and their impacts on society.
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and inventor in the 20th century. Though she lacked formal training and was self-taught, Lamarr learned about torpedo signals in World War II, and, alongside her friend George Antheil, invented and patented a frequency-hopping system used to detect submarines and torpedoes. This technology began the early stages of Wireless Communication, better known today as Wi-Fi.
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper, a computer pioneer and officer in the U S Navy, is most widely known for her immeasurable contributions to some of the first computer programs She was heavily involved in the process of developing UNIVAC, the first all-electronic computer Hopper pioneered automatic programming and paved the way for most future coding and programming languages
Elizabeth Magie, an American activist and game designer, first created “The Landlord’s Game” and made it popular among her friends and family. Applying for a U.S patent for her game in 1904, Magie incorporated a social commentary of capitalism and monopolism into her game designs. After further developing and re-patenting her idea to gain popularity, Magie’s game found its first audiences in northeastern US colleges. Almost 30 years after her original patent, Parker Brothers published the game “Monopoly,” which was nearly identical to “The Landlord’s Game” yet the company credited Charles Darrow with the invention and ignored Magie’s patents. She attempted to advocate and speak out for the credit she deserved, but it wasn’t until years later that someone discovered her forgotten patents and validated her claims Magie is now fairly credited for the creation of one of the most famous board games ever
“FEMALE
Harriet Jacobs
Harriet Jacobs is hands down the most inspirational American author Despite being largely overlooked recently, Jacobs led a genuinely horrific life that made her success and assistance toward abolition all the more impressive. She was born into slavery in North Carolina some time between 1813 and 1815. Fortunately, in her early years she was owned by a somewhat benevolent slave owner who illegally taught her how to read and write, which would later lead to her celebrity. However, when Jacobs was 14, her owner died and she was endowed to a man who abused and sexually harassed Jacobs and her brother. In her early 20s, she finally escaped slavery by running and hiding in a three-foot-tall crawl space for seven years. She soon after fled to New York and began writing In 1861, four years after she had finalized her first manuscript and years of constant rejection by various publishers, Jacob’s autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was finally published Although she reportedly felt immense shame writing about her experiences, her novel was immensely important for American abolitionism It is a firsthand account of slavery from the perspective of a woman slave which was written beautifully with impressive style and wh ich I think should be more highly regarded today.
“INVENTIONS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE FROM WOMEN”
Lise Meitner, a Swedish-Austrian physicist, became the second woman to earn a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna in 1905 Meitner worked most of her career in Berlin as a professor, but sadly lost all of her credit there after the Nazi regime took control She fled to Sweden and dedicated the rest of her life to the sciences Meitner is credited with the discovery of the element protactinium and nuclear fission from her work trying to split Uranium isotopes and elements in Sweden, ultimately leading to Nuclear Fission
Ruth Wakefield, an American chef, alongside her husband, opened the “Toll House Inn” in Boston shortly after their marriage. Over the next few years, their inn became widely popular due to Wakefield’s baking, causing her to publish many cookbooks with her recipes. After realizing the lack of variety in her cookies, Wakefield experimented with semi-sweet chocolate, ultimately leading to the creation of the chocolate chip cookie. After selling her recipe to Nestle, the Nestle Toll House cookie became the most popular cookie of all time, and Wakefield was paid with a lifetime supply of chocolate and the credit of creating the chocolate chip cookie.
Dr Fiona Wood, an Australian plastic surgeon, is the director of the Royal Perth Hospital burn unit and teaches various classes regarding plastic surgery at different universities Specializing in burn victims, Wood created the first "spray-on skin,” a medical treatment that has saved numerous lives and helps to reduce burn scars Wood continues to work as one of the leading scientists for processing “spray-on skin”, saving the lives of many burn patients in the process Vera Rubin was an American astronomer who worked her entire career as an activist for women in science and a mentor for future astronomers. After working with galaxy rotation curves for many years, Rubin uncovered an unexplainable discrepancy between predicted angular motion and those observed. Working with the galaxy rotation problem for years to come, her studies became the first evidence of the existence of dark matter. Her work showed that galaxies must hold 5 to 10 times more dark matter than regular matter. The research and discovery of dark matter has shaped and impacted our vision of our universe and the field of astronomy indefinitely
Jessie Redmon Fauset
Jessie Redmon Fauset has the best poetic style and for that reason was the greatest Harlem Renaissance writer. Her poetry mostly consists of descriptions of efflorescent spring days which veil darker themes of loss, depression, and hatred. Although her writing manner is beautiful, it represents a very prevalent racial and gender-based inequity. During her era, many African-American artists were spreading their works, gaining popularity, and hopefully decreasing discrimination While this did have an effect on equality in certain spheres, there was although loathing of this movement growing amongst racist people This often resulted in black writers sharing their work primarily in groups of like-minded people who would accept and commend their art However, these groups mainly consisted of men, and black women writers were not expected to discuss race or gender in their works. As a result, these women, especially Fauset, would very covertly express their opinions within poetry under the guise of eloquence and vibrant descriptions. For that reason, her poetry contains multitudes of levels which are at once beautiful, tragic, and serve as a cry for equality for black women. Because of her masterful expression of struggle, Jessie Redmon Fauset was the Harlem Renaissance’s best poet and should have that attention now. Works include: Plum Bun, There is Confusion, and The Chinaberry Tree.
Maya Angelou
Who is a better novelist than Maya Angelou? She has the most beautiful mannerisms that convey her stories with excellent fluency and confidence Reading her works is way too easy and often difficult to stop Although this may be because she has a truly intriguing life, it is also because she is just one of the best writers of all time And with this incredible skill, Angelou delves into her history to enlighten readers on the hardships faced by black people and women in the United States, and the unnecessary stigmas they deal with. Luckily, her talent does not go without recognition as the other older writers in this article do. Maya Angelou has won three Grammys, the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was the first black woman depicted in a quarter. Through her tremendous expertise of writing, Angelou has become an incredibly influential figure in civil rights and should be forever memorialized as one of America’s greatest authors. Her works include: I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Letter to My Daughter, and Sister, Sister.
The Trump campaign promised to reduce the size of the federal workforce. His campaign received significant contributions from Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. After he assumed office in January, Trump announced the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, an organization dedicated to reducing spending, which was to be run by Elon Musk Notably, the name is a little misleading as DOGE is not a government department, which must be created by an act of Congress, rather it is an advisory group, which cannot make government policy
DOGE has started to advise the Trump administration to take significant actions regarding fiscal policy The organization has inserted itself in various actual government departments, initially the Treasury, where it has demanded access to government payment systems, which include everyone’s bank accounts and social security numbers. Last week, a federal judge in D.C. lifted an order preventing them from accessing treasury data, however, they are still unable to access the data due to a federal case in New York filed by multiple Democratic Attorney Generals. DOGE has begun to dismantle other parts of the federal government; they recommended that the Trump Administration close the US Agency for International Development, the organization that oversees foreign aid. The attempt to shutter USAID has resulted in 90% of the organization being placed on leave or laid off and a devastating aid freeze that has contributed to humanitarian crises all over the world Additionally, DOGE published a list of their “accomplishments ” This list supposedly detailed the cuts to the budget that DOGE had made so far, which included $252 million to social security However, investigations have shown that the genuine savings are far lower than those listed on the DOGE website The Social Security cuts were actually worth only $560,000. After the investigation, DOGE removed multiple items from their list of cuts. “THE
The White House has recently faced significant backlash in both the United States and abroad after the blow-up at the White House by President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Many people called Vance childish and mocked him for his need for Zelensky to say “thank you”. Furthermore, Zelensky managed to keep his cool in a situation where the average person would have been unable to avoid going into a rabid fit watching the interview unfold. This display of “diplomacy” was frankly an embarrassment to the American people, and the entire world. The humiliation I felt while watching the actions of the American President and Vice President cannot be put accurately into words. It was a profound embarrassment at the national level. It deeply hurt the pride and patriotism I feel for my country, and watching this administration trade democratic partners for authoritarian demagogues brings me great sadness On top of all this, the administration has started forcing Ukraine to give up land to Russia in exchange for a ceasefire without the guarantee of Ukrainian security by either the United States or Europe This is simply not diplomacy The United States is selling out its longstanding ally to Russia, which has repeatedly been at odds with us. Trump is a Russian agent through and through, and this only makes it even more obvious to an attentive viewer.
There have been numerous concerns about DOGE, but one of the biggest is that DOGE having any influence over government contracts is a massive conflict of interest, as Elon Musk’s companies, such as SpaceX and Tesla, hold major government contracts, and Musk can use his influence to funnel money to his companies. It’s not just Musk’s companies that cause concern, it’s his staffers. They are all between the ages of 19 and 24 and have no experience in the fields in which they are working. One of Musk’s staffers, 19year-old Edwin Coristine, who was once fired from a cybersecurity internship for leaking corporate secrets, is now a senior advisor to the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security, despite having no experience in relevant fields or a college degree, where he now has access to more confidential information. DOGE, with its many clear conflicts of interest and incompetent staff, is the cause of concern for many as it now has an outsized influence on federal policy
“REFLECTIONS
For two modules of this academic year, I have be conducting an independent study revolving arou the essential question “How have writers in Romantic and Victorian periods portrayed fem individualism?” As someone interested in literatu and writing, this study offered me a unique path study material that is not covered in the classro like Jane Austen, The Brontë sisters, and Elizab Barrett Browning Throughout my research, I ha read various works and attempted to examine th within historical and social contexts
For Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight some ways that the Upper School community promotes a gender-inclusive environment. One example is the elimination of gender-designated roles in student government. Since 2022, students have been able to vote for any candidate regardless of gender, which allows for more merit-based voting that elects effective leaders without constraints. In addition, our school boasts many well-respected and successful women working in our staff and faculty The administrative team, in particular, is almost entirely all-female, greatly supports our community, and facilitates deep trust from faculty The Upper School also hosts numerous clubs and extracurriculars, many of which center women in strong leadership roles and feature overwhelming support and participation from girls in our community Our St Anne’s girls' sports teams raise the bar in athletics and consistently produce competitive stars of high caliber. Our female athletes set records and win tournaments across the board. Above all, our school guarantees that teachers and faculty pay attention to the specific needs of students according to their diverse backgrounds and identities. No matter who someone is, they can rest assured there will always be someone in the Upper School who will support them. Gender will always have an important role to play in our school but the gender divide grows smaller every day. Female students and faculty alike excel in what they do and lead the way forward to a better community.
One author and her novel left a lasting impression on me: Charlotte Brontë and her story Jane Eyre From the time that she was a little girl, Charlotte knew that she wanted to write in order “to be forever known” (Miller) That determination never faded, driving her throughout her lifetime As her protagonist notes, “A varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils” (Bronte 101). Charlotte’s journey encapsulates that quote, consisting of schooling, teaching, and struggling. Her hard work finally culminated in her most well known novel Jane Eyre, published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847. Jane Eyre received varied responses from her audience. The novel differed wildly from the majority of books at the time, having a confident and strong female narrator and pulling on radical themes like that of class mobility and gender equality. While most agreed about the novel’s captivating plotline and beautiful style, many families deemed the content too radical and forbade their daughters from reading it The book became controversial but its overall success cemented its spot as the most successful Brontë novel while also sparking interest in Emily and Anne or Ellis and Acton as the public knew them
The ambiguous gender of the pseudonyms aimed to provide the sisters a shield against the prejudice that often fell on female authors, but due to the content and style of the writing, speculation emerged that the Bell family might be women. Initially, few people knew the truth about the Bell family, but later in 1848, the sisters visited their publisher and revealed the truth. Even after revealing themselves to the publisher, they intended to stay anonymous to the public, but after Anne and Emily’s deaths, Charlotte wrote a “Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell,” which was published in new editions of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey in which she told the public the truth. The reception of this news varied from person to person, but her revelation allowed her to attend events publicly and move into English literary circles, eventually befriending people like Elizabeth Gaskell who would become her first biographer in 1857 The legacy of Charlotte’s work is convoluted, with ups and downs Like any radical piece of literature, some fought the change that Charlotte sought to create, but even the most opposed parties could not argue with her writing Her talent and determination granted her a platform for influence which she utilized to advocate for equality and showcase her ideal social order
A new technology called quantum computing is on the rise Instead of being confined to the traditional ones and zeros of coding, a quantum bit, or qubit, can represent a one and zero at the same time, allowing for quantum parallelism Essentially, this means that quantum computers can complete tasks much more efficiently than traditional computers. They can also perform entirely new tasks that are not possible without quantum properties. However, with these new opportunities comes an equal set of potential downfalls. Perhaps the most prominent of these pertains to crypto. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that don’t rely on a centralized authority. Instead, they are run on networks called blockchains and are operated by users and developers. They are primarily owned as investments but are gradually becoming adopted as tender. The inherently decentralized nature of cryptos is what makes them unique, but it also poses a vulnerability to quantum attacks This article will discuss the adversities that most cryptocurrencies will face as quantum computing develops, as well as a new, unexplored currency that could come out on top
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rely on encryption called elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) This system is built up of a public and private key Each key is a string of letters and numbers that are used to verify transactions. Private keys are used to create a unique signature when you spend the currency but the key itself is never revealed. Your public key is used by the buyer to verify the signature and is thereafter made viewable to the public via a transaction history database on the blockchain. Public keys are derived from their private key. This means that it is easy to determine a public key given the private key but it is impossible to find someone's private key from their public key because ECC is a one-way encryption. The only way to determine a private key given the public one with today’s technology is a brute force search, when a computer checks each possibility one by one. This would take trillions of years for even the fastest supercomputers
Scientists predict that an advanced quantum computer could break ECC in a couple of hours It could do this using Shor’s Algorithm, a procedure that relies on quantum properties like superposition (i e a qubit’s unique ability to be in a state of both one and zero at the same time) and entanglement (i e when one qubit’s state can be determined by measuring another).
Shor’s Algorithm uses parallelism to solve complex logarithms like the ones used to reverse elliptic curve cryptography. If a hacker has access to a quantum computer, they could find an exposed public key and use Shor’s Algorithm to find the matching private key. The attacker could then steal the digital identity of the crypto’s owner and spend the currency as their own ECC isn’t just used for cryptocurrencies It is commonly used to encrypt private communication, government and military data, and banking information. So why are cryptos so much more vulnerable? This is partially due to the accessibility of the public keys. Since cryptos are decentralized, there is no authority to verify transactions It is up to the community and trading platforms to use the sellers' public keys to prove that the seller is legitimate In other establishments like banks, public keys aren't actually public. When they verify transactions the keys are only exposed within the bank's centralized system, never being released to the public. This means that a hacker would first have to steal the public keys before they could use them to decrypt the data Cryptocurrencies don’t have the option to hide public keys because they rely on the community to verify trades To do that, the community needs access to the public key. A decentralized design also introduces challenges when it comes to implementing changes to the blockchain. An institution run by a company or government can quickly adapt to challenges by swiftly executing a plan However, any changes to a blockchain have to go through committees of developers, miners, and operators and require broad consensus. Most experts predict that it will be at least 10 to 20 years before quantum computers become strong enough to break ECC However, if blockchains aren’t prepared by then, billions of dollars will be stolen before any defense measures can be established If this happens, the very technology that cryptocurrencies are built on will be rendered useless and crypto’s value will be destroyed. Anyone who had spent crypto would be exposed to theft. Even the biggest cryptos like Bitcoin would drop to near-zero prices Core developers would likely try to implement an emergency shift to post-quantum encryption However, unless all trading platforms, miners, and crypto holders agree to the development, cryptos like Bitcoin could split, which means the network divides itself, creating two independent versions of the currency.
Although a rapid advancement in quantum computing would be detrimental to many aspects of the crypto world, it might not be all bad. Along with countless post-quantum encryption companies whose stocks will likely soar in the coming decade, a new type of crypto is also emerging The first post-quantum cryptocurrency has been released The new currency, called Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL), uses lattice-based cryptography instead of ECC. While there is no knowing if it will be safe forever, the technology it uses is considered to be the leader in post-quantum encryption. QRL uses private and public keys just like any other cryptocurrency However, the relationship between between the two is different Instead of the public key being derived from the private key using ECC, it is derived using lattice cryptography. This is a complex encryption method built up of grids with points in multiple dimensions. Both keys are composed of points on the grid The public key is a transformed version of the private key with added noise, or extra points that aren’t supposed to be there There is no known way for a quantum computer to determine the original private key from the public one when lattice cryptography is used.
When this article was written, QRL was the only quantumresistant crypto on the market and was being traded at 50 cents per coin (up 58% this year) From analyzing the coin's short history, its value is largely correlated to advancements in quantum computing For example, over two months in 2018, when IBM made its first quantum breakthroughs, QRL’s value increased almost 500%. A similar spike occurred last year when Google announced the creation of a quantum computer chip With over 55 billion dollars invested in quantum computing globally, we can anticipate an increase in the frequency of these breakthroughs If quantum computing continues to advance as projected, it is safe to say that there will be countless opportunities to profit off this coin in the coming years.
There is also a positive long-term stance on post-quantum cryptos Assuming that leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin take too long to adapt to quantum threats, it is likely that quantum-resistant cryptos like QRL will take their place Currently, millions of people own Bitcoin and other cryptos and there is no telling how many more people will invest over the next decade. All of these people would potentially be interested in post-quantum currencies if traditional cryptos became obsolete If QRL and similar coins become a iable replacement for Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto arket, then there is almost limitless upside. To compare, if ou bought 10 Bitcoin in 2011 for 50 cents each (for a total of ve dollars) and sold them at Bitcoin's highest price, you ould have made more than a million dollars If QRL indeed lls the shoes of Bitcoin one day, 2025 could be a chance at edemption for those who missed out on Bitcoin in its early ays However, cryptocurrencies tend to be extremely olatile when they have just recently been introduced, so veryone should practice adequate due diligence before nvesting.
