Happy Women’s History Month! API is celebrating our history (did you know we were founded by four women? Watch this video to hear one of them talk about API’s beginnings) as well as the history of women around the world all through March! Today we thought it’d be fun to highlight the 5 best places you can study abroad and learn more about women’s history.
1. Poland
When you study abroad with API in Poland, you’ll find yourself closer than ever to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw! The museum honors the life and legacy of Polish-born Marie Curie and also displays many of her original documents and belongings.
Why is Marie Curie important to women’s history? For starters, her work researching radioactivity has led to groundbreaking cancer treatments that we still use today. In her other scientific endeavors, she named one of the elements she discovered after her homeland (polonium). In addition, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize!
Our study abroad programs in Poland allow you to immerse yourself in the country Marie Curie knew and loved so dearly. API offers a Polish Language & Culture Summer Program (which includes an excursion to Warsaw!) as well as an Interdisciplinary semester program at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. Our semester programs include an international excursion to either Berlin or Budapest. You’ll find no shortage of women’s history anywhere you go with our API on-site staff!
2. China
Studying abroad in China comes with a dose of women’s history, especially in Beijing, where Empress Cixi was born in 1835. Because she rose through the ranks of the emperor’s concubines and orchestrated a coup after his death, she’s widely considered one of China’s most powerful women.
Cixi became feared and admired, but she also left behind immense beauty throughout China. When you tour Beijing’s Summer Palace, you’ll see restorations Cixi ordered in 1893. You can also visit the Forbidden City, where Cixi held court. The Palace of Eternal Spring and the Palace of Gathered Elegance were also renovated on her instructions.
ALL of our study abroad programs in China include an excursion to Beijing, making it easier than ever to check this women’s history destination off your bucket list!
3. Italy
From art history to science, Italy boasts a large number of amazing women who changed the world. You can truly pick a city – any city – and you’ll find ample examples of Italian women who changed the world.
If you study abroad in Florence, you can dive in to learning more about Artemisia Gentileschi. She is widely considered the first great female Italian painter. In addition, Artemisia was the first female painter to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. That’s an academy of artists that was founded in 1563, so you know it’s the real deal.
Heading to Rome? You can learn more about Rita Levi-Montalcini! The neurologist was one of two Italian scientists to receive the Nobel Prize in 1986 for their discovery of nerve growth factor. Although that might not sound like a big deal, their discovery continues to play a vital role in understanding cancers and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
API offers more than a dozen programs across Italy; from STEM to Italian language and more. Excursions to amazing places like Pompeii, Venice, Cinque Terre and more are included with many programs.
4. England
English women have Emmeline Pankhurt (among others) to thank for their right to vote! Pankhurt founded the the Women’s Social and Political Union to campaign for the right. The union’s motto, “Deeds, not words” helped rouse thousands of women to demand the right to vote alongside their male counterparts.
In addition, our Leeds, Harlaxton and London study abroad friends can take a quick train ride to Norwich. There you can learn about the woman who adorns England’s five-pound note, Elizabeth Fry! In 1817, Fry began the Association for the Improvement of Female Prisoners. She and 11 other women worked tirelessly to provide better treatment and resources for incarcerated women across England.
5. Argentina
Musical lovers know “Evita” from the Broadway hit, but Eva Peron’s impact on the people of Buenos Aires goes much farther. Peron was born in poverty but managed to find success in the 1930s as an actress before marrying Juan Peron. The following year, her husband became Argentina‘s president. Eva used her status as first lady to fight for women’s suffrage and improving the lives of the poor. Her impact on women’s history and women’s rights is priceless for Latin American women in Argentina today.
API offers several programs in Buenos Aires, from Medical Spanish Immersion to Humanities and Social Sciences. Our on-site staff take students all across Argentina to beautiful places like Tigre and Colonia Del Sacramento.
Happy Women’s History Month from all of us at API!
