Women’s history month: Saluting seven central Ohio women

From its earliest days until the present, the collective contributions of women are staggering in terms of the history of this region. The following list spotlights seven women whose contributions to Central Ohio are indeed noteworthy, as we celebrate Women’s History Month.

Since the earliest days of Ohio, women have played a major role in the growth and development of the state. Women have also made significant contributions to their communities in many ways. In particular, women were influential in developing churches and schools, believing that these institutions had a civilizing effect on society. As the population expanded, they organized various reform movements, such as temperance associations, to try to instill good moral values in their fellow Ohioans. They also played important roles in other reform movements, including abolition and prison reform.

As Ohio developed during the nineteenth century, women made enormous contributions to life in the state. They contributed to the family's economic well-being by making much of what the family needed to survive. In addition to taking care of the home and raising children, women provided medical care, raised livestock, grew vegetable gardens to supplement the family's diet, made butter, candles, and soap, preserved food for the winter months, and made their family's clothing, often from cloth that they wove themselves.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women continued to care for their families, as women increasingly found employment in Ohio factories. They continued to contribute to cultural developments in the state, especially in the arts, in reform movements, in education and other areas. Over the course of Ohio’s history, women have explored various careers and achieved success as entrepreneurs, lawyers and elected officials.

Information for this list was obtained from Ohio History Central.