“Behind every great man, there’s a great woman.” That old saying that meant to give visibility to women, was nothing but a patriarchal saying disguised as equality that ended up keeping women at a lower level than men in the social pyramid. Basically, all of the most notorious men in history, still praised for their work in the arts, social activism, science, politics, entertainment, etc., could’ve never gotten to that status of fame and celebration without the work of the women they shared their lives with.
Some of them worked hand in hand along with their partners, others took credit for their work, but what is true in all cases is that these women have strongly been overshadowed by their husband’s success. Not only that, in most cases, history has deliberately pushed them to oblivion or placed them as secondary characters in these stories of success. Today we’re going to give them the spotlight and credit they’ve always deserved.
Lillian Disney
There’s no doubt that Walt Disney became one of the most famous people in history to the point that his work derived into the most influential and powerful entertaining company in the world. Well, we all know that Walt would probably have never gotten that far without his iconic character Mickey Mouse.
Turns out, the ambitious Walt was also quite stubborn. He wanted his character to be named Mortimer Mouse and would go the extra mile to make that happen. Lillian, who had a very good eye for marketing, knew she had to do something because a name like Mortimer wouldn’t do anything for the brand. Without her, neither Mickey nor Disney would’ve gained the popularity they enjoyed.
Lillian was Walt’s personal secretary but did way much more than that. She was in charge of reviewing and giving her input on basically all of Walt’s original ideas. Besides that she was known for working as an ink artist in the company, being the film Plane Crazy, the most famous one.
Lee Krasner
Talking about making their husband work worthy, we have Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollok’s talented wife. An artist herself, Krasner was part of the Abstract Expressionist movement from the 40s to the 70s. Being a male-dominated discipline and art movement, Krasner found it hard to thrive by herself. Still, she never gave up and was certain her art was worthy. Her husband thought it as well.
In 1949, Krasner and Pollock decided to exhibit their art together in a show they named Artists: Man and Wife. Again, being a male-dominated world, Pollock gained a lot of popularity and praise. But he would’ve never gotten it without the work of Krasner, who was known for constantly polishing up Pollok’s work. Once he was done with her splats and brushstrokes, Krasner would take the new painting and fixed the lines and shapes he had created. She basically leveled up his ‘spontaneous’ by giving artistic worth to it.
Not only that, Krasner would basically reach art critics to talk about both their art and sell it to the most notorious art galleries in New York. It’s well known an episode in which she talked to one of the most important critics in the scene, even having long conversations about her own art. The critic only wrote about Pollock.
When Pollock died, Krasner ventured into a new artistic current. Many critics believe it was freeing from Pollock’s shadow and style that allowed Krasner to evolve into a great artist. Most of her most renowned paintings were created after Pollock’s passing. Still, Pollock’s fame would’ve passed into oblivion had Kresner not preserved his legacy and move his work throughout the most important art galleries in the world, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Pompidou Centre.
Coretta Scott King
Best known as the First Lady of the Civil Rights, Coretta Scott was married to the famous Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, Coretta wasn’t a simple secondary character in the important Civil Rights Fight; no, she was an active leader that didn’t even blink an eye when it came to carrying out with the movement after king’s assassination.
Coretta was present in every single protest, and stride Martin Luther King attended. Not only that, she would organize her own strides whenever he wasn’t available. She was a key player in creating and passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act and created the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, in 1968 after her husband’s passing.
Besides her non-stopping work as a Civil Rights activist, what most people ignore is that Coretta was a true jack of all trades. She was a very talented singer and violinist, but from a very early age, she knew her life should be devoted to activism and fighting for the oppressed. She was an active protester against the Vietnam War, the Apartheid system in South Africa, and quite a supporter of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Coretta Scott King is a woman we should be talking and celebrating more often.
Jackie Kennedy
Around the same time, there was a woman that rose into prominence though not exactly for her talents, but her image of the perfect wife and First Lady. Jackie Kennedy was seen as a sweet obedient wife with a tender voice and a love for fashion, but she was way much more than that. John F. Kennedy had all the help available to reach the White House and one of the most important support came from no other than Jackeline, a cultivated and smart woman who knew exactly how to create the perfect image of a presidential couple.
John was amazed and constantly threatened by Jackie’s cultural and social wisdom, which she knew perfectly how to use to achieve all her goals. Not only that, she was a polyglot woman with a hunger to learn and cultivate herself. She was seen as a delicate decorative ornament in Kennedy’s political career, but she was definitely a mastermind that constructed that career. She had to demonstrate her power and braveness through tragedy, but she definitely proved she was the owner of her life.
Evita Perón
Evita was also a woman that was constantly referred to as a decorative pawn in her husband’s political career, but once again, without her, Juan Perón would probably never sit in the presidential chair. María Eva Duarte was a former model and actress who loved being the center of attention. Since she was 15 she was determined to become a famous woman and worked hard to achieve it.
She managed to make a name of her own in theater, radio, and television, though it wasn’t anything like the fame she was going to acquire years later. She met Juan Perón, an Argentinian colonel, and accompanied him throughout his presidential campaign to the point that she was key to placing him there in 1946.
Juan was a smart politician with great ambition, but he clearly lacked charisma and social abilities. Eva had everything, the wits, the ambition, the image, and the charisma to actually take the job; all but a big defect, she was a woman in a patriarchal and misogynistic society. The best she could do was to help her husband achieve his goal, and by doing so, she ended up discovering her real true passion, social work.
Evita changed her husband’s image both literally and figuratively. She made him more appealing, charming, and even funny which helped him connect with the masses. While doing so, she also started positioning herself more and more under the spotlight not only as the wife of a presidential candidate but as an empowered woman willing to serve her country.
As First Lady of Argentina, Eva Perón became an advocate of the suffragette movement in the country knowing that allowing women to vote and have the rights they deserved wasn’t only a social service but a weapon she could use herself in the political world. She was also known for her social work helping the poor and giving them access to basic needs they didn’t have, including housing and education. If that wasn’t enough, she was known for being involved in practical issues of her husband’s administration even running the ministries of health and labor.
Of course, most of her work was made behind the curtains because having a woman running a country was pretty much frowned upon back then. Evita died young of cervical cancer, but her legacy remained on the subject of gender equality. Since then, there have been two female presidents in Argentina.
Mileva Maric
Mileva Maric’s story is the best example of misogyny disguised as greatness and genius. She was a brilliant physicist and mathematician who became the fifth woman to be accepted at the Zurich Polytechnic, one of the most prestigious science universities in Europe, and whose worst destiny was falling for his eccentric classmate, a guy called Albert Einstein.
Turns out Mileva had potential and a great future ahead of her in the scientific world, but the gender norms of the time and a misogynistic husband ended up breaking all those dreams. She had worked all her life to be respected in the field, something that wasn’t easy, but after her marriage to Einstein and the birth of their children, Mileva was forced into a life devoted to her home.
To make things worse and what many people ignore is that behind Einstein’s big accomplishments in science and famous theories, was Mileva’s work. She would revise each of Einstein’s papers and fact-check the math work on them; moreover, whenever he was blocked, she would take over and solve the problems. So, probably we wouldn’t have E=mc2, or at least Einstein would’ve not come up with the theory without Mileva’s work.
