Well-Behaved Women Do Make History
The saying “Well-behaved women rarely make history” can be seen far too often on t-shirts, bumper stickers, totes, and pins. The slogan not only promotes misconduct and immorality, but it’s also blatantly false.
It implies that women have to act out or act up to be noticed by history, but history proves otherwise.
History Records Virtue Too
Many women who prove the statement utterly wrong come to mind. Florence Nightingale, “the Lady with the Lamp,” devotedly tended the wounded during the Crimean War, became the first woman awarded the Order of Merit, and pioneered modern nursing. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, which cares for the poorest of the poor in India, and she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Duchess Kate Middleton mothers three children, acts as a patroness of the arts, focuses her charity work on children and those with mental health issues, and has set a new standard for modesty and femininity in women’s fashion. Countless women have stood as paragons of goodness and virtue and made it into the history books.
Countless women have stood as paragons of goodness and virtue and made it into the history books.
Misbehavior Doesn’t Have To Mean Immorality
Some may make the argument that being misbehaved does not necessarily equate to immorality. Joan of Arc - the peasant girl who led the French army to victory over the English during the Hundred Years’ War - acted in a way boldly contrary to societal norms. Such actions may be regarded as “misbehaved.” However, when your actions are driven by good intentions, those actions cannot truly be considered wrong or immoral. Joan of Arc defied the culture of her time and even went to war, but she did so for the good of others.
Joan of Arc defied the culture of her time and even went to war, but she did so for the good of others.
What’s more, in today’s world, it often is in a woman’s best interest to act in a counter-cultural fashion, given that the culture does not tend to favor principled behavior. That is not misbehaving, though. Rather, it is acting out of pure love of self and others and with a desire for bringing goodness and beauty into the world.
Is Fame Better Than Virtue?
Not only is the statement erroneous at face value, but it also suggests another subtler falsehood: that we should strive for eminence (and, what’s worse, eminence at any cost). Bonnie Parker will be long remembered for her 1930s crimes and Empress Julia Agrippina for poisoning many and ultimately shepherding Nero to power. Is notoriety, when a product of one’s villainous acts, greater than virtuous obscurity? Does fame justify vice? Isn’t it better to lead a life of virtuous anonymity? It isn’t earthly fame that brings us contentment; it’s seizing the opportunities in every day to bring joy into the world.
Does fame justify vice? Isn’t it better to lead a life of virtuous anonymity?
Closing Thoughts
This inaccurate aphorism excuses and promotes immorality, discourtesy, and crass conduct — qualities to which no woman should aspire. Females should not be encouraging each other to behave badly; we should be inspiring each other to achieve the highest levels of class. We should admire goodness, remembering all of the well-behaved women who did make history, and seek to add to that litany.
Vice should not be condoned with seemingly “cute” and “harmless” t-shirt sayings. Bad behavior shouldn’t be held up as the path to distinction. Women are made for so much more. We’re not intended for infamy. We’re intended for greatness; we’re intended for true beauty.