In the Press - Bright Sparks

When it comes to brilliant ideas, women have had bad press. Look up inventors on the Internet and nearly all the names that come up are male. Sure, men invented the telephone, TV, mass-manufactured motor-cars, electric light bulbs and more. We're grateful. But a women invented the wheel. Okay, I don't know for certain, but plenty of women have been denied the credit for "big ideas", so why not the wheel? Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin but it was American microbiologist Gladys Hobby who years later used his findings to come up with a workable antibiotic drug; smallpox vaccination is credited to Edwards Jenner, but way back in 1717 Lady Mary Montagu "discovered" the Turkish practice of inoculation and introduced it to England; and Marie Curie invented a prototype radiation counter similar to the one that todays bears the name of physicist Hans Geiger.

As recently as 1957, a bloke called Clarence Tuska, Director of RCA Patent Operations in the US, wrote that "though women could invent and some even did invent, it was pre-ordained that their number would be few since the Lord intended them to be mothers rather than inventors". Goodnight Clarence! Among things - great and small - that the world can thank women for are nuclear fission (Lise Meitner), drop-filter coffee (Melitta Bentz), radio-controlled torpedoes (Hedy Lamarr, obviously more than a pretty face); Barbie (Ruth Handler, the face behind that ubiquitous plastic face); the anti-fungal antibiotic Nystatin (Elizabeth Hazen and Rachel Brown); Liquid paper (Bette Nesmith graham); and Zovirax - a cold core medication (Gertrude Elion).

Aussie Success Stories

Closer to home, there are plenty of Australian women running successful businesses as a result of their brilliant ideas: Christine Kininmonth, thought up the BellyBelt, a simple attachment that allows women to wear their normal clothes through pregnancy. Emily Simpson, appalled at the orthopaedic-pink bras that were the only choice for pregnant women, introduced comfortable and sexy underwear in black, and now Emily's company Full Bloom also markets the racy Bodywise range for larger, non-pregnant women. Lee Duncan made a hippie doll as a joke, and so Feral Cheryl, the punk answer to Barbie, was born. Katrina Allen found most tampon packaging loud and inappropriate, so in 1998 introduced De Jour tampons in discreet grey, zip-lock bags, and is working on increasing her share of a $70 million market.

Weight Watchers May/June 2000