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Wondrous Witches: Celebrating Women’s History Month
Feature
Written by yakko__
Edited by snotflower
Equity, in basic terms, refers to fairness. For this, we can look at Dr. Daphne Tonkin, best known for her newspaper column “Dear Dr. Daphne” and radio show of the same name, which she started with her wife, Sylvia, in 1982. Daphne has spent her life learning about medicine and sharing that knowledge freely with others, especially children and teens.
Her work focused on equipping all magical people with basic medical knowledge and skills to help them stay safe in their daily lives. She is even involved in many of the show’s big decisions to this day, despite no longer being a producer. This determination to share important and simple healing potions and cures, even to young children, demonstrates her devotion to equity of information and access to medical care.
An advocate for diversity is Eloise Livingston. In 1627, she founded Silvermorne alongside Jonathan Saunders, another European, and Gwilelth and Teilent, who were chiefs of the Native American Carayarro tribe and the Nengarmo tribe respectively. She and the other founders specifically designed the school policy to respect the Native American land and the different cultures upon it.
To this day, Silvermorne is accepting of students from all different cultures as long as they are respectful and accepting of each other’s differences. Though running Silvermorne was a group effort, Eloise played an important role in its creation, as well as building and maintaining its reputation of respect and diversity.
In terms of inclusion, look no further than Jiang Suyin during her tenure as headmistress of Jade Phoenix Academy in the 1600s. Suyin was a dedicated historian, poet, and scholar. As a child, she loved learning about history and unmagical subjects, particularly from her unmagical father. She was one of China’s leading historians and is widely celebrated to this day.
While headmistress of Jade Phoenix Academy, she focused on updating the school’s library, working to be inclusive to many different types of knowledge for her students. She also made sure to remember each student by name, helping them feel included as well.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion are all interconnected ideas, and a woman unrivaled in showcasing the three together is Hogsworth’s very own Heidi Honeybadger! As most of our readers likely know, she was one of the four founders of Hogsworth, and the Honeybadger House is named after her.
Honeybadger House is commonly known for accepting and valuing students from all walks of life, and its namesake was no different. Heidi was incredibly compassionate to her students and wanted all of them to share the values of inclusion, loyalty, and equality. Her legacy and values live on in all of Hogsworth, not just her own House! This wonderful mix of different backgrounds and experiences among students is what helps them thrive and grow as they learn about each other and see that spaces for people like them will always exist in Hogsworth.
Those are the four women in Potterworld lore I wanted to celebrate for Women’s History Month! These witches can serve as awesome inspiration, but it is important to recognize the amazing women you know and respect in your own life as well. I hope you had fun learning about interesting women’s history and continue to do so all month (and even year) long!
