7 Things Women Invented First ...

We can thank Bette Nesmith Graham for this wonderful office essential! She was a typist from Texas who used white paint to cover her mistakes, and in 1950, invented the liquid paper! This stuff may come in a small bottle, but for those of us with office reports and term papers due, it equals LIFE SAVING DEVICE at certain times. Not to mention that it saves a lot of time and paper! Hey, I'm all for protecting the trees and going green, aren't you?

Many lives have been saved thanks to the smallpox vaccine, a thing women invented first! Sixteenth century noblewoman Lady Mary Wortley Montagu saved many lives by bringing this Turkish folk remedy back home to England. And it worked! Look at how far the smallpox vaccine has advanced today! I'm not sure how it was administered back then, but I do know that we would probably still be suffering without it today.

Ok, so DNA wasn't INVENTED by a woman. How could it be? But it was partially discovered by a woman! Rosalind Franklin played a very pivotal role in mapping out the double helix in the 1950s. She ended up receiving most of her awards posthumously, but we do give her credit today. DNA helps out mankind in many ways. Not only has it helped us advance in health and well-being, but our research fields have broadened, and crimes have been solved more efficiently all because of DNA.

If any of you have loved ones serving in the military, or are the least bit patriotic, you can appreciate this invention as much as I do! Helen Greiner cofounded iRobot. Still in the dark? Well, their company has a packbot that dismantles explosives, and his disarmed thousands of bombs in Iraq. What a great thing women invented first! But a great invention no matter WHO invented it, right?

Now here's a fabulous thing that women invented first! Spanx! Women everywhere (and some men!) are so thankful for THIS invention. Sarah Blakely, comedian turned entrepreneur, invented this fabulous piece of material in 1998. How on earth did we survive without it before then? I don't know, but I'm glad we never have to venture the perilous waters of tight dresses without it from here on out, aren't you? That might be a scary journey to make alone!

As you eat your lunch today, you can be grateful to Margaret Knight, who created the paper sack machine in the 1870s! You didn't know we've had paper bags that long, did you? Well, we certainly did! And from grocery stores, to school lunches, to arts and crafts, we've definitely gotten our use out of them. What a nifty little invention, Margaret!

Mothers all over the world can thank Marion Donovan for inventing the disposable diaper in 1950! If not for this life-saving invention, we'd still be up to our elbows in dirty poop water washing out re-usable cloth diapers! Not to mention the thousands of diaper pins to keep up with! No, I think I'm very grateful to this woman! Even though I don't have children of my own yet, I've changed my share of babies diapers so I do know what it's like. And it makes sense that this was a thing women invented first, doesn't it?

While I'm not a women's rights activist, I do believe credit should be given where credit is due, especially when it comes to the things women invented first. And so I think this is a great list of things women invented first! There are so many other things invented by women-the dishwasher, the fire escape, alphabet blocks- and the list goes on and on and on! Do YOU know of any cool and amazing things women invented first? Do comment below and share!

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