In tribal communities the roles of the sexes are very well defined: men are expected to perform certain duties and women others. Neither of the two sexes are permitted to step outside these roles and doing so is condemned by strict taboos. Both are prohibited by sacred laws from carrying out certain tasks that fall to the opposite sex; it is also against the rules to use certain objects which have specific sexual connotations. Since both roles are fundamental to the survival of the community, it may be said that sexual equality is achieved. This tribal equality is not found, however, in the so-called ‘superior’ civilizations, neither in the West nor the East. The position of women has generally been under masculine authority and in many cases the female passes directly from the protection of the father to that of the husband. In western cultures when we talk about History, we talk about men who made it. Despite all this, History has given us female characters that have in some way changed the world: from Queen Saba or Hypatia, to Deborah and Salome.
There is a saying which goes: “behind every great man there is a great woman’. This collection includes many women, some famous, others less so, who have made history without standing behind any man.

      Umberto Mondini