The heroines are written in a lively language and deal with important Czech women, or if we want to say women born in the Czech lands. Most of them are hardly heard of in the public sphere, and if they are, they are usually only featured as someone's wife, or are hailed as rarities in an otherwise completely male-dominated field. Typically, these include the monarch Maria Theresa, the car racer Eliška Junkova and also the senator Františka Plamínková, who made a very significant political impact in her time.
The choice of heroines does not limit the narrative to the territory of the present-day Czech Republic, but extends throughout the former Austrian Empire and occasionally strays beyond its borders. It is thus interesting to note that all the Czech heroines did not speak Czech from birth, many spoke or wrote in German, others spent most of their lives abroad, perhaps because of the conditions in their original homeland, and still others were not appreciated by the society of their time simply because they were not willing to submit to the rules of the time.
The authors of the medallions, Kateřina Tučková, Lenka Křížová and Anna Musilová, strive for a diverse portrayal of women who have influenced our history. The captured fates show very well that women can do whatever they want, although the path to it is often more thorny.
Their fates, like those of the male heroes, about whom, however, much more has come out in the long run, show stories of courage, audacity, perseverance, loyalty and love. The women chosen by the authors for the book held the pen, the children, the scalpel, the conductor's baton and the gun, which only reflects the diversity of interests and characters of women who were not solely devoted to children and the home.
However, the idea of self-realisation that pervades the entire work is not one that the authors strike with force. Instead, they rely on multiplicity. Understanding art is as good for women as being interested in nuclear physics, being a senator, running a business, caring for the sick, driving a car on a racetrack, or piloting a plane. Especially for children who are deciding on their future careers, the book can be very stimulating.
Aneta Lakomá
Renáta Fučíková, Lenka Křížová, Kateřina Tučková a kol.: Hrdinky. Praha: Universum, 2020.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.