Kathy Hamilton Today is International Women’s Day and so I thought it would be fun to compile a list of 10 inspiring women. From suffragettes to pirates, each woman on this list led a fascinating life, worthy of being remembered. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed researching it!
What is International Women’s Day?
Each year, on March 8th, we celebrate women around the world. It was first observed in 1910, in New York as a way to commemorates the movement for women’s rights. From then it has grown in popularity. Today it celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl is a perfect example of an inspiring woman in my opinion. Alongside her friends and brothers, Sophie headed up the White Rose movement (a non-violent dissenting group opposed to the Nazi party). In 1942 she was executed by guillotine for opposing the Nazi Regime. She was just 21.
I could continue to write about Sophie Scholl. However, I think her final words, on the day of her execution, are far more eloquent. “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if, through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”
Jennie Lee
Next up on this list of 10 inspiring women is Jennie (Janet) Lee. Born in Fife, Scotland to working-class parents in 1904, Jennie Lee dreamed of attending university at a time when the cost of attending was far out of reach of the average person. Despite this, Jennie took the only means open to her of continuing her studies. She became a trainee teacher at Edinburgh University.
She eventually became one of the first female MPs and a pioneering socialist who dreamed in access to higher education for all people, regardless of cost or social status. It is largely through her grit and determination to see this dream become a reality that the Open University was established in 1969. It currently has one the largest undergraduate student bodies in the UK. And it continues to see the dreams of Jennie Lee and her fellow dreamers flourish.
Harriet Tubman
Born into slavery in 1822, Harriet Tubman was widely respected in her lifetime and became an American Icon after her death. Harriet managed to escape slavery in 1849. She subsequently made thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people using the network of anti-slavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
During the American Civil War, Harriet Tubman was the first woman to lead an armed expedition. She guided a raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves. In her later years, Tubman worked to promote the cause of women’s suffrage. A white woman once asked Tubman whether she believed women ought to have the vote, and received the reply: “I suffered enough to believe it.”
Emily Wilding Davison
Emily Wilding Davison was a suffragette, most famous for being killed by the King’s horse at Epsom Derby. However, her passion for Women’s Suffrage goes far beyond this single, tragic, act. In fact, her dedication to fighting for Women’s right to vote led her to be arrested on nine occasions. She also went on hunger strike seven times and force-fed on forty-nine occasions.
For me, her shining moment came in 1911. Determined to establish the right of women to sit in parliament, Emily hid in a cupboard in the Houses of Parliament. The reason? The 1911 census took place the same night, allowing her to declare her residence as the seat of British Government. A procession of 5,000 suffragettes and their supporters accompanied her coffin and 50,000 people lined the route through London after her funeral in 1913.
Chief Kachindamoto:
A Malawi Chief who has made it her mission to end child marriage. Chief Kachindamoto has informal authority over more than 900,000 people. In 2015 Malawi passed a law that forbade marriage before the age of 18. However, the constitution and the customary law administered by the traditional authorities still say that children can marry if the parents agree.
Chief Kachindamoto has been instrumental in changing the perception of child marriage in her country. Her focus has been on ensuring every child in her jurisdiction receives a proper education. She told has said: “I don’t want youthful marriages, they must go to school.
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was not the first woman to be published. However, for me, Aphra Behn more than earns a place on this list of 10 inspiring women for one important reason. She was the first woman in the UK to actively pursue payment for her work. Thus carving a career for herself in a previously male domain.
Over the years her reputation has suffered a battering. However, she is now, rightly recognised as one of the key dramatists of the 17th Century. Her prose work is also regarded as key in the development of the novel. In many ways, Aphra Behn is the original glass ceiling smasher. Thanks to her, English Literature is richer and fuller than it would have been if she hadn’t opened a door for the women who followed her.
Jean Baret
Jean was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. In 1766 the intrepid botanist, Jean set off on her journey. Disguised as a man named Jean, she boarded French ship and proceeded to sail around the world. On her way she set about collecting a wide variety of plant samples, which she studied intensively.
When her true gender was finally discovered she was forcibly removed from the ship in Mauritius. It took her almost a decade to finally work her way home to her native France. By which time, she was lauded as an ‘extraordinary woman’ by the French nation thanks to her work in progressing the field of Botany.
Mary Leapor
Ah, this is a personal indulgence for me. I’ve included Mary Leapor on this list of 10 inspiring women because I think she deserves far more credit than she gets. Mary was a self-educated, working-class woman who lived in the early eighteenth century. She managed to fit in her passion for writing poetry between her job as a servant.
Today Mary Leapor’s work is celebrated for its sharp observations about life as a woman in the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, Mary Leapor died of the measles when she was 24. I often wonder what she would have been able to achieve if she had lived a longer life.
Sayyida Al Hurra
A legendary sixteenth-century Islamic pirate. Sayyida also governed the city of Tétouan in Northern Morocco She ruled the Mediterranean Sea for almost 30 years and wreaked havoc on the Spanish and Portuguese ships that sailed there between 1515 and 1542.
Interestingly, Sayyida Al Hurra’s name literally translates to “noble lady who is free and independent; the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority.” and if that’s not a perfect reason to include her on a list of 10 inspiring women on International Women’s day then I don’t know what is! Sadly, she was the last woman to hold the Al Hurra title, but I think it’s time it made a comeback don’t you?
Anonymous
“I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”- Virginia Woolf
I want to dedicate the final place on this list of 10 inspiring women to Anonymous. The women who lived extraordinary lives that went unnoticed. And also the women who never had the chance. In this list of 10 inspiring women, I wanted to take the opportunity to acknowledge that women still have to fight to be heard.
Even today women often have to struggle to access education. believe that the tide is turning. I hope that in my lifetime I will live to see all women have the ability to access education. In the words of Michelle Obama: “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”
Who would make your list of 10 inspiring women?
There are so many inspiring women that it was impossible to narrow down this list. I decided to focus on women who I find fascinating, personally. But that’s not to say that aren’t 1000s more out there! If you were making this list of 10 inspring women, who would you chose?
