International Women's Day

Thursday, March 8th is

International Women's Day

Why not say thank you to a woman
you admire.

Here are 12 inspirational women who, I think, have helped shape our world in a positive way ...

"The lady with the lamp", Florence Nightingale, nursed wounded soldiers during the Crimean war (1853-1856). Her passion and dedication to the profession changed the public's perception about this profession. Her insistence on improving sanitary conditions for the patients is believed to have saved many lives.

"I think one's feelings waste themselves in words;

they ought all to be distilled in

actions that bring results."

Sojourner Truth escaped slavery with her infant daughter in 1826. In 1828, Truth brought a case to recover her son to court and won the filing — and was the first black woman to achieve such a victory over a white man. She became an outspoken advocate for civil rights and women's rights until her death in 1883.

"God will take care of the poor trampled slave; but where will the slaveholder be when eternity begins."

Emmeline Pankhurst, a passionate feminist, was an influential women's activist who fought along with her husband for the rights of the women in late 19th century and early 20th century. After she lost her husband, she teamed up with her three daughters and formed 'The Women’s Social and Political Union' - best known as the suffragettes (women's right to vote).  

"We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers"

Born in Warsaw, Marie Curie became the first woman Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne in 1906. She had Masters Degrees in both physics and mathematical sciences and was the first woman to obtain a Doctor of Science degree. Madame Curie was also the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. The first was in Physics in 1903, with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, for their study in spontaneous radiation. The second was in Chemistry in 1911 for her work in radioactivity.

"I was taught that the way of progress is

neither swift nor easy."

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to ever fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 and she became the first woman pilot in 1935 after flying solo from Hawaii to California. She embarked upon her lifelong dream of flying across the world in 1937, however, her flight went missing on that trip and she was never seen again.

"Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do and will not do."

Also know as "the first lady of civil rights", the African-American Rosa Parks was a pioneer of civil rights in a racially segregated Alabama in 1950s. In 1955, she refused to give away her seat to a white passenger in a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, thereby, disobeying the bus driver's orders. This act of hers sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott that crippled the state capital's public transport system.

"I have learned over the years that when one's

mind is made up, this diminishes fear;

knowing what must be done does away with fear."

Helen Keller was an author, activist, and the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Keller was a tremendous presence in advocating for people with disabilities, women's suffrage, and reproductive rights. In 1980, on the occasion of Keller's 100th, birthday, former president Jimmy Carter designated June 27 as Helen Keller Day in Pennsylvania.

                                                 

"Character cannot be developed

through ease and quiet. Only through

the experience of trial and suffering

can the soul be strengthened,

ambition inspired and success achieved."

During her stay in the Netherlands while hiding from the German forces, Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl, was gifted a diary by her father when she was 13. However, her diary was published after her death in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15. The diary served as a unique eye-witness account of life during the Holocaust (mass murder of approximately six million Jews during World War II) and it has become one of the world's most read books.

"In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all

is a kind and gentle spirit."

Originally from Macedonia, Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun. Although she spent the majority of her life in India, her international charity work included helping evacuate hospital patients in war torn Lebanon, doing earthquake relief in Armenia, and ministering to famine victims in Ethiopia. She founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the sick and poor. Among many other honours, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.”

"If you can't feed a hundred people,

then feed just one."

As the 11th prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was the first woman to head a Muslim state. She ended military dictatorship in the country, and was noted for her battle for women's rights. She was assassinated in a suicide attack in 2007.

"Democracy is the best revenge"

Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest at the hands of Burma's military regime for her pro-democracy campaigning, only gaining release in 2010 following an international campaign to see her freed. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, with the committee stating "Suu Kyi's struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades."

“In societies where men are truly confident

of their own worth, women are not merely

tolerated but valued.”

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani advocate for girls education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. In 2009, when Malala was just eleven she began blogging about life under the Taliban, speaking out directly against their threats to close girls’ schools. (Pakistan has the second highest number of children out of school and two-thirds of them are female.) The blog on BBC Urdu garnered international attention while also making her the target of death threats. In October 2012, a gunman shot her and two other girls as they were coming home from school. Malala survived the attack and in 2013 published an autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. In October 2014, Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

"The terrorists thought they would change my

aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed

in my life except this:  weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born."