Not only is March the moths for little green leprechauns, and Patrick, the patron saint of everything Irish, but here in the US, it also happens to be National Women’s History Month (http://womenshistorymonth.gov/). It is a month to celebrate the achievements of girls, young women, and the matrons of our country, and our ancestors. This years theme recognizes the diverse accomplishments of women throughout history.
Not only in the US is March a time to recognize the awesome power of women, but March 8th, this monday, is International Women’s Day (http://internationalwomensday.com/) a global day celebrating the achievements of women past, present and future! Check out the website, there are women around the world doing amazing things in celebration of this day. If you are taking part in any of those things please share what you are doing and where you are doing it.
In celebration of both National Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day I wanted to share some of the stories of women who have been an inspiration to me, as well as ask that you share your stories.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, of course, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and Lucy Stone. They were pioneers of the 19th century women’s rights movement. Learning their stories taught me to stand up for what I believe in, and fight for what I believe is right.
Rosa Parks: A women who changed the race law by not giving up her seat to a white man. (http://www.rosaparks.org/) Her story taught me that one small act can change the world. She also taught me about bravery, and again, standing up for what you believe in.
Annie Oakley: The poor back-country orphan girl who made her way to world-wide fame, was the very spirit of personal independence. She taught me you don’t always have to be “Lady Like,” you can wear pants and shoot a gun and be bad ass.
These are just a few, I will share more in the next few days with you, I hope you will do the same.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 – 1928)
Pankhurst was a leading British women’s rights activist, who led the movement to win the right for women to vote in the UK.
I am a french canadian woman … a forest engineer.
A middle men colonized for 2 decades by women. Women worked hard to get there. But now, the problem is not that we are few but rather that this profession does not attract young people … Who will take care of our forest?
Erin,
What a tribute to the phenomenal women who have inspired us and forged pathways for the rest of the us now and many more women to come.
My short list–of inspiring women– first and foremost is my mom! She rocks! Our moms should be at the top of the list always. Wouldn’t you agree?
Clara Barton–an American humanitarian and the organizier of the American Red Cross. With the recent tragedies in Haiti, Chile, I am reminded of how quickly anyone can need a helping hand and one person can provide that hand.
Glora Steinem–an American journalist and feminist. I admire her because she doesn’t care what people think and she says what she means.
Soujourner Truth–American abolitionist and a freed slave. Recently was honored a statue that will permanently grace our U.S. Capitol Building. She was a strong force and finally has been recognized for her valiant efforts.
Sandra Day O’Conner–first woman to be appointed to the highest court in the land–US Supreme Court. Sandy O’Connor finally broke up the “good ole’ boys club” when they let a girl into the club-house. I wish I could have been there on her first day on the job.
Sally K. Ride–first woman to go into space. Sally was the one who made the difference for the rest of the little girls who have been told that only men can go into space.
Sonia Sotomayor–first Hispanic woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court. Finally, not only a Hispanic, but a Hispanic “woman”….. she’s someone I’d love to sit and have a cup of coffee with just pick her brain.
Audrey Hepburn, actress who turned Humanitarian–named ambassasor to UNICEF–making it her life’s mission to improve the conditions around the world for children. The day that Ms. Audrey died–the world lost one of the best women God ever created.
There are hundreds of thousands of other phenomenal women and we could spend all month listing them and we’d still not be done. So, I’d say that we should honor a woman every month. An everyday ordinary woman who still has made a difference in the world, in someone’s life, or legislation. Just a thought!
Keep Rockin’ it EKellyGirl!
Lots-o-love,
Dana
hi Erin ,
there’s always be a lot of women I admire, that have done great things and who have shown us the path!
Here is some of my favourite ones :
First, I know people are not always agree with her but for me Brigitte Bardot is a wonderful woman. She’s doing a lot to save animals life, the babies seals are her most known fight and after all these years fighting against nations, men, presidents … she succeeded and the hunting is over
Joan of Arc and Cleopatra are also great women of the past; they have rised nations and mens who have follow them in battle, with their ideas. And in these past ages it was not so easy !
Anne Bonny and Mary Read are famous pirates who travelled the world in their own ship during the 18′s century !
Mother Theresa, this little woman was a saint, she helped so many people, childs around the world living just in poverty but with a so big heart !
there are so many more, here it’s just a beginning.
take care,
lots of love,
steph
Erin,
Kudos to your recognition of those outstanding female figures in our life.
Dana…I completely agree that MOM’s need to be top of mind. I celebrate everything my mother has done in her life and for all she is. She is my rock!! She’s shown me I can be whatever & whoever I want to be; to follow my heart and stand firm on my beliefs.
I’ve become an animal rights activist and a few woman that have strengthened my beliefs and encouraged me to follow my dreams:
Ingrid Newkirk: President & co-founder of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.) Under Ingrid’s leadership, legislation was passed to create the first-ever spay-and-neuter clinic in Washington, D.C. She coordinated the first arrest in U.S. history of a laboratory animal experimenter on cruelty charges and helped achieve the first anti-cruelty law in Taiwan. She spearheaded the closure of a Department of Defense underground “wound laboratory,” and she has initiated many other campaigns against animal abuse, including ending General Motors’ car-crash tests on animals. She is the voice for animals!!
Dian Fossey: Her dedication to zoology and her research on primates. The work she did is continued even after her death.
Jane Goodall: Animal rights activist. The former president of Advocates for Animals, her voice speaks for animals. Her persistant push for animal rights with the Jane Goodall Institution.
Sacagawea: Need I say more??
Virginai Woolf: The great modernist literary figure of the 20th century. She opened many door to the literary works everyone reads now.
It saddens me that people only honor woman for a month when in actuality it should be ongoing recognition.
Like a female lion would say..”I am woman, hear me roar!!”
Much love,
Jacki
Olympe de Gouges ; Théroigne de Méricourt ; and more recently Simone de Beauvoir and Simone Veil…
Jacki : “It saddens me that people only honor woman for a ‘day’ when in actuality it should be ongoing recognition”. me too
bonne nuit et bonne continuation
Erin,
Thanks for your post and sharing the women who have made a difference in your life.
Here are a few of mine:
Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady/Humanitarian/UN Diplomat who addressed issues such as child welfare, social reform and equal rights.
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Mother Teresa: Humanitarian and advocate for poor and helpless.
“In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa
Coretta Scott King: Humanitarian and widow of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”
Coretta Scott King
These are just a few women who make me proud to be a woman.
Thanks Erin!!!
Cathy
Erin…
thanks for inspiring me to think about this…
I often read accounts of polar exploration. Especially in the hot weather ( it works!)…I greatly admire and seek inspiration from Ada Blackjack Johnson.
She was a young Inuit mother who on September 16th 1921 signed on as a cook and seamstress for what became a failed expedition to claim Wrangel Island. She was the lone survivor of the four man one woman voyage. ( a female cat named Vic also survived!)I recommend Jennifer Niven’s book on the subject.
When I feel that I am up against an obstacle in life I just think of Ada, alone with virtually no supplies on Wrangel Island near Sibera, a city woman with no knowledge of this harsh landscape…teaching herself how to survive in a wilderness of no return. She walked out of there and on to a rescue ship two years later and returned to her small son, Billy and lived a quiet life until the age of 85.
A shout out to Angelina my 101 1/2 yr old grandmother! She’s not growing old she is growing up!
Be well
Jade
indeed many women, past and present have inspired many changes.
personally for me….many will laugh…but the first woman i have do and alway will be grateful to is Dolly Parton! she’s an angel and has done a great deal for a great many people (siging aside) i’m 33 and have followed her life since i was 6.
and secondly….also many may laugh! Captain Katherine Janeway….who yes doesn’t really exist, however many many women have mentioned to the actress that it was her role as the first female captain on star trek that made them feel they can do anything they put their mind too….some have even studdied to be astronaughts simply from watching her as captain!
ummm i’m going to go hide under a rock now that i’ve just written all this….if you have read it just let it go out the other ear lol i just really had to say it
take care guys
oh, j’aimerais juste ajouter Soeur Emmanuelle (1908-2008), une grande dame fraçaise…qui a fait de sa vie un engagement pour la solidarité
FYI here is a little about how, over the decades, International Women’s Day has changed it’s view of “who” is oppressing women:
International Women’s Day was created in 1910 to promote socialist political objectives and was always referred to by the Communist name ‘International Working Women’s Day’. It was restricted primarily to the Soviet bloc. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the word ‘working’ was largely dropped along with it’s socialist meaning. Beginning in the 1970’s IWD became a vehicle for feminist concerns. Whereas IWWD was previously used to highlight women’s oppression by a class of bourgeois upper class men and women, 1970s feminists changed the basis of the day by stating that men as a class of “chauvinists” completely controlled women who were each and all men’s victims. Women were no longer viewed as part of the bourgeois upper class. One can say that in the 1970s IWD became a brand new IWD with males -all males- for the first time being promoted as the single enemy. But even with this new ideological basis IWD limped along as a fairly insignificant world event until 1980s when “Patriarchy Theory” was elaborated as the brand new theory and also new basis for the need to observe IWD. It was in the 1980s that women began to celebrate IWD in vast numbers (mostly out of a new concern that men were out to oppress them) and on this basis the event has continued to grow primarily in terms of a gender war, the principle being that men alone as a privileged class hurt women alone as the oppressed class. International Men’s Day has a completely different reason for coming into being. Although IMD objectives occasionally intersect with those of IWD, such as advocating equality between the sexes, it is predominately about celebrating positive male role models, a very worthy aim in a social context which tends to highlight ONLY males behaving badly. Said concisely, International Women’s Day started as a day for women to promote socialist objectives, especially for proletarian women to fight against oppression by the upper bourgeois class comprised of men and women both. In the 1970’s it became a new movement claiming that men alone oppressed women, and that IWD will be used as a vehicle to promote, primarily, an assumed gender war. Said differently IWD shifted from being a class war, to a gender war. International Men’s Day is not based on the assumption of a gender war. IMD is primarily about promoting and celebrating positive male role models in a contemporary world context which is obsessed with teaching all young boys and girls that males behave badly, and only badly.