On International Womens Day to ask which women have inspired you and why..?

[sensuallettuce]

Mine would be Ellen Mcarthur because I think her acheivements are awesome and she was so determined to do what she set out to she brought her first small boat with her pocket money, and to sail round the world alone is an incredible thing to do.

Meryl Streep because I love all her films, think she is an amazing actress, comes across as very funny and intelligent and I like how she doesn't flaunt her family in front of the media and is a private person.

My third is my Grandmother who was quite simply amazing :)

Emmeline Pankhurst, nuff said.

My Grandmother (we must be related because mine was quite simply amazing too). She was a single mother before it was normal, kind, loving, political, funny and she smelled nice too.

Really? Mine was also an unmarried single mother in 1945!!

It would have to be my mum. She died aged just 40 from breast cancer when I was 12. She was a very strong woman and her spirit lives on... At age 15 she was involved in an airgun rifle accident (boys messing around outside her school) and was blinded in one eye. Despite this she went on to college and eventually became a primary school Deputy Head. She suffered a stroke at age 37, recovered from this and then got the breast cancer. She had a wonderful strenght of character and I've got some great memories of her. So sad she never got to know my children as she would have been a lovely granny I'm sure. Still miss her every day.

Other women who've inspired me.... Camila Batmangheligjh who formed Kids Company would have to be high on my list.

today was my great granp's birthday, i am lucky that in my family our longevity is such that i had her in my life well into my late teens

she was not famous or important, but with grit, bravery, determination, kintunedyzdness and a lot of humour she did the work that has traditonally been women's lot: stepping into the breach, and in a non showy way, holding the whole world together. She raised orphans, fed hungry people, and started from scratch more than once after wars destroyed all she had. She held the rest of our family together when some of them were in prisoner of war camps, or refugees, or buried in hasty graves, location unknown.

She was our centre.

I think about her and women like her on IWD, as well as all the amazing women whose names are known to history for their achievements, because women's history is largely unwritten.

sofija, i love you!

oh FAIL

that should have been great granny

Truthfully?

Moondog

And

AppropriatelyTrained

Too many to name. :)

But today I want to give a special mention to this wonderful, inspirational, courageous woman. This article makes me sad but also proud to know her.

Chitterchatter - your post really moved me

The nurses during the fall of Singapore.

Sue Townsend.
Single mum of three kids by her early twenties, lived in a council house, had fuck all and lots of jobs to survive.
She started writing plays for community theatre, and ended up writing the Adrian Mole books, which are genius, and I luff her.

My mom.

The Red cross nurses of the first world war.

Fanny Deakin, a woman from my home town who was an early Labour councillor and was instrumental in the campaign for decent maternity care for poor working class women and giving free milk to young children.

And of course the nurses in Hong Kong.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. She was the first female president of the Family Division of the High Court and frequently had to deal with cases that had no right answer (right to die cases etc) and required decision that no-one would want to make. She always dealt fairly with all participants, giving them as much dignity as was possible and coming to fair decisions.

Also, Queen Noor of Jordan. An American career woman married to an Arab head of state. Working woman, charity fund raiser, mother, step-mother and Queen too.

Dorothy Hodgkin

and Eleanor Dodson

Proof that motherhood is entirely compatible with being an excellent scientist.

Sojourner Truth African American woman born into slavery and escaped with her daughter. Later took the white owner of her son to court, and won her case. Advocate of Womens rights.

Yes, she can be a loon, but Germaine Greer for "The Female Eunuch".

I'm astonished at how widely she's loathed here in Australia, and await her transformation into "our Germy" when she's dead. Clive James isn't liked very much, either. Both have committed the sin of not living in Godzone.

My Mother

Thatcher

Lovely post and lovely replies to read.

I would say:

Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the US to qualify as a medical doctor. This quotation by her is really special to me: '"For what is done or learned by one class of women becomes, by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all women.

Also Christine de Pizan, who is basically SGB in another time.

I would also say my cousin, who was not remotely feminist and was an Anglican nun. She died a few years ago. I think of her because she had a very certain purpose in life and she taught me never to settle for less than the absolute maximum I was worth, and never to underestimate any other woman, but always to be certain of the best in people. I think that is a valuable skill and I do believe her time (several decades) in a woman-only space made her instinctively supportive of women. And that makes me sure international women's day is not just about women who know they're into women's rights.

And at risk of being to corny (but if not now, when?) a lot of the women who post on here - you are amazing and supportive and wonderful.

Fabulous thread. Poly Styrene inspired me.

Jane Tomlinson as she had such courage and spirit.

So many wonderful women.

Irena Sendler and Diana Lamplugh, both of who demonstrated tremendous courage and bravery in difficult and tragic circumstances. Amazing women.

Cynthia Heimel - for being smart, funny and feminist.

On a personal level, my late (and much missed) Gran and my Mum. Both of them have given me so much and I'm lucky to have them in my life.

CARRIE. Not just an inspiration, a heroine too.

Seabright - King Hussain and Queen Noor were friends of my Great Aunt. She told many tales of them and often said how remarkable Queen Noor was.