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 :)

Its nice to be saluting amazing women on here rather than bitching at each other :)

Aung San Suu Kyi for her sheer resiliance and strength and, one that I'm sure will appear frequently, Marie Curie. It's hard to appreciate what barriers she had to overcome just by being a woman and her ability to overcome them is inspiring.

Alison Hargreaves.Mountaineer who summited Everest and died attempting K2.

'One day as a tiger is better than a thousand days as a sheep'....

Just off the top of my head, my current favorite woman who inspires me is Elizabeth Warren who is running for office in Massachusetts at the moment but her main public profile in the US is as a campaigner for consumer rights against rapacious banks. She is a professor of bankruptcy law at Harvard and has written books with her daughter about the increasing difficulties faced by families in the US due to poor lending practices and lack of access to healthcare etc. She is taking huge flak from the opposition for her advocacy of consumer rights but is staying strong.
elizabethwarren.com/

Other women whom I admire are:
Hannah Arendt
Mary Robinson - she was my heroine when I was a teenager and I actually got to meet her on the day of my college graduation!
Dervla Murphy - for being such a brave adventurer and never letting her gender hold her back
And Hillary Clinton just for staying strong through all the vicious political wars and personal attacks on her and getting her own career back on track again after being First Lady.

Veronica Guerin.

Anne Boleyn - Principled, brave and very intelligent. And Elizabeth the 1st - clever, charming, wise and brave.

They are my heroes.

i don't think Thatcher was a strong woman - quite the opposite i think she was weak. Weak in the way she could never accept any possibility that she could be wrong. Weak in that she didn't like or trust other women. Weak in the way that bullies usually are. Strong people admit when they are wrong, strong people compromise, strong people accept and embrace difference.

Dian Fossey - for her dedication.

Caitlin Moran and Lauren Laverne for being articulate, funny and generally bloody brilliant.

DD has just come back from Guides with a Gerbera tied with ribbon, given out by the leaders to celebrate International Women's Day. They had a discusssion about the day, apparently. I think it's good her Guide unit is doing things like this to raise their awareness of the day and what it can mean to some people.

My amazing mother who has never let her illnesses (Lupus and Endometriosis) stop her from living life to the fullest every day no matter how hard it is for her to get out of bed. She is an inspiration to so many people and has supported me throughout everything I've ever done in my life. I couldn't be more thankful to have her as my mum and very best friend.

And I'd like to add my Nana to the list. She died when I was 5.5, but I do remember her well, and have been told stories about her, especially her days as a district nurse (think Call the Midwife, but for medical not childbirth issues). When I was younger, I'd meet older people who, on learning who I was related too (if it came into conversation), would say stuff like "Nurse XXXX was a wonderful lady" and I'd get loads of stories.

Jade Goody - for her courage.

Maya Angelou

read her books and you will understand why she is an amazing women

also my nanny, my mum and my aunt and the women i meet everyday and have meet on my travels often i have been truely humbled by the strength of some women i have been lucky to meet in my life

Jane Goodall, for being about as good as you can be in your field.
Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, who faced her own fears and the opposition of others as well as the dangers of early spaceflight.
Marie Marvingt, pioneer aviatrix, WWI bomber pilot and inventor of the air ambulance.
Michele Mouton, 80s rally driver who snaffled herself the best car out there and showed the whole "women can't drive" thing to be the bollocks it is, coming second in the world championship.
Nico, for breaking out of the musical moulds created for her by her male accomplices, although it destroyed her in the end.
Our "Nanny" - a friend of my granny's who used to look after my brother and me. She devoted her life to children despite never having any of her own, working as a nanny, children's nurse and housemother in a children's home. She died quite recently at an advanced age. I remember her kindness and her quiet determination and single-mindedness.
"Auntie", who is my great-great-aunt and now 103, a cantankerous old bat in many ways, but feisty and independent, funny, and good at sticking up for others as well as herself.

My mum who was amazing. Brought up in the East End, incredibly elegant, known to everyone as the Duchess of Stepney because she was like royalty Hung out with lots of dodgy people (though drew the line at the Krays), had copies of Vogue sent over from France (before you could get it in the UK), even though she couldn't speak a word of French, but so she was up with the latest fashions and could get a dressmaker to copy the designs before they made it to the shops . She died when I was 21 and I miss her every day.

Most of the famous women listed above, Maya Angelou, the suffragettes (I did my final year dissertation on their role in womens law reform) and Mary Wollstonecraft who was one of the earliest advocates of women's suffrage. Helen Keller. Anne Frank. Irena Sendlar. Many more.

Isn't it wonderful how many of us are mentioning our mums or other close family members?

We are on the right track with them behind us.

Mo Mowlam. Miss you Mo! x

Many of the wonderful Greenham women I had the privilege of knowing.Because it taught me the meaning of sisterhood.

Maya Angelou (I'm chanelling her today).

Every woman who has ever had a baby.

My Gran: 90 this year. widowed with 2 young children, sucessful career in nursing despite leaving school at 14 to go into service. A constant source of inspiration and good humour. Always taught us that you didnt have to be a man to achieve things

Germaine greer. changed the way we think about feminism

and younger women: helen skelton off blue peter. I think she is a fab role model for young women.

My grandma who had 8 brothers and sisters and was incredibly intelligent and academic but never pursued further education because she had to work in the family sweat shop to make ends meet. But always urged me to do great things.

Pankhurst.

My mother in law who is emotionally intelligent and fucking ace.

I love this thread.

And Madonna

Ok yes I said it

countess my parents next door neighbour was a nurse on one of the boats that brought soldiers out of Singapore. She was an astonishing woman and I was proud to be her friend.

My grandma, one of 9 children, grew up in poverty in Jarrow and ended up as Matron of one of the biggest hospitals in London. She could be terrifying and loving in the same breath . In fact all the women in my family are an inspiration to me, even those I never met like my great grandma ( mother of the above). Just amazingly strong loving people.

My daughter is my other inspiration - she is fearless and unbelievable determined- I wish I was more like her