Inspirational women

[naicepineapple]

Off the back of another thread, didn't want to derail. Can we have a thread celebrating truly inspirational women from history to modern day. They can be well known or people only personally known to you.

I'll start with Rosa Parks, she lived from 1913-2005 and was an American civil rights activist who refused to give up her bus seat to a white person.
The First Lady of civil rights and the mother of the freedom movement.

Cheryl strayed. That woman and her writing has got me through some very bleak times.

I will look her up.

I have another; Anne Frank 1929-1945 for her bravery, maturity and belief that people are inherently good despite what she went through.

Maya Angelou
She was a poet, writer and civil rights activist
If you've never read any of her poetry then you definitely should do.

Boudicca (1st century) for being a fierce leader and warrior and leading 100,000 men into battle.

“And still I rise”

Serena Williams.

And Germaine Greer. Disagree with her a lot- but my word, she changed the world.

Jane Austen died 1817, helped pave the way for female writers.

JK Rowling a personal favourite of mine who inspired a generation of children to read. She wrote her first book as a struggling, single mother.

Edith Cavell. A British nurse who helped soldiers escape and was executed for doing so. A very brave woman.

Less generally well known I suppose but Margaret Fuller.

Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson - so intelligent.

Katherine Gobel Johnson - one of many NASA computers who did an astounding job in spite of sexism and racial segregation

My Grandmother. Born April 1923 and died on Monday.
The most intelligent person I've met. She won prizes at school then went to university. Held down a job as a teacher rising through the ranks to head teacher to inspector and advisor all whilst raising a family with my grandpa. They travelled and she taught in different countries around the world. She did a second degree in her 60s and didn't fully retire until her 80s.
She was diligent, charitable, kind and a fierce advocate of education.

X-post with corpse

Sorry to hear about your grandmother op

Came to add Jane Goodall who worked extensively on conservation and animal issues

Naicepineapple! Damn that AutoCorrect.

Barbara Castle - longest serving female MP who made a difference in politics.

Lady Hale - first woman to sit as the president of the Supreme Court.

Sorry to hear about your grandmothers passing OP She sounds amazing

Helen Beatrix Potter for her conservation work (also her books!)

Elizabeth Fry -- very active in penal reform in the 1800s. Started training nurses before Florence made it cool.

Catherine Hamlin
Amazing Australian doctor who started a fistula hospital in Ethiopia decades ago with her late husband Reg and is still there - she has transformed thousands and thousands of lives.

This thread is making me feel quite uplifted after a difficult week. Taking my ds to toddlers but I'll be back!