AIBU to ask fo your list of Super Women?

[Stinkycatbreath]

I'm one of the leaders in guide group and I know I can Google this but I want the opinion of real people. The girls are 11-15 and are a mixture of White, Black and Asian British (this is relevant) As part of an activity I would like to introduce them to some real life female superheroes that kind of reflect them so a good variety women from different back grounds who have achieved great things. I don't even mind if they are dead or alive but inspirational is key. Im thinking scientists , speakers, political figures or actors /singers. Not women who have become famous for their looks (although if they are it doesn't matter)but for their intellect or bravery or their contribution to the world.....so no Kardashians. Thank you for your help.

Malala Yousafzai

Rosa Parks

Emmeline Pankhurst

Julie Bindel

Irom Sharmila, Mary Kom, Kiran Bedi, Seema Rao, Laxmi Agarwal

How about the actual founder of the Me Too movement before the hashtags and others/celebs took over and became the face of it. Name is Tarana Burke. I only knew this while catching a clip of some American award show last year or 2 years ago or so. Shame it's not widespread knowledge.

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/15/me-too-founder-tarana-burke-women-sexual-assault

Eleanor of Aquitaine
Hedy Lamar
The ladies who did the maths for NASA and the "Playtex ladies" who sewed the spacesuits for NASA
Aethelflaed, the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great.
Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel. No matter if you agree with their politics or not, they both made great strides for women on the world stage.
Octavia E. Butler
Ada Lovelace

The girls I work with love this site
www.amightygirl.com

Jacinda Arden- for becoming Prime Minister and then becoming a baby, showing that you can have family and career (obviously with support).

Olave Baden Powell since it's Guides.

I am amazed at how many people can just rattle this off.

Google.

Col Eileen Collins - astronaut, first woman to pilot and later command a space shuttle mission
Rosa Parks
Eleanor Roosevelt
Florence Nightingale
Mary Seacole

Alexandra David Neal (1868-1969) - an extraordinary French lady who converted to Buddhism travelled to India and later Tibet (closed to foreigners) where she was the first foreign woman to meet the Dalai Lana. She was also a writer and early feminist and had a real passion for travel. Definitely a woman who was well ahead of her time, and a good role model for embracing and respecting other cultures; as well as someone who followed her heart.

Mukhtar Mai. Pakistani woman who got gang raped . It was the first time in conservative Pakistan, that a woman had gone public about rape. She successfully challenged her rapists in court.

Madhuri Dixit for her outstanding contribution in acting and dancing in Bollywood films. She is an icon and rightly so.

Maya Angelou

Yes to the Hidden Figures women. Katherine Johnson died only recently.

Maty Seacole is another good one.

As is Mary Anning, Ada Lovelace and more recently, Malala.

Everyone has said the ones I can think off of the top of my head.

Edith Cavell, a British nurse who helped many Allied and German soldiers in WW1.
She was shot by the Germans.
Her memorial is near Trafalgar Square.
A particularly inspirational history teacher told me about her and it made a huge impression on me.

Under the current circumstances, it might be pertinent to recognise the sacrifice of nurses through the generations.

Great idea for a Guide group and I salute you for doing this.

Diana Prince

What a fabulous thread.

Benizir Bhutto
Margaret Thatcher
Angela Merkel
Leila Hussain
Barbara Castle

Katherine Johnson
Aphra Behn
Virginia Woolf
Rosalind Franklin
Margaret Atwood
Jacinda Arden

Kathy Burke

Michelle Obama

Think all mine have been said so can I make a gentle suggestion that you don't refer to them as superwomen? Superwomen is a very masculine concept and energy and most of the women who have been mentioned are aspiring not because they have sought to emulate men in their achievements but because they have utilised their strengths as women. They're strong because they are women not despite it. I know it's a short hand but if you think of the figure of superwoman in her stupid skimpy clothes, it's clearly both been made up to be attractive to men and an inferior version of superman. Take jacinda ardern, the Scandinavian leaders or Brene brown - they are totally the people we want our girls to be aspiring to but they are the antithesis of toxic masculinity - they're about using the strength of being female. Michelle Obama is another one. There an amazing jacinda quote about believing that she can do all she wants to do and still be kind. Well done for influencing girls in this way.

Helen Sharman
Martha Mcwhirter
Mary Wollstonecraft

Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Harriet Tubman, Baroness Scotland, Dianne Abbott... massive range there lol

Helen Keller

Linda La Hughes
Janine Butcher
Dame Edna Everage

How does Dame Edna Everage belong on a list of super women?

Definitely Irena Sendler.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie
Simone de Beauvoir
In modern times, Jacinda Ardern and Michelle Obama.