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.

Rosa Parks
Maud Gonne
Michelle Obama
Alison Janney
Malala Youfsazi
Constance Markievicz
Mindy Kaling
Sacagawea

Katherine Johnson (mathematician at NASA during segregation in USA)
Harriet Tubman (underground railroad)
Eudora Whelty (novelist)

Billie Jean King.

Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer

Odette Churchill (nee Sansom) who got the George Cross and the Legion D'Honneur for her undercover work in occupied France

Mo Mowlem

Sirimaravo Bandaranaike, the first woman to head a government (couldn't remember her first name and had to google!)

bronte sisters
mary shelly
any of the suffragettes
mary robinson
st Brigid
Grace O’malley
boudicca
hildegard
margaret atwood

Dr. Alice M. Stewart, an epidemiologist who first demonstrated the link between X-rays of pregnant women and disease in their children

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Stewart

KK Shailaja, Health Minister for Kerala, has been hailed as the reason a state of 35 million people has only lost four to the virus. Here’s how the former teacher did it

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/the-coronavirus-slayer-how-keralas-rock-star-health-minister-helped-save-it-from-covid-19

Artemisia Gentileschi (?sp): fantastic painter and the first woman to be elected to the Academy of Arts in Florence in (I think) the 1600s, and gave evidence in the trial of the man who raped her.

Georgia O'Keefe, another fantastic painter

Alison Lapper, talented artist and disability campaigner

(thought the list so far was a little light on the arts lol)

Nobody has really mentioned sportswomen, and your OP doesn't ask for any, I know, but how about Jessica Ennis, Nicola Adams and Katarina Johnson Thompson?

Virginia Hall, an American working as a spy in WW2. She’d lost a leg in an earlier accident, and despised that managed to climb over the Pyrenees to escape the Nazis. Before returning to France to continue her mission.

Junko Tabei

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

Well, it would fit with the official Girlguiding line on self-ID.

There's a book by Cathy Newman (of Channel four news but also pretty awesome herself) called Bloody Brilliant Women, that might be useful.

I also absolutely and totally back the Hidden Figures women nomination. I'm ashamed to say I only heard of them after watching the film but wow.

Debra Searle "professional adventurer"

Caroline Herschel- one of the first recognised female astronomers

Elsie Widdowson - nutritionist who helped design the wartime rationing programme

Dr Virginia Apgar - designed the Apgar score used for babies.

Margaret Thatcher - love her or hate her she was the first female MP

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell - her male supervisor got the Nobel prize but she made the discovery of radio pulsars - it raised some questions about misogyny in science.

Not MP. PM

Helen Sharman fits the superwoman description, she did what no other Brit did until Tim Peake.
Rosalind Franklin is one of my heroes. Malala is young, recent, and relatable.

Could you ask the girls for their own heroes, and include people who were great in more than one arena? That's what superwoman means to me, not just a great scientist / sports woman / politician but also great in another arena, eg humanitarian. Florence fits because not only did she do nursing in Crimea, she looked at the stats (and realised that she and every one else could do better) and then canvessed politicians, revolutionising nursing.

Katie Piper. Her courage and humour when faced with enormous adversity after that horrific acid attack are really, really admirable.

Another vote for Ada Lovelace.

From wikipedia:-

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is widely regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of computers and one of the first computer programmers

We've just got a new version of Guess Who, called Who's She with 28 influential women. playeress.com There are a lot missing of course, and a couple that I think haven't been as influential as some if the women that aren't there. I still really like it though.

michelle obama - a modern icon, intelligent background, women and youth champion

princess diana's- groundbreaking work with marginalised

jamelia the 00s singer - domestic violence awareness

kate Adie - was so massive in the 80 and 90s when i was growing up, in scary places showing us the real news, amazing intelligence

stacey dooley- an amazing documentary maker

Lots of good ones already mentioned.

Here's a couple for the LGBT side of things:

Stormé DeLarverie - a gay civil rights icon, her fight with the police is thought to be what sparked the Stonewall riots. Her mother was a servant in her father's home and - as you'd expect - she faced harassment for her heritage and then her sexuality. Through her life she worked to protect fellow members of the gay community.

And one for the civil rights side of things (my DPs suggestion):

Ida B Wells - she was born into slavery but became an investigate journalist and early leader of the American civil rights movement. Lots to talk about with her.

How about the Duchess of Kent (not to be confused with Princess Michael of Kent).
Turned her back on Royal life, thaught music at a primary school in Hull, then came out of retirement to teach at a school attended by children from Grenfell Tower and ambassador for the Samaritans
Violette szarbo
Vera Atkins
Denise Bloch
Princess Alice of Battenberg (Prince Philip's mother) - worked for the Red Cross, organised soup kitchens and refuges for orphaned and lost children during WW2.. Smuggled medical supplies from Sweden

Princess Alice also hid a Jewish woman and her children in her home and I love this about her.
"When visited by a German general who asked her, "Is there anything I can do for you?", she replied, "You can take your troops out of my country."

Katherine Johnson she died earlier this year.

The movie Hidden Figures is based on the work she did.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson