International Women’s Day- A celebration of women of the world!

Every woman and every girl is extraordinary in her own special way. Whether it’s being there as a mother, daughter, sister, friend or wife; whether it’s at home, in the office or in the classroom, women the world over are everyday achievers! This is something that we all have a responsibility to recognize every day.

International Women’s day celebrates ordinary women who have played an extra-ordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. It’s also a time to contemplate on the progress made for women’s rights and to call for change.

In 1911 following a declaration by the Socialist party of America, International Women’s Day was first honored in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The United Nations has recognized March 8^th as International Women’s Day since 1975.

March 8^th is also a time to call attention to a number of issues facing women; for example the high rate of pregnancy related death; the disproportionate number of women killed and victimized by wars; the disparity between men and women in available employment and wages, domestic violence and gender based violence[i], to name but a few.

In the spirit of celebrating International Women’s Day, I wish to highlight some of the amazing contributions in history that women of the world have achieved. Whether you’re a woman or a man, a boy or a girl, we owe so much gratitude to the achievements of all women all over the world.

A few examples of extraordinary women of the world        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Malala Yousafzai                                                                          

The youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a Pakistani schoolgirl and activist who survived being shot by the Taliban after she defended her right and the right of girls in Pakistan to be educated. Malala has now taken her campaign global. A fund set up in her name, ‘The Malala Fund’, helps children in education around the world. A 2013 issue of Time magazine featured Yousafzai as one of the most influential people in the world. In July that year, she spoke at the headquarters of the United Nations to call for worldwide access to education, and in October the Canadian government announced its intention that its parliament confer Honorary Canadian Citizenship upon Yousafzai[ii].

Emeline Pankhurst

A British Political activist and leader of the British Suffragette movement; a radical activist whose actions of protest encouraged a revolution in her day and secured women the right to vote from 1918.

Rosa Parks

An African-American seamstress who resisted Alabama segregation laws by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in 1955. The Bus boycott which followed, spurred by the arrest of Rosa Parks, would help bring an end to the racist laws of the South and turn a young preacher, named Martin Luther King, JR. Into the best known civil rights leader in the United States of America.

 Shirin Ebadi

Iran’s first female judge. In 1979 she was dismissed from her position after the Khomeini revolution in Iran. Despite this setback, Ebadi opened up a legal practice that specialized in the human rights of women and girls and also defending those who were being persecuted by the Iranian authorities. In 2003 she was awarded the Nobel peace Prize for her efforts in democracy and human rights in Iran.

Aung San Suu Kyi                                                                                 

An Oxford educated opposition leader in her native country of Burma, Suu Kyi is the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for standing up against the brutal dictatorship of U Ne Win, the then leader of Burma, and standing up for democracy and human rights. She was placed under house arrest by the military government in 1989. In 1991, her ongoing efforts won her the Nobel Prize for Peace, and she was finally released from house arrest in November 2010.

Leymah Gbowee                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist in Liberia who led a women's movement that was crucial in ending the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Liberia's second civil war, between 1999-2003, brought an unimaginable level of violence to a country still recovering from its first civil war (1989-96). Much of that violence was directed at women; Gbowee, alongside her fellow activist Tawakul Karman, who also won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize; helped organize an interreligious coalition of Christian and Muslim women called the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement. These thousands of women would meet and pray and make nonviolent protests demanding resuscitation of high-level peace talks. This movement shaped the election of Africa’s first female head of state, Gbowee’s fellow 2011 Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Gbowee now speaks on behalf of women and girls around the world.

Do you have some more examples of extraordinary women of the world? Feel free to add your contributions by commenting below.

EVERY WOMAN, EVERY GIRL IS EXTRAORDINARY IN HER OWN SPECIAL WAY!

References:

Image of Shirin Ibadi is taken from www.iranhumanrights.org

Image of Malala Yousefzai is taken from www.communitytable.com

Image of Leymah Gbowee is taken from www.pinterest.com and www.ndtv.com (blog title picture of the 3 female activists)

Image of Aung San Suu Kyi is taken from content.time.com