Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Wonder Women


Today, I found the best thing to commemorate International Women's Day from a trip to the post office! Really, of all places. This Wonder Woman sheet of stamps got me thinking of all the women that broke ceilings, pushed boundaries, and who I want my kids to look up to.  I list them here in no particular order, and just off the top of my head, so I'm sure I'm missing a few. You may not agree with some of these, and that's ok. Feel free to add more in the comments.
  • Wonder woman - fictional, but her super power includes reforming baddies into upstanding citizens! Even Lego Batman can't do that!
  • Sally Ride - American physicist and astronaut
  • Marie Curie - Physicist , chemist, and first person to receive 2 Novel prizes (you knew she'd be here on mylist!)
  • Rosa Park - First lady of civil rights, "People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. ... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
    People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
    Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rosaparks743670.html
    People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
    Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rosaparks743670.html
  • Anne Frank  - "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."
  • Hillary Clinton - "little girls... you are valuable and powerful"
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe - Author, Uncle Tom's Cabin
  • Amelia Earhart - Pilot, "Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others." 
  • Ruth Bader Ginsberg (and maybe her mother) - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, "My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."
  • Audrey Hepburn - Actress
  • Malala Yousafzai - Fearless girl and activist
  • Nausicaa - Favorite Ghibli heroine who loves the ecology of the world above all
  • Jane Goodall - Animal advocate
  • Mother Theresa - Missionary
  • Jennifer Doudna - Biochemist, inventor of CRISPR - she will or has started changing the world
  • Steffi Graf - My all time favorite Tennis player, still regarded by some to be the greatest female tennis player of all time (though Serena Williams is pretty high up there in my book too).
  • Ursula K. LeGuin - Author, "And yet I look at men and women my age and older, and their scalps and knuckles and spots and bulges, though various and interesting, don’t affect what I think of them. Some of these people I consider to be very beautiful, and others I don’t. For old people, beauty doesn’t come free with the hormones, the way it does for the young. It has to do with bones. It has to do with who the person is. More and more clearly it has to do with what shines through those gnarly faces and bodies."
  • Rosie the Riveter - Fictional icon of feminism

When I think of 'inspirational', these awesome heroines come to mind, regardless of gender, actually.  So...Who did I miss?