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everephebe's avatar

Great women that inspire you?

Asked by everephebe (11611points) March 8th, 2011

In honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, can you name some women that inspire you and why?

You have all of history and over half the world’s population, I’m hoping there are many names!

Feel free to be passionate, link crazy, and long-winded!

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35 Answers

markferg's avatar

My wife. Yeah!

ucme's avatar

Don’t know about inspired but the Maid of Orleans is certainly someone I admire. The original & still the best “kick ass gal!”

Hibernate's avatar

Coretta Scott should be inspiring for a lot of womens.

and

Voletta Wallace should inspire a lot of mothers.

my 2 cents.

everephebe's avatar

@Hibernate I saw Coretta Scott speak once, she was great.

listener's avatar

Mother Theresa
President Cory Aquino (of the Philippines)
My MOM and Sisters
My girlfriend
The women on fluther
Nicola Spirig

meagan's avatar

Marya Hornbacher. She made me understand that having a personality disorder is nothing to be ashamed of, which ultimately saved my life.

josie's avatar

My girlfriend
@lucillelucillelucille
Lady Gaga

meiosis's avatar

Boudicca, who stood up for her rights and took on the Roman Empire, routing two armies before her uprising was eventually crushed.

Jude's avatar

A few female family members.

blueiiznh's avatar

maya angelou
Clara Barton
Indira Gahndi
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Tubman
Cleopatra
Marie curie
Anne Frank
Gloria Steinem
Helen Keller

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

My mother inspired me most of all for alot of reasons.She was truly a beautiful person.Also, both my grandmothers who only spoke French when they came to the US to live and did well in spite of some very tough times.
@Josie—Thank you very much!The check is in the mail XD

Austinlad's avatar

A girl I dated on and off all through school grew up to be a woman I admire more greatly. We lost touch after graduation, and by the time our paths crossed decades later, she had been married for many years and had two kids. We talked at length about the challenges we’d both had in past relationships, and I was so impressed when she told me that despite periods in her marriage when she had wanted to bolt and run, she had continued to commit herself to making it work – not just for the sake of the children, but because of the kind of person she is. I’ve always looked up to my old friend for this … and wished I could have had the same strength.

OpryLeigh's avatar

My idol is Barbra Streisand, has been since I was very young and she inspires me more than any other woman I can think of. I love women though, I love watching a great actress or comedienne, hearing a stunning female singing voice or reading/learning about great female leaders, I’m even inspired by fictional females (Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame for example). I am inspired by women far more than I am inspired by men that’s for sure.

Seelix's avatar

My inspirational woman lately is Clara Hughes. She’s recently shared her experience with depression and how she overcame it to become Canada’s most-decorated Olympian, and the only athlete to have won multiple medals in both the summer and winter games. She’s become a kind of spokesperson for depression, promoting Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk, a program whose aim is to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness.
Also, I just think she’s so darn cute.

etignotasanimum's avatar

Amelia Earhart
Juliette Gordon Lowe
Marie Curie

I’ve always admired Earhart, and wished that I could become a pilot as well. Lowe I admire because she founded the organization that became an important/big part of my childhood that also gave me time to bond with my mom and sister. Curie I admire because of the work she did, of course. I know, I know, these are sort of stereotypical answers, but at least they are genuine!

Oh, I also admire my mom and great great grandmother-both are strong women who were/are great mothers and just have/had great characters in general.

marinelife's avatar

Eleanor Roosevelt

Mariah's avatar

Lisa Randall. She’s a string theorist – attending a lecture of hers is what got me into physics. We need more women in science!

podwarp's avatar

My mom – It took awhile to get her on this list. I’d never really considered my mom inspiring when I was younger; no one talked about her in books or on TV… to me, she was just “my mom”. She was an immigrant, she was/is a nurse, she cleaned the house and got mad at me for not washing my hands or cleaning my room…. there was nothing extraordinary about her. Then I got older. Now, I think she’s the most amazing, capable woman there ever
was.

All the nuns I met in childhood – I went to Catholic school from K-8th grade. I had nuns as teachers and I saw nuns walking down the halls and in the cafeteria; I also lived near the school and went to church frequently, so I saw them everywhere and almost every day. They weren’t all warm and friendly, but they were… strong and their faith was so clear. It was inspiring. I even wanted to be nun! Even though I don’t anymore (and I wouldn’t even consider myself particularly religious at all now), my time with them has affected me deeply.

Joan of Arc – I had a very Catholic upbringing (obvs) and so there was a period where I wanted to be Joan of Arc (or at least some equivalent of a crazy fervent martyr saint).

Sojourner Truth

Hillary Clinton – I don’t agree with everything she’s done, but she seems formidable as hell. I always thought that was pretty great. See Scarlett O’Hara.

Yuri Kochiyama

Scarlett O’Hara – She’s fictional, but she’s a BAMF! (AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, I’LL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN!)

Rosie the Riveter – See above.

Margaret Atwood – for her writing

Cory Aquino

So much more, but those are at the top of the heap. In my life (all 20 years of it, ha) it’s been women and their stories and struggles that have moved me and inspired me the most.

TexasDude's avatar

Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko

Female Soviet sniper of World War II. She killed 309 bad guys and looked damn hot while doing it.

janbb's avatar

Emma Goldman
Sojourner Truth
Margaret Sanger
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Susan B. Anthony
The Grimke Sisters (abolitionists)
Edna St.Vincent Millay
Angela Davis
Mary Wollstonecraft
Jane Austen
Nellie Blye
Dorothea Dix
Jane Addams
Harriet Tubman

…...and countless nameless women in many countries – like Egypt – who stood up for their rights and those of their families.

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

Boudicca, Aethelflaed, and Jessica Valenti (who got me interested in being an active feminist).

That’s it for now, because I’m going to nap. But there will be more later!

ratboy's avatar

Emmy Noether reshaped algebra in the early years of the twentieth century.

harple's avatar

Elizabeth Fry, who fought for prison reform in the early 19th century for women in prison…

Hildegard von Bingen, who is one of the earliest known female composers…

Florence Nightingale, the lady with the lamp…

to name but a few! Ooh, and J K Rowling, who achieved not only huge success for herself with the Harry Potter books, but also turned a whole generation of boys in particular back to reading (in the UK at least)...

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

Gayatri Spivak, Judith Butler, Rebecca Jordan-Young, Victoria Pitts-Taylor.

tranquilsea's avatar

Catherine the Great
Madam Currie
James Triptree Jr. aka Alice B. Sheldon.
Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Loise McKinney, Irene Parlby, and Nellie McClung famous five from Canada who were instrumental in pushing through the vote for women.

tranquilsea's avatar

@Seelix I didn’t know Clara suffered from depression. She really is an inspiration to all Canadians. She has such a quiet dignity about her.

cak's avatar

In addition to many of the women named above, I must list one of my teachers. Mrs. Fields. In high school she taught us to reach further, expect greatness – but in many forms. Not necessarily money or fame.

SpatzieLover's avatar

Mary Mother of God
Mother Theresa

mattbrowne's avatar

Here’s a great example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Bridges_Adams_Lehmann

A movie is available in German.

TexasDude's avatar

Oh shit, how could I forget Mata Hari and Clara Bow?

jonsblond's avatar

Bethany Hamilton’s story is a story every young girl and woman should know. What an inspiration she is.

mattbrowne's avatar

And Sophie Scholl, of course.

Scooby's avatar

BOUDICA
Now there’s a woman I’d like to get a grip of :-/
back then….. Lol.

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