The world celebrated International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8. Not only is this a day to celebrate the amazing, strong, and inspirational women in each of our lives living today, it is also a day to celebrate strong women who have passed on and who have paved the way for generations to come.
- Audrey Hepburn
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Audrey Hepburn was, I would argue, one of the most influential, classy, and graceful women of the 50s and 60s. Not only was she an extremely talented actress, but she was also a humanitarian who gave much of her time to helping people all over the world. She worked for UNICEF for a time, as well as did work in many less-fortunate countries. She was selfless, and served as and continues to serve as a role model to many young women across the world.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton will forever be admired for her dedication to the women’s rights movement during the 1800s. She started the Seneca Falls Convention, which helped push for women’s rights and sparked the fight for it. Women would probably not be where we are today without the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and we all owe a great deal of gratitude to her for fighting for us throughout the majority of her lifetime.
- Margaret Sanger
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Margaret Sanger was a driving force behind the fight for birth control for women and the use of contraceptives. She started the first birth control clinic in the U.S., and her work helped women to claim the power to decide when and if they want to be a mother. She also started organizations that we know now as Planned Parenthood. Without Margaret Sanger, women might not have had the access to birth control and safe pregnancies that we have today.
- Princess Diana
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Princess Diana is an icon and the legacy that she left behind will live on forever. She was elegant and classy, and refused to exist simply as Prince Charles’s wife. She spoke out about Prince Charles’s infidelity and worked tirelessly to not have her voice silenced. She was very involved in various charity work and organizations. One of her most notable works was her involvement with helping the end the stigma around HIV and AIDS, including women and children with AIDS.
- Rosa Parks
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Refusing to be silenced, Rosa Parks was an extremely admirable, inspirational, and strong woman who helped lead the fight against racism and segregation. To not only be a woman, but a woman of color, during the times she was alive, especially during the Civil Rights Movement, had to have been terrifying, exhausting, and suffocating. Yet, Rosa Parks stood her ground against all those who were trying their very best to knock her down. She was a force of nature.
All women deserve to be celebrated not only on International Women’s Day, but every other day as well. We are resilient, we are beautiful, and we are capable. It is important to recognize how far women have come against oppression and sexism, and we will continue to support each other for generations to come.