As we all know that on the 8th of March we celebrate Women’s international day, but Women’s History is more than just a celebration in the month of March. Throughout the years, history has seen some intelligent, powerful and inspirational women who have been pioneers for women’s rights and racial equality and have added to the worlds of science, mathematics and literature.
The famous women in this list are remembered for being the rule-breakers that showed their male peers what it means to be role models. Here are our top 4 most inspirational women from history and the invaluable lessons they taught us.
1)Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Egypt, ruling for 20 years in the 15th century B.C. She is considered one of Egypt’s most successful pharaohs. She served as queen alongside her husband, Thutmose II, but after his death, she claimed the role of pharaoh while acting as regent to her step-son, Thutmose III. She reigned peaceably, building temples and monuments, resulting in the flourishing of Egypt. After her death, Thutmose III erased her inscriptions and tried to eradicate her memory.
As pharaoh, Hatshepsut expanded Egyptian trade and oversaw ambitious building projects, most notably the Temple of Deir el-Bahri, located in western Thebes, where she would be buried. Depicted (at her own orders) as a male in many contemporary images and sculptures, Hatshepsut remained largely unknown to scholars until the 19th century. She is one of the few and most famous female pharaohs of Egypt.
2)Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth called herself ‘The Virgin Queen’ because she chose to marry her country instead of a man. It might seem like ancient history now, but Queen Elizabeth I is one of the most successful monarchs in British history, and under her rule, England became a major European power in politics, commerce and the arts.
Elizabeth is one of the greatest female leaders. Known for her intelligence, ‘The Virgin Queen’ was one truly one of the great women in history as she claimed the throne in 1558 at the age of 25 and held it until her death 44 years later. She was born a princess but declared illegitimate through political machinations.
During her reign, Elizabeth I established Protestantism in England ,maintained peace inside her previously divided country and created an environment where the arts flourished. Her reign was sometimes referred to as England’s Golden Age or Elizabethan England, an era of peace and prosperity when the arts had a chance to blossom with Elizabeth’s support.
3)A Nobel Peace Prize winner at the age of 17! (Malala Yousafzai)
Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan on July 12, 1997. Yousafzai’s father was a teacher and ran an all-girls school in her village, however when the Taliban took over her town they enforced a ban on all girls going to school. In 2012, at the age of 15, Malala publicly spoke out on women’s rights to education and as a result, a gunman boarded her school bus and shot the young activist in the head.
Malala survived.
Yousafzai moved to the UK where she has become a fierce presence on the world stage and became the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, at 17 years old. Malala is currently studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford.
4) Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was the definition of a rule breaker. An American aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the first person ever to fly solo from Hawaii to the US, Amelia was a pioneering aviator and a true female trailblazer.
Earhart refused to be boxed in by her gender from a young age, born in Kansas in 1897 Amelia played basketball growing up, took auto repair courses and briefly attended college. In 1920, Earhart began flying lessons and quickly became determined to receive her pilot’s license, passing her flight test in December 1921.
Earhart set multiple aviation records, but it was her attempt at being the first person to circumnavigate the globe which led to her disappearance and presumed death. In July 1937, Earhart disappeared somewhere over the Pacific, her plane wreckage has never been found and to this day, her disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.
