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IWD 2020 - which woman do you most admire?

(84 Posts)
NatashaGransnet (GNHQ) Thu 05-Mar-20 11:04:55

This Sunday is International Women's Day so to celebrate we're asking you which woman you most admire and why? flowers

Leave your comments below grin

POGS Mon 09-Mar-20 15:03:38

I admire beyond words the women and children who have spoken out against Female Genital Mutilation, Breast Ironing, Forced Marriage etc. and the likes of the Yazidi women who have endured barbaric treatment at the hands of their captors sadly still happening throughout the world.

trisher Mon 09-Mar-20 16:33:54

Historically I admire Lisbeth Simm. Most of you won't have heard of her. She was a miner's daughter who trained as a teacher and became active in the Labour movement. She wrote a newspaper column and dealt with problems we still face today. She said women didn't attend political meetings because their husbands didn't do their share of the housework. She organised the Women's Labour League, went to Australia to look at working conditions and when her husband died became the superintendant of a home training domestic servants.

Chestnut Mon 09-Mar-20 23:26:15

trisher The monarchy is the most patriachal organisation and it hasn't really changed.
?? Patriarchal?? We have had a Queen on the throne for nearly 70 years. Patriarchal means 'relating to or denoting a system of society or government controlled by men.' This is just getting too silly for words. ?

trisher Tue 10-Mar-20 11:06:26

Chestnut The Queen has little power and is in fact just a figurehead for a system of government that has remained virtually unchanged until women actually began to demand changes. Women can, if they choose to, support and uphold patriachy and the Queen has done just that. OK so she's not the generation that burned their bras, but there are things she could have done to change things and to support women. She hasn't done any of them. She even allowed men to dictate how she behaved as a mother. Putting a token woman up as a figurehead doesn't enable feminism it simply masks the patriachy which continues and prospers behind the scenes.

Bagatelle Tue 10-Mar-20 11:24:22

Mother Teresa. She devoted her life to serving the poor and destitute around the world.

Jane43 Tue 10-Mar-20 12:04:31

Another vote for Mother Teresa, an inspiring woman.

TerriBull Wed 11-Mar-20 07:27:53

Mother Teresa hmm I think a cloud hung over her, didn't she knowingly baptise dying Hindus and possibly some Muslims also shock

vampirequeen Wed 11-Mar-20 07:33:50

Me. I've made it through another year without:

killing the little white dog that lives at the end of the street and yaps constantly
killing the person at our local Morrisons who is incapable of ordering goods properly, leading to shelves being empty of basics
killing drivers who cut me up
killing people who think it's OK to talk loudly when they're walking home from the pub in the middle of the night
killing people who slam their car doors in the middle of the night
killing people who say 'Cheer up. It could be worse' when I'm in the depths of depression.
killing people who tell me I'll get better if I 'think happy thoughts'
killing queue jumpers
killing people who stand in front of children at events knowing that they're stopping the children from being able to see even though they could just as easily stand behind the children so that everyone could see
killing people who tell me that 'I need to get out more'....not easy with agoraphobia
killing people with annoying voices who always seem to speak louder than anyone else
killing bigots of whatever ilk
killing old people who complain constantly about young people and children

I could go on. I think I'm woman of the year because I've practiced such self control.