Women I admire from recent history

Very interesting Blossoming.
For me, Bessie Braddock who campaigned for better conditions for the poor in Liverpool.
Dame Shirley Williams, a politician with integrity.
Sister Wendy, although a nun, an inspiring authority on one of my favourite subjects, art.

So many, so many. I'll start with Maya Angelou, Doris Lessing, and Simone De Beauvoir in the literary field.

So many pioneering woman. One that stands out for me, Elizabeth Garret Anderson, 1865 first English woman to become a Dr and surgeon. First woman to be elected to a school board, first female magistrate. Feminist, socialist and she founded the first hospital for women, now part of UCL.and the first school of medicine for women. Quite an achievement for someone with no formal schooling until her teenage years. Fascinating .

Barbara Castle

I admire Esther Rantzen for her years of campaigning, for child-line etc. and now for her courage regarding her recent cancer diagnosis.

As a cyclist...
Beryl Burton, Annie Londonderry... and more recently, Lizzie Deignan, Juliana Buhring

Ada Salter, still a South London icon. Social reformer, environmentalist, pacifist and Quaker. Appointed Mayor of Bermondsey in 1922, the first female mayor in London and first female Labour mayor in UK. She and her husband Dr Alfred Salter MP insisted on living in Bermondsey and sadly paid the price with the death of their only daughter Joyce in 1910 from scarlet fever that frequently raged through the slums. An inspirational woman.

Nadine Dorries? Just joking.

Marie Stoppes. The first woman to set up Birth control clinics in a man-led world.

A little further back in time but relevant to the medical theme was Lady Wortly Montagu. In the early eighteenth century she came across the practice of inoculation in Turkey. She had her own children inoculated against smallpox in 1721 and brought the concept back to the UK where even royalty took it up. She was responsible for saving many lives and much disfigurement.

Another vote for Marie Stopes - with admiration and gratitude.

There are a few modern women to be admired, in no particular order:-

Margaret Thatcher
Betty Boothroyd
Penny Mordaunt
Esther Rantzen
I'm ashamed to say I can't bring the next woman's name to mind. She was the poor woman who died of breast cancer recently, if I remember rightly she was made a Dame.

EEJit

There are a few modern women to be admired, in no particular order:-

Margaret Thatcher
Betty Boothroyd
Penny Mordaunt
Esther Rantzen
I'm ashamed to say I can't bring the next woman's name to mind. She was the poor woman who died of breast cancer recently, if I remember rightly she was made a Dame.

Do you mean 'Bowel Babe' Deborah James?

Mary Anning, Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth 11nd, Marie Currie.

Rosa Parks

Rachel and Margaret McMillan -pioneers of early years education and healthcare

I don’t think there are many royalists on Gransnet, but I would put the late Queen Elizabeth II up there as someone who used great influence wisely, and her daughter Princess Anne is likewise a stalwart in public service. I admire both of them - I feel they have been forced for good.

In Grace Darling house at school, I always thought she was an inspiration.

yggdrasil

Barbara Castle

I agree.

Lady Rhondda. A suffragette who spent time in prison for the cause, survived the sinking of the Titanic and became the first woman to sit in the House of Lords!

I agree. Esther Rantzen has protected many children with childline, is supporting the elderly too whilst she is fighting cancer. An inspiration x

Bowel Babe
Esther Rantzen
Mother Teresa
Marie Curie
Captain Tom

I’m a great admirer of the WW2 lady spies, part of the SOE -
Violette Szabo, Noor Inayat Khan and Nancy Wake to name a few.
The bravest of the brave.

Eleanor Rathbone, suffragist, first woman councillor in Liverpool, MP who campaigned for refugees and was behind the introduction of Family allowance, and insisted it had to be paid to the mother to ensure that it was spent on the children