Hey Pandas, In Honor Of Women's History Month, Who Is Your Favorite Woman From History? (Closed)

not one woman, but a group, The Night Witches: An all female bomber squad from Russia during WWII. They flew at night, never used radios, and would shut off their engines during bombing runs and glide over targets, dropping bombs seemingly out of nowhere and the disappear silently into the night. The planes they got were old and left over from WWI. The women would frequently have to do repairs, climbing out of the cockpit to work on the engines mid flight.

Hedy Lamarr. Her frequency hopping was pivotal during WWII, and we use it now every day.

Malala. She is so amazing in her acts, fighting giving woman the right to education in Pakistan after the Tailaban swept over her country.

Hawa Abdi-
Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Somali gynecologist who routinely stood her ground against militias who wanted to take over her hospital or steal her equipment. She spent 29 years providing a safe harbor for those displaced, creating a 400 bed hospital, and her farm into a refugee camp where 90K Somalis received free food, water, free health care, and a clean place for women to give birth.

https://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/womens-rights/wr-africa/wr-somalia/1039-dr-hawa-abdi-under-siege-in-somalia.html

Boudicca - straight up bad a*s who took on the Roman army

Truganini, such a brave, intelligent Aboriginal woman. She lived a life of tragedy but was instrumental in saving her people under the worst conditions

Marie Curie

A Polish scientist who moved to France to earn a degree because Polish universities wouldn't let women study there. She later married Pierre Curie, and together they worked to make many discoveries. She discovered not one but TWO periodic elements-radium and polonium, which she named after Poland. She won not one but TWO Nobel Prizes, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris.

Lesson learned, don't underestimate a smart Polish woman (like myself, hopefully I can be as famous as her)

Hadassah/Esther

Was thrown into a horrible beauty-pageant/sex contest, but stayed true to herself. Was forced to marry the most powerful man of her time, but used it for her advantage. Faced oppression, segregation and genocide with bravery.
Saved the Jewish race because of her level-headed thinking and courage.

She was one tough gal.

Frida Kahlo!

She had quite a difficult life and suffered from a couple disabilities due to scoliosis when she was younger (leaving her with a slightly crooked foot), and spinal injuries from a tram incident when she was 18. She started to paint in hospital after the tram incident and as people know, she turned into an absolute goddess!!

She is such an inspiration for me as a young woman and gives me confidence in not only my artworks, but also myself. Because of her I can now rock my unibrow. It isn’t visible unless you come close to my face and look for it, but it used to be a big insecurity of mine. But I mean, look at Frida!
She’s gorgeous, powerful and as she said; “At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”

All of the ones whose glory and accomplishments were stolen by men who accepted their honor without proper acknowledgement of said women. And this goes back to all the "witches" hunted and killed by men because women couldn't be at the forefront of science and medicine.

It's really hard for me to pick a favorite. But for today, I'm going to go with Manuela Sáenz. Originally from Ecuador, she was a wealthy socialite in Lima, Peru. But she soon became active in women's rights and revolution against Spain. She left her husband in 1822 to become a revolutionary, and collaborator and eventual lover of Simón Bolívar. She rescued him from an assassination attempt in 1828, and he thereafter called her the "Liberator of Liberators". As part of the revolutionary forces she attained the rank of colonel, and earned the Order of Knight of the Sun (hence she is Dame Manuela Sáenz or Doña Manuela Sáenz). Anyways, she was a major badass and a hero in South America.

Happy Women's History Month!

Ooohhh. Since I am on the topic of fighting against the evil Iberian occupiers (lol, I love you Spain and Portugal), I also introduce Policarpa Salvarrieta. She was Colombian born seamstress to the Spanish Royal family. This allowed her access to information that she would feed to the revolutionaries in Colombia. She was eventually executed as a spy in 1817 (22 years old), and her last words were as follows: “Although I am a woman and young, I have more than enough courage to suffer this death and a thousand more!”

My grandma. She had raised three of her own children, took in her niece as a tiny baby and brought her up as her own child, and took in her other niece and nephew for a good three years, all whilst dealing with an erratic, demanding, often unpleasant husband. She was such a kind, gentle woman, always ready to talk or smile, or whatever you needed that day. She was also a crack shot with a gun, handled finance so meticulously that anyone trying to cheat her soon regretted it, and once smashed the French windows with a garden chair when grandad locked her out. Even when she was bedridden and dying, she still noticed when I had a new dress, and told me I looked lovely. She was brilliant

Eleanor Roosevelt. One remarkable First Lady, as well as an activist. She once snuck out of the White House to go on a joyride with Amelia Earhart!

Anne of Cleves. She was Henry Vlll's fourth wife, but their marriage was annulled and she lived the rest of her life in England, with the title of 'the King's Sister' Rather safer than being his wife. She outlived Henry and his son Edward, was on good terms with the rest of the royal family, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Audrey Hepburn. She has a freaking EGOT.

Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India who
saved girls from an Indian temple, where they are being forced to be prostitutes. Amy, a white woman, had to dye her skin with coffee to fit in and sneak into the temple. She never married, as she was too busy helping young girls her whole life.

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz. Seh was the bethoveen from the Novohispanic literaature. She learned how to read at three, write at five and she was composing at eight.
She became a nun to avoid marrying and to dedicate her life to God, and there she wrote an exquisit collection of poems. She also was tested in the royal court with the hardest questions of philosophy, maths, science, etc. And seh answered flawlesly.
She is most known as "the worst of all", since when the chuch forbid her to write, she made a letter and sign it with "I, the wort of all" with her own blood.
There is a video of Ted-Ed talking about her biography.

There are so many women that saw a need and invented it. Women invented WiFi, circular saws, submarine telescopes, monopoly, street sweepers, rocket fuel, dishwashers, ice cream makers, home security systems, et al. So I guess it boils down to ::: Women that can do serious math equations:::: Some inventions before women were encouraged to read. These days I admire Serena Williams, think Drew Barrymore is adorable and wish Kamala Harris was more visible.

My mum!
She had the courage to leave my alcoholic father when I was 10. She single handedly raised me and my sister whilst working two jobs. She accepted me when I came out to me and is basically a second mum to my boyfriend. She gives the best advice and hugs.
Love you Mum