To the Superwomen With Radical Ideas
May we know them, may we raise them, and may we be them.
Every day for a woman is a mission. She wakes up right before sunrise, puts on her superwoman cape and boots, and starts another record breaking twenty-something hours. From beating deadlines, nurturing her kids, fending for her husband, growing businesses, and still finding time to breathe. Every woman is really a star, because she does it all. Unlike the man who can have a focus on building wealth alone, the woman has that and a lot more to equally devote her time to. With all these things, she still has to deal with the societal pressures and stereotypes she is burdened with on a daily basis. Today’s woman thrives as a figurehead, a breadwinner, a fighter, and still an emotional being.
However, some women take it up a notch and create stories that have never been told. They are the world changers, the creative monsters, and the ones with radical ideas. As we celebrate international women, these sect should be placed on a pedestal; not because they are awfully special, but because they embody the ideal future woman, in all her grace and fearlessness. Ideas rule the world, and it is nice to see that women are the curators of some of the ideas that work. Even as there are many names that serve as motivation to millions across the world, here are just few to serve as representatives of the superwomen with radical ideas.
1) Nellie Bly : The woman who got herself checked into a mental asylum, just to investigate ill happenings
The name Nellie Bly, is the pen name of an old time American journalist, Elizabeth Cochran Seaman. A game changer for her seemingly simple career, was when she spent several days on Blackwell’s Island, posing as a mental patient for an exposé on the experiences and pains endured by patients of the mental institution on Blackwell’s Island (Roosevelt Island). After several days of pretending to be a mentally disturbed patient, she got out and forced change in the poor healthcare system. Various articles and books have since then be published, showing her perils while “Asylum bound”, her successful impersonation of insanity, and the wonderful results of the process.
2) Anne Frank: The young girl who documented her life in hiding during World War II
Although Anne Frank did not live long enough to experience the fame and recognition for her work, she has been celebrated for years unending. The Jewish girl and her family were forced into hiding during World War Two to escape from the Nazis. During that phase, she kept a diary where she recorded her experiences, despair, pains, and dreams. Her writings portrayed depth, wisdom, and creativity; it has since been a source of motivation and inspiration for people across the world.
3) Rosa Parks: The black woman who forced an end to segregation of blacks by refusing to move to the back of the bus
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an American civil rights activist. The moment of recognition came when she refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, thus, forcing the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation in the United States and across the world. Who knows? Maybe if she didn’t stand up to the norm, blacks might still be seen as second class citizens.
4) Benazir Bhutto: The first woman to head a Muslim state and end military dictatorship
The perils of Muslim women in certain countries is not news to many of us. Hence, the idea that one woman beat all odds and became the leader of a Muslim nation, is as radical as radical itself. She became 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of the centre-left Pakistan People’s Party. She led with her might and forced a level of democracy, until her assassination for the same causes.
5) Harriet Tubman: The female spy who saved hundreds of people from slavery
One woman with one of the craziest ideas in history is Harriet Tubman. She escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist and then led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom through an Underground Railroad. She risked her life and freedom by returning time and again to rescue her family members and other slaves, and did so successfully. She is set to be on the new $20 bill.
There are so many other women who have changed the world one way or the other, through ideas that have seemed irrational. These are the women to be celebrated, and the ones whose dauntlessness we can only strive to have.
