“Raise girls to be resilient, raise your voice to be heard and when silenced, raise it higher. In a household of girls, my parents always told me that I was to be educated so I wouldn’t have a man treat me less than I deserved. That I work so hard that I wouldn’t need a man to tell me I was not enough. So I persevered, I stood by morals and chose to educate myself with books and words. But I am still silenced at times for calling myself a feminist, for speaking a little too forcefully, laughing too loudly, and writing too freely. I then understood that I was a woman, a woman with a voice who spoke for all woman who were afraid to. A boy fears a woman who is strong and educated, don’t worry because you don’t need him. If you know who you are, what you do and you are proud. That is all you need, you is all you need. “
Sonita Alizadeh’s family first considered selling her into marriage when she was just 10 years old. At 16, they said they had found her a husband, but she found a way to escape.
She wrote “Brides for Sale”, a rap tackling the issue of daughters being sold into marriages by their family and created a video showing her in a bridal dress with a barcode on her forehead. She raps: “Let me whisper, so no one hears that I speak of selling girls. My voice shouldn’t be heard since it’s against Sharia.”
Her family agreed she did not have to get married. She now lives in America, and is still writing songs.
Berta Cáceres was a Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigner whose high-profile campaigns against dams, illegal loggers and plantation owners were met with threats of murder and sexual violence. Last week she was murdered, days after she was threatened for opposing a hydroelectric project.
In an interview in 2013, she said: “I cannot live in peace, I am always thinking about being killed or kidnapped. But I refuse to go into exile. I am a human rights fighter and I will not give up this fight.”
Greek lawyer Christina Dimakou left her life and career in Athens to become a guardian to some of the thousands of unaccompanied child refugees who have landed on the Greek island of Lesbos in the last year.
“I cannot save the world or make everything better,” Dimakou said in an interview, “but I can affect the things around me. If everyone does this then the world becomes better. And we become better.”
Harnaam Kaur has polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can cause excessive hair growth. When she was 11, her beard started growing. Initially, she did everything she could to remove it. At 16, after being baptised as a Sikh, she decided to accept her facial hair. Now, she has modelled for bridal sites, a project celebrating beards and became the first bearded woman to walk in a jewellery designer’s fashion show.
Ellen Murray is standing for election in West Belfast, one of Ireland’s most contentious constituencies, once represented by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. At just 22 years of age, she is making Irish electoral history by being the first trans person to run in a Northern Irish election.
Three women founded #BlackLivesMatter, an international movement campaigning against violence toward black people. Alicia Garza was among the many who were in shock over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
She wrote an impassioned message on Facebook, ending with: “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors replied with #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi added her support and the three began setting up Tumblr and Twitter accounts encouraging users to share stories of why #BlackLivesMatter. A movement was born and continues to campaign, online and offline, today.
Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier’s work on CRISPR-Cas9genome editing could enable use to genetically modify almost anything. In theory, the technique could be used to alter any human gene. Their work has an impact on several areas of life: from genetic medicine to the development of new crops and bio-products. Given future challenges facing life on earth, this holds revolutionary promise for disease control and ecology.
Women who have been awarded the Nobel prize in physics, (1-4); 1. Marié curié in 1903 for the study of spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel. 2. Maria Goeppert Mayer in 1963 for the discovery of nuclear shell structure. 3. Donna Strickland in 2018 for the discovery of chirped pulse amplification. 4. Andrea M. Ghez in 2020 for the discovery of supermassive compact object at the center of our milkyway galaxy. Happy International Women’s Day! ✨
“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.”
