International Women’s Day: Women who broke all barriers to create history
- Country:
- India
The International Women’s Day – celebrated every year on March 8 – is a day to support women’s rights. This is undeniably a global celebration of cultural, social, political and economic achievements of women that emerges with a theme ‘World becomes better with better gender balance’. Here we have named five such women who have broken all their social barriers to fulfilling their dreams and today they are the inspirations for others.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is considered the first elected female Head of State in Africa. She served as assistant minister of finance (1972–73) under President William Tolbert and as finance minister (1980–85) in Samuel K. Doe’s military dictatorship.
As a Liberian politician, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as the 24th President of Liberia between 2006 and 2018. In 2006, Johnson Sirleaf was named by Forbes as the 51st most powerful woman in the world. She was also listed as one of the ten best leaders in the world by Newsweek in 2010, while Time counted her among the top ten female leaders. She was also awarded Nobel Peace Price in 2011.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is always an inspiration for women, mainly those who to shine in sports. The Women’s Tennis Association ranked Serena Williams world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002.
The 37-year old sportswoman, Serena Williams has earned many accolades. She was the highest paid female athlete in 2016. Forbes ranked her as the only woman in its list of the 100 highest paid athletes with USD 27 million in prize money and endorsements. She also won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award four times (2003, 2010, 2016 and 2018). She was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine in December 2015.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj is the Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team in Tests and ODI. Mithali Raj is the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in WODIs. She is also the first player to score seven consecutive 50s in ODIs.
In June 2018, Mithali Raj became the first player from India (either male or female) during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup to score 2000 runs in T20Is, and also became the first woman cricketer to reach 2000 WT20I runs. Raj has won several accolades like Arjuna Award (2003), Padma Shri (2015), Vogue Sportsperson of the Year (At Vogue’s 10th anniversary in 2017), BBC 100 Women list 2017, etc.
Image Credit: Twitter / Mithali Raj
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox came into global limelight with her role as Sophia Burset on Netflix’s globally acclaimed series Orange is the New Black. With this role, Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category. The 46-year old Cox is currently a renowned LGBT advocate. She became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of a Cosmopolitan magazine with her February 2018 cover on the South African edition. She is even the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds. In 2018, she received the Claire Skiffington Vanguard Award from Transgender Law Center.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Sahle-Work Zewde
Sahle-Work Zewde is the current President of Ethiopia and the first woman to hold the office. She was only the second woman to be appointed an ambassador in Ethiopia’s history. She also served as Ambassador to Senegal with accreditation to Cape Verde, Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau from 1989 to 1993. She also established a tremendous career with the United Nations. Under her (as Director-General of the United Nations Office in Kenya’s capital Nairobi), the office became a more important UN centre for East and Central Africa, per the 2012 Africa Yearbook.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
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