Clothing is the most significant part of being a Woman, but what clothing you defines your character and personality to thousands of people out in the world. The first thought about women that pops in our mind is someone who is dressed in all those fancy pink clothes, who puts on colourful makeup to look prettier or clatters with her pumps and stilettos all around the place; someone who should make sure to tweeze her eyebrows week after week, flair her hair and have a flawless skin, polish and paint her nails till they are shiny, carry around a sassy handbag, have a perfect hourglass shaped body that fits in all of Victoria Secret’s lingerie or probably a zero figure to fit those tight skinny jeans; and the list goes on forever.
It is not easy being a woman. The question is- why is it necessary to follow all these minute details? Is it just for the sake of how the world wants a woman to be?
Here are some amazing women who do not like being like the rest. These women have created a captivating image of them in the world. According to these women, beauty is an image of one’s personality that should be carried in a society. They clothe themselves with strength, dignity, power, and kindness. Let’s take a look at who these inspirational women are.
1. HARRIET TUBAN
Unlike today’s development and promotions on women empowerment, the 18 century period seems to be a lot backward. Women were not given any importance at all. Yet, among the wild thorns stood out a flower Harriet Tuban, who despite born into slavery was brave enough and escaped. She became a savior and support for all the other slaves and made around 13 missions to rescue seventy enslaved people, family and friends. She also served as a scout and spy for the US army. Throughout her childhood, Harriot was constantly beaten up by the owners and was even hit on the head by a heavy metal weight. This caused hypersomnia and dizziness throughout her life. Later on, she went on to be a political activist.
2. MOTHER TERESA
The next person that we are going to dig deeper on is the most humble woman from India, adored by the whole world. She is known as Blessed Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa is known for her great work of charity. It is said that whenever she came across a sick and diseased people on the road with no one to care for them, she herself would carry and bring them to the charity home. She would bathe them and clean the wounds that would stink. She never had any sign of disgust on her face, instead fell in love with all the poor and sick. Today, there are many homes in Mother Teresa’s name that has been running by the Teresa nuns.
3. ANNE FRANK
Have you heard about the Anne Frank’s Diary? There are a number of stories and films that have been made based on the life of this sweet Jewish girl. During the time of the Nazi rule, Anne and her family hid in a secret attic in her father’s office. No one had access to it. The opening of the door leading to the mysterious attic was hidden behind a bookcase. Anne spent half of her life living in the attic with her family, hiding from Nazis. During this time, she developed the skill and habit of keeping a diary. Many incidents of her life have been described in the diary. She was a constant support to her family, keeping on encouraging them to not give up and live happily with whatever they had at the moment. The transportation of people to the concentration camps was promised to the Frank family and few others who were remaining. However, it was discovered that men, women, and children were separated while they were taken to the camps. Anne’s father got separated from the family during the transportation. At the camp, people who were healthy were taken to work and the old, unfit were immediately killed. Anne thought that her father didn’t survive; she also found out that children below the age of 15 were taken into gas chambers and killed. Since Anne had just turned 15 three months ago, she survived the killing spree. She stood bravely by her family starting to look after her mother and siblings. Women were ill-treated by shaving off their hair, made naked and were just given few morsels of food; while forced to work as slaves. Her family was again separated and transported to another area with just Anne and her sister remaining at the camp. They had to stay in chaotic conditions and soon due to starvation and disease Anne didn’t survive. After the war, Anne’s father who had survived attempted to search for his family but discovered all as dead and only had a diary of his beloved daughter as memory. Frank decided to share the pain of his daughter’s life with the world, which indeed has become the most popular selling book till today.
4. JOAN OF THE ARC
There are some things which people are unaware of even today, like Joan of the Arc. She is considered as a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the ‘Hundred Years War’. She was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint and has remained as a popular figure in literature, painting, and sculptures since the time of her death. Joan said that during her lifetime she received many visions of Arc Angel Michael on asking her to support King Charles VII in the war. She fought bravely and brought victory to France. But soon she was captured by the English and burned alive. Unfortunately, she got to live only 19 years of her life.
5. QUEEN VICTORIA
Queen Victoria is renowned and well known over the world. At a very young age of 18, she inherited the throne. She is the first sovereign to take up residence at the Buckingham Palace. This beauty queen was known for her elegance, patience and a great ruler. Though gifted with amicable beauty, her conscience was more on how to rule her kingdom better. Her period of rule was known as the Victorian Era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was widowed at a very early stage in her life leaving 9 children to look after. People talk about her as a selfish queen, but being a strong woman she brought up her children really well as a mother and ruled the nation wisely as a queen.
6. MALALA YOUSEFZAI
Malala Yousefzai is an example and inspiration for our teens in the modern generation. She is known for her Human Rights Advocacy and education for women and children. On 9 October 2012, after answering an exam while she was on a bus in the Swat District, Yousafzai was shot by a Taliban gunman to threaten her for her activism. She was severely injured, but world supported throughout her recovery. Looking at this, the Taliban community indicated plans for her second assassination, but Malala has clearly proved that she is not afraid and will not stop her work fighting to educate women and children.
Beauty gives power and confidence is the belief by most nowadays. But when a person like Laxmi Agarwal can be beauty icon, then isn’t this belief deceiving?
7. LAXMI AGARWAL
Yes, Laxmi the acid survivor. This woman stood up bravely for herself and today she is the face icon of the fashion industry as well as works as a TV host. At the age of 15, Laxmi was attacked with acid by three men in New Delhi due to her rejection of advances. She was injured, with her body being badly distorted. It made her look burnt and scary, as she admitted in few of her interviews. This woman never gave up; she filed a complaint and requested the sale of chemicals such as acid to be restricted. She found out that there was no seriousness in the court of law on taking a strong decision on such acid attack cases, thus, she stood up for herself and started the campaign of ‘STOP ACID ATTACKS’. Today Laxmi is happily married and still continuous her work for the country.
8. MEGHAN MARKLE
The world hasn’t stopped looking for inspirational figures and one of the most recent new faces in the list of successful women is Meghan Markle. A former American actress, but today the member of the royal family and Duchess of Sussex, married to Prince Harry. She is fifth in the line of inheriting the British throne. She is known as a very simple woman in her looks as well as personality. Her colleagues and friends often describe her as a little bundle of joy bringing in ample amount of happiness. Meghan’s story has a great punch-line, ‘One day you are posing front of the Buckingham Palace and the next thing you know is that you are marrying a Prince.’ She spent most of her childhood helping her mother in social work. This simple actress is not a star, but unknowingly her charms caught the Prince’s attention. Meghan and her family have lately faced a lot of trouble due to being a dark-skinned female, which is most likely not appreciated by the British Royal family. It was a kind gesture of Prince Harry to defend her before his old-fashioned family monarchy. But today, Markle makes history for being the first woman breaking racism in the royal family. This will benefit the whole nation from now on and people look up to the Duchess as a role model.
9. GAURI LANKESH
Gauri Lankesh was a hard-core Indian journalist who was brutally murdered for being a true journalist and bringing the truth to the people. She was a powerful woman who would fearlessly reveal all the secrets and corruptions of the government. Such cruelty shown to an innocent person is ruthless. On 5 September 2017, at around 8 pm, three unidentified men shot Gauri to death at her house. The men fired at least seven bullets at her while she was unlocking the main door of her house after returning from her office. One of the killers, waiting near her house, fired the first shot at, while the two others, who are suspected to have followed her from her office, joined the initial shooter thereafter. The killers were wearing helmets and escaped on a two-wheeler. Three of the bullets pierced Gauri’s head, neck, and chest, resulting in her death at the scene. There was a huge cry over the nation for losing such a strong woman.
10. MARY KOM
Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte is an Indian Olympic boxer hailing from the Kom tribe in Manipur. Magnificent Mary as she is called is a five-time World Amateur Boxing Champion and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. Kom kept her interest in boxing a secret from her father, as he was concerned that boxing would hurt Kom’s face and spoil her chances of marriage. However, he learned of it when Kom’s photo appeared in a newspaper after she won the state boxing championship in 2000. After three years, her father began to support Kom’s pursuits in boxing as was convinced of her love for this sport. She is known as a strong woman figure for all sports-loving women over the world. It was not an easy journey for Mary to the path of success. Throughout her childhood, she helped her family at home and finished all the daily chores on time despite the desperation to practice her boxing for the tournaments. Today, being a mother of two children, this woman has been very active performing in her field, taking care of her children and the household duties as a regular housewife.
Since we now know facts about these fantastic women, let’s look up to some more inspiration. Who knows? Maybe somewhere out in the world, there will be many like these hiding out or unknown to the rest. If you come across any such women or already know them then please share your views in the comment box.
