20 women who inspire me

 

Happy international women's day! I love this day not because I'm a man-hater or someone who thinks we're a minority who need recognising, but because it's about celebrating who we are! I've always said that I'm not really a feminist but that's because I associate feminism with either actively fighting for female rights (not a massive problem in our country and selfishly, I'm focusing on my own career and life right now, fully aware of and grateful for the privileges I have as a middle class white woman living in the UK) or constantly striving to be equal to be men. I am of the opposite opinion, that we don't need to try and be men; we can do everything they can do and we are all fabulous all on our own. So whether you're a fashion guru, a sports player, a wife and mum or an inventor, we should be celebrating the amazing 50% of the population that we make up. So in celebration of girlhood, I thought I'd pull together a list of the top 20 women who inspire me.

1. Queen Elizabeth I

As you may have noticed, our current Queen (Elizabeth II) is married to a man who holds the title 'Prince' as opposed to 'King' and this is to make it clear that our Queen is rightful monarch and there is noone above her. However. back in the 1500s, this wasn't the case. When a rightful Queen married a man back then, he became the King and became more powerful than she was. So Queen Elizabeth vowed never to marry a man and married a country instead, taking England through 44 years that would forever be known as the Golden Age, proving forever more that a Queen without a King is, historically, more powerful.

2. Mulan

This one being the real-life Hua Mulan, as oppose to the Disney Fa Mulan who is based on her. As same as the Disney film goes, Hua Mulan took her elderly father's place as a warrior in the Northern and Southern dynasties period. But while the film suggests that she had but one great battle, the real-life woman actually fought for 12 years, gaining praise and merit for her work and proving that there is no reason that women can't fight for their country in exactly the same way that men can.

3. Blair Waldorf

Yes I realise that she is a fictional character. But there is a lot about Blair Waldorf that inspires me. Not only is she a fashion icon and ultimate sass queen but she was always determined that she wanted to become a powerful woman, even when that meant ending a relationship that made her happy so as to avoid being overshadowed and create her own identity.

4. Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston is a wonderful actress, no doubt about that, but the reason she inspires me is more for the social side of things. She stayed strong and dignified through being publicly humiliated by Brad Pitt (thought of as the most attractive man on the planet at the time) and she went on to become more and more successful. Obviously now she's split form Justin and there's a lot of chat about whether her and Brad will get back together but I hope she doesn't stoop that low. Also, I like that she's never bent to peer pressure on the subject of having children - just because she's a woman, she doesn't have to want them.

5. Serena Williams

Now I'm not big into sports but I have to admire Serena for her 23 Grand Slam titles and the fact that she won the Australian Open while 2 months pregnant! Publicly acknowledged as the best tennis player, rather than the best female tennis player, she proves that we don't have to be seen as women in a man's world, we can just be women who are good at what we do.

6. Anna Wintour

Well, how much more of an inspiration can you get than the editor-in-chief of Vogue? A journalist, a fashion icon, a woman in power and someone who makes a hell of a lot of money - what else is there to aspire to? The fact that Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada was probably based on her, just makes me like her even more.

7. My grandma

Of course, I couldn't write a list of women who inspire me without a few people I know on there. My grandma has always been an inspiration to me for a lot of reasons but mainly because of her belief system around money and happiness. She believes that first and foremost, a job should make you happy (rather than rich or stressed), she believes that you should enjoy your money while you can as you can't take it with you and she believes that you should accept the things you can't change and change the things you can't accept. She says things how they are, she doesn't care what other people think and she can't resist a bit of juicy gossip (all traits that I have inherited). Also, she was diagnosed with, and beat, breast cancer last year and she stayed smiling through the whole thing - a true inspiration.

8. Margaret Thatcher

Loved and hated in equal measure, my opinion on Maggie Thatcher falls very much on the former side of the argument. She may have made controversial decisions, but she made decisions none the less and as the first female prime minister, she certainly made her mark. She ruled in the same way that I would if I got the chance; she didn't worry about whether or not people liked her, she focused on being powerful and driving the UK forwards.

9. Brooke Davis

Again, another fictional one but one worth mentioning. Brooke Davis transformed herself from slutty high school cheerleader to head of a fashion empire and in a very short amount of time too. Not only that, but she had always dreamed of having a family and she proved that women don't have to choose between the two - they really can have it all.

10. Rosa Parks

Obviously, racism isn't something that I've ever had to suffer but it's a topic that really gets my blood boiling because it is beyond me how anyone could dislike another person for their skin colour, the country they're from or their sexuality either for that matter. When it comes to things like religion or politics, while you still shouldn't hate someone for that, atleast that's based on a person's opinions rather than purely what they look like or who they choose to sleep with. So it's so crazy to me that segregation was so normal for so long and Rosa Parks is an inspiration because she sparked the change that became a revolution. And while what she did and the battles she faced may not have been the same as mine, it does ring true that you should stand up for what you believe in and fight for what you want.

11. Audrey Hepburn

Widely renowned for her beauty, Audrey Hepburn was so much more than just her good looks. She was also an incredible actress (one of only 12 people in history to win Emmy, Grammy, Academy and Tony awards), a member of the Dutch resistance during World War II and a humanitarian who did a lot of charity work for UNICEF. A real all-rounder.

12. Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham made such an iconic transition from the nineties to the noughties to now. First, a girl band pop success, then a typical WAG, then a doting mum to a growing brood, then a chic fashion designer. Her journey has been iconic and the Beckhams remain one of my favourite celebrity families.

13. Helen Keller

Despite going deaf and blind before she was 2 years old, she went on to become the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, proving to the world that you can never let your hardships or challenges stop you from achieving what you want to.

14. Inthefrow

My favourite blogger by a long way, Victoria from Inthefrow has inspired me with her classy sense of style, her designer wardrobe and her editorial-style blogposts. Unlike most bloggers who do whatever comes their way, she has cleverly marketed herself into a high-end blogger and has just released her own product line of beautiful bags.

15. Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly was a successful and beautiful actress from the ages of 20-25, at which point she got married and became the Princess of Monaco. That's the kind of life that anyone would want and the kind of life that Meghan Markle is soon to embark upon too.

16. My mum

Obviously my mum was always going to make it on to this list no matter what; she's the most important woman in my life. But right now, she's especially inspiring to me because today marks her last day at the job she's been in for nearly 15 years. She's always instilled in me a good work ethic, the belief that I can do whatever I want and the drive to always chase my dreams, but I think that somewhere along the way, she was so focused on me and my brother that she forgot to take her own advice. She hasn't been happy in her job for a long time (I don't think it's slanderous to say that in my opinion, her boss is an arsehole) and so I am so glad for her that she's about to start a new job; one that excites her, one that will present her with new challenges to get stuck in to and one that pays much higher than she's on now (and higher than the aforementioned boss is paid, ha). Mum, I am so incredibly proud of you and you inspire me every day to be the best woman I can be.

17. Cleopatra

I think it's often seen that women are not in positions of power but that's only a very recent notion in the grand scheme of things. Yes there be more male CEOs and more male politicians and only male US presidents, but women have been running the show for a lot longer than that. All the way back in 51 BC, an 18-year-old Cleopatra ascended to the throne with her 10-year-old brother and spent the rest of her life defeating men to remain that way. Whether that was through fighting wars or using her sexuality to get men to fight wars for her, she was a force to be reckoned with.

18. Margaret Hamilton

There may be a constant push to get more women working in technology, science and maths but that can only be down to lack of passion, rather than ability because Margaret Hamilton proved that she was every bit as comfortable in that role as a man would be, when she and her team wrote the code that eventually resulted in a successful Apollo mission. And considering that was at a time before computer science or software engineering courses really existed, it makes her achievement even more impressive.

19. Samantha Jones

I've done a whole blog post dedicated to Samantha from Sex and the City before and all my reasons previously mentioned still stand; she is empowered, she's successful, she believes in a woman's choice to do and be whatever she wants and she doesn't care what anything thinks about her; a true inspiration.

20. Me

Let's all stop believing that a woman loving herself is big-headed or narcissistic. Not only should we each be admiring other women and their achievements (however big or small) but first and foremost, we should be celebrating ourselves. I am hard working and driven and generous and positive and a lover of fashion. I am proud of who I've become and the women who have helped me get here. I am an inspiring woman and so are all of you! Happy International Women's Day!