Celebrating Women’s Month

The month of March has now come to be globally known and celebrated as Women’s month. It is an annual reminder of the achievements of history-making women across different cultures. From Science to Politics, it is an opportunity to reflect on the trailblazing achievements of women who created and continue to create a path for other women to thrive.

SIMONE BILES

The Greatest and Most Dominant Gymnast of all Time

Simone Biles is considered to be one of the greatest and most dominant gymnasts of all time with the most gold medals and female gymnast with the most all-round titles.

• First African American gymnast to win a World medal on every event.
• She is acclaimed as the most decorated gymnast of all time.
• Five-time world all-round champion (2013-2015, 2018 and 2019).
• Five-time world floor exercise champion (2013-2015, 2018 and 2019).
• Three-time balance beam champion (2014, 2015, 2019).
• Two-time vault champion (2018 and 2019).
• Seven-time United States National all-round champion (2013-2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021).
• Member of the gold winning American teams at the 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 world artistic gymnast championships.
• First female gymnast since Daniela Silivas in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic game or world championships.
• Sixth woman to win an individual all-round title at both the world championships and Olympics and first gymnast since Lilia Podkyopayeva in 1996 to hold both titles simultaneously.

BENAZIR BHUTTO (June 21, 1953 – December 27, 2007)

First Woman to Head a Democratic Government in an Islamic Country

Benazir Bhutto has come to be known as a champion of democracy and an icon for women’s rights due to her political success in a male-dominated political environment.

What makes Benazir Bhutto so Special?

• The first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim dominated Country.
• The 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988 to 1990 and 1993 to 1996).
• Although born into a wealthy aristocratic family, she always displayed leadership traits.
• Schooled in two of the world’s Top 5 Universities – Oxford University and University of Harvard.
• Co-chaired the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from the 1980s until her assassination in 2007.
• Despite Islamist forces, she was unrelenting in her quest to reform Pakistan.
• Bhutto and her mother, Nusrat, led the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in Pakistan
• She led the PPP for two terms. Her second term oversaw economic privatization and attempts to advance women’s rights.

TONI MORRISON (February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019)

First African American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature

What Makes Toni Morrison so Special?

• One of the most celebrated authors in the world.
• Her novels have earned her countless prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize.
• She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama of the USA in 2012.
• Being the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Morrison’s work has inspired a generation of writers.
• She became the first black female editor in fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s.
• In 1966, The National Endowment for Humanities selected her for the Jefferson Lecture – the USA federal government’s highest honor for achievement in the humanities.
• In 2016, she received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016
• She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
• Every February 18^th, the state of Ohio, her hometown, celebrates her tenacity as a literature icon. The day is designated to share her literary works with the world. Till this day, Toni Morrison is nationally recognized for her literary pieces particularly because hey addressed the harsh consequences of racism in the USA.

JACINDA ARDEN

World’s Youngest Female Head of Government

What makes Jacinda Arden so remarkable?

• She is the world’s youngest female head of government – New Zealand.
• She has won numerous notable positions in government – elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth in 2008; elected as a member of Parliament in the 2008 General Election; led her party to victory in the 2020 general elections.
• Her government particularly focuses on the New Zealand Housing crisis, eradication of Child Poverty and seeks to promote social inequality in the country.
• The 40^th Prime Minister of New Zealand and Leader of Labour Party, the ruling party, since 2017
• She has been globally praised as being proactive for how she handled and directed New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020.

Arden repeated history in the 2020 General Election, where she led her Party to Victory, gaining an overall majority of 65 seats in Parliament. This is the first time this has happened since the introduction of Proportional Representation in 1996.

OPRAH WINFREY

First Black Female Billionaire

What makes Oprah Winfrey so Remarkable?

• The first black woman to anchor the nightly news program in Nashville, USA and the first black female billionaire.
• She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.
• Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman’s Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards and two additional Academy Award nominations.
• Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.
• She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and received honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard University.
• Winfrey gained recognition and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994. Dubbed the Queen of All Media, Winfrey was the richest African-American of the 20^th Century, was once the world’s only black billionaire and regarded as the greatest black philanthropist in the history of the United States of America.

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