March is Women's History Month!!!!
 

Who are the women you admire??

Maya Angelou
 

“Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible and live long lives.”

~ Maya Angelou

Oh this list could get really long:

Anna Nieto Gomez, activist/scholar
Anna Nieto Gomez was one of the most articulate and outspoken Chicana feministas since the early days of the movimiento chicano. Nieto Gomez launched an early and enduring critique of the Chicano movement for ignoring women's issues. She founded an early feminist journal, Encuentro Femenil, in which she and other Chicanas spelled out an inclusive Chicana/o agenda, including issues around childcare, reproductive rights, and the feminization of poverty.

Dr. Nieto Gomez was just here last week lecturing to my MAS365 class. She is incredibly warm and caring and took time to meet with each of us individually. I was on cloud nine the whole time.

Cherrie Moraga, writer/poet/activist/playwright
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Cherrie Moraga is a prolific, award-winning Chicana writer/activist/poet/ playwright. Her many published works include Loving in the War Years/Lo Que Nunca Paso Por Los Labios, Cuentos: Stories by Latinas, and The Last Generation. Three of her plays are published in Heroes and Saints and Other Plays by West End Press. She is also co-editor of the pivotal Chicana feminist text, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, both the English and Spanish versions (co-authored separately with Gloria Anzaldua and Ana Castillo). Cherrie has taught drama and writing courses at various universities across the nation, and is currently a faculty member at Stanford University. Her newest play, Watsonville, enjoyed a successful run in San Francisco last year.

Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez, Professor of Chicana/o Studies
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Dr. Broyles-Gonzalez was invited to a White House ceremony by President Bill Clinton and the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act: June 10, 1998. The White House ceremony highlighted Professor Broyles-Gonzalez' historic 1996 lawsuit which challenged the unequal pay of women professors at the University of California, and was settled in October of 1997. Her victory places UC discriminatory actions within permanent court scrutiny and custody, and is an enduring marker in the struggle for womens rights. Professor Broyles-Gonzlez is a Yaqui-Chicana native of the Arizona-Sonora borderlands with a doctorate in German Studies from Stanford University. In 1985 she became the first woman of color to receive tenure at the University of California in Santa Barbara; she advanced to full Professor in 1991. In 1996 she received the lifetime Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Chicana/o Studies. Her most recent book El Teatro Campesino: Theater in the Chicano Movement has received broad critical acclaim. (submitted by Dr. Antonia Castaneda, St. Mary's University)

This woman has moved me in ways I can't quite articulate because I will start crying. She is by far the most insirational professer I have ever had the pleasure of studying under. Together we are collaborating in bringing Pululaw Khus to the UofA to lecture about maintaining her Chumash indigenous heritage during a time of slavery in California.

Gloria Anzaldua, writer/activist/scholar (d. 2004)
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Gloria Anzaldua was a Chicana tejana lesbian-feminist poet, writer, and scholar who played a fundamental role in the development of Chicana feminist theory in the 1970s and beyond. She was co-editor of three of the most influential publications in the emergence of Chicana feminisms: This Bridge Called My Back:Writings by Radical Women of Color, Haciendo Caras/Making Face, Making Soul: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color, and Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Gloria's work theorized a "borderlands" that was historically and geographically situated in the U.S. Southwest, as well as a metaphorical borderlands that encompassed the lives and desires of those marginalized by the power structures of U.S. society.

Professor Sandra Soto
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Sandra K. Soto is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She holds a PhD in English, with a focus in Ethnic and Third World Literature, from the University of Texas at Austin. Her book Reading Chican@ Like a Queer: The De-Mastery of Desire (2010), replaces the race-based oppositional paradigm of Chicano literary studies with a less didactic, more flexible, framework geared for a queer analysis of the discursive relationship between racialization and sexuality. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching interests are in Chicana/o and Latina/o literary and cultural studies, feminist theory, gender studies, and queer theory. She is currently working on a book tentatively titled Feeling Greater Mexico, which mobilizes queer theories of affect to pursue unlikely connections between critical transnational studies and U.S. ethnic studies. In 2010 she and Miranda Joseph received the National Education Association Excellence in the Academy Award in Democracy in Higher Education for their essay “Neoliberalism and the Battle over Ethnic Studies in Arizona.” At the University of Arizona, she is an Executive Committee Member of the Institute of LGBT Studies and an affiliate of English, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Mexican American Studies and Research Center.

Sandy is my inspiration and th reason I am pursing a daul graduate degree in Mexican American Studies. She is incredible!

I would like to pay deep respect and homage in his thread to Native American women. Without them I would never have learned about the powerful female force in all of creation that has been lost and neglected for thousands and thousands of years. Also, without them as guides, interpreters scouts and negotiators for peace and unity, I sincerely believe this country would have never been settled.

I remember the brunches and beer nights we'd throw when I was co-leading the Women's and Gender Studies students union at my university. :) Some of the guests we attracted at the local level were astounding - you don't have to look further than your own city, sometimes, to find women who ought to make history!

Happy Women's History Month! Enjoy it. :) Be proud.

Margie and Pino
 

two women come to mind for me personally

Margie and Pino, aka Mamma and Pops to all of their *children*

Two dear lesbians who were inseparable as first a couple, then friends. They shared a house for over 30 years. Lovers came and went but the rules were clear, Margie and Pino were going to live under the same roof.

They owned the first gay bar in our Parish in LA.

They owned many more after that and only employed gay women. They took in the dykes who were thrown out by family, the addicted and homeless dykes... with a couple of rules,, get clean and work and you are family. For the rest of their lives those same dykes took care of them as they got older and needed help. This was their only real family.

Margie, "Pops", the butch of the two, was the security and Pino was the cute little femme firecracker who people say i remind them of. Pino loaned out money and kept journals of the comings and goings of everyone, who came in, who was courting who, who took a loan, who paid a loan, all the goings on from the neighborhood bar. Women danced together, they were raided, they were arrested.. they still kept on. They also started the first all women parades in their area for Mardi Gras... their Mardi Gras Balls were butch femme style, complete with tux and ball gowns.. the photos were magnificent!

They retired at about 55 and enjoyed a ranch for a while, then a house in the suburbs where all their *family* lived... by now they were content sitting out on the back deck as people stopped by... a quiet life after all those crazy years in the 60 -70's. Happy knowing most all the young dykes they helped back in the day were now full functioning adults who still loved them.

They were older when i met them and i fell in love with them both. Pino was become frail and need help. Margie's health was failing too and she could not take care of Pino as much as she wanted to, so their *children* took turns going to the house to help, i went every weekend to do housework and help bathe Pino. Pino loved to swim and while in the tub loved to show off her moves.. in her day she was a swimming instructor.. she taught kids in wheelchairs how to swim..after a bath you would end up as soaked as she was and afterwards she liked to powder herself in Jean Nate... the woman had a smile on her face constantly, even in her dementia she was happy as a clam. She loved seafood so i would bring her some, peeling it as fast as she could wolf it down. When not well we would bring her to the facility for a short stay, and then anxiously awaiting her return to their home. We brought all of her bedding from home so she would not be too afraid, and we took turns going to feed her as she would just forget to.

Their home consisted of all of the signs and decor from the gay bars, shelves full of the journals that Pino kept. FORTY years of memories and wonderful times. How awesome it was to sit down and read a journal and the good times that were had. All in Pino's penmanship.

Then we heard there was a storm coming, as a group we decided that we had to evacuate and this time we could not bring Pino, she was incontinent and the last time we evacuated with her, it was very hard and ended up having to find somewhere for her to stay because sitting on the interstate was too much for her. We chose the place that she always stayed at when she had an illness. They promised to take good care of her, and we expected to pick her up in a few days. Kat brought her there, i went to New England. The last thing Kat said Pino said was *why are you leaving me here and when are you coming back?*

Kat took Margie and the rest of the clan to Texas.. little did we all know what would happen.

Katrina came with all her might and the levees broke, Pino and Margies house was completely underwater, only the tip of the roof was not under.
Everything, every momento was gone. The journals, the photos, everything.

Pino's caretakers decided to evacuate themselves from the hospital, they placed all of the patients, all 11 of them on the 3rd floor, gave them all the meds they had come there with and left them there. The water went to the 5th floor. We did not know Pino was murdered until 2 weeks later. She was euthanized and all i can think of is praying that she was unconscious when the water came. If free, she would have swam out of there i am sure of that. It tooks months to get her body from the morgue for burial, it was horrible. Her funeral was anything but deserving and i didn't make it back for it. i hid as far as i could so i didn't have to think about it.

Margie had to be told that she had lost her lifemate to the storm and the people we trusted with her. Margie lasted a couple of years but was never the same and of course Kat, the one who left Pino there suffered major depression and till this day blames herself, although we made a decision as a group. Life will never be the same. Margie was also buried without much fanfare, and by now only a few people knew of how wonderful these two women were.

Pino's legacy was one of a brave woman who didn't care what would happen to her if she helped out people who needed help. She started a movement that allowed other gay women to own and operate businesses.

Many people owe their life to this 5 foot nothing 100 pound powerhouse and it really, really bothers me that she died that way. She and the other people that were there with her, deserved better.

The caretakers were charged with murder but they beat the charges.

Pino still lives in the people she helped and in me, i will never, ever forget her smiling face.

Sorry for the ramble but i felt i had to share this.

Mama's Obit
 

What a legend she was :)


Rosemary "Mama" Pino |

Rosemary Pino ""Mama'' tragically departed this world to meet her Heavenly Father on Monday, August 29, 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. Throughout her life, Mama was a pioneer for rights of the gay and lesbian community. In addition, she worked diligently for human rights and AIDS. With her beloved business partner and devoted partner of 56 years, Margie Norman, they owned and operated numerous gay bars including, The Grog, De Ja Vu', Pino's, The Blue Odyssey, and Club 621. Prior to the bar business, Pino worked for Hibernia Bank and Camp Leroy Johnston. Mama was heavily involved with the gay carnival organizations. A member of A.G.G.I., honorary mom for the Krewe of Polythemus and the Krewe of Armenius, she also served as a board member for the Krewe of Ishtar (an all women's gay club). Standing only five feet high, Mama's distinctive laugh and bubbly personality made her appear to be six feet tall. She volunteered for The Lighthouse for the Blind and taught blind children to swim. She loved to swim and played softball until she was forty years old. Mama fought for the underdog and often adopted gay kids whose parents had disowned them. She supported her friends and everyone who ever met her adored her and her fun loving spirit. Mama enriched other's lives and will be sadly missed by her partner, Margie Norman; close personal friends, Bonnie, Kathy, Dee, Sis, Cindy, Sue, Judy, Rusty, Mark, Keith, Linda, Beverly, and Anisha; and countless other friends.

Off the top of my head...

My Mother, My grandmother, Tia Damaris...
I'll have to think on the Notable Women besides them...

Susan B Anthony
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Sojourner Truth
Virginia Woolf
The Bronte Sisters
Jane Austen
Hillary Clinton
Janet Reno

Happy International Womens Day!!
 

rawrrr!!!
 

--Teresa Mahieu
 

The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years only grows!

It has almost been 40 years since she beat this guy!!!
 

Billie Jean King

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Florence Nightingale - a fascinating woman!

Lena Horne - one of my favorite singers.

Frida Kahlo
 

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Lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon formed the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955. Together for 51 years, they became the first same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license and marry in the United States Feb 12, 2004.

Rawr!!!!
 

Rachel Maddow
 

They also write blues music for children!!!
 

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/im...dqLlRIkZ8gcsyg


About Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women

It's not often that dreams come true. In the case of the acoustic blues trio, Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women, that's just what happened. Over the course of nine recordings and thousands of gigs, the group has gone from virtual obscurity to one of the most popular, witty, and just plain satisfying acoustic blues groups on the scene today. These women tear into their material with passion, dedication, and originality. Every song they cover becomes theirs, and their originals blend seamlessly with their interpretations. They are indeed the torchbearers for the original classic uppity blues women like Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace and Victoria Spivey.

The members of Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women are: Gaye Adegbalola, Andra Faye, and Ann Rabson.

Clara Barton
 

Founder and 1st president of The American Red Cross

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Mary Magdeline, legend in her own time
 

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According to the gospels Mark and John, Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus after he rose from the dead. All four canonical Gospels attest that she witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and burial. The 21st century has seen a restoration of Mary Magdalene as a patron of women's ministry. This is in direct opposition to other notions that she was a repentant prostitute.

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In this day and age and women STILL need to fight to keep the patriarch from taking away their right to choose....

...I would like to introduce a bill that states all men who are suspected of rape must undergo a mandatory castration?

Shame on the state of Virginia for allowing such archaic behavior in government.

Greatness isn't always measured by a wikipedia article....
 

The most influential woman in my life. My LauraMom.

For adopting all of us strays.
For driving a purple car.
For marrying her best friend; the most amazing butch ever.
For being the most fierce femme I know.
For teaching me to make bagels.
For teaching her cooking class about safe sex while stuffing sausage.
For packing me a picnic lunch for the airplane every time I leave back to school.

For teaching me kindness - something every great woman should learn.

For being famous in our lives.

Germaine Greer - Australian Feminist
 

Germaine Greer (born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, and a significant feminist voice of the later 20th century.
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Greer's ideas have created controversy ever since her book The Female Eunuch became an international best-seller in 1970, turning her into a household name and bringing her both adulation and opposition. She is also the author of many other books including, Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility (1984); The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause (1991), Shakespeare's Wife (2007) and "The Whole Woman" (1999). She is Professor Emerita of English Literature and Comparative Studies at the University of Warwick.

Greer has defined her goal as 'women's liberation' as distinct from 'equality with men', She asserts that women's liberation meant embracing gender differences in a positive fashion, a struggle for the freedom for women to define their own values, order their own priorities and determine their own fates. In contrast, Greer sees equality as mere assimilation and "settling" to live the lives of "unfree men".

Gladys Aylward
 

GLADYS AYLWARD (1902 - 1970)

Missionary to China
Gladys Aylward stands out as an example of how God can use someone of meager means and abilities when they give themselves over to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Born into a working class family in Edmonton, London on February 24, 1902. Daughter of a mailman and oldest of two sisters and 1 brother. Unlike many famous Christians in history, she didn't excel scholastically or set her self apart based on her exhaustive knowledge of the Bible and the classic languages, rather her early life was marked with a propensity for play acting and a willingness to serve. God prepares those He calls for the roles they are to play and these propensities would come to be contributing factors in her success as God put them to good use.

Though raised in the Angelican Church, she was not a particularly religious person in her early years and her "adequate" education and working class social position left her with few options. She became a parlor maid at the age of only 14. Her call to missions came about when she attended a revival at when she was 18 in which the preacher expounded on giving ones life over to the service of the Lord. The message struck a cord in her heart and an awakening desire to serve on the missionary field began to blossom. Having spent the last four years serving others surely gave her a unique insight to a servant's heart. She gave her life to Christ willing to be used in whatever way He sought fit. Some sources indicate that her decision to pursue a missionary assignment to China may have come about from having read a magazine article about China, a nation where millions of people had never heard the Gospel.

She continued her work as a parlor maid with little chance to realize her calling. In her mid-twenties, she applied and was given a probationary position with the China Inland Mission Center in London but this endeavor didn't bear fruit. At the age of 26 her probation ended in failure. She had fallen short of their expectations and was rejected for service as a missionary to China. However, no one can frustrate the will of God or reject for service those who are called of God "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Rom 11:29)

Determined to follow God by whatever means available, she continued to work and to save her money and after four years, at the age of 30, her opportunity came in the person of an aging missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson,1 who was looking for a young assistant to carry on her work. Gladys was accepted but Mrs. Lawson didn't have the means to assist her with the passage to China. Adding to the difficulties, save as she might, Gladys lacked the funds to travel by ship, the preferred method of travel to distant lands. So she put her affairs in order and with only her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds ninepence, set off for a perilous, overland journey to the inland city of Yangchen, in the mountainous province of Shansi, a little south of Peking. An area where few Europeans visited and the people didn't trust foreigners.

The two women set about planing the best way to attract an audience to hear the message of Jesus. Knowing that the city in which they lived was an overnight stop for mule caravans and that the building in which they lived has once been an Inn, they determined to do some repairs and restore its original purpose offering food and care for the mules along with hospitality, food and a warm bed for the drivers at a fair price. It is reported that Gladys would run out and grab the halter of the lead mule and lead it into their courtyard. The other mules followed and the drivers went along for the ride.

In the evenings after serving a meal and before bed, the women would gather their guests and tell them stories about a man named Jesus. In this fashion, the Gospel message began to be proclaimed, not only at their Inn but by the drivers who carried the stories with them to other stops along their journey. It also served to open Gladys' mind to the new challenge of learning the language as she sat and listened to these stories, participating as she was able. She spent many hours each day learning to communicate in the vernacular of the locals until she finally was competent, something the China Inland Mission Center thought beyond her ability.

Shortly after this, her mentor, Mrs. Lawson fell and was seriously injured leading to her death a few days later. Gladys, along with the Chinese cook, who was a Christian, determined to continue the work. Fluent in the language, she began to share the Gospel in surrounding villages and through circumstance, became aware of the many unwanted children. Her missionary work turned in a different direction, care for these unwanted little ones. But her care wasn't limited to children only. During those years China was under attack by Japan and many Chinese soldiers were wounded. So she added their numbers to those for whom she provided succor. Her Inn became a refuge for 20 orphans and as many as 30 to 40 injured soldiers at a time.

The war intensified and her children charges now numbered around 100. She had become a citizen of China in 1936 and her activities in support of the local populace, including a bit of spying on the Japanese made it unsafe to remain in Yangchen. Being warned of a bounty for her capture, dead or alive, by Colonel Linnan a member of the local Chinese resistance, she gathered up the children and narrowly escaped the city.

Unable to use roads or transportation, she was forced to lead her children, on foot, over the mountains to the safer province of Sian some 100 miles distant. The trek took twenty seven days in which they had to endure the elements and many hardships. She herself had become ill en route and when they finally arrived safely, she collapsed. The doctors were amazed by the feat as she was suffering from typhus, pneumonia, a relapsing fever, malnutrition, and supreme exhaustion.

She regained some strength but never recovered totally from her illness yet this didn't stop her from continuing her ministry, now located in Sian. She started a church and once more she was sharing the Gospel in the villages, prisons and among the sick and helpless. Her ministry continued until 1947 when the new Communist regime told control. Gladys and other missionaries had to leave China and her choice of destination was decided because she had a burden for the spiritual condition of her native England.

She wrote, "England, seemingly so prosperous while other countries passed through terrible suffering at the hands of Communist domination, had forgotten what was all important - the realization that God mattered in the life of a nation no less than in that of an individual."

In 1958, after ten years in England, she left for Taiwan and started another orphanage. She remained here for the rest of her life serving God by serving His children. She died January 3rd, 1970.

She was known as 'Ai-weh-deh', (Virtuous One) by the Chinese who grew to love this foreigner they initially distrusted. She lived her life before God and for God and is an example of what He can accomplish using the least of us.

Sappho and Alcaeus
 

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on Lesbos

Irena Sendler
 

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When Hitler and his Nazis built the Warsaw Ghetto and herded 500,000 Polish Jews behind its walls to await liquidation, many Polish gentiles turned their backs or applauded. Not Irena Sendler. An unfamiliar name to most people, but this remarkable woman defied the Nazis and saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. As a health worker, she sneaked the children out between 1942 and 1943 to safe hiding places and found non-Jewish families to adopt them.

Today the old woman, gentle and courageous, is living a modest existence in her Warsaw apartment - an unsung heroine.

Her achievement went largely unnoticed for many years. Then the story was uncovered by four young students at Uniontown High School, in Kansas, who were the winners of the 2000 Kansas state National History Day competition by writing a play Life in a Jar about the heroic actions of Irena Sendler. The girls - Elizabeth Cambers, Megan Stewart, Sabrina Coons and Janice Underwood - have since gained international recognition, along with their teacher, Norman Conard. The presentation, seen in many venues in the United States and popularized by National Public Radio, C-SPAN and CBS, has brought Irena Sendler's story to a wider public.

The students continue their prize-winning dramatic presentation Life in a Jar. They have established an e-mail address isendler@hotmail.com.

Irena Sendler was born in 1910 in Otwock, a town some 15 miles southeast of Warsaw. She was greatly influenced by her father who was one of the first Polish Socialists. As a doctor his patients were mostly poor Jews.

In 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and the brutality of the Nazis accelerated with murder, violence and terror.

At the time, Irena was a Senior Administrator in the Warsaw Social Welfare Department, which operated the canteens in every district of the city. Previously, the canteens provided meals, financial aid, and other services for orphans, the elderly, the poor and the destitute. Now, through Irena, the canteens also provided clothing, medicine and money for the Jews. They were registered under fictitious Christian names, and to prevent inspections, the Jewish families were reported as being afflicted with such highly infectious diseases as typhus and tuberculosis.

But in 1942, the Nazis herded hundreds of thousands of Jews into a 16-block area that came to be known as the Warsaw Ghetto. The Ghetto was sealed and the Jewish families ended up behind its walls, only to await certain death.

Irena Sendler was so appalled by the conditions that she joined Zegota, the Council for Aid to Jews, organized by the Polish underground resistance movement, as one of its first recruits and directed the efforts to rescue Jewish children.

To be able to enter the Ghetto legally, Irena managed to be issued a pass from Warsaws Epidemic Control Department and she visited the Ghetto daily, reestablished contacts and brought food, medicines and clothing. But 5,000 people were dying a month from starvation and disease in the Ghetto, and she decided to help the Jewish children to get out.

For Irena Sendler, a young mother herself, persuading parents to part with their children was in itself a horrendous task. Finding families willing to shelter the children, and thereby willing to risk their life if the Nazis ever found out, was also not easy.

Irena Sendler, who wore a star armband as a sign of her solidarity to Jews, began smuggling children out in an ambulance. She recruited at least one person from each of the ten centers of the Social Welfare Department.

With their help, she issued hundreds of false documents with forged signatures. Irena Sendler successfully smuggled almost 2,500 Jewish children to safety and gave them temporary new identities.

Some children were taken out in gunnysacks or body bags. Some were buried inside loads of goods. A mechanic took a baby out in his toolbox. Some kids were carried out in potato sacks, others were placed in coffins, some entered a church in the Ghetto which had two entrances. One entrance opened into the Ghetto, the other opened into the Aryan side of Warsaw. They entered the church as Jews and exited as Christians. "Can you guarantee they will live?" Irena later recalled the distraught parents asking. But she could only guarantee they would die if they stayed. "In my dreams," she said, "I still hear the cries when they left their parents."

Irena Sendler accomplished her incredible deeds with the active assistance of the church. "I sent most of the children to religious establishments," she recalled. "I knew I could count on the Sisters." Irena also had a remarkable record of cooperation when placing the youngsters: "No one ever refused to take a child from me," she said.

The children were given false identities and placed in homes, orphanages and convents. Irena Sendler carefully noted, in coded form, the children's original names and their new identities. She kept the only record of their true identities in jars buried beneath an apple tree in a neighbor's back yard, across the street from German barracks, hoping she could someday dig up the jars, locate the children and inform them of their past.

In all, the jars contained the names of 2,500 children ...

But the Nazis became aware of Irena's activities, and on October 20, 1943 she was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Gestapo, who broke her feet and legs. She ended up in the Pawiak Prison, but no one could break her spirit. Though she was the only one who knew the names and addresses of the families sheltering the Jewish children, she withstood the torture, refusing to betray either her associates or any of the Jewish children in hiding.

Sentenced to death, Irena was saved at the last minute when Zegota members bribed one of the Germans to halt the execution. She escaped from prison but for the rest of the war she was pursued by the Gestapo.

After the war she dug up the jars and used the notes to track down the 2,500 children she placed with adoptive families and to reunite them with relatives scattered across Europe. But most lost their families during the Holocaust in Nazi death camps.

The children had known her only by her code name Jolanta. But years later, after she was honored for her wartime work, her picture appeared in a newspaper. "A man, a painter, telephoned me," said Sendler, "`I remember your face,' he said. `It was you who took me out of the ghetto.' I had many calls like that!"

Irena Sendler did not think of herself as a hero. She claimed no credit for her actions. "I could have done more," she said. "This regret will follow me to my death."

She has been honored by international Jewish organizations - in 1965 she accorded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem organization in Jerusalem and in 1991 she was made an honorary citizen of Israel.

Irena Sendler was awarded Poland's highest distinction, the Order of White Eagle in Warsaw Monday Nov. 10, 2003.

This lovely, courageous woman was one of the most dedicated and active workers in aiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her courage enabled not only the survival of 2,500 Jewish children but also of the generations of their descendants.

She passed away on May 12, 2008, at the age of 98.

Civil Rights unsung heroines
 

[IMG]Ella Baker. Septima Poinsette Clark. Fannie Lou Hamer.
They and others risked their lives and worked tirelessly, demanding a social revolution — but history has often overlooked them. They were the women of the civil rights movement.
Though historians now acknowledge that women, particularly African-Americans, were pivotal in the critical battles for racial equality, Rosa Parks’ death highlights the fact that she was one of the very few female civil rights figures who are widely known. Most women in the movement played background roles, either by choice or due to bias, since being a women of color meant facing both racism and sexism.
“In some ways it reflects the realities of the 1950s: There were relatively few women in public leadership roles,” said Julian Bond, a civil rights historian at the University of Virginia and chair of the NAACP. “So that small subset that becomes prominent in civil rights would tend to be men. But that doesn’t excuse the way some women have just been written out of history.”
For many, the wives of the movement’s prominent male leaders, including Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz and Myrlie Evers Williams, were among the most visible women in the struggle.[/IMG]

Policarpa Salavarrieta

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Margaret Thatcher...even though I don't agree with her politics she was a powerhouse.

When I was a kid in school in England, Margaret Thatcher cut the free milk program to schools. She was called Margaret Thatcher the child milk snatcher. From my point of view, I was relieved not to be forced to drink milk everyday at school. Urgh.

Melissa

Jeanette Winterson. Her book Oranges are not the only Fruit made me laugh and cry. I think it is still one of the funniest, strange, and memorable books I have ever read.

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Tawakkul Karman is a Yemeni journalist and human rights activist and the co founder of Women Journalists Without Chains

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist whose women's peace movement brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia is the first female president of any African nation.