Women’s History Month begins today, and it is a time for people to learn more about the women that helped to shape this world. There are many women who have fought for women’s rights and what is right. They often get lost in between the lines of history, due to men being propped up as the more important figures in most of history. The fight to ensure women’s rights still continues to this day
Angelina Jolie was Born on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles, California. She is mostly known for her roles in movies such as “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and more. Jolie is also an advocate for things such as fighting against sexual violence in places where armed conflict arises. She made a foundation in 2003 called the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation that helps to preserve the wildlife and environment in Cambodia. She is also part of a Namibian institution called The Harnas Wildlife Foundation. Jolie uses her platform to help bring attention to refugees who have been orphaned and displaced because of war in their countries.
Ida B. Wells was born on July 16,1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and died on March 25, 1931, at 68 years old. Wells was born into slavery around the time of the Civil War. Before she became a journalist she was an educator so she could keep her family together after her parents and infant brother died. She was an investigative journalist whose main focus was white mob violence after one of her friends was lynched. Wells started investigating why Black men were being lynched and wrote what she found in newspaper columns and pamphlets. She received backlash from the locals for bringing this to light and received death threats and threats of bodily harm. She had to move to Chicago, Illinois, because of this. Wells began to travel internationally to bring awareness to the lynching going on in America.
Greta Thunberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan. 3, 2003. Thunberg is a strong advocate for the prevention of climate change. She created “Skolstrejk för Klimatet,” which means “School Strike for Climate.” As time went on people at school began to join her in her protest, which gained international attention, and people around the world began to do the same. In 2019 she went to a UN climate event in New York and said, "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.” Thunberg continues to speak out about climate change and bring this to the attention of younger people because she says they are the future of this world.
Bisan Owda is an activist and journalist who is bringing awareness around the world to what is happening in Gaza to the Palestinian people. People are not getting the chance to see the full story firsthand, but Owda is making this possible. She has been in Gaza recording everything she can and posting it on social media for everyone around the world to see. She is also a member of the UN Women’s Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum, which is used to promote youth's voices in the development of programs. Owda continues to reside in Gaza documenting all the death and destruction and risking her life to bring it to social media.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in New York on March 15, 1933, and died on Sept. 18, 2020. In 1993, nominated by President Bill Clinton, Ginsberg became the first female, Jewish Supreme Court justice. She is mostly known for her work on women's rights. One of Ginsberg's main focuses was gender discrimination in workplaces and more, after facing gender discrimination herself even though she was first in her class.
Mae Jemison was born on Oct. 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, and she was the first Black female astronaut. She is fluent in Russian, Japanese, Swahili and English. At first she opened a private practice as a doctor. Jemison decided to apply to NASA after seeing Sally Ride become the first woman in space. After the Challenger explosion in 1986, Jemison and six other astronauts joined the space shuttle Endeavor on Sept. 12, 1992. She spent almost a week in space, logging 190 hours, and she and the crew orbited Earth 127 times.