Off the back of a thread that was posted last week about actions of 'pretty women', I got to thinking about the sort of messages modern famous women are giving to our daughters. In the other thread I listed a number of women who, as a child, I looked up to and admired - strong, powerful, intelligent, forthright women who stood up for what they believed in and generally fought adversity and social stigmas to achieve their goals.
Looking at today's media however, I'm struck by the lack of such women being portrayed to our children and instead see a mass of Barbie doll sycophants who would happily sell their grannies (because their own bodies are already on sale) to get one step up the 'celeb' ladder. I know strong women are out there but they seem to be completely overshadowed by negative female images.
So, who were your female heroes and who is there for the next generation of women? Doesn't just have to be sports women.
Comments
Aung San Suu Kyi
and a whole host of female artists.
Hadn't thought of sports people.
Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC is a Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11780&gclid=CJ2Es_aZxbUCFY3LtAodEmAA8Q
Fawzia Koofi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawzia_Koofi
Or Kristen Hersh for being the musical genius that she is.
Katie Price
Jane Tomlinson for raising so much money for Cancer Research whilst terminally ill herself.
Mother Theresa for helping the poor.
Jessica Ennis for showing dedication to her sport.
not sure you could ask our generation for the answer.................what we think would be different from the youngsters coming up..............
when i was young maybe it was feminists or sports people or popstars that we admired........but then my parents might have thought they were idiots and should have been home raising their families.......
you need to ask the teenagers now who they admire.....
i can't remmeber admiring any women or men when i was growing up........to be honest.......
Malala Yousufzai, the pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating education for girls even after they'd threatened her and her family.
+1
Martine Wright
Michelle Obama
Same here. Never really had and heros or heroines.
Today's women in the spotlight seem mostly to be famous for being famous, rather than for achieving anything (except making a shed-load of money, or having a father with a shed-load of money).
i think that has been similar through the decades.it was the singers and film stars and royalty that made the headlines..............
the popstars and filmstars were all controlled by the studios.they were usually just puppets...and royalty were controlled by a different machine
Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the names I had in mind. And Eggy, I absolutely adore Kristen Hersh - saw live in Edinburgh a few years ago and she was absolutely mesmerising. Glad to say my youngest daughter has taken a real interest in her, which unfortunately means she's nicked all my CDs!
Not necessarily talking about hero worship, just acknowledging women that, in your youth for instance, you felt were noteworthy as strong/brave/tenacious/admirable individuals.
LOL!
Karren Brady - Successful business woman in a male-dominated field.
Clare Balding - Again, successful in quite a male-dominated field.
Victoria Beckham - Love her or hate her, she was successful in her own right before the 'Beckham' name, and she's become a savvy an successful buisiness woman after an (innevitably) short pop carrer.
Hardly! Young David doesn't like my granny beard
Chrissie Wellington - superb athlete, intelligent, strong willed and a lovely person. After winning her Ironman races in 8 hrs and change, she gets her medal, does the obligatory media stuff, then spends the rest of the day and evening back in the finish area giving out the medals to everyone else, even the very last person over the line more than 8 hours after she herself finished.
Have to admit I only found Chrissie about a year ago after she was featured on the Observer magazine. She does come across as an exceptionally lovely lady and I now follow her on Twitter and try to keep up with events she competes in. Also downloaded her book to my Kindle but have yet to find time to read it.
I think you would have to go a long way to better the achievements of Ellen MacArthur - I read her book, absolutely amazing! Dedication, ingenuity, endurance and tenacity. A great role model regardless of gender.
..anyone that appoints Avram Grant to manage a football team deserves ridicule and sympathy in equal measure.. you're not a Millwall fan are you Juliefrazz?
Chrissie though.. no argument, and she seems just as much into the international development stuff as being a champion