calmkate

IWD challenge

International Women’s Day is March 8th …

#ChooseToChallenge

A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.

We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.

Do wonder what men would say if we banned “Circumcision” and insisted on “vasectomies” ….
 yet we have so little choice over our own bodies …

My Great Aunty Nora was super inspiring … she did cryptic crosswords until the day before she died a few months before her hundredth birthday.  She was broadly read and her vocab the best I know, she wiped the floor with us in scrabble. At 76 yo she went to school to learn Italian coz she wanted to talk to her neighbours. After fifty years of heavy smoking she quit!  Never heard her grumble and she was always interested in what ‘we’ /others were doing … such a blessing!

Gifted Poet/Activist – Kath Walker

Gifted Author – Kris M Revson

Gifted Comedians – Kitty Flanagan; Rebel Wilson; Judith Lucy

Gifted Singers: Jessica Mauboy [+ actress]; Christine Anu; Delta Goodrem; 

Gifted Actresses – Toni Collette; Jacki Weaver, Nicole Kidman
all unashamedly Australian

Please share something about a woman who has inspired you?

Might be your mother, an aunty, a teacher or a friend … or someone famous?  But please share a sentence or two of her story in the comments section to inspire us?  Much appreciated

pic – Joy Smith local activist, quilter, physio, grandmother … keeps Campbell in line!

27 comments

  3. Your aunt is so inspiring. I have a grandma whom I hardly meet but at the age of 80 she went ahead learning Sanskrit. Isn’t it inspiring? Mom at the age of 70 plus is fit and keep walking long distance at the market place for veggies and keeps such a balanced diet.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I had both an aunt and a great aunt who were strong independent women and taught me many things. I hope they realized what wonderful role models they were. (K)

    Liked by 1 person

  5. There are so many, but I would name Patricia McKissack. She was an African-American woman who wrote wonderful books for children, often about famous African Americans. I met her when I took a writing class from her, and she was so encouraging that I credit her for the fact that I never gave up. Eventually, I published one children’s book, but she and her husband literally published dozens. Still, what impressed me most was the way she had found her voice, and encouraged the rest of us to do exactly the same thing.

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  7. I am a woman and many brave and wise women have inspired me and set an example. You were greatly influenced by Aunt Nora. It’s wonderful to have such a wonderful aunt to show you the way in your daily life.
    greetings

    Liked by 3 people

  9. I’ve been lucky to have three grandmothers… the additional one from a Step parent.
    All three were amazing women for living in their time, fighting injustices (even or especially within the family).
    One got a divorce when it wasn’t considered ‘right’, Another had to fight a step-son for her ‘wife-rights’ even as a second wife and the third also had to abandon and divorce a husband who wasn’t all he claimed and raised two children mostly on her own.

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    • wow some super strong ladies Jules!

      Having watched the torment some women cause themselves and their children staying in miserable marriages I salute those with the strength to move on and create a safer if poorer home for their family!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Wow and wow. What an incredible woman. Happy Women’s Day to you and such a lovely read. I am and will always be inspired by Mother Teresa. She was a compassionate Soul so devoted to taking care of the needy and she saw Jesus in all of them.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Wow! Your Great Aunty Nora learned Italian just to talk to the neighbors?? That’s so amazing and inspiring!

    I think all the women in my life beginning with my mom, sister, grandma, aunts, my teachers have all inspired me to be a better person in one way or the other.

    ✨And happy women’s day, Kate✨

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  13. Wow! Your Aunty Nora was a great inspiration! I loved how she learned Italian among her other accomplishments. So many women have inspired me and supported me – you included! ❤️

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  14. Kate, lovely tribute to your great aunt. ❤ I have posted poems about many of the women in my family, each inspiring in their own way. My fifty-one-year-old daughter, Ellen, inspires me by her lifetime of service to others.
    I heard no mention of International Women's Day in the US. Odd! Maybe I watched the wrong newscasts!

    Take care, Kate! ❤

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  15. I love that there are so many women in the public spotlight that are an inspiration to other women… I suppose one of my inspirations was my grandmother. She was always a fashionista and influenced my fashion choices. She taught me to play cards, tried to teach me to whistle, showed me that size was not indicative of power, and that a woman had the ability to move mountains when needed. She had a rough childhood and her first marriage was a nightmare but she overcame and triumphed.

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  18. This is beautiful, SweetKate! I love that you honored your great aunt! What an amazing woman…you were so fortunate to have her! 🙂 Also, a wonderful thank-you to the other women you listed! 🙂
    Too many women in my life to name them all…I did a post not too long ago about one of my aunts…and a blog post on a senior adult lady who was an amazing woman in my life when I was a little girl. 🙂 Both of these women, and others, modeled for me what it means to be strong, independent, brave, yet unselfish, compassionate, vulnerable. 🙂
    Happy International Women’s Day to so many amazing women in our world!!! 🙂
    Thank you, Kate, for being an inspiring woman in my life! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

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  19. Oprah winfrey is my inspiration! She overcame so much to rise to fame and I am especially inspired by her childhood and how she overcame it, she was abused as a child, by a cousin, she has achieved so much in life! xo

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  20. Beautiful tribute to your great aunt, she is an inspiration.

    So to the other women you have selected for international womens day.

    My mum will always be biggest inspiration. Forever excelling in her capacity. Always expanding her comfort zone, never staying small. Always understanding. Royal, elegant, wise, benevolent and kind. But man life has been too too too hard on her.

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      • Her personality mostly. She never gave up. When she divorced my grandpa in 1973, she went back to school to become a social worker and worked in a psychiatric hospital for many years. She was also very relaxed and rarely complained. She was in pain a lot at the end of her life, but still didn’t complain until about a week before her death. Then the staff at her care home and my aunt apparently recognized that, since she wasn’t one to complain, she must be in unbearable pain, so they sedated her until her death some four days later. She passed away at the age of 94 in 2018.

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  23. I am so pleased your doing this Kate! I am dedicating three poems to a very famous woman tomorrow for IWD, but here I’d like to celebrate my Grandmother who survived three husbands and raised five children while being forced to relocate many times. A truly strong woman and an inspiration!

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