Bella Savitzky, or “Battling Bella”, was born in 1920 in New-York city from Russian Jewish immigrant parents. Already at an early age, she was fearless, bold and outspoken, and would not let anyone (boys included) beat her in any competition. When a father died, Abzug was aged 13 and she was told that she could not say the mourners´ Kaddish at the synagogue because, as a rite reserved for sons, it was forbidden for women to say it. Her father had no sons and Bella, determined to mourn her father in the way she wanted, went to the synagogue every morning for a year to recite the prayer. In doing so, she courageously defied the tradition of her Jewish community.
Inspiring Thursday: Ilona Zambo
“Bela Osztojkan, who was a Roma leader, called me the first Gypsy feminist for standing up for the rights of Roma women. He did not mean it as a compliment.”
Inspiring Thursday: Marichuy
“We, the indigenous people, say we don’t agree with this system—to be exploited, to have them continue to destroy our communities… It should be the people who give the orders and the government that obeys.” (Marichuy)
Inspiring Thursday: Ninotchka Roska
Referring to herself as a “transnational Filipina”, Ninotchka Roska is a prolific writer, author of eleven books, journalist, as well as a fervent advocate for women´s rights and liberation. She has won several awards, including the American Book Award for Excellence in Literature for her famous book Twice Blessed.
Inspiring Thursday: Lizzie Velasquez
“I am human… of course those things are going to hurt… (but) I’m not going to let those things define me.”
Inspiring Thursday: Nawal El Saadawi
“For me feminism includes everything. It is social justice, political justice, sexual justice… It is the link between medicine, literature, politics, economics, psychology and history. Feminism is all that. You cannot understand the oppression of women without this.”
Inspiring Thursday: Kumari Jayawardena
Leading feminist figure, activist and academic, Kumari Jayawardena was born in 1931 and raised in Sri Lanka. She decided to continue her higher education in the London School of Economics, in the UK, where she graduated from political science and finished her Ph.D. on the labour movement in Ceylon in 1964.
Inspiring Thursday: Martha Gellhorn
Martha Gellhorn was a journalist, novelist and one of the greatest war correspondents of her time. During her long career she covered dozens of wars, including the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Arab-Israeli War and the Vietnam War. Gellhorn was a fearless woman, whose writing and travels were driven by the desire to see “more of the world and what´s in it”.
Inspiring Thursday: Wangari Maathai
“The future of the planet concerns all of us, and we should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don’t need a diploma to plant a tree.”
Inspiring Thursday: Ailbhe Smyth
25th of May, 2018 will be remembered as a historic moment for women´s reproductive rights: Ireland has voted to repeal the eighth amendment of its constitution, which bans abortion in almost all circumstances. It has been a triumph for abortion reformers, with a two-thirds majority: 66.4% yes to 33.6% no.
