Inspiring Thursday: Marielle Franco

Black feminist LGBT activist and Rio councillor, Marielle Franco, 38, was murdered in Brazil after what would be her last political action, triggering a wave … Read more

Inspiring Thursday: Faye Schulman

Faye Schulman is one of the many female partisans who fought for the liberation of Europe during World War II. Women played a crucial role in the antifascist and anti-Nazi resistance, and we wish to remember them on the occasion of the anniversary of the conflicts’ end in Europe on May 8th. 

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Inspiring Thursday: Mary Beard

“I actually can’t understand what it would be to be a woman without being a feminist. (…) Feminism taught me a way to find out how to be me, and that´s a lot more internally important than some of the more measurable things.”

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Inspiring Thursday: Ruchira Gupta

“I would tell them I was a feminist. They would ask me what’s a feminist and I would say I was fighting patriarchy. They would become even more curious and ask me if it was because I had no man in my life. Or did it mean that I didn’t need men, they would ask. I would tell them that neither was the case. I wanted men on my terms. I was not against sex. I was opposed to sexual power.”

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Inspiring Thursday: Irena Sendler

“Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory.”

Irena Sendler was a 29-year-old social worker in Warsaw, Poland when the second World War broke out and the Nazis invaded. Before the invasion, she oversaw the city “canteens”, which provided assistance to people in need, and after the Nazi invasion these canteens also provided medicine, food and clothing to the persecuted Jewish population.

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Inspiring Thursday: Simone Veil

“Following the example of the Righteous, I want to believe that moral strength and individual conscience can always prevail.”

Simone Veil was born in Nice, France, in 1927 in a non-religious Jewish family. Daughter of Yvonne and André Jacob, she had two sisters and one brother, and was the youngest of a family of six.

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Inspiring Thursday: Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in 1862 in the state of Mississippi in the United States. Wells’ parents were heavily involved in politics which most likely caused her to also become interested in the topic. After the American Civil War, lasting from 1861 to 1865, slaves were emancipated and “negro schools” were opened.

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Inspiring Thursday: Margarete SchĂĽtte-Lihotzky

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky was born in Vienna, Austria in 1897 and was the first woman architect in the Austro-Hungarian empire. She was also the first female student at the University of Applied Arts of Vienna. Though her family was liberal for their times, they did not at first encourage her studies of architecture. “They thought that I would starve to death. Nobody could imagine hiring a woman to build a house in 1916 – not even I could imagine it,” said Schütte-Lihotzky on her 100th birthday. However, she quickly proved her aptitude by winning prizes for her designs even before graduating. Schütte-Lihotzky immediately understood that design and functionality would be the trend of the future.

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WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE EUROPE