Pictured: Edith Eger
Women’s Month is a time when we celebrate women, their uniqueness, their creativity, their strength, their achievements – everything they are.
August is a month when we acknowledge, honour, and commend significant women who, on a daily basis, inspire and strengthen women in our community. We are not simply referring to feminists who are shaping a more gender equal future, but to powerful women who have powerful messages to share. Here are some women worth mentioning.
HeForShe
Launched by Emma Watson, HeForShe is the United Nations global solidarity movement for gender equality. As quoted by Watson, “This isn’t just, ‘girls are better than boys, boys are better than girls’. This is just, ‘everyone deserves a fair chance.’ ” It’s not just a women issue, it’s a human rights issue.
HeForShe is an invitation to men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. The men of HeForShe aren’t on the sidelines, they are working with women and with each other to build businesses, raise families and give back to their communities.
MORE INFO:
Commit to HeForShe and inspire millions of others to do the same:
Edith Eger
Edith is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother. She is a psychologist, an author and an Auschwitz survivor! She is an incredibly insightful woman who is testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of choice in our lives. She has combined her formal education in psychology and her own life challenges to help countless people heal and live full lives.
Edith shares her story and strategies to heal in her books The Choice and The Gift, and can be found on social media platforms and podcasts. You’ll be inspired by her capacity to heal, to be positive, to build a beautiful life, despite trauma. As she says, “To celebrate the gift of life is to find the gift in everything that happens, even the parts that are difficult, that we’re not sure we can survive.”
MORE INFO:
dreditheger.com; The Gift R239, The Choice R165, www.takealot.com
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigerian, Chimamanda is an award-winning author, a creative writing coach and mentor, and an activist for gender equality. In addition to her highly successful novels, Americanah and Purple Hibiscus, she can be found on TED Talks presenting We Should All Be Feminists which unearths the need to transform social beliefs and gender ideas that promote the inequality between men and women.
MORE INFO:
www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists; www.chimamanda.com; We Should All Be Feminists, R119, www.takealot.com
Emma Mildon
Crowned by the Huffington Post as a true millennial mystic leader, Emma is a spiritual activist, scribe and a spiritual philanthropist. She is a voice for the next generation of new thought spiritual thinkers. She educates and inspires people who are committed to taking balanced, conscious action towards global healing.
Emma is an international bestselling author with her first book The Soul Searcher’s Handbook and her latest book, Evolution Of Goddess, which is a fun and inspirational exploration of female divinity throughout history that will help you understand and celebrate your inner goddess.
MORE INFO:
www.emmamildon.com; Evolution Of Goddess, R239, www.loot.co.za
200 Women: Who Will Change The Way You See The World
In 200 Women, 200 women from a variety of backgrounds are asked the same five questions. Their answers are inspiring human stories of success and courage, love and pain, redemption and generosity. From well-known activists, artists, and innovators to everyday women whose lives are no less exceptional for that, each woman shares her unique replies to questions like “What really matters to you?” and “What would you change in the world if you could?”
The interviewees include US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor and human rights activist Alfre Woodard, and Nobel laureate Jodi Williams, along with those who are making a difference behind the scenes around the world, such as Marion Wright Edelman, head of the Children’s Defence Fund.
With responses ranging from uplifting to heartbreaking, these women offer gifts of empowerment and strength inviting us to bring positive change at a time when so many are fighting for basic freedom and equality.
Local interviewees include Graca Machel, Caster Semenya, Zelda la Grange, Mpho Tutu van Furth, Hlubi Mboya, Sahm Venter, Joanne Fedler, Ingrid le Roux, Gillian Slovo and Zoleka Mandela, among others.
A portion of the project’s revenue will be distributed to organisations devoted to protecting and advancing the rights of women.
MORE INFO: 200 Women, R206, Exclusive Books