Find Out What These Four Powerful Women Have in Common

This post is strictly about women, and not just ordinary women but women who have impacted the world. They are women whose actions have reverberated and are still reverberating around the globe. These are women from whom we have so much to learn. They are women extraordinaire! They are women who have become inspirations to other women and even men.

Helen Adams Keller was a blind woman who brought hope and happiness to many.  Born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, an illness in 1882 made her to lose her sight, hearing and ability to speak. She learned to read and write through the tireless efforts of her extraordinary teacher, Anne Sullivan, growing up to become an author and activist. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Outspoken about her convictions, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labour rights, socialism, etc., using her writing proficiency to pass her message across. She was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She brought encouragement to millions of blind people and was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971. By the time of her death in 1968, she had received many awards and her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks lived from 1913 to 2005 but her name can never be forgotten by the blacks in the United States. She is called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". Parks came into national consciousness in the United States when on December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, she refused to give up her seat in the coloured section to a white passenger.

Her refusal to give up her seat led to her being arrested and charged to court but this would spark a city-wide boycott. Eventually, the law requiring segregation on public buses in Montgomery was lifted. Her act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Park, who was a contemporary of Martin Luther King Jr., received manyrecognitions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. She was the first woman and second non-U.S. government official to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda when she died. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in the U.S. states of California and Ohio.

Mary Kathlyn Wagner, known as Mary Kay Ash, was born in 1918; married at age 17; had three children; was divorced in 1945; in 1963 alone, she retired from her job, lost her second husband to heart attack and started her beauty business in 1963 with an initial investment of $5,ooo; the business became a household name after some years and she died in 2001. Ash’s story is that of courage and resilience. She resigned from her job due to sexism; she was passed over for promotion in favour of a man. In 1963 at 45 years, with $5,000 she got from her oldest son, she started Mary Kay Cosmetics. Today, Mary Kay products are used all over the world. She received many awards and distinctions, one of which was the Horatio Alger Distinguished American Citizen Award from Horatio Alger Association. She was named as one of the “100 Most Important Women in America" by Ladies' Home Journal in 1983 and one of “America's 25 Most Influential Women” in 1985.

Television idol, Oprah Winfrey, who was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954, weathered a troubled beginning to become one of the most popular persons on earth today. As an adolescent, she was sexually abused by some male relatives and friends of her mother. She became pregnant at fourteen but lost the baby at infancy. At a point in her career, Oprah was removed from her job as a news reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV but today she has her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). She is regarded as the greatest black philanthropist in American history. According to Forbes magazine, Oprah was the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three years running. She has given more than $51,000,000 for charitable programs, including girls' education in South Africa and relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She is also a dedicated activist for children's rights; in 1994.

Reading about these women, these are some of the things I find common to them:

1. They all overcame difficult circumstances that stared them in the face.
2. They were/are courageous women.
3. They were/are outspoken about their convictions and would go to great lengths to defend them.
4. They were/are compassionate and kind hearted.
5. They live(d) for worthy causes.
6. Their efforts have been recognised and rewarded by the society.