It’s still woman’s history month and I would like to honor and celebrate a few women for today’s blog post. These are the women of today as well as from our history. The list of amazing women is far greater than the few I’m showcasing and I’d highly advise you to look more amazing women.

1.Miep Gies. Many know and talk about Anne Frank, but not a lot of people talk about the person who helped hide and protect her. Miep Gies helped to protect Anne Frank during the terrible Nazi Era and even preserved her diary, now known as a book titled “The Diary Of Anne Frank”. Gies didn’t think of herself as a hero, but she’s definitely a badass woman in my book.

2.Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She was the first elected female head of state in Africa in 2006. During her time, not only did she sign a freedom of information bill, but she also able to reduce the national debt during her presidency (pretty badass to me). She was all about empowerment of women and girls, and won a nobel peace prize in promoting peace, democracy, and gender equality.

3. Wangari Muta Maathai. If you’ve never heard her name before, you’re going to hear it now. Maathai was not only a Kenyan scientist, professor, environmental and political activist but she also was the first woman in East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. She founded the green belt movement, which is a community that seeks to empower women through civic education and environmental stewardship. With this, she became the first African American woman and environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And with that, to me, she receives the Bad Ass Woman Award!

4. Shirin Ebadi. Another badass woman you may not be aware of is an Iranian Lawyer, human rights activist, and the first female judge in Iran. Of course they try to keep a badass woman down, and she was imprisoned for criticizing her country’s hierocracy. You can’t keep a badass woman down though, because in 2003 she not only won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights for those of women, children, and refugees but she is also the first Iranian and Muslim woman to win the prize.

5. Benazir Bhutto. She was a political activist at a young age and founded an underground organization to resist the military dictatorship (pretty damn badass to me). If that wasn’t enough, she also became a Prime Minister at just 35 years old, putting her as one of the youngest chief executives in the world and the first woman to serve as prime minister in an Islamic country. Just as many badass women, she promoted democracy and women empowerment, but was sadly assassinated while she was leaving a campaign rally. Her legacy will forever live on.

6. Dr. Mae Jemison. She’s the first African American female astronaut and the first African American Woman in Space and that makes her an official badass. Even before then, she worked in a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand and served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

7. Malala Yousafzai. If you don’t know this badass individual then you definitely need to read up on her. She is a Pakistani advocate for girls education and the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate. At just 11, she was blogging and speaking out loud against the Taliban and their threats to close girls schools. Being the target of death threats, her and two other girls were shot coming home from school. She, however, survived and was able to tell her story. If that’s not true badassery, then I don’t know what is.

This isn’t even close to half of all the amazing women in this earth, but showcases just a few of them. If you want a part 2, I will gladly do one. Just let me know in the comments!

**facts courtesy of one.org***