Women Inspiring From Afar

Most of the time you don't have to personally know the women to be inspired by them. Odds are, you're familiar through their work because their work ended up being something that pushed boundaries, broke barriers, and defied life-threatening odds.

The Mother Of Radioactivity

Marie Curie took one for the team.

B00STERGOLD

This should be the top answer.

FEARLESSLY diving into the unknown, using the machine her husband had invented, discovering and recording knowledge that benefits us all today...at the cost of her very Life.

The truest type of explorer there is. There should be statues of her at every nuclear facility, hospital and public park for what she has done, and lost, on our behalf.

EgalitarianFacts

Using Math To Stop Crime

Elizabeth Friedman was a bad-ss mathematical genius who used her code breaking skills to help bring down some of the biggest mobsters in the 1930's while they were busy running circles around law enforcement. More importantly, she was responsible for breaking up Nazi spy rings in the 1940's, particularly in South America, and helped turn the tide of major conflicts that very possibly shifted the outcome of World War II.

And she did all of it while being mocked, dismissed, and forced to keep her work secret by order of the government. Nobody knew her contributions in taking down the Nazis until after she died and her work was declassified.

Everyone should know this amazing woman who sought neither accolades nor credit for doing what her male counterparts couldn't even begin to comprehend.

Bma1500

Shot In The Leg HOW Many Times?

Deborah Sampson, aka Robert Shirtliff.

That bad-ss b-tch disguised herself as a continental soldier during the revolutionary war and took two musket balls in the leg, getting the first one out herself and leaving the other one inside her thigh until she died.

I_demand_peanuts

Shot At With HOW Many Guns?

Monica Beltran, U.S. soldier who fought off an enemy ambush with a machine gun while being shot in the hand at the same time.

TheRtHonLaqueesha

Writing In The Face Of Nazis

Sophie Scholl, active member of a non-violent resistance group against Nazi Germany. If I remember correctly, she was executed for distributing pamphlets promoting her cause. She stood up for others even in the face of death. I deeply admire that.

Bird-in-a-suit

"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive'. The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small.

It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too—those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe.

Safe? From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does.

I choose my own way to burn."

~ Sophie Scholl

She was arrested by the Gestapo and executed with other members of the White Rose group, by guillotine.

She was otherworldly brave.

tommytraddles

Writing Above Her Peers

Mary Shelley.

She was the daughter of two very famous authors, married an even more famous poet, and most of her circle was comprised of famous (male) writers like Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt. Despite this, she still held her own and wrote a world-renowned work of literature that is arguably far more influential than anything Percy or Lord Byron. Sh!t, the only people who read Byron or Percy Shelley in their entirety are academics like me, but everyone has heard of Frankenstein.

StudebakerHotch

That's "Hedy"

Hedy Lamarr, she was basically a female Bruce Wayne.

She was a hardcore engineer, scientist, model, actress, linguist, entertainer, and humanitarian.

At the same time as she was one of the highest paid actresses in the world and considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, she was engineering secret ground-breaking tech IN HER TRAILER between scenes.

She invented frequency hopping that was used to target submarines and enforce the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and help prevent Armageddon... it's also part of how GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi work.

One of the best stories about her is that some rich dude was hitting on her by telling her he could get her on a Concord flight but she turned him down saying "a woman can fly faster without a man dragging her down"... then called the engineers and helped improve the design to make it faster and more stable.

She was a prolific inventor, creating new items like fluorescent pet collars, proximity fuses, food flavorings, and other items until she died in 2000.

BlackMarketMtnDew

Women Don't Always Have To Be "Real"

Of course, women don't always have to be "real" to be inspirational. By "real," we mean non-fiction. Even women portrayed on screen can be someone you aspire to be like.​

We All Used A Frisbee As Chakram. Don't Lie.

Pretended to be Xena all the time as a kid.

modernmartialartist

Lucy Lawless is an all around bad@ss. Great in Xena, great in Spartacus, embraced the Xena/Gabrielle shipping and became a pretty outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, and has called Kevin Sorbo out on his bullsh-t quite a few times.

Also, she can fly.

Hollowbody57

She Killed A Queen, For Crying Out Loud

Ripley from Alien/Aliens. A believable character who acts like a regular person, not full of BS hollywood bravado. When everyone else who are louder and more bad@ss get taken out and she is the only capable person left she rises to the occasion and finds a way to prevail.

bobert13581

Fighting In The Real World For Real People

Some people are probably gonna cringe at this and they can go f-ck themselves as far as I'm concerned, but: AOC. Unironically. She's hands down one of the most authentic people in Congress fighting for the working class and endures relentless antagonism from both parties because of it. And she strikes an excellent balance between pragmatism and idealism which I have a lot of respect for.

TrainSuplexer

Then There's Those Heroes Who Many People May Not Know About...

Then there's the far lesser known women in the world, the ones books aren't written about or movies are made around. These are the women in your day to day lives, the women who raised you, who helped you, who guided you to where you are now. The women absolutely crushing it with no recognition.

Showing How To Handle The Worse Of The World

The manager I had when I volunteered in a charity shop. I was in a very bad place in my life, and she helped to coax me out of my shell, and build my confidence. And she told customers who were rude to me to f*ck off (I'm a little person, so I tend to attract jerks). She was so classy while not taking anyone's sh-t, and she was unflappable in any situation. I aspire to be like her one day.

Usidore_

Never Let Anything Get You Down

My mom. Met a Mexican man in Tucson. Had a baby with him. I wasn't even 3 months old and she decided to move to Mexico with my dad so I could be raised with family (hers was really abusive and my dad is one of 12 siblings who all love each other). She moves to Mexico, learns Spanish, and picks up a job teaching English. 10 years go by and now she is the head of the bicultural department in the most prestigious college in the state. The sole breadwinner of our household and somehow still the most involved parent. Tried to move us all to the US when I was 10. My dad was deported the second our plane landed.

Mom had to start over in the US while being a single mom. Pulled her sh-t together, worked two jobs. Could afford to send us to Mexico every summer to be with family, saved up for a house, and now works with the head of the health department in our city, all the while raising both of her sons with so much love and patience it's unreal. She is the best role model I've ever had in my life and is such a f-cking bad@ss. I'm grateful every day that she is my mom.

GueroInfernal

You May Be Surrounded By Them

My mother taught me to give it your all no matter what the circumstances.

My grandmothers taught me that service is the greatest form of love and honor.

My sister taught me how to treat other people the best, even if they don't always deserve it.

My first boss taught me that true leadership means taking the first step.

My wife taught me that hope is never in vain.

My daughter teaches me life is full of joy if you know where to look.

My life is full of female heroes

Podnerdofficeboy

What makes heroes so special is what they do, in spite of the odds stacked against them, every single day. Look to the women you know, what they're constantly fighting against, and model yourselves after them. You might be surprised with what you can do.

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