If there’s one thing I stand for, it’s female empowerment. If there’s one thing I love to see, it’s women who share—and live by—the same principles.
However, in a time of misplaced public adoration and ridiculous societal values, it’s easy for the importance of those principles to slip through the cracks. Luckily, girl power is still alive and thriving--here are five women who are totally awesome, totally strong, and totally deserving of your next #WCW.
1. Emma Watson
Since retiring her wand—she played Hermione Granger in a little franchise called "Harry Potter"—Emma Watson is using two other tools to make her mark in the world: her brain and her voice. She enrolled at Brown University in 2009 and graduated from the Ivy League university with a degree in English Literature in 2014, starring in several other projects while attending school. Also in 2014, at only 24 years old, Watson was named a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and an advocate for UN Women’s He for She campaign, which serves to promote gender equality, which she launched by delivering a powerful, important speech at the United Nations Headquarters (which you can—and should—listen to here.)
2. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai has accomplished more in her 18 years than most people do in their lifetimes, and she’s had to overcome unimaginable circumstances to do so. When she was only 12, Yousafzai began to speak out in opposition of the Taliban and in support of equality in education. In 2012, a gunman boarded her school bus and fired three shots at her, one of which hit her directly in the forehead. After miraculously surviving, instead of succumbing to fear, Yousafzai rose above it, continuing to speak her mind and spread her message. She was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, making her, at 17, the prize’s youngest-ever laureate. In 2013, she spoke at the United Nations Headquarters, saying, “The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born…I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I’m here to speak up for the right of education for every child.”
3. Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon wasn’t done with basketball after her successful WNBA career was ended due to injury in 2013. Unable to play herself, Hammon decided to instead show the boys how it’s done. She was hired as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, making her the first full-time female coach in the history of the NBA. This past summer, she also served as the head coach of the Spurs’ summer league team—the first woman to ever do that, as well—and led them to the summer league title, continuing to blaze a trail for women in the athletic sphere.
4. Gigi Hadid
After Gigi Hadid became the media’s newest body-shaming victim, she refused to take it lying down. Instead, Hadid fought back, becoming a critic of society’s standards and an advocate for positive body image and self-love in one fell swoop. She penned an open letter that she posted to social media for her 9+ million followers in defense of not only herself, but women everywhere, writing, “I hope everyone gets to a place in their life where they’d rather talk about the things that inspire them over the things that bring others down.” Amen.
5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
In recent years, Justice Ginsburg’s image has taken on a life of its own in pop culture, spawning countless memes and giving her the nickname Notorious RBG—and she’s every bit the badass as she’s portrayed to be. In 1956, she enrolled in Harvard Law School, one of only nine women in her class of 500, and in 1959 graduated at the top of her class at Columbia Law School. In 1970 she co-founded the nation’s first women’s rights law journal, which was merely the beginning of her lifelong mission to protect and support equality for women. Throughout her long and storied career in law and politics, Justice Ginsburg has exemplified leadership and resilience, and throughout her long and storied life has exemplified toughness and grit, becoming a champion for women and an icon for all.
