3 Women to Look Up To Beyond the World of Media
One of the biggest problems younger generations have is that they usually choose the very wrong role model. The slogan “stop making stupid people famous” seems not to have reached the media – they often focus on the “scandal factor” far more than on truly valuable aspects like knowledge, skill, and hard work. There are so many women who have made a success of themselves that are usually out of the media spotlight. While they might not be the most famous women in the world, they are certainly among the best female role models youngsters can choose for themselves.
Millicent Fawcett (1847 – 1929)
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English feminist, union leader, intellectual and political leader, and writer, one of the main drawing forces behind the movement fighting for women’s right to vote. She didn’t support the violent and militant line of the movement – she was a moderate campaigner and a tireless one at the same time. In her opinion, aggressive campaigns for the rights of women were doing more harm than good. And the results did come – the organization she led has grown at an incredible pace, and she campaigned for a series of causes, ranging from curbing domestic violence to eliminating double standards of morality.
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett is considered to be instrumental in gaining the voting rights for millions of British women aged over 30 in 1918.
Norma Jeane Mortenson (1926 – 1962)
She was one of the most iconic sex symbols in the history of filmmaking, a model, an actress, and a major pop culture icon. Her name was Norma Jeane Mortenson – but most know her by her screen name Marilyn Monroe. Her private life was constantly on the front page of the newspapers. She ended up typecast on the big screen, and underpaid, even though she was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars. When Fox refused to change her contract, she quit and founded her own production studio. She studied method acting and spent a year building her company, at the same time being the subject of a bad publicity campaign by Fox. In the meantime, she completely changed her image, taking on a more mature appearance and attitude.
She went on to win a Golden Globe for her role in “Some Like it Hot” in 1959.
Elizabeth Glaser (1947 – 1994)
A former child actor and wife of actor Paul Michael Glaser, Elizabeth Glaser was hit by a tragedy: when receiving a postnatal transfusion in 1981, she was infected with HIV, unknowingly contaminating her daughter and son, too. Anyone would have been destroyed by such bad news, but not her – she dedicated her life to save his son, Jake, along with other HIV-positive children. Her tireless work raised public awareness about HIV infection in children and spurred funding for the development of pediatric AIDS drugs as well as research into mother-to-child transmission of HIV.