Not a mere Better Half – II!

I wrote a few names in my previous blog and writing about another few but there is no dearth of women who made it big on there own. So, this is the concluding and extended part of the last blog and is my tribute to the extra-ordinary ladies on international Woman’s Day.

Politics

Indira Gandhi (-1984

Possibly one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century, few could deny that she was one of its most powerful political figures, doing much to make India the mighty nation that it is today. A paradoxically well-loved and greatly hated Prime Minister at the same time, Gandhi ruled India on and off for almost twenty years until her death at the hands of Sikh extremists in 1984.

Margaret Thatcher (1925)

Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to hold the office of prime minister of the United Kingdom. The winner of three consecutive general elections, Thatcher served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916-2000)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman prime minister when she is elected in Sri Lanka. Her husband, Solomon Bandaranaike, is elected prime minister in 1956. When he is assassinated, Sirimavo takes the lead of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and wins the election in her own right.

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945)

Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the nonviolent movement for human rights and the restoration of democracy in Myanmar  and Nobel laureate. Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Yangon and educated in India and England, where she attended the University of Oxford. In 1988 she founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) with other leaders in the democracy movement. Her nonviolent strategy of peaceful rallies and pacifism in the face of threats from the military effectively defused the military’s sustained attempts to obstruct free elections. In July 1989 Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest by the military government for staging and speaking at mass gatherings, which were illegal in Myanmar.

Astronaut

Valentina Tereshkova (1937)

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space. Tereshkova flew aboard Vostok 6  from June 16 to June 19, 1963. When she was 18 years old she joined a club of amateur parachutists. In 1961, the Soviet space program began to consider sending women into space, she applied to become a cosmonaut. The selection process began in mid-1961 and was overseen by the first person in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Tereshkova, three other women parachutists, and a female pilot were selected to train as cosmonauts in 1962.

Mae Jemison (1956)

She was chosen by NASA to become an astronaut. As part of the Endeavor crew, she became the first African-American woman to enter space. She holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, the humanities and letters. After resigning from NASA, she formed a company that researches how technologies can be applied to every day life.

Kalpana Chawla (1961 - 2003)

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India. She was the first Indian American astronaut  and first Indian woman in space.  Kalpana Chawla joined the NASA 'Astronaut Corps' in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996. She spoke the following words while traveling in the weightlessness of space, " She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.  In 2003, Chawla was one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Sunita Williams (1965)

Sunita Williams is an Indian American astronaut and a United States Navy officer who holds the record for longest space flight by a woman. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15.  Williams first broke the two spacewalk records for women space travellers - most number of spacewalks, and most spacewalk time during Expedition 14/15 in 2007, but both records were surpassed by Peggy Whitson during Expedition 16. Williams regained both records during her sixth spacewalk, on September 5, 2012, and currently has 50 hours and 40 minutes of spacewalk time.

!!!You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation. -  Brigham Young!!!