Celebrating Womens History Month: Women Around the World

As we wrap up women’s history month, we honor women around the world. 

Judge Kentaiji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman nominated to the supreme court. If she is confirmed by the Senate, she would become the first Black woman to serve on the court in nearly 233-years of history. Judge Jackson currently sits on the District of Columbia Circuit Court, the second-most-important court in the United States. If selected, Judge Brown will not only have more experience than four of the current justices combined, but she would also be the first and only justice with experience as a public defender. She served as an assistant public defender from February 2005 to June 2007, before returning to work in corporate law. In addition, Judge Jackson has also received many awards. In 2021, Columbia University’s Law School awarded her its Constance Baker Motley Award for empowering women of color, “advancing the rights of people,” and demonstrating a “legacy of giving back to the community” (5 Facts about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, n.d). 

On January 20th, 2021, vice president Kamala Harris made history when she was sworn in as the 49th U.S. vice president. Thus, becoming the first woman, the first Black American woman, the first Indian American, and the first person of Asian American descent to occupy the office. Harris’s father was born in Jamaica and her mother was born in India. Harrison received her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. Before her election to the Senate, she served as the first Black Attorney General for California, and the first woman in the state to hold that position as well.

Born in Liberia, Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a peace activist known for rallying women to pressure leaders into ending Liberia’s civil war. In 2011, along with others, she received a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, for her nonviolent efforts to further the safety and rights of women and their participation in peace-building processes. At the age of 17, Gbowee graduated high school with the intentions of pursuing and furthering her education. However, in 1989, when Liberia became engulfed in the civil war, her plans were interrupted, and her family were forced to flee from their home. Later, they eventually escaped to a refugee camp in Ghana. Gbowee then returns to Liberia later on and is trained as a trauma counselor allowing her to work with former child soldiers who fought in Liberia’s civil war.  In 2006, she was one of the founders of the Women Peace and Security Network–Africa (WISPEN-Africa). This organization was active in several western African countries, and encouraged the involvement of women in peace, security, and governance issues.

Nun and missionary Mother Teresa, known in the Catholic church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, devoted her life to caring for the ill and impoverished. On August 26, 1910, Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia to parents of an Albanian descent in India. At the age of 12, Mother Teresa experienced her mission to devote her life to Christ. In October 1950, she founded the order, The Missionaries of Charity, to look after abandoned babies and to help the poorest of the poor. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged and disabled; and a leper colony. In India, the leper colony was and still is viewed as a stigma, thus leaving those diagnosed with Hansen disease (leprosy) untreated and unwanted by many. In 1979 Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize and after, her death was canonized as Saint Teresa. By treating the leper colony, educating the untouchables, and feeding the homeless, Mother Teresa showed the world the true meaning of charity and compassion. 

During the Russian revolution, politician Alexandra Kollontai worked to improve the status of women in the Soviet Union. Kollontai was a member of the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks and Bolsheviks were factions within the Russian Social-Democratic Workers and aimed to bring revolution to Russia by following the ideas of socialist theoretician Karl Marx. In 1919, Kollontai founded the Women’s Department which helped women by raising awareness of laws and education. Kollontai supported the act of free love and nontraditional gender roles. In 1923, she held international positions in Norway at the Soviet legation.