International Women’s Day

March 8, 2009 at 7:06 pm (Motivation-Inspiration)

Today is International Women’s Day. I have been saying I will get my article posted all day long. However, there is grocery shopping, then lunch, then laundry, then this then that, and now the day is almost over. Things to be thankful for: electricity and my computer. Now I can get my article posted.

To quote from the bloggersunite.org site:

IWD is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.

I think we need to remember the women of the past who have paved the way for the women of the current times who will pave the way for the women of the future.
When I think of the women who have made significant changes in history, and the ones who have always been admired by me, there are several. I hate to narrow the list down but I will.

I wonder how many will write about Mother Teresa:
Just one of her quotes:

“We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
– Mother Teresa of Calcutta

If I could do just a little of what she did to help those less fortunate, my life would have purpose.
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Golda Meir might be less known among the younger generation, but when I learned about her I was fascinated.

Golda Meir was born in Kiev in 1898, and then she lived in the US from 1906 to 1921 before immigrating to Palestine with her husband. She was very active in fund rasing to support the Israeli War of Independence in 1948. That in itself is such a historic time. She raised funds in the US although her political involvement was cemented long before that.

Golda Meir was an excellent diplomat, and served in many positions, such as Israel’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union, also in 1948. She was a foreign minister in Israel for 10 years and she was very active in gaining support and establishing relations with the US, and Latin American countries.

In 1969, at the age of 71, Golda Meir became the world’s 3rd female Premier, or Prime Minister of Israel. When you consider that when she was born, the people of Israel did not even have their own nation. She lived through so many wars and fighting for birth of a Jewish Nation. That fighting still goes on today in one form or another.

In a region of the world where women do not carry the same status that they do in Western cultures, and at a time when there were few women leaders anywhere, Golda Meir definitely stood out among women!

If I ever get to Jerusalem, I am definitely going to pay my respects to Golda Meir.

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Elizabeth Arden was known as a skin care specialist. What a different path than the two I previously mentioned. However she has an incredible story, too.
She was born in 1884 and lived until October 18, 1966.

Many people might remember her for her famous skin care company, Elizabeth Arden, Inc. She owned and operated a chain of beauty salons and spas, and was a mass marketer.

I am friends with a lady who knew her personally and apprenticed with her. Elizabeth Arden was one incredible lady.

Elizabeth was named after the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale (another women who we should all know). Elizabeth did pursue training as a nurse and she had experience seeing burn victims either during that time or during World War 1 or 2.
She was a leader in the skin care industry when it was dominated by men.

Women executives were rare during those times. Women as owners and entrepreneurs of big corporations were almost nonexistent and she certainly had to fight for her position.

She had a very interesting life running her businesses from 1909 until her death in 1966. My friend apprenticed with her and then went on to work for Eli Lilly, who purchased the Elizabeth Arden company, and now has her own skin care company featured in spas worldwide, and also distributed by independent distributors (I am one through Atria Skin Care at Nutronix International).

Knowing Colleen Moon, and knowing that Elizabeth Arden took her as an apprentice when she was 14 years old has given me insight into a time and era that I only experience through movies. I read the biographies about Elizabeth Arden, and they do not do that lady justice. I hear the stories that my friend Colleen tells me about her, and I am very impressed. I see who Colleen Moon is, and how she was so influenced by Elizabeth Arden that I feel she is carrying on the legacy of this lady.

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I think what it really comes down to celebrating, no matter which woman we choose for our one to admire, is the fact that they all had a passion to help and leave the world a better place then it was when they were born into it.

Several women are born into circumstances where just surviving one more day is all they can do. I think as we look at women who have changed lives, we can not forget our sisters who are so much less fortunate. We have sisters who wonder how their children will be fed another day, or how they will survive an illness due to malnutrition or an inadequate supply of safe water to drink.

We can honor the ones who make a difference in a huge way, but we all have the opportunities to make a difference in our own way. Most often the ways we can do that are so simple that they might go unnoticed or without a thank you. In the big picture, when we all take time to help one only one, we can in turn help many.