Happy International Women's Day!

Today (March 8) is International Women's Day!
There's even a Google Doodle for it.


So, in honor of International Women's Day, let's talk about some of my favorite strong women, both real and fictional!

SUTTON FOSTER
Sutton Foster is one of my favorite celebrity women that I look up to. She is a multiple Tony-winning Broadway star who is a triple-threat (can sing, can act, can dance). I have had the privilege to see her in concert and she was amazing! Ask people some of the biggest names in current musical theater and she will be at the top of the list, alongside some other amazing women like Idina Menzel and six-time-Tony-Award-winner Audra McDonald. Sutton has won Tonys for her lead roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie and the 2011 revival of Anything Goes. She was most recently seen in the revival of Violet on Broadway, which she was also nominated for a Tony for. Sutton is a great role model for how to be a strong woman and some of her characters are as well.

Check out this video of her singing "Anything Goes" from Anything Goes at the Tony Awards:

EOWYN (from The Lord of the Rings)
Eowyn is the neice of Theoden and is one of only a handful of female characters in The Lord of the Rings. She is a character that I really relate to for a number of reasons. She wants to help her family and her home of Rohan by fighting in the war against Sauron, but no one will let her (of course). If you haven't read or seen LotR, major spoilers are below. Eowyn disguises herself as a man and fights in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, which leads to one of the greatest scenes and lines in movies (in my humble opinion). Afterwards, she falls in love with Faramir, another great character (but not a woman :P ). Eowyn is able to stand up for what she believes in and has the courage to fight for it, but also is able to find love and happiness, even after a kinda terrible life.



HERMIONE GRANGER (from Harry Potter)
Hermione is another great fictional woman. She is a wonderful example of a girl that is amazingly smart, which I think is incredibly important. Women should never have to dumb themselves down for a guy or for any friends (which is something I sometimes find hard). She is also incredibly brave, kind hearted, and loyal to her friends. She also has a strong moral center and wants to do what is right, but also learns throughout the series that sometimes standing up for what is right is more important than obeying the rules, a lesson that is can be especially valuable when what you know is right is not what those around you are trying to convince you is good.



PEGGY CARTER (from Captain America)
Peggy Carter is an example I love to use when people say there aren't enough strong independent women in movies today. I love that Peggy, while she is primarily labeled as "Captain America's Love Interest" is a super independent, smart, feisty female. A strong woman should be able to fall in love with the right kind of guy and still be respected and independent. One thing that's also important about her relationship with Cap is that he is so respectful and honoring of her. One of the problems we have with good female characters in movies isn't that they are too often the love interest, but that they are too often the love interest of the wrong kind of guy. I really enjoyed watching ABC's Agent Carter, a spin-off series from the Captain America movies. It takes place after Cap has supposedly died and Peggy is working for the S.S.R. which will later become S.H.I.E.L.D. The setting is made purposefully misogynistic by the writers in order to accentuate Peggy's awesomeness and by the end of the series, the men she works with have come to respect her as the strong woman she is.



JOAN OF ARC
I picked Joan of Arc from the many wonderful women in history, mainly because I played her in a play in 3rd grade, and I am still proud of it. She's also a great example. As a teenager, she had visions from angels and saints that eventually led to her trying to bring victory to France in The Hundred Years War against England by leading armies (pretty cool stuff, especially for the 15th century). Eventually, however, she was captured and burned at the stake at only nineteen. She remains an excellent example of both a woman who defied the culture's expectations and brought victory to her country and a person who followed God's call for her life.



MOTHER TERESA
Sadly, I don't know as much about her as I wish I did. Mother Teresa was an Albanian nun who dedicated her life to serving the poor in places like Calcutta. She helped the sick and dying on the streets instead of having a comfortable life. She is probably one of the most selfless women in history and is another excellent example of someone who followed God's call for her life.
Here is a beautiful quote from her:

"I'm just a little pencil in the hand of a writing God sending a love letter to the world."

 Would our actions be different if we thought like that?


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These six women I have listed are just a handful of the many amazing women throughout history that have done amazing things and can inspire us. So go live your life in the way God is calling and take some tips from these incredible women. Maybe you'll be on someone's list like this twenty or thirty years from now!