G is for Girl Power

Girls have come a heck of a long way, when you think about it. I mean, from swooning about on lounge suites in the days of Jane Austen, waiting for our Mr Rochesters to come along, we now do amazing things. Girls are a force to be reckoned with in the world. I'm by no means a women's libber, but I was quite impressed by something I heard the other day from a feminist - "I won't rest until career woman is no longer a phrase". That's when true equality will have been achieved?

I think we're nearly there. We heard a lot about the career woman in the 80s. Sometimes, I wonder whether the career woman has done more harm than good. I personally wouldn't mind having the CHOICE of being able to do nothing all day except stuff I wanted to do. But then, I'd get bored, and I enjoy doing what I do. The fact remains though, that I have to work to support us. Our kids have never known a mom who doesn't work. We don't hear so much about career women these days. I think all the women I know work, bar some who are on the dole in the UK.




Let's talk about some of the most influential women around. Madonna comes immediately to mind. If Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, she was the Queen (or the Princess, if that title belongs to Freddie Mercury).  Such a trendsetter - Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus may think they're shockers, but I hate to break it to you, girls - Madonna did it all before you. If you weren't Madonna in the popular world in the 80s, you wanted to be.


Margaret Thatcher. The erstwhile prime minister of the UK. She wasn't known as the Iron Lady for nothing. I know she has her enemies, and her friends, but that lady could get things done, and did.

Love her or hate her, Oprah Winfrey is deserving of mention here. She's the ultimate rags to riches story, and as a black American woman who has dominated the TV waves for so long, she's deserving to be highly recognised here.

Barbara Walters is someone I hold in high admiration. She's been an influence on American TV since the 60s, having started writing for CBS and NBC. She began writing stories, and moved up to doing interviews. She was even chosen to moderate a debate between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. I think she has interviewed every celebrity in the world worth interviewing, and yes - I'm going to add a little personal something here - she is the one to whom John Ritter said in 1980 that he would like to be remembered as someone who tweaked the golden thread of humanity - the idea that inspired this blog.


This list is by no means comprehensive, but for the sake of not letting this article go on too long, I'm going to only mention one more person. She is LITERALLY still a girl but her courage and bravery is an inspiration to many, and she is at present fighting ridiculous notions of girls not being allowed an education and to better themselves - Malala Yousafzai, who has survived being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban and has still not allowed them to intimidate her. If half the world had half her courage, imagine what a better place this world would be.