Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day and here at Yemaya HQ we will be celebrating all those pioneers who have forged paths so that our generation can have the freedoms and opportunities that we have today and who have inspired us with their stories.
Women are AMAZING!
Yes, we are! Sometimes it is hard to hold on to our dreams, to continue to fight for what we believe in, to pick ourselves up when we have hit hard times. But do you know what? Numerous scientific studies have shown that women are more resilient than men when facing adversity. Well who knew!!
Do you need to get your mojo back?
The last year has been tough with Covid changing our lives forever. It has been hard to keep going, keeping a routine, just holding our lives together with the constant pressures of job uncertainty, homeschooling, comfort eating and lack of opportunities to exercise and get back in the water.
But we know you can do it.
If you need a little inspiration here are the stories of some of the most inspiring women who have helped me keep true to myself and pick me up when the gloom looms large.
Dr Sylvia Earle
Born in 1935, Sylvia grew up with a passion for the natural world and attempted her first dive at age 16 with a diving helmet, scuba hadn’t been invented then! At the age of 44 she became the first woman to walk the ocean floor 1,500 feet below the surface. She completed her famous two-hour ocean floor walk in a pressurized metal JIM suit.
Dr Earle was a pioneer gaining universal respect from the scientific community for her work as a marine biologist but also for her passion to make it possible for women to be at the forefront of ocean exploration.
Katy Payne
As a researcher in acoustic biology at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Katy was fascinated by the sounds of the natural world. In the 1960s she and her husband Roger Payne began recording the sounds beneath the waves and were the first to recognise that the calls of the humpback whale are not random sounds but complex songs that are collectively composed and evolve over time. Her work was instrumental in our understanding of ocean bioacoustics and she brought a new understanding to the sound of the ocean, that there is always another way to hearing and seeing, especially beyond surface level.
Krystyna Chojnowska- Liskiewicz
An extraordinary feat of bravery and determination occurred on 21st April 1978, when a young woman sailor docked her ship Mazurek having become the first female sailor to have ever single handedly circumnavigated the earth. Krystyna completed her voyage in 401 days without a break, facing extraordinary challenges but with grit and determination she sailed her way into the history books and has inspired many more female sailors as a result.
Naomi James
Another determined and fearless female sailor is Naomi James, the first woman to sail solo around the world via Cape Horn, doing it within 272 days and setting a new record. Setting off in September 1977, she completed her voyage in June 1978.
Maria Westerbos
Maria is the founder-director of the Plastic Soup Foundation which she founded in 2011 and which led the successful worldwide campaign against microbeads: Beat the Microbead in 2012. She works tirelessly in her campaign to rid our waters of plastic waste and has been an inspiration to us all to keep campaigning and raising awareness of the harm plastics are doing to our environment.
Bethany Hamilton
Bethany is an American professional surfer who survived a terrifying shark attack in 2003 in which her left arm was bitten off and who ultimately returned to professional surfing. An extraordinary woman who through her love of surfing and being in the water, sheer grit and determination has been able to follow her dream. Not only has she had to adapt to how she surfs on the waves she has also had to change the way others perceive her.
We can’t all be leaders but we can be inspirational
Most of us won’t ever be famous as pioneers in our field but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t able to inspire others.
All these women followed their hearts, their dreams and it is not just their incredible achievements that we celebrate, it is the force of female determination and resilience which really shines through and which continues to inspire.
Women are AMAZING!