list 50 women little girls should admire instead of symbols of stupidity and weakness

to an opinion piece written by Tim Costello, director of World Vision Australia, about media interest in a certain celebrity who isn’t worthy of mention under this goal. He makes some excellent points, saying that the media interest in her “leaves society limping”. He questions the messages being given to young people on desirable behaviour when mindless consumerism is promoted as a good thing, and suggests who he thinks would be good role models for young people.

Definitely worth a read, and thinking about when considering who little girls should admire.

Catherine Hamlin is an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist, the co-founder of Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia with her late husband Dr. Reginald Hamlin.

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital is the world’s only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries which leave them with urinary and sometimes faecal incontinence. As a result of their injuries, the women find themselves outcasts – living on the fringes of society and abandoned by their husbands and families. The work of the Hamlins has meant that more than 34,000 women have been treated, restoring their health and dignity.

Catherine Hamlin was born in Sydney Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1946. She met and married Dr Reginald Hamlin when they were both Senior Medical Administrators at Crown Street Women’s Hospital, Sydney. In 1958 they answered an ad in a medical journal for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a midwifery school in the General Hospital in Addis Ababa. They then went to Addis Ababa in 1959 on a three year contract with the Ethiopian Government. They remained in Ethiopia and fifteen years later they founded Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Dr. Hamlin has been awarded honorary fellowships in the medical associations of Australia, England and the United States and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is author of the best-selling book, The Hospital by the River.

I admire her for her dedication over many years in often challenging circumstances.

Further information is here

Valerie Vili has just won the gold medal in the shotput at the Beijing Olympics. She’s also won gold medals at the world championships in Valencia this year and in Osaka last year. But there are some other reasons apart from her great sporting achievements that make her a good role model.

The first is her height. She is 1.96m (6ft 4in) tall and, when it was first suggested to her as a teenager that she could be good at the shotput, she was initially reluctant because she was self-conscious about her height. She gave it a go anyway, and soon achieved success. I think there’s a lesson there about body image and how it inhibits women.

The second is what I heard her say on the radio tonight. She said she focussed on doing the job she was there to do, and didn’t allow all the other activity in the stadium to distract her. She achieved a personal best as well as a gold medal. And the lesson there is, focus on your dream and you may well achieve it.

In this goal, I’ve avoided listing politicians so far, as politics can be very divisive and someone who might be a role model to one family may be just the opposite to another family. I’m not including Winnie Laban in the list because she is the first Pacific Island woman to be a member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister in New Zealand, but because of another achievement.

In 2007 Winnie Laban was diagnosed with breast cancer after having a regular mammogram. She underwent treatment including chemotherapy, and now the cancer is in remission. She has chosen to speak publicly about her experience to encourage Pacific Island women to have mammograms.

“Our women are often reluctant to talk about these issues, as we are often frightened, shy and private about our bodies. But with Pacific women 20 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than other New Zealand women, it is vital that we continue to see more and more Pacific women getting screened” she said. Since she has spoken publicly about this, the numbers of Pacific Island women getting mammograms has increased.

I think Winnie Laban is a brave woman to speak out about something so private within her community, and should be admired encouraging other women to seek life-saving treatment.

If you want to find out more about Winnie Laban, her official biography is here

Sue Keall is the conservation biology technician with Victoria University’s tuatara biology and conservation programme. Since 1991, she has been responsible for caring for hatchlings, juvenile and adult animals, and she has also been responsible for the incubation of eggs from both captive populations and wild populations threatened with extinction. She has led the improved husbandry of tuatara at institutions in New Zealand and overseas, including the San Diego Zoo. Her work has been essential to research aimed at preserving the tuatara.

She is so dedicated to her job, she spends time including weekends collecting insects to ensure the reptiles have an adequate natural diet, and her expertise has ensured very high survival rates of eggs and all life stages from hatchling to adult, as well as very low rates of illness or injury in captive populations.

In 1995 she completed the prestigious Diploma in Endangered Species Management at the Jersey Zoo, as one of few New Zealanders to have been admitted to the programme. She has recently been awarded the Animal Technician’s Award for 2008 by the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching.

Many little girls aspire to work with animals, but so often they are pushed towards “sensible” jobs. Women like Sue Keall show that there are important and valuable jobs for people who love animals.

Kup Women for Peace (KWP) is a women’s group from Papua New Guinea who have won the 7th Pacific Human Rights Award. The United Nations Development Programme recognised Kup Women for Peace “for its outstanding work in situations of conflict, for its intrepid dedication to the cause of peace in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and for its bravery in challenging discriminatory customs and norms, including widespread violence against women.”

KWP began in 1999. Women from four rival tribal groups in Kup came together following a devastating breakout of tribal violence. Many people were killed, entire villages were burnt down, women were raped, children and the elderly were attacked. The tribal violence discouraged development and economic activity in an already very poor area. KWP wanted to Downim heavy belong all mama (reduce the sorrow of the mothers) by putting a stop to tribal war and promoting peaceful development.

The next time fighting broke out, the women walked out onto the battlefield. They spent two weeks camping on the battlefield using a loudhailer to call for a truce and stayed in the villages of the warring factions talking about peace and the possibility of self-led peaceful development.

Kup Women for Peace have been hugely successful in promoting peace in Kup. People can now move freely between tribes and the town and tribal fighting has ended. The women have also encouraged a sense of self-help and civic pride among the community and have launched a sustainable livelihoods programme to ensure long lasting peace and improve the quality of life of Kup communities. This program targets youth in particular, to “settle youth down”, and through a holistic community approach, reduce some of the causes and motivations for violence.

I think they are an excellent role model for little girls because they show what can be done at grass roots level, when women in the community join together for a common cause.

You can read more about them here.

Emily Welch, 27, broke the official women’s world record for shearing the most lambs in nine hours on 27 November 2007 by shearing 648 sheep at Waikaretu, in the Waikato. She easily beat the old record of 541 lambs. She was scrutinized by expert judges who made sure there were no short cuts in the shearing.

Emily trained for the high-endurance record attempt for six months. She has been shearing professionally for six years and is the only female shearer in her gang, but has a rising profile on the competition shearing circuit. She was taught by her father Philip Woodward, a local shearing legend. He took her to competitions when she was 20 and she thought she could do better than some of the contestants.

Emily competes alongside men around the show circuit throughout the North Island and more recently Australia. She was the first woman to make the senior Golden Shears final where she gained second place and she came sixth at the New Zealand championships in Te Kuiti.

Emily appreciates husband’s support: “I don’t think I would have made it so far without his support . . . He and Dad were pretty happy.” She says of shearing “It’s very hard work, it’s very physical and you have to be determined to stick at it.”

I think she deserves to be admired for her determination and where it has taken her.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls is an activist and journalist who has been active in political and social causes since the first Fiji coup in 1987, particularly those relating to women. She gained national prominence by organizing, through the National Council of Women, a daily prayer vigil when government leaders were held hostage for 56 days during the 2000 coup. She was one of the founders of the gender equality and peace-promoting non-governmental organisation, femLINKPACIFIC.

One of the initiatives of femLINKPACIFIC is the suitcase radio station femTALK 89.2FM which focuses on community empowerment on the basis that unless women in rural communities are given a voice, their views will never be taken seriously by those in power. Sharon and a team of volunteers take the portable radio station into rural communities, where they work with locals to help them broadcast their stories to their local community. She says it is a way for people to “speak truth to power. The point is to infiltrate the airwaves with the voices of communities”. Sharon sees it as a practical tool for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, titled “Women, Peace and Security” for which she has been a prominent advocate for in the Pacific region since 2000.

In June 2005, Sharon was included in the list of Pacific women included in the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 initiative.

You can read more about the suitcase radio station here and an interview with Sharon here.

Melissa Moon is a New Zealand athlete and motivational speaker. She recently took part in the Blue Planet Run, a relay raising awareness of the importance of clean water, covering more than 24,000 kilometres across 16 countries.

Her sporting achievements include:
• Two Time World Mountain Running Champion
• World Stair Racing Champion
• 21 New Zealand Athletic Titles
• 7 Time National Cross Country Champion
• 10 Time North Island Cross Country Champion
• NZ Sports Woman of the Year
• NZ University Sports Person of the Year
• Athletics NZ Athlete of the Year

Melissa left school at 16 after deciding it wasn’t for her. She headed to Europe, worked in pubs and as a nanny. When she returned to New Zealand at age 22 she took up running seriously and also set out to get some qualifications. She has now completed
• Masters in Business Studies (sports endorsed)
• Diploma in Teaching (Physical Education & Health and Special Education)
• Diploma in Sports Studies

She also takes time to volunteer with Project K, a mentoring programme for children and at a soup kitchen.

I think she is a great example for young women because, from being a young woman who didn’t know what she wanted to do in life, she has become an achiever in sport and community service, and a very motivated individual. As she says, “You’ve got to take yourself out of your comfort zone, or you’ll be kicking yourself when you’re 80.”

You can read more about Melissa here.

Thabitha Khumalo is a Zimbabwean trade unionist and women’s rights campaigner. Her fight for human rights for women has led her to be arrested 22 times and tortured.

She launched the Dignity! Period. campaign to highlight the difficulties Zimbabwean women face in getting tampons or sanitary pads, due to the economic conditions in Zimbabwe. Many women have turned to substitutes which have led to sickness or injury.

She was awarded UK Woman of the Year Window to the World award in 2006.

You can read an interview with her here. and a speech here.

She is a courageous woman who has continued to fight for the women of her country, despite appalling personal consequences.