Sue was contemplating International Women’s Day and thinking about how the women you meet and chat to in your everyday life can be the most inspiring of people.
The theme for International Women’s Day which is on Sunday 8 March 2020 is, ‘I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights.’ It’s all about asking how you will help forge a gender-equal world, as an equal world is an enabled world. It’s focused on celebrating women’s achievements, raising awareness against bias and taking action for equality.
I often read about women’s achievements, from a female CEO ‘breaking a glass ceiling’ to pioneering women scientists leading new health discoveries and cures for diseases.
However, for me, my inspirational women, whose achievements I aspire to, are the women I meet in my everyday life.
For me it’s not about aiming to be the fastest athlete in the world, the most revered doctor, the most respected businesswoman; it’s about being kind, putting friends and family first and trying to act as a role model to people I know.
I take my inspiration from my female friends and family. My step-daughter is a single mum at 20 and is one of the most caring, thoughtful and loving mums, you could ever meet; challenging her daughter to push herself but always being there for her. She makes me want to try harder to be a better person in my home life.
One of my best friends has a job supporting women to survive and move on in life after being victims of domestic abuse. She acts as an expert court witness and travels the length and breadth of the country supporting women in their hour of need. This is, by its very nature, an enormously stressful working environment. However, when we meet for a chat and cuppa as friends, she’s always positive, forward-looking and light-hearted. She’s never defeated, or down from the quite stressful challenges of her job. She inspires me to work smarter, shine a torch on my new ideas at work and try to be ahead of the curve with my job.
These two people are not leading lights in the world, they’re not rich or famous, they’re just normal, everyday women, living their lives. But they are special and inspiring to me and they’ve made a real difference to other people.
Here at Treetops, I asked a few of the Rambutan bunch which women inspired them and replies included:
- my ex-boss who was a motivating woman, immensely resilient at managing personal trolling on social media, and led a very successful £200m company
- my mum
- me… “I aim to inspire myself”
- a friend of a friend. She’s my conscience and whenever I need to manage an issue I always ask myself, “How would B, deal with it?”
As we celebrate another International Women’s Day, #IWD2020 #EachforEqual, I want to honour the achievements of my female friends, family and neighbours who inspire others and are my heroes without even knowing it.
Who are the women in your life you’d like to recognise and why?
