International Women’s Day 2021: 5 women who inspired a generation and beyond

Women have been fighting for equality for a long time now and are succeeding in making a mark of their own. They have made the world realise that they don’t need anyone to push them towards success, they are enough in themselves for proving their mettle.

Here are five women who have changed the outlook of the world in what women can achieve:

1. Neerja Bhanot- Neerja was a flight purser who died while saving passengers on flight Pan Am 73 which was hijacked by terrorists when the flight stopped at Karachi on September 5, 1986. Bhanot was in her early 20s when she was killed in the plane hijack by terrorists, she saved more than 300 passengers onboard putting her life at risk.

Neerja was posthumously awarded with the Ashoka Chakra and became the youngest recipient of the award. She is an inspiration to all the women out there that courage is not gender specific and has absolutely nothing to do with age too. 

2. Kalpana Chawla- Kalpana was an American astronaut and the first-ever Indian origin woman who went to space, and made the nation bask in the glory. The Indian-American astronaut lost her life in 2003 when the space shuttle got ruined as it reached the earth’s atmosphere over Texas.

Kalpana has given an example to the world that with determination, one can achieve anything as she became the first Indian origin woman who travelled to space.

3. Indra Nooyi- Born in Chennai, she is an Indian-American businessperson who became the CEO and chairperson of Pepsico and served as the CEO for over 12 years. She has been ranked as one of the world’s most powerful women in a list from Forbes.

Nooyi also ranked third in the list of ‘World’s Powerful Moms’. Nooyi is an inspiration for all the women who aspire to become entrepreneurs and CEOs.

4. Priyanka Chopra- She is an Indian actress, singer and film producer. Priyanka first came into limelight after she won the title of Miss World 2000 pageant. She is one of the highest-paid actors in the film industry.

Chopra has been working in both Bollywood and Hollywood and has become popular for her movies and TV series like Quantico and Baywatch. She has won the National award and five Filmfare awards in her 20 year career. In recent years, she has represented India in Oscars and red carpet fashion events around the world.

5. Mother Teresa- Born in Macedonia, she first arrived in India in 1929 as a missionary. In 1950, she found the Missionaries of Charity and gave her life to help the people in need, especially the poor and sick. Mother Teresa believed that every human life should be lived in dignity and worked tirelessly to reduce inequality in society.

Her compassion continues to transform lives of people from all faiths and nationalities. She was awarded India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1980 and Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She became an example as a beacon of hope for the underprivileged and that any woman could bring such change that helped a lot of poor lives.

Women have kept inspiring the world from time-to-time and have achieved laurels in all the spheres of the world whether sports, entertainment, politics or space, they have shown that women can achieve anything they aspire to become.