Recently I attended a blogger event at Waterstones Deansgate. And although my anxiety was in overdrive and I ended up barely being able to talk to the others (even though I really wanted to) I am glad I went. I think next time I won’t be as nervous and actually be able to talk to people.
So this events theme was Feminism and sponsored by DK Books. They gave us all a tote bag filled with such great stuff. They gave us a selection of books and I picked up two of them!
They also asked us to share who our feminist icons are. So that’s what the rest of this post will be about!
There are so many that I look up to and who inspire me to be the best version of myself. So I’m going to share some of them with you here.
The first is Fatima Al-Fihri. She was an Arab Muslim born in 800AD and she founded the first and oldest university in Fez, Morocco. The university is still running today and the library is one of the oldest in the world! I loved learning about her and how she used the money her father left her to establish the university so that others could receive the education that she had been able to receive. Because of her dedication to ensuring education was available to many she built an institute that became a centre of knowledge and people came from all over the world to study there.
Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid was the wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and she lived in a society that didn’t value women. Yet she was a successful business woman, running her business on her own and employing people to travel to sell on her behalf. This was unprecedented in her time yet because of how she dealt with those in her business she was well respected by both men and women alike. She eventually employed the Prophet (who wasn’t a prophet at the time) and she proposed to him. Even after they were married, she was the main breadwinner of the family and he continued to work for her. I love her!
Nusaybah Bint Ka’ab also lived at the time of the Prophet and she was a badass! She was a warrior and would be someone who would be known today as an activist and women’s rights campaigner. She continually spoke up about women’s rights and ensured that women were treated with justice and equality. I adore her so much!
There are so many more that I want to speak about from Yasmin Moagahed, Alima Ashfaq, Linda Sarsour and Dalia Mogahed. Women who I see today speaking out about injustices and who won’t be silenced. But I wanted to mention those three in more detail as I doubt that many people know about them. And they deserve to be mentioned because they were powerful, strong women who created change in their community and society around them.
Let me know who your female role models are! I love learning about all the amazing women in the world!
The Tsundoku Chronicles 