5 Women Who Inspire Me to Live My Best Life
Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn in 1933 when women were expected to marry, have children, and stay at home to raise them. Her mother, who had worked in a garment factory to help her own brother pay for his college education, died before Ruth graduated from high school. Miss Bader graduated first in her class with a bachelor’s degree from Cornell, then married Martin Ginsburg, a Harvard Law student. Already the parent of one child, Ruth was one of eight women to be admitted to Harvard Law School (where she competed with 500 men). When Martin was battling testicular cancer, she attended his classes as well as her own, taking copious notes to ensure that he wouldn’t fall behind in his program. When Martin graduated and took a job in New York City, RBG transferred to Columbia where she again graduated first in her class.
Despite her outstanding academic record RBG encountered gender discrimination in seeking employment. She accepted a position with the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project, for which she argued six landmark cases on gender equality before the US Supreme Court. She was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 as the second female to serve on the US Supreme Court (Sandra Day O’Connor was the first). In her briefs she used the phrase, “I dissent” rather than the traditional, “I respectfully dissent.” Among RBG’s noteworthy victories were upholding a critical component of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, The Marriage Equality Act, and the defense of the free press.
In 1954, Oprah Winfrey was born to an unmarried couple in Mississippi. Although her parents separated shortly after her birth, she learned to read by age two-and-a-half. She skipped kindergarten because she told her teacher that she belonged in first grade. She was promoted at year’s end to grade three. Oprah’s early life was marred by poverty and sexual assaults which began when she was nine. She bounced between parents but landed with her father as an early teen, later claiming that the guidance, structure, rules, and books he provided “saved her life.”
Oprah earned a full scholarship to Tennessee State and a CBS affiliate offered her a job during her sophomore year. After graduating she became Nashville’s first African American female co-anchor of the evening news. As a talk show host, actress, author, media personality and philanthropist, Ms. Winfrey’s empathy and willingness to break through cultural taboos and barriers continues to meet a national demand for honesty in the media. In 1996 she announced that she “wanted to get the country reading.” Her on-air reading club provided a venue for even deeper exploration of sensitive issues. She became the most powerful book marketer in the US. Oprah’s focus on women’s issues such as gay rights, self-help, self-improvement, and spirituality has been a beacon to millions. My favorite Oprah quotes are: “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” “You are not your circumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything.”
Jeanette Walls was the second-born daughter to a rootless, nomadic family in Arizona in 1960. Although her father, an electrician, expressed a desire to provide a solar-powered permanent home (The Glass Castle) for his family, his inability to sustain work typically left them homeless and hungry instead. Jeanette’s mother, who was an art teacher, was unable to conform to a school schedule, and quit after just one year. The family moved back to Rex Wall’s home state, West Virginia, where they once lived in a three-room dwelling without plumbing or heat and was also inhabited by snakes and rats. Jeanette and her three siblings had to fend for themselves, at times stealing food from classmates’ lunch sacks because their parents refused to apply for free lunches. Sometimes the children stayed with relatives who also neglected or sexually exploited them.
After her junior year of high school Jeanette traveled to New York to live with her older sister. Noticing Jeanette’s excellent writing skills, a teacher directed her to an internship at an alternative newspaper so she could help her sister with living expenses. Driven by a desire for normalcy and success, Jeanette applied for grants, loans, and scholarships to finance her bachelor’s degree. She answered phones for a Wall Street law firm while at Barnard College, from which she graduated, with honors, in 1984. In her career as a journalist, she was a gossip columnist for MSNBC and wrote for Esquire. Ms. Walls is the author of three books, The Glass Castle becoming a best-seller. She did not allow the circumstances of her early life to define her.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born in Chicago in 1964. In spite of her father’s early diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, he worked tirelessly for the city’s water department while his wife was a full time homemaker. Michelle was a conscientious student, earning degrees in Sociology and African American Studies at Princeton. While a law student at Harvard, she met Barack Obama, whom she married in 1992. Michelle was an assistant commissioner of planning and development at Chicago’s City Hall, then became the founding executive director of the Chicago Chapter of Public Allies (an Americorps program that prepares youth for public service). Ms. Obama then became the associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago, where she developed their first community service program.
During his term as a U S Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama ran a successful campaign for the presidency in 2008. Michelle’s personality, passion, and tireless support undoubtedly had a positive impact on his candidacy. As First Lady, she spearheaded “Let’s Move,” a nationwide effort to address childhood obesity and, along with Jill Biden, launched the “Joining Forces” initiative to challenge Americans to rally around service members, veterans, and their families. During Obama’s second term in office, the First Lady initiated “Reach Higher,” an effort to inspire young people to complete post high school professional training (via trade school, a community or 4-year college). The program helps youth understand financial aid eligibility, academic planning, and summer learning opportunities. Her memoir, Becoming, became a best-seller in 2019.
In 1986, Tara Westover was the seventh and last child born to her Moorman survivalist parents in Idaho. Skeptical of government and mainstream medicine, her folks did not enroll their children in school or take them to dentists or doctors. Tara’s father ran a junkyard, and her mother was a self-taught herbalist and midwife. The children helped with both family enterprises, frequently being injured in accidents or explosions. When a spike was driven through Tara’s leg, she should have had stitches, but was instead treated by her mother.
Two of Tara’s older brothers left home and enrolled in college, whetting her appetite for learning. She taught herself Algebra and studied for the ACT, gaining entrance to Brigham Young University, from which she graduated magna cum laude. Tara won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and following ten years of intensive study, earned a PhD in history from Trinity College, Cambridge. “I don’t have a high school diploma or a GED, but I have a PhD,” she quipped on a talk show after her book, Educated, became a best-seller. She thinks of education as “a great mechanism of connecting and equalizing.” Ms. Westover is currently a senior research fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard. She is estranged from half of her family, stating that “You can love someone and still choose to say ‘good-bye’ to them.”
I find each of these women inspirational because, like me, they were born into working class families and made the best of their gifts and resources. The majority experienced marked hardship during their youth, yet through hard work and persistence, obtained an education and made contributions to society: in women’s and human rights, healthy youth, and literature. I applaud and revere each of them as role models and mentors. Like them, I want to mine painful nuggets, garner strength and hope from fellow sojourners, and share what we’ve learned. As we begin the new year, may all women have the courage to keep reading, growing, having difficult discussions, and forge ahead toward our own bright lives.
