Pow-er-ful

     What makes a woman powerful?  Is it her intelligence, her confidence, her willingness to work harder than her competitors?  Or is it her compassion for the world, her work ethic, and determination to get where she wants to be in life?  Powerful women have been around for centuries.  Back in the day, society tried to shut these women up.  Eventually we made it out of the shadows of men and we now shine brighter then past generations could have ever imagined.  

     

Let’s highlight some amazing women.  We will go into more detail about each one in future writings.  A woman named Margaret Sanger is responsible for the opening of Planned Parenthood.  She had to over come many obstacles before successfully contributing to women’s health care.  The media has abused women such as Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton for years. They are criticized about their looks and the fact that they are women in politics.  These are incredibly powerful women and great role models for future female generations.  They show courage and do a job that many women won’t do.  Then we have activists such as Eve Ensler who is also a playwright, feminist, and performer.  She is most known for her play The Vagina Monologues.  Eve also created V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.  She has dedicated her life to better the lives of women and children.   And we definitely can’t forget about Oprah Winfrey… This woman is a talk show host, media proprietor, actress, producer and philanthropist.  Some consider her the most influential woman in the world. 

When one thinks of the word power they may think money, titles, and status.  In our society these things do give people a sense of power. But power is really about overcoming odds and rising to the top of whatever it is your trying to accomplish.  Power is working hard to better your life, lives of others, and society in general. Power is taking what you have and turning it into something more.

Forbes Magazine lists 100 women that hold the ranks of the most powerful women of the world. These women are presidents of countries, chancellors, CEO’s, company founders, entertainers, executives, and things of that caliber. Income, celebrity status, and significance to major companies is considered when determining the rank on this chart of 100.  While it can be motivating to see these types of women hold these ranks, it shouldn’t discredit the women of average income and of no celebrity status.   Many powerful women come from nothing.  It doesn’t matter where you come from.  What matters is where you go and whom you impact on the way.

Sometimes the most influential people in our lives are the ones we encounter on a day-to-day basis. Powerful women possess traits such as strength, compassion, loyalty, honesty, ambition, confidence, and intelligence... just to name a few.

True power is about obtaining respect, gaining loyalty, and making a difference. You do not have to come from royalty, or be an heir to an empire, and no celebrity status is needed to impact lives.   

Do you possess the qualities of a Powerful Woman?  We would love to hear what makes you powerful… Write to us at writings@proudandprettyinpink.com and let us add your writing to our blog.

Written By:  Chelsie Prince and Jessica Turner