In honor of International Women’s Day (which was Friday), and Women’s History Month all month, I’ll just share with you five of the women I look up to. With such strong women as role models, how can we fail? I’ll be snarky next week.

She’s a fighter!

First is, of course, my mom, who is nearly eight years past her renal cancer diagnosis; the five-year survival rate for her stage is about 8 percent. Sure, she’s a kidney down and is on cancer medication for the foreseeable future, but she’s still strong, funny and the best woman I’ve ever known.

Hey, she survived us heathens. Cancer is nothing.

Another woman who kicks cancer’s ass is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but that’s not the only reason to admire her. She co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, and fought gender discrimination, arguing six such cases at the Supreme Court and winning five, in the process making significant strides for women.

I would love to be Ruth when I grow up.
Image found on The Austin Chronicle.

She was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, in 1980, then was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1993. Since then, she’s become an icon thanks to her continued fight against gender discrimination and her whole attitude (and those great collars!). Notorious RBG indeed! (If you haven’t watched RBG on Hulu yet, do.)

This is someone I never thought I’d admire, partly because she has a bad habit of sticking her foot in her mouth. However, Nancy Pelosi has shown herself to be a strong adversary for he-who-won’t-be-named-because-he-doesn’t-deserve-it. She’s also kept the Democrats in the House united for the votes where it really counts. Election reform? Yes, please! Plus, she’s pretty good at shade. I’m looking forward to more from Nancy.

I never thought of orange as a power color before, but she looked like a boss. And she was.
Image found on CNBC.

When I started at the paper, it was the year of the 40th anniversary of the Central High integration crisis. Not having grown up in the Little Rock area, I was not overly familiar with the whole story, but the more I found out, the more I admired Daisy Bates (she died two years after that anniversary). Bates and her husband L.C. ran The Arkansas Weekly, which was focused on the civil rights movement, and she was also a force in the NAACP.

Daisy Bates is a true Arkansas icon, and a warrior for civil rights.
Image found on Savway.

When segregation was declared unconstitutional, Bates started seeking black students to enroll in white schools, and publicized in her paper the schools that refused to enroll them. She organized the Little Rock Nine, often driving them to and from school and protecting them. Because of this, she was often threatened, rocks were thrown at her house, and the Bateses had to shutter the newspaper. She continued her civil rights work, though, writing a book and speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. Is it any wonder that not only do we in Arkansas celebrate her on the third Monday in February, but she will be one of the Arkansas statues at D.C.’s Statuary Hall?

Michelle Obama is one of those women who sometimes seems to good to be true: lawyer, writer, wife, mom, advocate for children and military families, and a fashion icon, among other things. During Barack’s campaigns for president and all through his presidency, she withstood with grace and humor the insults hurled by hyperpartisans and conspiracy theorists, and epitomized the notion of going high when others go low. While she says she won’t run for office, she continues her work to aid women and children. And the occasional mom dance and candy exchange with Dubya.

OK, I also kinda want to be Michelle Obama when I grow up … I guess some sort of Ruth-Michelle hybrid. It could work.
Image found on The New York Times.