Share Inspirational Stories on Your Women’s Online Network
Part of finding strength and motivation, achieving personal growth and fulfillment, and contributing to the inspiration and wellbeing of other women is having reliable sources from which to draw inspiration. Obviously being part of a women’s online network that consists of other, like-minded women to get and provide support in a welcoming group setting is a great way to stay inspired. The benefits that a woman looking to be active in multiple spheres of live can derive from extending her collaborative network with committed people are many.
Examples of inspirational women in history are a great way to take advantage of these networks and supplement their effects on a woman’s sense of hope and strength. Looking to our predecessors we can often discover new ways of thinking, new sources of grace and gratitude, and new ways to understand the problems we confront and how we go about working towards our goals. One of the best examples of an inspirational women – and there are certainly many – is Susan B. Anthony. She became a household name again for many with the introduction of the $1 coin.
This campaigner for women’s right to vote also fought for the abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, and was a symbol of courage and persistence in the 19th Century. Her dying words were “failure is impossible.” Anthony’s courage and value as an inspirational figure derives from her unflinching commitment to the woman’s right to vote despite the hatred and anger it brought to her. Even before she became a women’s rights advocate, she worked against gender-based discrimination, protesting the lesser pay she received as a teacher.
Then, when she later began as a temperance advocate, Anthony encountered discrimination from the ranks of the movement because she was a woman. From this first challenge to her efforts at reform, Anthony’s experiences show the power of women collaborating. Though she obviously didn’t have a women’s online network, she joined with other women by writing for the first women-owned newspaper in the country, Lily.
Later, after successfully contributing to the abolition movement during the Civil War, only to find women’s suffrage cast aside by the newly passed 15th amendment, Anthony decided to push harder. She tested the 14th amendment, which said all citizens could vote and guaranteed citizenship to all people born in the United States. Anthony registered to vote and cast her ballot in the 1872 presidential election. She was arrested, and summarily found guilty of revolutionary activities by an unfriendly judge. However, when she refused to pay the $100 penalty, no further action was taken.
At each step of her efforts to secure equal rights for women, this inspirational figure encountered disgust and resistance from most of society, but through personal will and a strong network of likeminded friends and colleagues, she continued to fight. Women like Anthony offer us inspiration about what one determined women can do with help and support.
