I scattered the names of fabulous women all over the three panels. Here are references, so you can read up on them yourself.
Four models who are friends of mine or my children’s, all fabuous in various ways. Caroline True (first rightl), Charlotte Bramwells (third from right), Rowan Earlam (fourth from leftl), Ella Taylor (sixth from left), Lauren Thomas (first from left).
A young American poet who stunned the world when she read at President Biden’s inauguration. Here she is, reading The Hill we Climb, on YouTube
There will be more to come.
(5th from right in The First Supper).
Ashley Diamond is a Black transgender woman, and prisoners’ rights activist in the USA.
Beth Chatto wrote some very well-loved books on gardening, for example The Dry Garden, The Damp Garden. I hope her ideas will be a part of remaking the world.
Caroline Lucas, former Leader of the Green Party is a consistent voice of reason and compassion in politics. Green politics is the only hope we have of saving the planet for all life.
Mernissi was an Islamic feminist and a writer. You could start with her memoir Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood. She taught at Mohammed V University in Rabat. She combatted misogyny by direct reference to the original Islamic texts.
Greta Thunberg is an adult now. She still protests about climate injustice, deriding world leaders for doing as little as they can.
These days, she is as passionate in defending Palestine from genocide.
She worked at NASA for 33 years. She analysed flight paths of spacecraft and was crucial in getting people to the Moon.
“I didn’t do anything alone but tried to get to the root of the question and succeeded there.”
Mirzakani was a professor of Mathematics at Stanford University. She pursued mathematics for sheer joy.
The obituary shows a video of her describing why she loves surfaces.
Megan McCubbin is a great and enthusiastic young zoologist and TV presenter in the UK. She is a passionate environmentalist and I find her inspiring.
I found her speeches in the House of Commons mesmerising. She was truthful, called out the Government, and was quite often furious.
Mhairi Black did not stand in the 2024 election.
Chef Cola is also known as African Vegan on a Budget. I first heard of her working as a chef in an anti-poaching organisation with only female rangers. This is in Zimbabwe but she is known much further afield than that.
Paula Rego combined folk tales, outrage about national and sexual politics, and great colour sense. The Policeman’s Daughter (above), depicts a girl polishing the boot of a fascist man.
The link is to a BBC article about a recent retrospective in the Tate Britain.
Rachel Carson is best known for her 1962 book Silent Spring about the pesticide DDT, one of the central texts of the environmental movement. She rejected the idea that humans were of first imporance on the planet. The fact that we haven’t listened to her is why I propose we convene meetings such as the First Supper in real life.
Rosabell Kagumire is a strong voice for pan-African feminism. She is the editor of the fascinating and furious website African Feminism. Go browse there.
She was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer.
Franklin discovered the double helix structure of DNA. She was robbed of her part in the Nobel prize, as is now generally accepted.
(Second from right in The First Supper).
Rumana Lasker Dawood (the Little Pomegranate) makes beautiful, cheerful clothes and is an inspiration to sewers who want to enjoy fabrics and loose-fitting clothes. She was a quarter finalist on The Great British Sewing Bee and is also a doctor.
Shamsia Hassani is the first woman graffiti artist in Afghanistan. I find her work inspiring and, since the Taliban returned, increasingly heartbreaking. She is safe now.
Excellent MP for Coventry South.
This image shows her holding the Tory Government to account. So much so that she has left Labour to form a new party. I look forward to more news.
The first Afghan woman to run the Afghan marathon in 2015. Her first sport was Tae Kwon-Do, which is very special to me. In 2021 she was Sports Coordinator for Skateistan, also in Afghanistan. She is a sportswoman and a feminist. Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, she has been in the United States.