THIS YEARS INSPIRING WOMEN

VICTORIA PENDLETON

Not content with winning three Olympic medals,

Victoria Pendleton has got herself a new job.

The former cyclist has swapped two wheels for four legs

and has become a jockey.

HILLARY CLINTON

As Donald Trump somehow manages to cling on to his

Presidential campaign, all of America’s hopes for a toupee-free

White House rest on one woman’s shoulders. 2016 should be

Hillary’s year. The 65-year-old is the front-running Democratic

nominee for President.

HARNAAM KAUR

When 16-year-old Harnaam Kaur decided to stop shaving

her beard, she probably didn’t realise that she would

become the face of a new kind of beauty. Last year Kaur

joined the #effyourbeautystandards movement, opening up

about the polycystic ovarian syndrome that leads to her excess

hair growth. This year, the British beauty made history when

she walked the runway at the Royal Fashion Day for jewellery

designer Marianna Haratunian. Kaur posted this pic on Instagram:

“I grew up being told I was too fat, ugly, and disgusting to even

model. I was told I’d never walk the runway. Jokes on my bullies.”

 TSAI ING-WEN

In January 2016, Taiwan elected their first female president

Tsai Ing-wen. The LSE educated politician won in a landslide

victory that marks a new era for the self-governing country

as her Democratic Progressive Party comes into power in May,

which won’t sit well with the current Communist leaders

in nearby China. 

THE COXLESS CREW

In January 2016, these four women were the first all-female

team to successfully cross the Pacific Ocean. After spending

257 days at sea, The Coxless Crew docked in Cairns, Australia

on January 25 looking rather pleased with themselves after

setting off from San Francisco nine months earlier.

JENNY BEAVAN

Few people outside the film industry knew who Jenny Beavan

was until Stephen Fry called her “an old bag lady” at this year’s

BAFTAs. For the record, Jenny is a multi-award winning

costume designer who created the wardrobes for movies

including Sense and Sensibility and Mad Max: Fury Road.

She won her second Oscar in 2016 for Mad Max and accepted

her award wearing a studded leather jacket, stating:

“The only thing I would like is for my outfit to have a positive

effect on what women feel about themselves. You don’t

actually have to look like a supermodel to be successful.” 

ARUNDHATI ROY

As well as winning the Man Booker Prize in 1997 for her

best-selling novel, ‘The God of Small Things’, Indian

author Arundhati Roy is a long-time political activist.

Since her win, the 54-year-old has used her fame to
highlight environmental and human rights issues.

Roy is currently facing criminal charges for contempt

of court in her home country over an article she wrote at

the end of last year criticising the imprisonment of a

severely disabled lecturer who was accused of

“anti-national activities”. These charges against Roy are

the latest step in what some are calling “the suppression

of intellectual and creative freedoms” that is quietly

happening in India.  

BEYONCÉ

Over her nearly 20 year career, Beyoncé has often been

criticized for not adequately acknowledging her black heritage

from her bleach blonde Rapunzel weave to her relative silence

over numerous issues facing the African-American community.

That was until ‘Formation’. The star of her latest musical video

is undoubtedly the black woman. From her ladies getting in

formation to Queen Bey herself, the highly politicized video

has clear nods to the black victims of Hurricane Katrina as

well as the Black Lives Matter cultural movement. Sceptics

argue that Mrs Knowles-Carter image is so controlled that it’s

hard to see any real integrity in this one music video.

But her performance at the Super Bowl complete with

Black Panther-esque outfits and a not-so-subtle allusion to

civil rights pioneer Malcolm X left no-one in any doubt over

Beyoncé’s stance on the state of African-American rights

in the US in 2016.