MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Open any history book today and chances are the women in this list were romanticized either by a defining career or their otherworldly beauty. While these are a huge part of their womanhood, there was no universal trait that dictated what was acceptable for them as women. In line with this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day, adobo magazine is giving a preview of what would be an organization dedicated to empower women by celebrating their creative prowess, recognizing how they lead positive impact, and encouraging creative and innovative thinking. This initiative will be called the adobo SheCreative Network.
Here is a list of women who helped inspire the movement, for the creativity they have demonstrated and inspired others with.
Billie Holiday
One of America’s most popular jazz singers, there’s hardly anyone who has not heard Billie Holiday’s voice. Billie’s life was not one without difficulty. She was left fatherless at an early age, and suffered several multiple relationships on top of substance addiction. Despite all of the challenges in her life though, she rose through the ranks, standing beside the likes of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, becoming a diva in her own right. Her voice, her songs, her craft, her beauty and personality, all of these would remain engrained in people’s memories and influential even to the generations after her.
Virginia Woolf
There is no bibliophile that has not heard the name Virginia Woolf. She had disrupted the linear and chronological narrative of storytelling, and believed that truth must be yoked with imagination. She has written a considerable amount of letters to her friends throughout her life, most of which were published.
Jane Austen
People know Jane Austen for her novels exploring themes of romance and marriage. Notorious for creating the character of Mr. Darcy, Austen’s novels remain a constant reference in today’s pop culture. Throughout her lifetime, she saw her works in print; read and well-reviewed, and even patronized by royalty.
Lucille Ball
Greatly known for her role as Lucy in I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball would become a television icon not just for her portrayal of the character. Lucille’s talent for drama and comedy astonished many in the industry, and she would receive numerous accolades for her work. Beyond those, however, she would inspire other women and help pave the way for them to enter the industry. She would also become a powerful female figure behind the cameras, and would even co-own American television production company Desilu, and become the first woman to head a production studio. Her company would produce some of the world’s biggest shows in television history including The Dick Van Dyke Show and Star Trek.
Frida Kahlo
If there is one thing that people associate most with Frida Kahlo, it would be her self-portraits. This is primarily because of her loneliness and how she saw herself as the subject she knew best. Half of her paintings were of herself and throughout her life, she rejected labels on the style of her paintings, saying that she was merely depicting her reality. Her distinct style is easily recognizable even to the art novice. That is just how influential and powerful she has been even after her death.
Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse will be loved for all tomorrows. An artist whose tragedy precedes everything else about her life, Winehouse had a soulful voice that earned her a following throughout her career. She had an allure and a talent for songwriting but was often viewed by the press only through the lenses they chose. But look past her troubled actions, and you’ll see a woman whose voice is more than iconic.
Audrey Hepburn
Those who have watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s know Audrey Hepburn as the face of Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While her unfailing sense of style was captured in the glory of films she starred in, Hepburn’s more meaningful work took place off-screen. A champion for children in need, she started working with UNICEF in 1954 and eventually became one of its Goodwill Ambassadors.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe was first and foremost a visual communicator. What she could not say with words, she painted on canvas. Her signature works are large scale close-up paintings of flowers; which she described as her way of making flowers truly visible, and not just a piece of beauty or a token to give a loved one.
Coco Chanel
The fashion icon Coco Chanel’s life is imagined by many as one filled with nothing but glamour and maybe a trust fund while growing up. The truth cannot be any further from that. Coco didn’t grow up with wealth within her reach. In fact, she was raised in an orphanage, and learned to sew clothes from nuns. Through her struggles, however, she was able to become one of the most iconic fashion icons in the world, having created one of the world’s most famous perfumes as well as “the little black dress” that revolutionized women’s fashion. Her work also helped women let go of corsets and embrace their natural figures. Her designs would be worn by celebrities, powerful individuals, and coveted by most.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” is the embodiment of what it is to be a woman unapologetically. Her story of staying mute because of the belief that her words have killed the man who molested her helped her begin embers of conversation. When she finally let her voice be heard, she celebrated life to the fullest, and published volumes of her autobiography challenging sexual and racial oppression.
Gabriela Silang
Gabriela Silang was a warrior equally fierce as her revolutionary husband. She led the resistance against the Spanish rule in the Philippines. She was the first Filipina who challenged the Spaniards and commandeered the rebels of Ilocos until she was captured and hanged to her death.
While it is no secret that race, religion, societal expectations, and gender norms have constrained the freedom the woman has, we remain in thrall of these women who have paved the way for all those who live today. They, who have created something larger than life, that even in their passing, are still celebrated, loved, and adored.
Illustrations by Sam Macaisa, Vnita Sohal, & Pierre Zipagan.
