The era of information overload has arrived. In 2016, news didn’t and couldn’t stop. But some newsmakers made more noise than others. From survivors of war, violence and even gravity to the rousing trailblazers of today, we take a look back at ten women who left an impact on the world.
Bana Alabed – 7 year old Syrian tweeter escapes Aleppo
Bana Alabed was forced to grow up too quickly.
The young Syrian girl has been sending out heartbreaking tweets from war-torn Aleppo with the help of her mother, Fatima, for months. (Twitter recently verified her account (@AlabedBana), which is followed by more than 350,000 people.)
Alabed’s messages began in September, often urgent pleas or goodbyes, centred around terror, resignation, fear of death and imminent airstrikes or a yearning for normalcy.
Earlier this month, Alabed and her mother were evacuated from Aleppo. In a Facebook Q&A, Bana said she “will be back to help my people.”
Reshma Qureshi – Acid attack survivor walks the runway
Reshma Qureshi has come a long way. From surviving an acid attack in 2014 that scarred her for life, to walking one of the most prestigious fashion shows in the world.
At the age of 17, Qureshi was walking to an exam in India when her estranged brother-in-law and two assailants attacked her with sulfuric acid, an act of violence intended for her sister. Qureshi lost one of her eyes and was left permanently disfigured.
In September, she walked the runway at New York Fashion Week, opening for designer Archana Kochhar. Qureshi was commended for her strength and bravery.
“I think it’s important that people hear the story about the survivors of acid attacks and to know they can lead normal lives,” she said.
Peggy Whitson – Oldest woman to fly into space
Peggy Whitson, 56, has become the oldest woman to fly into space. The seasoned NASA astronaut arrived at the International Space Station on November 25. She is currently still in space as part of Expedition 50.
Whitson, who has collectively spent more than 376 days in space, is the most experienced female astronaut of all time. By the end of her current mission, she will have spent more time in space than any American astronaut, surpassing Jeff Williams’ record of 534 days.
“All right, yes, I’m old,” Whitson said in a NASA interview. “In terms of goals for NASA before I die, we need to be living on Mars. And I might not live that long, so they better get on with it.”
Moza Al Matroushi – First woman to give birth from ovarian tissue frozen in childhood
Emirati Moza Al Matroushi, 24, made history just this month. She became the first woman in the world to give birth from an ovarian tissue that was frozen before the onset of puberty.
Al Matroushi was diagnosed with beta thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder that took her brother’s life, when she was a child.
She needed a bone marrow transplant. In order to destroy the affected blood cells before the transplant, however, Al Matroushi needed to undergo chemotherapy which almost certainly would have damaged her ovarian function.
9-year-old Al Matroushi’s ovary was frozen, as per her mother’s request.
On December 13, a decade and a half later, Al Matroushi delivered a healthy boy in London.
“I didn’t stop hoping and now I have this baby. It is a perfect feeling,” Matroushi told the BBC.
Zintkala Mahpiya Wi Blackowl – Indigenous woman gives birth while protesting at Sacred Rock
Zintkala Mahpiya Wi Blackowl (a.k.a. Sky Bird) became the first woman to give birth at the Standing Rock resistance camp while protesting in favour of clean water.
She had left her home in Oregon to join activists who were stationed in North Dakota. The self-proclaimed water protectors were resisting the installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which they believed put their water sources at risk of contamination.
Blackowl gave birth to a daughter – her sixth child – without any assistance and named her Mni Wiconi, meaning ‘water is sacred’.
“Having babies is my act of resistance; our reproductive rights as Native women have been taken away from us in so many ways. At one time, we were forcibly sterilised. Assimilation has come down really hard on us,” she said in the media.
Emily Doe – Stanford rape survivor’s powerful statement goes viral
Emily Doe’s willingness to expose her pain to the world amplified the global conversation around consent and sexual assault.
Last year, Doe was raped by Brock Turner at a frat party on the Stanford University campus. Turner was frequently referred to in the media as a promising athlete and received a mere six month sentence.
Doe’s powerful court statement, which read like a letter to her rapist, went viral online.
“I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party…while you are the All American swimmer at a top university…I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt…You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today,” said Doe.
Her words were published in full on BuzzFeed, repeated out loud on CNN, re-distributed by several global publications, and ultimately, heard by millions.
Amna Suleiman – Gaza cyclist breaks boundaries
On the Gaza strip, it’s unusual for adult women to cycle. But Amna Suleiman has begun to change that. As of this year, she runs the only women’s cycling club in Gaza.
Suleiman began riding a bicycle to better her health, but was joined by two female friends one day. On social media, many others expressed a desire to join her, though some feared authorities.
“Gaza women have to abide by a strict social code. If a girl tries to defy cultural restrictions, she becomes an outcast,” Suleiman told the BBC.
“If more women follow me and ride bikes, it will be a phenomenon. Only then, society will stop considering what we do unacceptable.”
Yusra Mardini – Syrian refugee becomes Olympic swimmer
Yusra Mardini, at 18, has gone through more hardship than most experience in their lifetime.
Mardini fled the Syrian Civil War last year with her sister. They arrived at Lebanon followed by Turkey and were to be smuggled into Greece on a boat with 18 others.
But the boat was only built to carry up to six or seven people. When the motor stopped working, Mardini, her sister and two others who could swim jumped into the water and pushed the boat for more than three hours.
She survived and eventually settled in Berlin, Germany. She qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as part of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team (ROT).
“I thought it would be a real shame if I drowned in the sea, because I am a swimmer,” said Mardini at a press conference.
Ibtihaj Mohammad – Fencer becomes first to wear a hijab while competing for America in the Olympics
Ibtihaj Mohammad, a fencer, became the first woman to represent America in the Olympics whilst wearing a headscarf.
Mohammad, whose parents are Muslim converts from New Jersey, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She became the first Muslim-American athlete to win a medal at the Olympics by earning bronze in the Team Sabre.
“This has been a beautiful experience,” Mohammad told CNN. “This is the America that I know and I love. The America that is inclusive, that is accepting and encompasses people from all walks of life.”
Ava DuVernay – Filmmaker creates waves with her documentary 13th about racism in America
Ava DuVernay has been breaking ground as a filmmaker for the past five years. She became the first black woman to win Best Director at Sundance Film Festival (Middle of Nowhere), the first black woman director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award (Selma) and the first black woman director to have a film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
In 2016, her biggest achievement was releasing 13th, an impactful documentary that outlines the legacy of anti-black racism in America. 13th suggests that through the Thirteenth Amendment in the American constitution — “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…” — slavery is still being implemented via mass incarceration.
The film was picked up by Netflix and received wide critical acclaim.
