Category: Great Women
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How did Raziya Sultan become a powerful ruler?
As a young girl, Raziya studied the science of war. Impressed by her ability, her father IItumish, the Sultan of Delhi made her his heir. However, after the death of IItumish, the nobles enthroned his irresponsible son Ruknuddin. Raziya overthrew Ruknuddin with the help of the nobles, and became Sultan of Delhi. The governors of…
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Why was Benazir Bhutto regarded as a woman of courage and conviction?
Benazir Bhutto was a prime minister’s daughter. Following the 1977 elections, her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was arrested and hanged. Benazir, though under house arrest, found herself the head of the Pakistan People’s Party. In 1984, she was allowed to travel to England. Two years later, martial law was lifted in Pakistan, and Benazir returned…
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Why is Sheikh Hasina regarded as a great political leader in Bangladesh?
On August 15th, 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the founder of independent Bangladesh, and his family were assassinated by military officers. Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Mujibur Rehman escaped, as she was in West Germany at the time. Sheikh Hasina was elected leader of the Awami League in 1981, while in exile. She was elected as…
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Why is Chandrika Kumaratunga considered as a great leader in Sri Lanka?
Both the parents of Chandrika Kumaratunga served as prime ministers of Sri Lanka – her father Solomon Bandaranaike and her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Her husband, Vijaya Kumaratunga, with whom she had co-founded the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, was assassinated. In August 1994, she became the Prime Minister. She took the presidency as well three months…
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Why is Megawati Sukarnoputri regarded as a powerhouse of Indonesian politics?
Megawati means ‘Goddess of the cloud’. Her father Sukarno led Indonesia to independence, and was its first president. When Megawati was nineteen, Sukarno was overthrown by Suharto. Megawati joined the Indonesian Democratic Party at the age of forty. In the first free parliamentary elections held after Suharto’s resignation,…
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The First Woman Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first woman Prime Minister in the world, when she was chosen to head the government of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1960, following the assassination of her husband. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was born in 1916, to an aristocratic family. Married to Solomon Bandaranaike in 1940 when…
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Why is Aung San Suu Kyi regarded as a great figure in the fight for democracy?
Aung San Suu Kyi was the daughter of Aung San, the father of modern day Burma. She was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non violence. In 1988, she addressed a rally of half a million people in front of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, and called for a democratic government. Aung San Suu…
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What was the epoch-making achievement of Valentina Tereshkova?
At 12.30 pm on the 16th of June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova was launched into space. She became the first woman to conquer space. She piloted the space craft Vostok VI, and orbited the Earth forty eight times. Valentina Tereshkova was born in the Volga River village of Masslennikovo. In…
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Why does Jane Goodall hold the pride of place in the study of chimpanzees?
Jane Goodall shattered the long standing belief that only man used tools. She saw a chimpanzee, sticking a blade of grass into a termite mound, and eating the termites clinging to the blade of grass. Goodall also discovered that, chimpanzees ate other animals occasionally, and that they were more intelligent and less…
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How did Sylvia Plath astonish the literary word?
Sylvia Plath was born in Boston. Her father, Otto Plath was a professor of biology, who specialized in bees. Sylvia Plath was a brilliant student. She studied at the Smith College from 1950 to 1955. Later, she described this phase of her life in ‘The Bell Jar’, an autobiographical novel which is now considered a…