Beautiful Inspiring Celebrity Mums who fly the flag for Gender Equality
by Martina Minarik
There are so many incredible, inspiring mums out there who support and inspired the rest of us. Ahead of this year’s Women's Equality Day which is about making the world more gender-balanced, we want to call out a few celebrity mums who inspire us simply by attempting to empower young girls and raising their children in a more gender neutrol household.
Inspiring celebrity mum #1 : P!nk. Singer songwriter.
For raising her children in a gender neutral “label-free” household and for teaching them self-love and tolerance. For leading by example by staying true to herself and standing up for herself in a male-dominated music industry. When her daughter Willow told her that she was going to grow up and marry a woman from Africa. P!nk replied: "Great, can you teach me how to make African food?".
Read also this passionate speech about self-image and beauty ideals which P!nk gave at the VMAS in 2017, in response to her daughter Willow calling herself “ugly”. The speech ends with this powerful message: [OK! So, baby girl.] “We don't change. We take the gravel and the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so they can see more kinds of beauty.” Read the full transcript of the speech here.
Inspiring celebrity mum #2 : Michelle Obama.
Former First Lady. For seizing every opportunity presented to her as the First Lady and former First Lady to empower women and stand up for young girls all around the world, through education, in order to help them achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities, and countries.
Speaking to Today hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie about her The Global Girls Alliance initiative, she said: "Think about our daughters, with all their promise, with all that they have in them. You know even now at this young age that there is something burning in them that is dying to get out. Well, that is true for millions of girls around the country and they are battling through misperceptions, violence, stigma to get their way into a classroom. And many of them don’t have access to a classroom, so we want to play a role in building an alliance of young people who are out there doing the work on the ground. And we want to give them an opportunity to network with one another because working on these issues out in the world can be lonely."
Inspiring celebrity mum #3 : Cassandra Rhodin. Founder of Mini Rodini.
For being brave and daring and creating something unique, super-cool, quirky and unisex, with focus on sustainable manufacturing. Cassandra launched Mini Rodini in 2006 and today it is Scandinavia’s fastest growing children’s brand.
The bright, playful patterns are inspired by everything from nature and wildlife to space, pop culture and children’s imagination. “[In the end,] My commitment to sustainability, dislike for grownups stereotyping kids, beliefs in fair working conditions have been woven into the DNA of the brand.” More about Mini Rodini here.
Inspiring celebrity mum #4 : Adele. Singer songwriter.
For refusing to change and encouraging others to stay true to themselves too and expressing who they are. For letting her son Angelo visit Disneyland dressed in a Frozen Princess Anna costume .
Attending the 2018 Women's March in Los Angeles, she posted on Instagram: “The most influential people in my life have always been women. My family, my friends, my teachers, my colleagues, and my idols. I am obsessed with all the women in my life. I adore them and need them more and more every day. I am so grateful to be a woman, I wouldn't change it for the world. I hope I'm not only defined by my gender though. I hope I'm defined by my input to the world, my ability to love and to have empathy. To raise my son to be a a good man alongside the good man who loves me for everything I am and am not. I want what's best for people, I think we all do. We just can't agree on what that is."
Inspiring celebrity mum #5 : Sophie Walker.
Founding leader of the Women's Equality party (WEP) in the UK. For showing great courage taking on the party leadership as a political amateur in order to fight for gender equality. For overseeing the promotion of a manifesto with six core objectives: equal representation in politics and business; equal representation in education; equal pay; equal treatment of women in the media; equal parenting rights; and an end to violence against women.
Sophie stepped down as leader of the WEP in January 2019, citing: “Stepping aside now is part of the same aim to reach and raise up more women, to encourage new approaches and to build our movement for equality with a leader, or groups of leaders, who are not white middle-class non-disabled women. [...] “I think that sometimes in order to lead, you have to get out of the way. [...] I offer my hand and my help to women who may never have considered that they could change the world.” Read the full statement of resignation here
Martina is the founder of NINE+QUARTER, a brand new range of maternity and nursing clothes.