Strong Women Strong Europe
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A new generation of European women is here and they are talented, resilient and determined to stand up for what they believe in.
To celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March, here are 8 inspiring stories from 8 women who have the courage of their convictions.
Although their achievements are different, each in their own way they contribute to making European society fairer and more inclusive.
International Women's Day is also a good opportunity to look back at our collective journey throughout the decades, mapping advances in the struggle for women's rights and equality.
Take the journey and get inspired
Stefanie Veraghtert
Patient advocate and entrepreneur
Stefanie is a social entrepreneur and patient advocate. She defines herself as an 'impact entrepreneur' — someone who strives to build a business that makes a difference in the world.
Diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer at the age of 26, she learned early on what it means to be strong in the face of adversity.
After her treatment and healing, she decided to make a big career shift and inspire others with her story.
Stefanie started her own social enterprise, The Big C, that focuses on leadership, empowerment and health awareness. She now works with cancer leagues, patient support groups, hospitals and the medical industry in her native Belgium and at international level.
Stefanie supports patient-driven innovation and human-centred design thinking in her work as motivational speaker, storyteller and promoter of innovative healthcare projects.
Dina Levacic
Open swimming champion
Dina is unstoppable in the water. She has already swum in four of the seven international open swimming marathons, the ‘Oceans Seven’.
She swum the Catalina Channel, the English Channel (La Manche), the Moloka’i Channel and the Tsugaru Straight. The last one, located between the Japanese regions of Honshu and Hokkaido, is 19.5 km long and Dina completed it in 7 hours and 13 minutes, pushing against high waves and a strong wind.
Dina holds a masters degree in educational therapy and has been swimming the humanitarian swimming marathon on the day of Saint Domnius (7 May) in Split, Croatia, for the last 5 years in a row.
Dina sees the challenge of open swimming marathons as a way to conquer her fears. She has received several awards and recognition in her native Croatia, as well as abroad.
Her feats in 2020 are set to include swimming across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Irish Channel.
1900
Women participate in the Olympic Games for the first time
1906
Women in the Grand Duchy of Finland receive the right to vote — a first in Europe
1911
International Women's Day is celebrated for the first time
1924
Alfonsina Strada is the first woman to ride in the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's major international stage races
1932
Amelia Earhart flies solo, nonstop across the Atlantic
Lisa Sauermann
Mathematician
Lisa Sauermann is an accomplished mathematician from Germany, ranked third in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) Hall of Fame. Over the years, Lisa won a total of four gold medals and one silver at the IMO. In 2011, she took gold with the perfect score of 42!
In 2019, Lisa received a PhD in mathematics from Stanford University (USA), where she is currently assistant professor in the Math Department. She's also the proud mum of a young daughter.
Lisa's achievements in the field have inspired conversations in the European media about gender and mathematics.
Alessia Cerantola
Journalist
Alessia is an investigative journalist at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCPR).
In her impressive career, she has covered environmental issues, sex crimes, corruption and cybercrime for a long list of acclaimed international media outlets.
Her work has earned her several journalism awards and nominations, including the Press Freedom Award in 2012, from Reporters Without Borders Austria. She is a co-founder of the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI) — a consortium of investigative journalists.
In 2016, she was part of the group of journalists who collaborated on the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation on the Panama Papers.
1945
Gender equality is enshrined in the UN Charter
1949
Publication in France of Le Deuxième Sexe by feminist author Simone de Beauvoir
1953
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit becomes the first female president of the UN General Assembly
1957
The principle of equal pay is enshrined in the Treaty of Rome
Awak Kuier
Basketball player
Awak Kuier is a young basketball player whose agility, dedication and pure talent are praised by broadcasters, an army of fans and talent scouts from the NBA.
The Finnish sportswoman was born in Egypt — after her family fled the gruesome civil war in South Sudan — and came to Finland as a refugee when she was a toddler.
Awak picked up basketball at age ten. At fifteen, she was already stunning audiences around the globe with her dunking skills, as videos from her games went viral. From there it was a quick shot to fame: she joined the Finnish national team only a year later, as a sixteen-year-old.
In 2019, she helped the team to win the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship.
Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka
Anthropologist and activist
Anna is a Roma activist and doctor of anthropology. Raised in Poland, she obtained her PhD in social and cultural anthropology in Barcelona and has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Central European University in Budapest since 2017.
Anna is a member and founder of several Roma organisations. She has also authored numerous reports, policy evaluations and articles, and co-edited a book on the role of education in remembrance of the Roma genocide.
She is currently the Deputy Director of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.
1963
Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman to go into space
1976
Gabrielle Defrenne wins her pay discrimination case against the Belgian national airline Sabena at the European Court of Justice
1979
Simone Veil is elected first female president of the European Parliament
1992
Pregnant workers directive establishes 14 weeks as the minimum standard for maternity leave in Europe
1995
UN establishes the Beijing Platform for Action — the global agenda for gender equality and women's empowerment
Karoli Hindriks
Entrepreneur
Karoli started her entrepreneurial career in her teens and never stopped innovating since.
When she was only 16, she patented a fashionable reflective accessory for pedestrians, to help them stay safe during the dark winter months. She became the youngest inventor with a registered patent in Estonia, which encouraged her to keep pushing for more.
At age 23, Karoli was the CEO of a TV channel in Estonia, making her the youngest ever in the company. Several years later, she founded Jobbatical, a platform that helps companies relocate their new international employees.
Besides being the CEO of Jobbatical, she is also a mother, a big advocate for inclusiveness and an enthusiastic promoter of a borderless world.
Johanna Nejedlová
Activist
Johanna is the co-founder of Konsent, a Czech non-profit organisation that fights conservative attitudes towards sexual relations and gender-based violence.
Konsent is a versatile organisation: it aims to achieve progress on many different aspects of preventing sexual violence, from crowdfunding for primary prevention, to educating children about consent and myths regarding this topic.
Johanna and her colleagues help victims of sexual violence by providing support and facilitating their recovery.
Johanna keeps the conversation alive by publishing articles in the Czech media and giving speeches and presentations all around the country.
2006
Creation of the European Institute for Gender Equality
2009
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir becomes prime minister of Iceland — the world's first openly LGBTI head of government
2010
Creation of UN Women, the United Nations agency dedicated to gender equality and women's empowerment
2019
The EU adopts work-life balance directive making it easier for parents and carers to take leave
2020
What's next?
Last updated 6 March 2020
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