International Women’s Day is on 8th March – and whilst gender equality has made great strides in the past few decades – we still have far to go. As the world gathers to celebrate the global, social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women – it is also time for us to collectively examine the important role that women play in our lives. In a society rife with inequality, we must rely on and support our sisters, mothers, and friends. In light of International Women’s Day, the nation’s top biography-writing service, StoryTerrace, highlights inspiring accounts of women who have broken barriers and fought against all odds to get to where they are today.
Historically, women in literature have been underrepresented – yet, we have entered the era of the Strong Female Protagonist. But, outside of our television screens and bestsellers, what about the inspirational women that we come across everyday? Proprietary research from the memoir-writing firm unveiled that over 2 MILLION women plan to write their own book in the upcoming year, and 39% feel that by the age of 40 they will have experienced enough to write their life story so far. StoryTerrace, the UK’s award-winning biography writing service, has had the privilege of documenting and sharing the life stories of the nation’s everyday female protagonists. Below are just a few of their incredible case studies who have shared their experience:
Meet Anne Wafula-Strike, a Kenyan-born Paralympian and Disability Rights Campaigner
Anna contracted polio at age two in her village in Kenya and was subsequently ostracised from her community – with the fervent support of her father she made her way to the UK and started an Olympic career, where she became the first wheelchair racer from Sub-Saharan Africa to compete at the Paralympics in Athens. After becoming a British citizen in 2006, she joined Team GB and became officially recognised by the Queen, earning an MBE for her work as a disabled athlete and for her involvement in charity work for people with disabilities.
Meet Desiree Home, an inspirational woman from Surrey who documented her remarkable life story through life’s twists and turns:
Desiree was once a privileged woman living an idyllic life until she received a diagnosis of bowel cancer for which she needed emergency surgery. Following this traumatic period, her husband was let go from his job forcing them out of their comfortable home into a mobile van. During this time Desiree suffered from PTSD leading to several suicide attempts which placed her in psychiatric care for two years. To make matters worse, their teenage daughter was not allowed to live with them leaving her to fend for herself on the streets, alone.
It wasn’t until one day that Desiree’s life finally turned a corner: “My husband started buying scratch cards daily during this time, and one day, on his way to work, he rang me to tell me that we had won the lottery. I didn’t believe him at first. It was only when he called the Euro Millions that they confirmed that we had a million pounds.”
Desiree approached StoryTerrace deciding to write her life story to share that even in the moments of doom there is always hope if there is persistence. She said: “I’ve always wanted to write a biography because as the years go on stories get passed down just through word of mouth and I want my children to have our family’s story written so they could learn how we got to where we are – especially after the financial ruin and sickness and losing the house.”
“I hope my story shows others that there’s always hope – every problem has a solution, and things don’t have to be desperate and dire. Things can be worked out and luck might just be around the corner waiting for you.”
Rutger Bruining, CEO of leading biographer StoryTerrace, comments on the evolution of women represented in literature:
“International Women’s Day marks a pivotal time to celebrate the sheer number of women’s stories we have helped document at StoryTerrace. We thought this marked a necessary time to specifically acknowledge the stories of the inspiring women we have come across over the past year. From NHS workers to successful businesswomen – the list of female achievements we have encountered since beginning the business has been extensive. It remains important to acknowledge these female biographical accounts as the literary world has been historically dominated by men.
We also found that there is an increasing number of people who want to write their own book this year, with over 2 million women now in the process of doing so. Although world-famous novelists such as Virginia Woolf and Beatrix Potter are great literary role models who help to inspire women to get into reading and writing, there is certainly more to be done, such as by highlighting our everyday inspiring women. It is therefore great to see so many women with powerful stories bring their experiences to life with us at StoryTerrace and take their narratives into their own hands.”
