Women Of The Week: Malaysian Actress Michelle Yeoh, Hondura’s President Xiomara Castro And Belarusian Opposition Leader
This week, women are making history. From Michelle Yeoh’s historic Oscars win to Honduras’ first woman president lifting a longtime ban on the morning-after pill, here Continue Reading [https://www.almostmag.co/inspiring-women-michelle-yeoh-honduras-contraception-belarus-sviatlana-tsikhanouskaya/]
This week, women are making history.
From Michelle Yeoh’s historic Oscars win to Honduras’ first woman president lifting a longtime ban on the morning-after pill, here are some of the incredible women to be inspired by this week.
1. Malaysian Actress Michelle Yeoh
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh has made history as the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress award in the Oscars’ 95 year history.
The 60-year-old took home the award for her portrayal of Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American mother in “Everything Everywhere All At Once” at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday March 13 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams do come true,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech.
“And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you are past your prime,” she said.
She also paid tribute to her mom, as well as all mothers.
“I have to dedicate this to my mom, all the moms in the world, because they are really the superheroes and without them, none of us would be here tonight,” she said.
2. Women In Honduras
Honduras’ woman president, Xiomara Castro, has lifted a longtime ban on the morning-after pill.
She signed an executive order on Wednesday March 8, International Women’s Day, to overturn the ban that was instituted in 2009.
Honduras, which is largely Catholic, had been the only country in the world that banned all emergency contraception pills.
After signing the order, Castro tweeted that according to the World Health Organization, emergency contraceptive pill was “part of women’s reproductive rights and not abortive”.
3. Belarusian Main Opposition Leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ exiled main opposition leader, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia for treason and conspiracy to seize power.
The 40-year-old ran against authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 and is believed to have won.
However, she was forced to flee after Lukashenko was declared the winner by a large margin.
“Today I don’t think about my own sentence. I think about thousands of innocents, detained and sentenced to real prison terms. I won’t stop until each of them is released,” she said on social media.
