---
title: Student Survey Shows Rosa Parks Is Most Inspirational Woman Ever
date: 2019-03-06 14:38
authors: Tom S-R, Ben S-R
image-caption: Rosa Parks - who topped the poll
copyright: BBC
description: Tomorrow is International Women’s Day (7th March 2019) and we went around our school finding out who people in the school environment thought was the most inspirational woman ever. 90 students and staff took part in the survey which crowned Rosa Parks as the winner.
---

**Tomorrow is International Women’s Day (7th March 2019) and we went around our school finding out who people in the school environment thought was the most inspirational woman ever. 90 students and staff took part in the survey which crowned Rosa Parks as the winner.**

Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist in the mid-20th century, who became famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in December 1955. When Ben P, who voted for Rosa Parks, was asked why he voted this way, he said “She devoted her life to freeing people and giving rights to the people who need them most, which is quite a sacrifice.”

Margret Thatcher came in second, just two votes behind Rosa Parks. Margaret Thatcher is famous for becoming the first UK female Prime Minister. Oliver, in year 8, voted for Mrs Thatcher and did so because: “She came in with an idea, and she knew what she was doing and then she delivered on it.”

Coming in at third was Mother Teresa. Joel V, who voted for Mother Teresa, said “I feel she was an empowered woman and headstrong. As well as this I feel she was constantly looking out for the people.”

Marie Curie, a scientist who conducted pioneering research about radioactivity and is the only women to win the Nobel Prize twice, got nine votes coming in fourth. Riley said “I like science a lot and in my opinion, Marie Curie is the most inspirational female scientist.”

The response from teachers was extremely diverse; each of the thirteen teachers that we asked gave us different responses. These ranged from Emmeline Pankhurst who was nominated by Mrs Geraghty-Green for “giving women a voice through the vote”, to Virgina Woolf a suitably literary nomination from English teacher Mrs Garcia and Ada Lovelace as nominated by Mr Ling-Winston as the first female computer programmer and talented mathematician. Mr Steadman in the PE Department nominated his Great Aunt Jane because she holds the record for the woman who lived the longest with Polio.

What is clear from our poll is that there are is really diverse range of women who have inspired this generation. With the English Women’s football team winning the ‘SheBelives’ cup against Japan in the USA last night, that there are many more women inspiring others every day.

{% include image.html caption="The results from our student survey" copyright="Reading School" %}
