PARIS – In the ring, battling flames or lifting off into space, women have entered professions generally considered to be men’s jobs.
For International Women’s Day on March 8, AFP Photo and AFPTV met some 20 women breaking down the barriers of gender bias in the world of work.
Here are profiles of three women trailblazers around the globe:
Firefighter in Turkey
“In the beginning, my family told me: ‘Stop, you won’t succeed, this is a job for men’,” said Devrim Ozdemir, who did not heed the advice.
In 2008, she became one of the first women to put on a firefighter’s uniform in Turkey.
“Today, everyone supports me, they have confidence in me,” said the 37-year-old.
Assigned to a fire and rescue brigade in the western city of Izmir, she has started a trend. Now there are 51 women firefighters, though they are still a small portion of the 1,200-strong force.
Her enthusiasm, determination and pride in her profession also inspires youngsters, like her 6-year-old son – instead of reading him bedtime stories she tells him about her work.
“I’m a heroine to my son, it’s an incredible feeling,” she said, smiling. “He, too, wants to become a firefighter.”
South African fighter
As the first woman amateur champion in mixed martial arts in South Africa, Shana Power defies the stereotypes about women in a combat sports with her ferocity in the ring. She was nicknamed “Titanium”.
Born in Johannesburg, the 25-year-old was first attracted to MMA by such star fighters as Holly Holm and wanted to do the same in her homeland.
“When I was growing up I was very athletic, I’ve always been sporty. So I understood that the mind was as important as the body, … if you can unlock the mind and build the mind then your body will be an unstoppable force.”
Power says she was supported by the people who trained her in MMA and now trains and inspires others herself.
US astronaut
“I was 10 years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and that was my ‘aha’ moment, as I like to say.
“I looked at Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon and thought that’s what I want to do when I grow up: ‘I’m gonna be an astronaut and I am gonna fly in space’,” said Wendy Lawrence, 58, a former NASA astronaut.
A trained Navy helicopter pilot, she realized her dream of becoming an astronaut with four flights onboard a NASA space shuttle between 1995 and 2005.
To succeed she had to “work harder to be perceived as better. … I was willing to buckle down and be focused for a long period of time cause my mindset was: ‘I’m gonna prove you’re wrong’.”
Lawrence retired in 2006 and says her advice is to avoid preconceived ideas about what women can do.
“So I’d say give women an opportunity to try. You might be surprised at what they bring to the table, what they’re capable of.”
