I had a hard time deciding the name for this series when I first got the idea to do this podcast, laying on my bed, as we all do when good ideas strike. I went through a few names, “100 Women Who Changed the World”, or “100 Great Women”, or even “100 Women You Should Know About”. None of these names are wrong, but none of them felt right. It was when I decided to pay homage to the beginnings of my feminist roots that I decided on the name “100 Women Who Rocked the World”.
It is not common to be able to trace back the beginnings of a belief, but in my case it was relatively easy. My beliefs in feminism in part stemmed to my particular brand of arrogance, in that I never believed a boy could do something better than a girl because they were a boy because I am a girl, and because of this little book that is currently tucked in my bookshelf, a little book I painted black because I wanted to be cool. A book called “Girls Who Rocked the World” by Amelie Welden. It is a short book, and offers a short description on many women that you will also see in this podcast, such as Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa. It is the beginning of all of my feminist beliefs, and the tree from which my ideals bloomed from.
It was only fitting that this series would be named “100 Women Who Rocked the World."
Once the name was decided, I had to decide the women I would include in this series. There are so many great women in history, from people born into their greatness to people who grew into their greatness, but I had only a hundred slots to fill with these women. I had to chose the women that would make the most impact.
So I had two rules for choosing the women in this list, two official rules besides my own personal preference. For one, they had to be comparatively less well-known in Hangzhou, China, which is where I reside. I want people to see these women who are generally underrated and understand that women have played an integral part in history, much more than we might expect. Secondly, they had to be influential. This was decided by what they did, and my own personal judgement. I tried to chose women from every continent, form every profession, so that young people everywhere can see this list and understand that women have and never should be confined to any profession, and that the ability to become something greater is never limited to any nationality or race. I have also omitted any mythological women. That, I think, can be its own series.
With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this series, and I hope that this series can do something similar for someone else out there like the book did for me. I will be posting on the 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, and 30th of each month (with the exception of February because that month decided it was going to be special) with a new woman to celebrate.
And now, presenting to all of y’all out there, for the first time ever, the one, the only, 100 Women Who Rocked the World.
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