I was so excited to get this book, mostly for me but also for the kids. It was a gift to myself, a treat, for International Women's Day. Written by Kate Pankhurst, a descendant from the mighty Emmeline Pankhurst who fought for women's vote, I couldn't wait!
So when I got home, there it was gloriously waiting for me. Well, when I say gloriously waiting, what I really mean is, the book is being angrily pulled and pushed between the beings I gave birth to. Once, I settled the fight about who's book it actually is, they calmed down, I allowed to have the first read. So Laksha eagerly started the book with her brother listening to her. Laksha was amazed at all the facts and colours! She kept saying "Mummy did you know...?" There were women on there, I never knew existed and so broadening my mind. It was great to see women from different background being portrayed from Aztec to Jamaican.. Laksha was delighted to see her most favourite hero Mary Seacold being in this book as well as Rosa Parks and Anne Frank. Mahi kept banging on about the "dinosaur lady" and was explaining to his dad that some dinosaurs were also discovered by women and not all men!
Lucky and Mahi took the book to bed as they couldn't put to down and eventually fell aslee, book unfinished. Lucky finished the next day and she looks somewhat disappointed. I asked her why when she looked so happy and big-eyed as she read women and after women. Lucky asked me a question that not only surprised me but made me sad. "Why are they no amazing women from India or Sri Lanka?" I think why she actually meant is that why were they no Asian women in that book. I thought she must have had missed a page? Surely something might have been there - at the least something about the inspiring Sophia Dupree Singh who also fought for women's right to vote along with Emmeline Pankhurst. But no, there were no Asian women in the book.
However, out of this revelation came another beautiful thing from my angel. Since there were no amazing Sri Lankan/Indian women worth enough to be in a book, Lucky declared that she also wanted to change the world. As I had a few tips we shared, we sat down in a cafe and discussed what she really wanted to change and how we can start making plans for it now little by little. Lucky wanted to change people ans then thought better of it and wanted to help with animal conservation which bodes well sonce she wants to become a zoologist and has always bugged to to donate to WWF. So our first step, was obviously to adopt an animal of Lucky's choice. And then the next step was to research more about animal conservation and preventing animals from being extinct. So yes, Lucky has a long journey ahead but at least she started at 7 so hopefully will see a huge change in about 50years if we are lucky?
Thank you Kate for writing this book about some amazing woman. Thank you for showing my son that not all discoveries are by men and there's always a woman involved in making those discoveries. Thank you Kate for bringing to us women that we never knew about from different countries. But the greatest thank you to you Kate is for not including an Asian woman in your book because you have have initiated the growth of another amazing Asian girl who will turn into one of the most fantastically great woman.
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