By Jules Vanselow, Reporter
In a world where someone can become famous for wearing white vans, it is important to recognize the influential women out there who are fighting for extremely important causes — women who receive little attention for their work.
Of course, we all know widely praised activists such as Malala Yousafzai and Emma Watson, but what about those who are less known?
Brittany Packnett
She is the co-founder of Campaign Zero, which helps to prevent police brutality and mass incarceration. Packnett has made massive efforts in many areas of civil rights, even outside of Campaign Zero. Packnett once served as executive director of “Teach For America” in St. Louis, helped coordinate the Ferguson protest and served on the Ferguson Commision.
She also appeared on Time Magazine’s list “12 New Faces of Black Leadership.” Packnett’s efforts toward ending police brutality within the United States continue to make an impact on civil rights activism and demonstrate the kind of passion it takes to make a difference.
Coco Chanel
Taking a step away from present-day activists, think of how gender impacts the way you dress. For a very long time, “gender-bending” in fashion was fairly uncommon, until Coco Chanel started a new trend: women in pants. Although the term “feminist” was considered taboo at the time, her efforts to trample gender stereotypes in fashion are often underappreciated as what they were: activism.
Chanel opened the doors for women to dress in a way that rejected gender roles. She did this by making pants and sports jackets, clothing once reserved for men, accessible and acceptable for women to wear. Without influential women in fashion like Chanel, gender-bending in fashion may have never reached the degree it is at today, and we may never have had icons like Jaden Smith to continue challenging gender restrictions in fashion.
Jazz Jennings
As one of the youngest women to become a highly influential, national transgender figure in the media, Jazz Jennings proves that age is of no importance when trying to make a worldwide impact.
Jennings has supposedly exhibited the fact that she identified as female since she could speak. In 2007, she and her parents founded the “TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation,” an organization that helps young transgender kids. Jennings also owns “Purple Rainbow Tails,” a line of mermaid tails used for swimming. Jennings identifies strongly with mermaids due to the fact that their gender isn’t defined below the belt. The profits from Purple Rainbow Tails help benefit transgender youth as well.
On top of that, she runs a YouTube channel that discusses life as a transgender woman, making her stand out as one of the youngest transgender women to publicly voice her experiences and speak with the transgender community. Her contributions towards helping young transgender kids are endless.
Virgie Tovar
The concept to “Lose hate, not weight” can be accredited to feminist and body image activist Virgie Tovar. Her ideals encourage women to break away from harmful dieting culture by utilizing her four-week online program called “Babecamp.”
The goal of Babecamp is for young women to practice and promote self-love and body positivity rather than thinking about themselves in a negative light. She focuses on the relations of race, body size and gender. Using her master’s degree in human sexuality, Tovar’s activism for body positivity greatly reflects the ever-improving views we have of femininity.