10 Kick-Ass Moms Who Will Seriously Inspire You

India Education

Balancing career and motherhood is not easy, but that hasn’t stopped some women to take the path less travelled. According to an article in The Atlantic, 43% women give up their career to focus on motherhood. However, there are another 57% who, despite of all odds, continue to balance career and motherhood. If you see around, you can numerous women who are rising in their career without compromising on the upbringing of their children.

Although bringing up a child take a lot of effort, time and sacrifices, but it cannot become an obstacle in a women’s career. While the world will celebrate Mother’s Day in 2 days from now, let’s have a look at some of the super moms who are managing their kids and their career like a boss!

1. Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen is an Indian Film actress, model and the first Indian women to win the Miss Universe 1994 pageant. She has a successful career as a model and acted in some successful films as well. She is a single mother to two little girls. She adopted her first child, “Renee” in 2000 when she was only 18 years old and at the peak of her career. Sen, adopted her second child “Alisah” in 2010. She is the recipient of many prestigious awards and titles like Zee Cine award, Rajiv Gandhi award, Filmfare award, GeoSpa AsiaSpa India Awards and Star Screen award.

2. Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates is an American philanthropist; she co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation along with her husband, Bill Gates (CEO, Microsoft). Melinda and Bill Gates have three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (born 1996), Phoebe Adele Gates (born 2002), and son Rory John Gates (born 1999). In 2002, Melinda received many awards and accolades for her philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education along with her husband. She was also ranked #3 in Forbes 2013, 2014 and 2017 lists of the 100 Most Powerful Women.

3. Gauri Sawant

Gauri Sawant is an Indian transgender activist and a mother to an adopted child named “Gayatri”. Gauri was born as Ganesh but decided to change her sex into the “third gender” to match her identity. She works for the Humsafar trusts which is the oldest LGBT organization in India. She played an important role in filing the petition seeking basic rights to the third gender community. Apart from working for LGBT community, she actively works on spreading STD awareness to sex workers and also takes part in animal welfare.

4. J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is the pen name of Joanne Rowling, who is a is a British novelist, philanthropist, film producer, television producer and screenwriter who is best known for writing the Harry Potter series. The books have won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history. She is a single mother to her daughter Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes who was born on 27 July 1993. She also has a son from her 2^nd marriage, David Gordon Rowling Murray, born on 24 March 2003. She has received many awards for her literary works like the National Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year award, British Book of the year award and British Academy Film award.

5. Mary Kom

Mary Kom is an Indian Olympic boxer. She is a five time champion of World Amateur Boxing, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. She became the first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal in the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. and is the first Indian Woman Boxer to win Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. After her marriage, Kom took a short break from boxing and gave birth to 3 sons, Khupneivar Kom, Rechungver Kom and Chungthanglen Kom. She started training soon after and won 4 successive gold medals at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam and a gold medal at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan in 2010.

6. Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham is a model, singer, actress and businesswomen. Beckham first rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls. She is married to the famous footballer David Beckham and together they have 4 kids, sons Brooklyn Joseph Beckham (born 4 March 1999), Romeo James Beckham (born 1 September 2002), Cruz David Beckham (born 20 February 2005) and daughter Harper Seven Beckham (born 10 July 2011). Apart from owning her own fashion labels, Victoria also launched her own cosmetics line V-Sculpt in September 2007.

7. Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bediis a retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist, former tennis player and politician. She is the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS). She introduced several reforms at Tihar Jail for which she won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994. In 2003, Bedi became the first Indian woman to be appointed as a Police Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations, in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations. Kiran has a daughter named Sukriti, born in 1975. Kiran Bedi has written many books and won awards for her service like the United Nations medal and Pride of India award.

8. Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American lawyer and writer. She was the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and is the first African American First Lady. Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001). Some initiatives of First Lady Michelle Obama included advocating on behalf of military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, and promoting education for the girl child. She has also authored 2 books: American Grown: New York and Becoming: New York.

9. Laxmi Agarwal

Laxmi Agarwal is an acid attack survivor who campaigns with Stop Acid Attacks and hosts TV shows. She was attacked in 2005 at age 15, by a 32-year-old man. Her petition led the Supreme Court to order the central and state governments to regulate the sale of acid. She is married to social activist Alok Dixit and has a daughter, Pihu. Laxmi has received multiple awards in India for her rehabilitation work for the survivors of acid attacks through her foundation.

10. Nita Ambani

Nita Ambani is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation. She is married to Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani and has 3 children with him- twins Akash and Isha Ambani, and Anant Ambani the youngest. Nita Ambani is an art collector and owner of the Mumbai Indians cricket team. Nita is also the founder and chairperson of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai. She has received numerous honors, including a place in the 2016 edition of both the most influential women business leaders in Asia list by Forbes and the Best Corporate Supporter of Indian Sports award, given by the Times of India.

Next time, if you ever see any women giving up on their career for their child, let them know about the achievements of these women and encourage them to focus on their career and assure them that it is possible to balance motherhood and career if one wishes to.

About Shreoshe Ghosh

Shreoshe has been into content writing for more than a year now. An animal lover since childhood, you can find her watching movies or playing with her pet cat, when she’s not writing. She is also enthusiastic about cooking and enjoys trying her hand at new recipes often. She wishes to travel around the world someday and work for animal welfare.