International Women's Day!

My home is full of boxes, but I wanted to write a quick post to mark International Women's Day to share one of my favourite historical women:

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni.  When her husband died, the Romans refused to accept her husband naming her as his co-heir and confiscated the Iceni's lands, took many as slaves and, so the story goes, raped Boudicca's daughters and flogged the Iceni Queen.  Unfortunately, women still end up being treated this way in conflicts even now, almost 2000 years later. 

Boudicca refused to stand for that treatment, however, and led her people, along with many other tribes, in an uprising that swept through Roman cities, including Londinium.  Although it was ultimately a doomed revolution, I've always felt inspired by the attempt, by her refusal to accept the life the Romans dictated she should have as a woman, and a 'native' woman at that. 

So that's why Boudicca's one of my favourite women of history.  Who's yours?