Courageous Neda Agha Soltan paid the ultimate price and has become a symbol of resistance not only for Iranians, but for freedom loving people around the globe.  She follows in a long line of brave women who dared to stand up to dictators, or pushed the envelope to expand civil rights.  Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi continues to fight to empower the powerless poor in Iran.  She's up against a theocracy with a stone age mentality, (pardon the pun) that treats a woman like one half of a human being.

Joan of Arc valiantly battled the British to protect France, and unfortunately was burned at the stake by French leaders who envied her successes.  She was way ahead of her time in the sphere of equal rights for men and women.  Susan B. Anthony fought for a women's right to vote in America, and female enfranchisement was finally passed into law in 1920.  In the South, Rosa Parks fought unjust segregation laws, and was a brave civil rights leader before Martin Luther King burst upon the scene. 

Certainly, both men and women have fought for basic human rights around the world, but it's far more difficult for women to press for freedom if they exist in a less developed authoritarian regime, instead of a democracy.  Indeed, most autocratic states are custom built for men, so women who are treated like chattel, often have to run uphill to earn equal rights in the areas of education, marriage, property, and the workplace. 

For years, "The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" would meet and demand information and justice from the Argentine government.  Thousands of human rights activists disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War" (1976-1983), and these persistent women demanded answers and some closure.  Some still seek justice.regarding their missing family members.

Perhaps the best known female freedom fighter in modern times has spent more than half of her political life under house arrest.  Nobel Peace Prize (1991) winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (formerly Burma) won the election of 1990 for the post of Prime Minister.  She never served one day as PM because the Burmese junta refused to relinquish power, and the military is now firmly entrenched. 

Kyi continues to peacefully organize (like Gandhi) whenever possible, and often speaks out for liberty, while protesting the brutal tyranny of Gen. Than Schwe's iron fisted rule.  The people are inspired by her courage, but from the perspective of the generals, she has galvanized global support for her cause and brought unwelcome scrutiny onto the regime. 

Several women in modern times have mustered the resolve to confront militant Islamism, and firmly speak up for universal God-given liberty.  Women such as Aayan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel, Irshad Manji, Wafa Sultan, and others have taken up a challenging mission for the sake of humanity, and a better future. 

God bless all of the honorable women who labor in, or out of the spotlight, and all the trailblazers who paved the way.  Not only do they fight for women's natural rights, but directly or indirectly, they struggle for the inherent rights of all people who yearn for justice and liberty.