Osnat Barazani | the world's first female rabbi

Osnat and Her Dove : The True Story of the World's First Female Rabbi, School And Library is written by Sigal Samuel and illustrated by Vali Mintzi. 

book cover (Levine Querido)

Journalist and novelist Sigal Samuel honors her Iraqi Jewish heritage with picture book about Osnat Barazani, the world's first female rabbi who led a sixteenth century Mosul yeshiva for Kurdish Jewry. 

woman of the world | Rani of Jhansi

Seventy-two years ago today, India was freed from British rule.

Queen Laxmibai, the ruler of Jhansi

Most people know that Mohandas Gandhi played a major role in the country’s struggle for independence. But so did Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi in the 19th century.

The queen, or rani, was an unconventional leader. She could read and write — very rare for a woman in that era — and she refused to abide by the norms of purdah, which concealed women behind curtains or veils, when speaking with her advisers and British officials.

Rani of Jhansi riding into battle against the British

She was widowed without a natural-born heir, and the East India Company used that as pretext to annex her kingdom. So she fled to the nearby state of Gwalior, trained an army and led it into battle against the British. She was killed in action in 1858.

In India, she is immortalized in history books, movies, songs and even nursery rhymes.

The fortress at Jhansi in about 1882

fearless Filipinas

Accidentally on purpose, wonder | wander | women are focused lately on remembering and honoring significant women in our lives. 

wonder | wander | world upholds the trend with this commemorative on Philippine precolonial warrior princesses. 

“While women in precolonial Philippines were often designated to the venerable position of the babaylan, it was not an uncommon occurrence for them to pick up arms and become warriors.” – Perry Gil S. Mallari, The Filipina as Ritualist and Warrior