From Real to Ideal, from Gritty to Goddess, “365 Days of Gutsy Women” is an entertaining, enlightening read that will leave you with more respect and admiration of the “Fairer Sex” than ever before. When I first got the book, I thought it would be like one of those inspirational calendars that has a quote/devotional for each day kind of thing, and I was ready to read about one woman a day. But once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop at just one!
Rosemary Roenfanz has put together quite the collection of women. I was intrigued by the things I learned about both the women I already knew and those new to me. She has divided the book into categories, with different types of women for different days of the week. For example, Mondays are dedicated to Activists and Rebels, Thursdays are Authors and Poets, and Sundays are reserved for Goddesses, and so on. Even if a reader were curious about only one of the categories of women, there is still a rich and engaging tapestry of facts to be gleaned about them.
There are well-known names, of course; famous women that many of us learned about in school, like Cleopatra VII, Marie Curie or Harriet Tubman. But there are also more obscure women, like Sister Nivedita, who “worked tirelessly for education reform” in India and opened a girls’ school in Calcutta, teaching and assisting women during the bubonic plague in 1899. There is also Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, who “was known as the “Grandmother of American Indian Nurses.” She constantly sought to improve the health and lives of those Indians still living on reservations and was even awarded the “President’s Award for Outstanding Nursing” by J.F.K. in 1962.
There are so many more examples, all of them interesting, and some of them astonishing in their depth and scope of accomplishments or life stories. The examples in this book show how brave, intelligent, creative and determined all of these extraordinary women could be. I appreciated that Ms. Roenfanz was careful to cover an array of races, ages and philosophical and spiritual bents in the women she has gathered. This gem of a book would make an outstanding, inspirational gift for any young woman unsure of herself or her place in society and history. I cannot possibly do it the justice it deserves or recommend it highly enough – you’ll just have to read it for yourself and see! 😊
©2022 C.L.R.
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The BeZine 
C.L.R., you yourself are one gutsy woman. I salute you. I may well be a gutsy-ish man, but I’m sure you’re right this book sounds like a worthy read for anyone, even if especially any woman, who needs some reassurance and affirmation of the purpose in life.
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