Doreen Lawrence topped the list
Launched in 1946, BBC Radio Woman’s Hour has unveiled the Woman’s Hour Power List 2014, identifying the top ten women who have changed the way power operates in diverse areas such as health, education, and women issues.
First introduced last year, the Woman’s Hour Power List ranked the top 100 powerful women in the UK. However, it was criticized for reflecting the establishment, with Queen Elizabeth II and Home Secretary Theresa May at the top of the list.
Bearing such criticism in mind, the Power List has been born again with a new subtitle ‘Game Changers.’ Based on recommendations from listeners and SNS, the list has been narrowed to 10 women who have altered the way power operates in the country.
Doreen Lawrence, an anti-racism campaigner and a Labour peer, was ranked first. Since her son, Stephen, was killed in a racist attack in 1993, she has called for a reinvestigation of the case. After 18 years of campaigning, a judicial inquiry was formed to review the incident. In 2011, it eventually convicted two men of the racist murder of Stephen. Recognized for her effort to build justice and eliminate racism, Doreen was made a baroness and given a seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords.
Julie Bailey, a campaigner and founder of ‘Cure the NHS (National Health Service),’ was ranked second. She founded the group after her mother died in 2007 due to the failings at Stafford Hospital run by the NHS trust. On behalf of other families of patients who had died at the hospital, the group campaigned for a public inquiry and published the Francis report in 2013 to expose the neglect and appalling conditions at the hospital.
Professor Nazneen Rahman of the Institute of Cancer Research was listed on the third place for discovering genes that cause ovarian cancer. Based on the discovery, she designed new gene tests and screening options for the prevention and early detection of the cancer.
Carmel McConnell, the founder of Magic Breakfast, was named the fourth most influential figure. Since 2004, the charity has provided breakfast to 6 million underprivileged children at 200 schools.
Julie Bentley, the Chief Executive of Girlguiding which is equivalent to Girl Scouts, was ranked fifth, followed by Leyla Hussein and Nimco Ali who are co-founders of Daughters of Eve, an organization which ams to protect girls from female genital mutilation.
The remaining four are the following: Dido Harding, the Chief Executive of the TalkTalk Group which is one of the country’s largest internet providers, who called on the government to regulate internet pornography and suicide sites; Francesca Martinez, a comedian, actress, and disability rights advocate who has cerebral palsy; Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project which is a website that reports everyday examples of sexism; Caitlin Moran, a columnist whose book “How to be a Woman” became a best-seller.
