International Women's Day, 8th March - Part 4

10) Mother Teresa (August 1910 - September 1997)

She was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950.

For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poorand helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work.

Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.

Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar said: "She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world."

11) Anson Chan (January 1940 - )

In December 2005, Chan participated in the protest march for democracy, against Donald Tsang's constitutional reform package and has since participated in subsequent marches for universal suffrage.

On September 11, 2007, Chan announced that she would run in the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat in the Legislative Council made vacant by the death of Ma Lik.

During the campaign, she was criticized by Alex Tsui, a former ICAC official who accused Chan of obtaining a 100% mortgage to purchase a flat in 1993 when she was chief secretary, suggesting an abuse of power. A City University commentator said the issue marked the start of a smear campaign against Chan, although Chan did not engage in smear-free politics either, accusing her rival Regina Ip of being a "fake democrat".

In the early hours of December 2, 2007, Chan was elected in the by-election with 175,874 votes, securing about 55% of the vote. Regina Ip, Chan's main rival, had 137,550 votes.

12) Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (March 1965 - )

How can I miss out this lady??? When she is the Chairman of the Workers' Party :)

She studied Law at the National University of Singapore after completing her pre-university education at National Junior College, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree. She obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of London in 1989, and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1991.

During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, she did volunteer work with the Spastic Children's Association, Salvation Army Home for the Aged and the University College Hospital (London). She thereafter did editorial work on a voluntary basis for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of the Law Society.

In 1991 she joined the Singapore Police Force as a Police Inspector where she served for 3 years; she was active in investigation work (including supervision) at the Central Police Division HQ and thereafter was staff officer to the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

In 1994 she returned to practise law in the private sector, with M/s Lim & Lim. From 1994 to 1998, she handle both civil and crimimal cases in the the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court.

Sylvia joined Temasek Polytechnic in 1998 as a lecturer, and she is also the manager of Continuing Education and Training at the Polytechnic's Business School. Her main areas of teaching and research are in civil and criminal procedure, criminal justice and private security. During her time at Temasek Polytechnic, Lim has contributed to the volume on Criminal Procedure for Halsbury's Laws of Singapore (2003), a legal practitioners' reference series, and has also collected and published primary research on private security in Singapore.

In March 2006, Temasek Polytechnic modified its policy so that Lim did not need to resign from her lecturer position before she ran in the upcoming general election.

On 27 April 2006, nomination day for the general election 2006, Lim led a team of 5 Workers' Party members to contest the Aljunied GRC in a straight fight between the People's Action Party team lead by Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo of the People's Action Party (PAP) and the Workers' Party team, in her maiden electoral battle.

Sylvia's GRC team garnered 43.9% of the vote in the hotly contested GRC on May 6, 2006. As the best-performing opposition loser in the election, the Workers' Party decided to accept her nomination as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP).