English

Phenomenal Woman BY MAYA ANGELOU Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them, They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ’Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

1. SHE WAS THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO CONDUCT A CABLE CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO. As a teenager, Maya Angelou earned a scholarship to study dance and drama at the California Labor School, but she briefly dropped out when she was 16 to become a cable car conductor in San Francisco. “I saw women on the street cars with their little changer belts,” she told Oprah Winfrey, explaining why she wanted the job. “They had caps with bibs on them and form-fitting jackets. I loved their uniforms. I said that is the job I want.” She got it, and became the first black woman to hold the position. 2. PORGY AND BESS TOOK HER TO EUROPE. Astrid Stawiarz, Getty Images After actors spotted her singing in a nightclub and asked if she could dance, Angelou got her foot in the door to join a touring company for Porgy and Bess. She turned down a lead role in a Broadway production of House of Flowers to join the company because it gave her the opportunity to travel throughout Europe. "The producers of House of Flowers asked me, 'Are you crazy? You're going to take a minimal role in a play going on the road when we're offering you a principal role for a Broadway play?,'" Angelou recalled to NPR. "I said, I'm going to Europe. I'm going to get a chance to see places I ordinarily would never see, I only dreamed of in the little village in Arkansas in which I grew up. Oh, no, I'm going with Porgy and Bess." She said it was the one of the best decisions she ever made. 3. SHE SPOKE SIX LANGUAGES. Angelou's time in Europe also gave her the chance to hear other languages, and she paid very close attention. Ultimately, she learned to speak French, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, and Fante (a dialect of Akan native to Ghana). 4. SHE DIDN’T SPEAK FOR FIVE YEARS IN HER YOUTH. When she was just a child, Angelou was sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend. She told her brother about the incident, and was later called to testify against the man in court, which led to his conviction. Ultimately, he served just one day in jail. Four days after his release, he was murdered—presumably by one of Angelou's family members—and Angelou blamed herself for his death. “I thought, my voice killed him,” she later wrote of her attacker. “I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone." For the next five years, Angelou refused to speak. Literature helped her find her voice again. 5. SHE EDITED THE ARAB OBSERVER. The Arab Observer was one of very few English-language news outlets in the Middle East during its publication from 1960 to 1966. While traveling in Egypt, Angelou met and married civil rights activist Vusumzi Make, and, after moving to Cairo, she scored a job as an editor for the Observer after W.E.B. Du Bois’s stepson David fudged her credentials. She’d never worked as a journalist before, but her job at the Observer tossed her into the deep end of reporting while working in an office full of men who’d never worked with a woman before. "Du Bois said I was an experienced journalist, wife of a freedom fighter, and an expert administrator," Angelou said. "Would I be interested in the job of associate editor? If so I should realize that since I was neither Egyptian, Arabic, nor Moslem and since I would be the only woman working in the office, things would not be easy. He mentioned a salary that sounded like pots of gold to my ears." 6. SHE WROTE AND DIRECTED SEVERAL MOVIES. By the end of her career, there were very few art forms Angelou hadn’t participated in (which is how she wound up with both a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize nomination and three Grammy wins), but it’s still delightfully surprising to know that Angelou was also a filmmaker. She first acted and sang in 1957’s Calypso Heat Wave but eventually turned to screenwriting for 1972’s Georgia, Georgia (a romance about an African American singer who falls in love while performing in Stockholm), and then to directing with 1998’s Down in the Delta starring Alfre Woodard and Wesley Snipes. 7. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WAS ASSASSINATED ON HER BIRTHDAY. Angelou was friends with James Baldwin and had planned to help Malcolm X build the Organization of Afro-American Unity, a new civil rights organization, shortly before his assassination. She was also a coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and organized with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In early 1968, Dr. King asked Angelou to tour the country to promote the SCLC, but she postponed in order to plan her birthday party. It was on her 40th birthday, April 4, 1968, that Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. His death sent her into a deep depression. 8. SHE WAS ONLY THE SECOND POET IN HISTORY TO RECITE WORK AT A PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION. STEPHEN JAFFE, AFP/Getty Images When President John F. Kennedy took the oath of office in 1961, the legendary Robert Frost became the first poet to participate in the inauguration ceremony. Lending her voice to President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, Angelou was the first poet since Frost to enjoy the honor of the august platform, reading the centuries-spanning epic “On the Pulse of Morning,” which she wrote for the occasion. Her recitation scored her a 1994 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. 9. SHE WAS AN AVID CHEF, AND WROTE TWO COOKBOOKS. Is there anything Angelou couldn’t do? She used Hallelujah! The Welcome Table to explore recipes that held personal meaning for her, and with Great Food, All Day Long, she shared an abiding love of preparing meals for others while focusing on healthy courses. “If this book finds its way into the hands of bold, adventurous people, courageous enough to actually get into the kitchen and rattle pots and pans, I will be very happy,” Angelou wrote in the introduction to the latter title. 10. SHE HAD HER OWN LINE OF HALLMARK GREETING CARDS. In 2000, at the age of 72, Angelou penned a series of two-sentence sentiments for the iconic greeting card company that adorned cards and serving dishes. Fully aware she’d face criticism for diminishing her stature with a commercial venture (including from her own publisher at Random House), she responded by saying, “If I’m America’s poet, or one of them, then I want to be in people’s hands. All people’s hands. People who would never buy a book.” Ads By Revcontent

Phenomenal Woman Meaning The word Phenomenal means remarkable or exceptional, especially exceptionally good. Thus phenomenal woman means an extraordinary or stunning woman. Traditionally a woman is considered phenomenal only when she has fair skin and attractive figure.

What is women's empowerment meaning? Women's empowerment can be defined to promoting women's sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.

5 Ways We Can Empower Women Globally Place women as leaders and give them decision making roles. ... More Job Opportunities for Women: ... Invest in Women's Entrepreneurial Ideas, Emotionally and Financially: ... Taking Action against Unpaid Labour Work: ... Mentoring Women Professionally and Personally:

2. Support girls and women in crisis. Millions of girls are subjected to abuse, child labor, trafficking, child marriage, and other offenses. Your gift will go where it’s needed most, protecting girls and women by equipping skilled, local staff to offer training, education, counseling, medical care, small business loans, and other programs that reach women and girls as well as boys — helping to end cycles of gender-based violence. 3. Mentor a girl close to home. Many girls growing up in the United States are held back by poverty, poor-performing schools, and teen violence. Reach out and influence the life of a girl in your own community by volunteering as a tutor or mentor. One way to establish a mentorship is through Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Help every girl and woman feel valued.

4. Invest in a small business owner. Through World Vision microloans, you can connect with hardworking female entrepreneurs who are waiting to realize their dream of building or expanding a successful business. A small loan is all they need. Even better, when the loan is paid off, your donated funds are recycled again and again to help more people and make a bigger impact. 5. Use your voice to help keep girls in school. When girls stay in school and finish secondary education, a lot of good things happen for them and their families. They enjoy better health and can take care of themselves and their children. They live longer, marry later, earn higher wages, and are more active participants in community life. Yet, 130 million girls ages 6 to 17 are out of school. Your support for the Keeping Girls in School Act can help more adolescent girls around the world to stay in school and receive a high-quality education. Please ask your representatives in the U.S. House or Senate to cosponsor this important act.

6. Help a new mom. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life — from conception to age 2 — are the most critical. You can help save young lives around the world by giving a new mother the essential things like a bassinet, cloth diapers, blankets, a container for clean water, and soap. Your gift also provides life-saving infant care training. Know a new mom near you who might be feeling overwhelmed? Mothers of Preschoolers connects moms of young children all over the world to a community of women in their own neighborhoods who meet together to embrace the journey of motherhood. 7. Tell the women in your life that you care. Want to encourage and empower girls and women? Start right in your own home, workplace, and community. Write a note of thanks to that teacher who encouraged you years ago, pick up coffee for that new mom in your office who’s struggling to balance it all, or tell your own sister, daughter, or mother how much you appreciate them.

Fun Facts and Trivia Bet you didn't know..... It is impossible for most people to lick their own elbow. (try it!) A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. A shrimp's heart is in its head. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is believed to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language. If you sneeze too hard, you could fracture a rib. Wearing headphones for just an hour could increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. In the course of an average lifetime, while sleeping you might eat around 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders, or more. Some lipsticks contain fish scales. Cat urine glows under a black-light. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing (when using the proper position of the hands on the keyboard; Hunting and pecking doesn't count!). A shark is the only known fish that can blink with both eyes. The longest one-syllable words in the English language are "scraunched" and "strengthed." Some suggest that "squirreled" could be included, but squirrel is intended to be pronounced as two syllables (squir-rel) according to most dictionaries. "Screeched" and "strengths" are two other long one-syllable words, but they only have 9 letters. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt". Almonds are a member of the peach family. Maine is the only state that has a one-syllable name. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. In many advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world. Most people fall asleep in seven minutes. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

Double Standards DOUBLE STANDARD; a principle or policy that is applied in a different manner to similar things, without proper justification. This means that a double standard occurs when two or more things, such as, individuals or groups, are treated differently, when they should be treated the same way. 1. Having "too many" sexual partners. While no-one's "number" should matter, the sexual double standard is alive and well. Men who sleep around are "studs," but women who do the same are "sluts." What's more, a disturbing study found that women labelled "promiscuous" were rejected by their male and female peers, which is all kinds of messed up. 2. Having a messy home. Though an estimated 81 percent of men and 87 percent of women report feeling anxious about home upkeep, women still do the majority of the housework. Why? Because women are judged much more harshly than men for having a messy home. We like the attitude HuffPost blogger Claire McCarthy shared in her Feb. 25 post: "We have more important things to do. If there is some time left over after we talk, eat together, play together and finish this really great book, we'll clean. If not, well, it can wait." 3. Being overweight. Though both men and women experience fat prejudice, studies have found that overweight women feel more societal pressure to lose weight than overweight men. 4. Being blunt or assertive. A woman who speaks her mind too much is deemed bossy, aggressive or arrogant -- whereas a mouthy dude is simply showcasing his executive leadership skills. 5. Not having children. Childfree women are often referred to as "selfish" and told they will regret their decision not to have kids. Because what kind of unnatural woman would never want to be a mother? Men get no such flak -- being a dad isn't considered to be an essential part of manhood. Plus, men have way more time to decide if they want kids! (But they still have biological clocks, too.) 6. Women who want to snuggle are affectionate. Men who want to snuggle are needy. 7. A married woman without a job is a homemaker. A married man without a job is a failure. 8. A man who speaks his opinion is strong and passionate. A woman who speaks her opinion is bitchy and shrill. 9. A woman who raises kids is ‘natural.’ A man who raises kids can’t find something meaningful to do. 10. Men who like sex are admired and powerful. Women who like sex are sluts and whores. 11. A woman who cries is in touch with her feelings. A man who cries is weak. 12. A woman who gets angry is irrational. A man who gets angry knows and gets what he wants. 13. A teacher who treats two similar students differently for no good reason, by grading one of them much more harshly, simply because they personally dislike that student. 14. Men who like sex are admired and powerful. Women who like sex are sluts and whores. 15. A man, age 50-60 years old, candate a 20-30 yeard old female and considered acceptable with arm candy. If a woman age 50-60 years old date a young man 20-30 years old, she is looked down upon, unaccepted in society and called a whore or looking to revive her youth.