Sunday reflection: Three awesome women

Rounding out our weekend of awesome women:

27-year-old Raha Moharrak made history by becoming the first Saudi woman to conquer Mount Everest yesterday.

Moharrak’s ascent is the latest step in changing attitudes towards women and sports in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom fielded its first female Olympians at the 2012 Games and officially permitted sports in private girls schools for the first time earlier this month.

Read more at CNN.

Meet two more awesome women after the jump!

At 20-years old, recent graduate Iqbal El-Assaad is the youngest Arab doctor ever.

“I made the decision to be a doctor myself when I was 12 years old. Growing up as a Palestinian living in Lebanon, I saw much suffering among my people since the Palestinians in Lebanon did not have health insurance.

My family and I visited the camps and saw how harsh the conditions there were. I saw many parents who see their children suffering but they can’t help them because they don’t have the money to do that. These visits to the camps made me feel that it is my responsibility to study medicine and try to help these people.”

Read more, here.

21-year-old Samina Baig became the first Pakistani woman to successfully scale Mount Everest on May 19th.

“Together we are promoting gender equality,” said Samina Baig of her sister-brother climbing team. They’ve been climbing together for the last three years.

In 2010, she became the first to ascend the virgin peak Chashkin Sar (6,000+ meters) now called the ‘Samina Peak’. She conquered another virgin peak in 2011 that was named ‘Koh-i-Brobar’ or the ‘Mount Equality’ in 2011.

Read more at Dawn.