There are two ways to become a princess: being born into royalty or marrying into royalty. Princess Mary of Denmark, originally from Australia, became a princess after marrying His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. Since then not only has she become a mother and a role model for Denmark, but she has also found time to work with several different organizations and created her own foundation. Because of her work with women’s rights she is now the proud recipient of theWomenomics Global Impact Award.
Princess Mary works with over 25 different international organizations like the World Health Organization and United Nations. She goes beyond expectations when working with these organizations by participating in military exercises, playing soccer with schoolchildren, fighting for gender equality, visiting hospitals in Ethiopia, and campaigning for mental health awareness.
The crown princess established an organization in 2007 called The Mary Foundation. The foundation aims to put an end to social isolation and works to combat bullying and domestic violence. According to the website, “The objective of The Mary Foundation is to improve the lives of children, adults and families who – as a result of their environment, heredity, illness or other circumstances – find themselves socially isolated or excluded from society. The Foundation aims to fulfill its objective by creating opportunities for these individuals and giving them a sense of affiliation and of belonging to a community. Furthermore, the Foundation undertakes to encourage tolerance and understanding of diversity and to create hope.”
The Womenomics Global Impact Award is presented every year to three women who not only go above and beyond in humanitarian efforts, but have also made a true impact and serve as role models. According to the Womenomics CPH website, Tine Arentsen Willumsen, the founder of Womenomics CPH, “believes it is important that we, as a community, highlight the individuals who truly make a difference and stand out as role models to other female leaders.”
In a press release about the award, Tine Arentsen Willumsen said, “Our Crown Princess personally does incredibly large and exemplary work internationally to improve women’s conditions, and we want to honor her with the Womenomics Global Impact Award.”
She also added, “We want more visible female role models, and by drawing on the good examples and acknowledging their impressive efforts, I hope that we will help strengthen this.”
After being presented with the award the Crown Princess said, “I am very honored to receive the award. It’s a very important prize because it helps to focus on the importance of gender equality in our world.” Princess Mary is a great example of a woman going out of her way to truly make a difference and improve the lives of women and children everywhere.
Featured Image by United States Mission Geneva on Flickr
Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
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