International Women’s Day: The 5 Most Independent Women on Soaps

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and March is International Women’s Month. To celebrate, we highlight five soap opera women who achieved a name for themselves outside of a popular coupling.

It Takes Two

When fans think of their daytime darlings, the names tend to come in pairs: Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis), Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso), Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) and Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang), Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott, who just celebrated a big anniversary). The following five daytime heroines below may have had very active love lives. But, they were just as amazing solo.

As the World Turns

Before there was an Erica Kane, before there was a Rachel Davis, before there was an Alexis Carrington, for Pete’s sake, there was a Lisa Miller, played (on and off) from 1960 through to the show’s last episode in 2010, by the one and only Eileen Fulton. Sure, she may have made her first appearance as medical student Bob’s (Don Hastings) sweet, new bride. But it wasn’t long before Lisa’s true colors showed through. (Mostly because Fulton decided her character was dull as dirt and she wouldn’t last long unless she put a little twist into her performance.) Lisa went on to wed multiple times and proved so popular that she even got a primetime spin-off, Our Private World…without needing a man to prop her up.

All My Children

Erica (Susan Lucci, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the most recent Daytime Emmys) was also married multiple times. And while fans had their favorite — Nick! Tom! Mike! Travis! Adam (David Canary)! Jackson (Walt Willey) — the fact is, it was never the pairing that catapulted her to popularity. It was always Erica herself. The guy she was with may have been sexy. He may have been entertaining. He may have even been worthy of her. But Erica was always the sun around which everyone else rotated.

Days of our Lives

Yes, fans loved Marlena (Deidre Hall, who has a great guest-starring role coming up) with Don (Jed Allan). They loved her with Roman (Wayne Northrop). They love her with John (Drake Hogestyn). Heck, some even loved her with Stefano (Joseph Mascolo). But that was because fans loved Marlena. They wanted her to be happy. She could pick the guy. They’d go along with whatever she said.

The Bold and the Beautiful

Even Stephanie Forrester’s (Susan Flannery) husband and children didn’t always love her. She could be meddling. She could be vicious. She could be underhanded, and she could be downright criminal. But she always stood on her own two feet, knew what she wanted, and didn’t let anything or anyone — male or female — stand in her way. Whether you hated Stephanie or you loved to hate her, she was always a solitary entity, the definition of independence.

The Young and the Restless

Nikki and Victor are definitely Y&R’s most long-serving (and suffering), beloved couple. But Victor and Ashley (Eileen Davidson) had their fans. Ashley, who clearly has a serious issue right now, never clicked with anyone as well as she did with Victor, though multiple men, from Brad (Don Diamont) to IT guru Ravi (Abhi Sinha) got chewed up and spit out for trying. Now, there’s Tucker (Trevor St. John). We know this isn’t destined to last. Fans love Ashley. Even when they hate the guy she’s with.

Happy International Women’s Day. Which independent woman is your favorite of all time in the daytime? Do you agree with our list, or do you have others you’d add? Let us know in the comments below.