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So many of the social life's aspects have changed for women in the years. Starting with the right for education and ending with gender equality - all of this didn't happen overnight, and many badass women had to sacrifice their personal lives for a greater cause. Women's Equality Day celebrated on August 26th in the US, commemorates the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It was certified in 1920, despite being introduced many years earlier in 1878, and since 1972, every president has published a proclamation for Women's Equality Day. Only because of the strong women in history we have reached this point in our society.
Starting from female Samurais in the early 1800s and ending with Stephanie Kwolek, who invented Kevlar (yes, a woman invented that!) this list of women who changed the world will shed some light on the 'weaker' gender. And without some of these pioneers, we wouldn't be this advanced in such spheres as neuro-surgeries, chemistry, and even programming.
Scroll down and take a look at our list of famous women in history. And, ladies, you might get inspired by these women in history to reach for your goals, no matter how impossible they might seem.
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#1
A Woman Hitting A Neo-Nazi With Her Handbag In Växjö, Sweden (13 April, 1985)
LizBaruzzini 9 years ago
I read about this woman, she was actually a Holocaust survivor -- I have so much respect for her.
#2
Marie Curie Was A Polish Physicist And Chemist Famous For Her Work On Radioactivity And Twice A Winner Of The Nobel Prize
KlaudiaBraun 9 years ago
She was polish not French at all. She married a French and worked there but never describ do herself as French
#3
Kathrine Switzer Was The First Woman To Run The Boston Marathon (1967). When Organizer Jock Semple Realised A Woman Was Running He Tried To Tackle Her
StephanieBarr 9 years ago
All honor, not only to her, but the other marathoners who protected her.
#4
Margaret Heafield Was A Director Of Software Engineering For Nasa's Apollo Space Program (1969)
JessicaBabineau 9 years ago
She wrote out by hand the mathematical sequence that enabled the Apollo mission to be successful. (That's what she's standing beside) . They said that she was so accurate they used to get her to double check the math once computers started doing it for the other scientists.
#5
Russia-born Valentina Tereshkova Became The First Woman In Space Aboard The Vostok 6 (1963)
#6
One Of The Onna-Bugeisha, Female Samurai Warrior Of The Upper Bushi (Samurai), Class In Feudal Japan (Late 1800's)
#7
Amelia Earhart Was The First Female Aviator To Fly Solo Across The Atlantic Ocean (1928)
#8
These Women Were Firefighters At Pearl Harbor (1941)
#9
Komako Kimura, A Prominent Japanese Suffragist Marched On Fifth Avenue In New York City Demanding The Right To Vote (27 October, 1917)
#10
Eliza Leonida Zamfirescu, The First Woman Engineer In The World
Final score:
188points
#11
Rosa Louise Mccauley Parks - Civil Rights Activist
Final score:
164points
PetraMiddendorp 9 years ago
She had two strikes against her, she was a woman and she was black and what she did took so much courage. She did not fight for prestige, but for justice
#12
Sofia Ionescu-ogrezeanu (25 April 1920 – 21 March 2008) Was A Romanian Neurosurgeon And Is Cons
Final score:
161points
#13
Anne Frank Was A Jewish Diarist And Writer
cookiemonster 9 years ago
who, totally unimportant fact, lived during the holocaust and was eventually killed by the Nazis a couple of months before the killing stopped.
#14
A 106-year-old Woman Who Protected Her Home With A Rifle, In Armenia (1990)
#15
Jane Goodall, Leading Primatologist And Conservationalist
Final score:
128points
#16
Nadia Comaneci - The First Women To Score A Perfect 10 In Gymnastics At The Olympic Games
Final score:
122points
#17
Ana Aslan (romania) - She Is Considered To Be A Pioneer Of Gerontology And Geriatrics.
Final score:
120points
#18
Maud Stevens Wagner Was The First Known Female Tattoo Artist In The United States (1907)
Maureen Mower 8 years ago
I've never gotten a tattoo, but I do like her taste in art... dragons, horses, butterflies, a girl with 2 lions as friends, a hummingbird, etc. Plus, if she did all that on herself, that is pretty amazing on it's own... how does one tattoo the back of one's own arm, for instance?
#19
Mary Winsor Holding Suffrage Prisoners Banner In Washington D.C. (1917)
#20
Sarla Thakral Was First Indian Woman To Fly. She Earned An Aviation Pilot License In 1936 At The Age Of 21 And Flew A Gypsy Moth Solo
#21
Annette Kellerman Promoted Women’s Right To Wear A Fitted One-Piece Bathing Suit (1907). She Was Arrested For Indecency
Final score:
102points
#22
Muslim Woman Covers The Yellow Star Of Her Jewish Neighbor With Her Veil (1941)
#23
Bertha Von Suttner - First Woman Peace Activist And First Woman To Be Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Final score:
93points
#24
Suu Kyi (burma) Was Under House Arrest For 15 Yrs For Her Pre-democracy Campaigning.
Final score:
90points
#25
Marina Ginestà Was A French Veteran Of The Spanish Civil War. This Is Her Most Famous Picture At The Top Of Hotel Colón In Barcelona (21 July, 1936)
#26
Taramon Bibi Is One Of The Two Female Freedom Fighters In Bangladesh
Final score:
79points
#27
Voting Activist Annie Lumpkins At The Little Rock City Jail (10 July, 1961)
Maureen Mower 8 years ago
Why the suitcase? Had she been in the jail that long - or was she expecting to go to jail for that long?
#28
The First European Woman Ever To Obtain A License And A Phd In Law From The University Of Paris
Final score:
74points
#29
Ftima El Fihria The Founder Of The First University In The World Fes Morocco
Final score:
73points
MaxWinkler 9 years ago
contrast this with the current deadly proscription against women learning under radical Islam.
#30
Stephanie Kwolek, Inventor Of Kevlar
Final score:
70points
MarcoBello 9 years ago
This is one of the inventions that most surprise me because it involves innovation in its purest form under a very elegant and clever simplicity. It is a very, very smart invention. I never knew who invented it. Now I know. :)
#31
Gertrude Caroline Ederle Became The First Woman To Swim Across The English Channel (1926)
#32
Florence Nightingale:1st Nurse To Teach Basic Sanitation Betwn Patients. 1820-1910 Lady W/ Lamp
Final score:
67points
#33
NASA Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher Became The First Mother In Space (1984)
#34
Maria Teresa De Filippis, First Female Formula 1 Driver (1958)
Final score:
65points
#35
Ellen O'neal, One Of The Greatests Female Freestyle Skateboarders In The World (1970)
#36
Women's Liberation Coalition Marching For Equal Pay (1970)
#37
A Female Lockheed Employee Works On One In Burbank, California (1944)
BoredHistorian 2 years ago
People need to stop putting the word "female" before the job. No one says male doctor or male lawyer!
#38
Ada Lovelace - First Programmer In History
Final score:
60points
MonikaLantos 9 years ago
She is my favourite because I am a woman and a computer programmer and I often meet people who find strange that a woman is capable of doing this. Even other women are surprised.
#39
These Four Female Pilots Leaving Their Plane At The Four-Engine School At Lockbourne AAF (Early 1940s)
#40
Jeanne Manford With Her Son Morty, Foreground, Marching In The New York City Gay Pride Parade (1972)
#41
Leola N. King, America's First Female Traffic Cop, Washington D.C. (1918)
#42
Girls Deliver Ice. Heavy Work That Formerly Belonged To Men Only Is Being Done By Girls (16 September, 1918)
#43
Milunka Savić Was A Serbian War Heroine Who May Be The Most-decorated Female Combatant Ever.
Final score:
51points
#44
Smith College Class Of 1902 Basketball Team - Senda Berenson introduced and adapted the rules for women's basketball
#45
Angela Davis (b. January 26, 1944), American Political Activist, Scholar, Author & Feminist.
Final score:
46points
Simon Kendra 2 years ago (edited)
Angela Davis, who condoned communism dictatorship in Europe, approved of state persecution of democratic freedom fighters and said they “deserved to stay in prison” because they fought against her beloved oppressive murderous communist leaders.
#46
Kate Sheppard, Leader Of Womens Suffrage In New Zealand, The 1st Country To Give Women The Vote
Final score:
46points
#47
Hattie Larlham Pioneered Specialized Care For Developmentally Disabled Children.
Final score:
44points
StephanieBarr (Submission author) 9 years ago
Circa 1977. Started a foundation for this in 1961. Larlham drew national attention for her efforts and eventually served as a disabilities issue advisor to U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Her accomplishments also earned her a place in the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. She died in 1996.
#48
Claudette Colvin - The First Woman To Refuse To Give Up Her Seat On A Montgomery, Al Bus
Final score:
43points
Tania-Briannë Fox 8 years ago
Miss Colvin is the real Rosa Parks. She was replaced by Miss Parks for marketability reasons. Miss Colvin had a child out of wedlock (she was molested as a teen) and she was darker skinned than Miss Parks. It was Miss Colvin's defiant stance on a bus that inspired the Rosa Parks publicity stunt. Miss Parks was brave, horrible things could have happened to her in retaliation for standing her ground. But she was a stand-in for Miss Colvin, whose experience was not staged but a fact of her everyday life. Read about her.
#49
Billie Jean King. Us Tennis Legend & Became The First Prominent Female Athlete To Come Out.
Final score:
41points
#50
Mileva Maric, Serbian Physicist, Einsteins Wife. Worthy "his" Nobel Prize.
Final score:
41points
#51
Sybil Ludington, Alerted Colonial Forces Of The British, Riding Twice The Distance Of Revere.
Final score:
40points
#52
Eliska Junkova: Czech Automobile Racer In Her Bugatti. One Of The Greatest Grand Prix Drivers.
Final score:
39points
#53
Political Activist Dr. Wangari Maathai Founded The Green Belt Movement, 1977.
Final score:
38points
Ikechukwu Ojo 3 years ago (edited)
Kenyan professor who led a massive movement, that had massive effect on both Nature and the nation of Kenya The planting of trees, to help stabilize the environment.
#55
Among The Prisoners Taken On Walcheren Was This Dutch Woman With Her Husband, A German Solder, Whom She Refused To Leave (1944)
#56
Rachl Carson. Author Of "silent Spring" (1962) And Mother Of The Enviromental Movement
Final score:
36points
#57
Irena Sendlerowa - Woman Who Smuggled Approximately 2,500 Jewish Children Out Of The Warsaw Ghett
Final score:
36points
#58
Julia Morgan, Architect, 1st Woman To Graduate From The Ecole Des Beaux Arts De Paris
Final score:
33points
#59
Ada Lovelace: Wrote The First Algorithm Designed For Computation In 1840. First Female Coder
Final score:
33points
#60
Smaranda Brăescu, Romanian parachuting Pioneer, Former Multiple World Record Holder (1932)
Final score:
29points
#61
Henryka Krzywonos - First Stopped Her Tram In 1980 To Start An Anti-communist Strike In Poland
Final score:
29points
GosiaKrzemińska (Submission author) 9 years ago
ENRYKA KRZYWONOS-STRYCHARSKA - on Aug. 15, 1980, she stopped the streetcar she was driving, thereby provoking a general strike that led, after many years and many twists and turns, to the triumph of Western-style democracy in Poland in 1989.
#62
Ra. Kartini, B 1879, The First Pioneer For Education For Indonesian Girls And Women's Rights
Final score:
28points
#63
Commander Eileen Collins, First Female Space Shuttle Pilot And Mission Commander.
Final score:
26points
#64
Women Workers Employed As Wipers In The Roundhouse Having Lunch In Their Rest Room (1943)
#65
Mary Harris Jones "mother Jones" Organized Mine Workers Against Mine Owners For Labor Rights
Final score:
25points
#66
This Woman Worker Pushes Back Her Helmet During A Moment's Pause From Her Welding Job At The Richmond Shipyard In California (1943)
#67
Muazzez Ilmiye Cig - Turkish Archaeologist, Assyriologist And Sumerologist (born 1914)
Final score:
22points
#69
Marie Curie, Polish-french Physicist And Chemist. 1st Person To Receive 2 Nobel Prizes.
Final score:
20points
#70
Sabiha Gokcen - First Turkish Female Combat Pilot And A World Pioneer, Aged 23 (1936)
Final score:
19points
Kawa Munzur Burning 8 years ago
Originally daughter of an Armenian family members of which were killed during the 1915 Genocide, Gokcen was adopted daughter of Mustafa Kemal, the founder of Turkish Republic. She took active roles in the bombing of Dersim area in 1937-8 and killed many women, children and men. She avoided that part with regret in her memoirs/interviews.
#71
Hedy Lamarr, Inventor & Actress
Final score:
19points
ChrisHilbert 9 years ago
She was a big part of coming up with the technology behind cell phones and other wireless technologies: snip: "the "spread spectrum" technology that Lamarr helped to invent would galvanize the digital communications boom, forming the technical backbone that makes cellular phones, fax machines and other wireless operations possible. " from: http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp
#72
Irom Sharmila,activist From Manipur(india), On Hunger Strike Since 2000 Against Armed Forcesact
Final score:
18points
Fanny Westwood 8 years ago
A female skateboarder, albeit talented, gets ranked higher on this list than this woman???
#73
Woman Chief (pine Leaf)
Final score:
18points
#74
Khertek Anchimaa-toka, First Elected Female Head Of State In The Modern World, In 1940.
Final score:
13points
#76
Ayesha Farooq, The First War-ready Fighter Pilot Of Pakistan.
Final score:
11points
Lachailill McLennan 2 years ago
Where is the first female civilian airline pilot listed? Why do people always fetishise those who kill?
#77
Rita Levi-montalcini - Italian Nobel Laureate Honoured For Her Work In Neurobiology
Final score:
11points
#78
Ida B Wells - Prominent Journalist Who Reported On Lynchings In The United Sates.
Final score:
7points
#79
Rita
Final score:
6points
SeleneBianco (Submission author) 9 years ago
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909-2012) was an Italian Nobel Laureate honored for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF). During World War II she had to quit her work at University because of her jewish origins, but she set up a laboratory in her bedroom and studied the growth of nerve fibers in chicken embryos, which laid the groundwork for her later research.
#80
Queen Tamar Of Georgia
Final score:
6points
#81
Simone De Beauvoir, French Feminist, Who Wrote In 1971 "the Manifesto Of The 343"
Final score:
6points
ylloPytterP (Submission author) 9 years ago
Simone de Beauvoir (French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist) wrote for a French magazine in 1971 « The Manifesto of the 343 » Here is the translation of the intro : « One million women in France have an abortion every year. Condemned to secrecy, they have them in dangerous conditions when this procedure, performed under medical supervision, is one of the simplest. These women are veiled in silence. I declare that I am one of them. I have had an abortion. Just as we demand free access to birth control, we demand the freedom to have an abortion. » By writing this text, these women exposing themselves to criminal prosecution (in France, you could be put in jail for having or helping for an abortion). Contraceptives became free in 1974 and abortion became legal in 1975. Thanks to her.
#82
Titled 'mother Of The Nation',fatima Jinnah Also Struggled For The Pakistan Movement.
Final score:
5points
#83
Winnie Mandela -south African Activist And Politician
Final score:
4points
Flower Love 4 years ago
She was Nelson Mandela's second wife and the mother of Zindzi & Zenani Mandela if anyone was curious.
#84
Irena Sendlerowa - Woman Who Smuggled Approximately 2,500 Jewish Children Out Of The Warsaw Ghett
Final score:
3points
#85
This 64-years Young Lady Had Swum Unassisted 180 Kilometers In The Ocean Without A Shark Cage.
Final score:
3points
DanielGonzalez (Submission author) 9 years ago
Age can never be a factor as proved by several great achievers. Diana Nyad, the 64-years young lady had swum unassisted 180 kilometers in the ocean for 2 full days to create a record. Too incredible. Her amazing speech is at https://www.ted.com/talks/diana_nyad_never_ever_give_up .
#86
Christina Noble:irish Children's Rights Campaigner&founder Of Christina Noble Foundation.
Final score:
2points
Karen White 8 years ago
Amazing lady. Read her book years ago. She saved so many children from the streets.
#87
Countess Constance Markievicz: Irish Revolutionary Nationalist, Suffragette & Socialist.
Final score:
1point
#88
Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) One Of The First [irish] Woman Realist Novelist In Europe.
![Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) One Of The First [irish] Woman Realist Novelist In Europe.](https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/maria-edgeworth__700.jpg "Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) One Of The First [irish] Woman Realist Novelist In Europe.")
Final score:
1point
#89
Hanna Sheehy-skeffington (1877-1946) Irish Suffragette, Socialist And Nationalist.
Final score:
1point
#90
Rosalind Franklin
Final score:
0points
KrásnoočkoZelené 9 years ago
Credit for discovering the DNA structure is usually given to Watson & Crick - even though Franklin participated (at least) equally in the discovery. Sadly, she died of cancer in her thirties, not getting the share of the Nobel prize (even though it was possible to award her posthumously then). I always get so pissed when I think about how unfair this was and how terribly her colleagues W&C acted, saving all the fame and credit for themselves and forgetting her. And I'm really dissapointed how deep in this list she is.
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What do you think ?
IsabellaColalilloKates 9 years ago
Any woman who stands up for herself changes the world of male dominated structures.
Nawny 9 years ago
I think that some people are taking the "changed the world" aspect a bit too literally. I agree, some contributions seem much less consequential than others (skateboarding), but changing the world takes baby steps and standing on the shoulders of other great women. Each of these women served as inspiration for other women, and in doing so changed the world in their own way, be it major or minor. Being the first woman to do ANYTHING is an achievement in this world.
KellicAnonymousTiger 8 years ago
A.k.a. a single grain of sand does not make a beach, but enough can change the tide.
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IsabellaColalilloKates 9 years ago
Any woman who stands up for herself changes the world of male dominated structures.
Nawny 9 years ago
I think that some people are taking the "changed the world" aspect a bit too literally. I agree, some contributions seem much less consequential than others (skateboarding), but changing the world takes baby steps and standing on the shoulders of other great women. Each of these women served as inspiration for other women, and in doing so changed the world in their own way, be it major or minor. Being the first woman to do ANYTHING is an achievement in this world.
KellicAnonymousTiger 8 years ago
A.k.a. a single grain of sand does not make a beach, but enough can change the tide.
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