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.
#1 A Woman Hitting A Neo-Nazi With Her Handbag In Växjö, Sweden (13 April, 1985)
Image source: Hans Runesson
#2 Marie Curie Was A Polish Physicist And Chemist Famous For Her Work On Radioactivity And Twice A Winner Of The Nobel Prize
Image source: mariecurie-usa.org
#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
Image source: Harry Trask
#4 Margaret Heafield Was A Director Of Software Engineering For Nasa’s Apollo Space Program (1969)
Image source: NASA
#5 Russia-born Valentina Tereshkova Became The First Woman In Space Aboard The Vostok 6 (1963)
Image source: Sovfoto
#6 One Of The Onna-Bugeisha, Female Samurai Warrior Of The Upper Bushi (Samurai), Class In Feudal Japan (Late 1800’s)
Image source: reddit.com
#7 Amelia Earhart Was The First Female Aviator To Fly Solo Across The Atlantic Ocean (1928)
Image source: Los Angeles Times photographic archive
#8 These Women Were Firefighters At Pearl Harbor (1941)
Image source: Hawaii War Records Depository
#9 Komako Kimura, A Prominent Japanese Suffragist Marched On Fifth Avenue In New York City Demanding The Right To Vote (27 October, 1917)
Image source: Corbis-Bettmann
#10 Eliza Leonida Zamfirescu, The First Woman Engineer In The World
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#11 Rosa Louise Mccauley Parks – Civil Rights Activist
#12 Sofia Ionescu-ogrezeanu (25 April 1920 – 21 March 2008) Was A Romanian Neurosurgeon And Is Cons
Image source: snipview.com
#13 Anne Frank Was A Jewish Diarist And Writer
Image source: angelusnews.com
#14 A 106-year-old Woman Who Protected Her Home With A Rifle, In Armenia (1990)
Image source: United Nations
#15 Jane Goodall, Leading Primatologist And Conservationalist
Image source: TheJaneGoodallInstitute
#16 Nadia Comaneci – The First Women To Score A Perfect 10 In Gymnastics At The Olympic Games
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#17 Ana Aslan (romania) – She Is Considered To Be A Pioneer Of Gerontology And Geriatrics.
#18 Maud Stevens Wagner Was The First Known Female Tattoo Artist In The United States (1907)
Image source: Library of Congress
#19 Mary Winsor Holding Suffrage Prisoners Banner In Washington D.C. (1917)
Image source: Harris & Ewing
#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
Image source: unknown
#21 Annette Kellerman Promoted Women’s Right To Wear A Fitted One-Piece Bathing Suit (1907). She Was Arrested For Indecency
Image source: loc.gov
#22 Muslim Woman Covers The Yellow Star Of Her Jewish Neighbor With Her Veil (1941)
Image source: unknown
#23 Bertha Von Suttner – First Woman Peace Activist And First Woman To Be Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Image source: anno.onb.ac.at
#24 Suu Kyi (burma) Was Under House Arrest For 15 Yrs For Her Pre-democracy Campaigning.
Image source: Emlii.com
#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)
Image source: Juan Guzmán
#26 Taramon Bibi Is One Of The Two Female Freedom Fighters In Bangladesh
#27 Voting Activist Annie Lumpkins At The Little Rock City Jail (10 July, 1961)
Image source: APictureFromThisDay
#28 The First European Woman Ever To Obtain A License And A Phd In Law From The University Of Paris
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#29 Ftima El Fihria The Founder Of The First University In The World Fes Morocco
#30 Stephanie Kwolek, Inventor Of Kevlar
Image source: APphoto
#31 Gertrude Caroline Ederle Became The First Woman To Swim Across The English Channel (1926)
Image source: Library of Congress
#32 Florence Nightingale:1st Nurse To Teach Basic Sanitation Betwn Patients. 1820-1910 Lady W/ Lamp
#33 NASA Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher Became The First Mother In Space (1984)
#34 Maria Teresa De Filippis, First Female Formula 1 Driver (1958)
Image source: luimartins.tumblr.com
#35 Ellen O’neal, One Of The Greatests Female Freestyle Skateboarders In The World (1970)
Image source: imgur.com
#36 Women’s Liberation Coalition Marching For Equal Pay (1970)
Image source: photosofwar.net
#37 A Female Lockheed Employee Works On One In Burbank, California (1944)
Image source: Lockheed Martin
#38 Ada Lovelace – First Programmer In History
Image source: wikipedia.org
#39 These Four Female Pilots Leaving Their Plane At The Four-Engine School At Lockbourne AAF (Early 1940s)
Image source: U.S. Air Force
#40 Jeanne Manford With Her Son Morty, Foreground, Marching In The New York City Gay Pride Parade (1972)
Image source: PFLAG
#41 Leola N. King, America’s First Female Traffic Cop, Washington D.C. (1918)
Image source: Library Of Congress
#42 Girls Deliver Ice. Heavy Work That Formerly Belonged To Men Only Is Being Done By Girls (16 September, 1918)
Image source: The National Archives Catalog
#43 Milunka Savić Was A Serbian War Heroine Who May Be The Most-decorated Female Combatant Ever.
#44 Smith College Class Of 1902 Basketball Team – Senda Berenson introduced and adapted the rules for women’s basketball
Image source: unknown
#45 Angela Davis (b. January 26, 1944), American Political Activist, Scholar, Author & Feminist.
Image source: Atlantablackstar.com
#46 Kate Sheppard, Leader Of Womens Suffrage In New Zealand, The 1st Country To Give Women The Vote
#47 Hattie Larlham Pioneered Specialized Care For Developmentally Disabled Children.
#48 Claudette Colvin – The First Woman To Refuse To Give Up Her Seat On A Montgomery, Al Bus
#49 Billie Jean King. Us Tennis Legend & Became The First Prominent Female Athlete To Come Out.
#50 Mileva Maric, Serbian Physicist, Einsteins Wife. Worthy “his” Nobel Prize.
#51 Sybil Ludington, Alerted Colonial Forces Of The British, Riding Twice The Distance Of Revere.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#52 Eliska Junkova: Czech Automobile Racer In Her Bugatti. One Of The Greatest Grand Prix Drivers.
#53 Political Activist Dr. Wangari Maathai Founded The Green Belt Movement, 1977.
Image source: takingrootfilm.com
#54 Imone Segouin, The 18 Year Old French Résistance Fighter (1944)
Image source: rarehistoricalphotos.com
#55 Among The Prisoners Taken On Walcheren Was This Dutch Woman With Her Husband, A German Solder, Whom She Refused To Leave (1944)
Image source: Royal Air Force official photographer
#56 Rachl Carson. Author Of “silent Spring” (1962) And Mother Of The Enviromental Movement
#57 Irena Sendlerowa – Woman Who Smuggled Approximately 2,500 Jewish Children Out Of The Warsaw Ghett
#58 Julia Morgan, Architect, 1st Woman To Graduate From The Ecole Des Beaux Arts De Paris
Image source: Image©CalPoly
#59 Ada Lovelace: Wrote The First Algorithm Designed For Computation In 1840. First Female Coder
#60 Smaranda Brăescu, Romanian parachuting Pioneer, Former Multiple World Record Holder (1932)
#61 Henryka Krzywonos – First Stopped Her Tram In 1980 To Start An Anti-communist Strike In Poland
#62 Ra. Kartini, B 1879, The First Pioneer For Education For Indonesian Girls And Women’s Rights
#63 Commander Eileen Collins, First Female Space Shuttle Pilot And Mission Commander.
#64 Women Workers Employed As Wipers In The Roundhouse Having Lunch In Their Rest Room (1943)
Image source: Jack Delano
#65 Mary Harris Jones “mother Jones” Organized Mine Workers Against Mine Owners For Labor Rights
Image source: unknown
#66 This Woman Worker Pushes Back Her Helmet During A Moment’s Pause From Her Welding Job At The Richmond Shipyard In California (1943)
Image source: Ann Rosener
#67 Muazzez Ilmiye Cig – Turkish Archaeologist, Assyriologist And Sumerologist (born 1914)
Image source: oktayguney.blogspot.com
#68 A Women’s Liberation March In Washington, D.C. (1970)
Image source: Leffler, Warren K
#69 Marie Curie, Polish-french Physicist And Chemist. 1st Person To Receive 2 Nobel Prizes.
Image source: bloggingeinstein.wordpress.com
#70 Sabiha Gokcen – First Turkish Female Combat Pilot And A World Pioneer, Aged 23 (1936)
Image source: hunkarkosku.bursa.bel.tr
#71 Hedy Lamarr, Inventor & Actress
Image source: filmstillfromSAMSONANDDELILAHmotionpicture
#72 Irom Sharmila,activist From Manipur(india), On Hunger Strike Since 2000 Against Armed Forcesact
Image source: scoopwhoop.com
#73 Woman Chief (pine Leaf)
Image source: factfiend.com
#74 Khertek Anchimaa-toka, First Elected Female Head Of State In The Modern World, In 1940.
#75 Mother Teresa
#76 Ayesha Farooq, The First War-ready Fighter Pilot Of Pakistan.
#77 Rita Levi-montalcini – Italian Nobel Laureate Honoured For Her Work In Neurobiology
Image source: swide.com
#78 Ida B Wells – Prominent Journalist Who Reported On Lynchings In The United Sates.
#79 Rita
#80 Queen Tamar Of Georgia
Image source: commons.wikimedia.org
#81 Simone De Beauvoir, French Feminist, Who Wrote In 1971 “the Manifesto Of The 343”
#82 Titled ‘mother Of The Nation’,fatima Jinnah Also Struggled For The Pakistan Movement.
#83 Winnie Mandela -south African Activist And Politician
#84 Irena Sendlerowa – Woman Who Smuggled Approximately 2,500 Jewish Children Out Of The Warsaw Ghett
#85 This 64-years Young Lady Had Swum Unassisted 180 Kilometers In The Ocean Without A Shark Cage.
Image source: edition.cnn.com
#86 Christina Noble:irish Children’s Rights Campaigner&founder Of Christina Noble Foundation.
#87 Countess Constance Markievicz: Irish Revolutionary Nationalist, Suffragette & Socialist.
#88 Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) One Of The First [irish] Woman Realist Novelist In Europe.
#89 Hanna Sheehy-skeffington (1877-1946) Irish Suffragette, Socialist And Nationalist.
#90 Rosalind Franklin
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