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- From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.
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- Jone Johnson Lewis
- Madonna. Madonna: Which one? The singer and sometimes-actress—and very successful self-promoter and businesswoman? The mother of Jesus? The image of Mary and other saintly mothers in medieval paintings?
- Marilyn Monroe. Actress and icon Marilyn Monroe was discovered while working in a World War II defense plant. She was considered an icon and epitomized a certain image for women in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Cleopatra. Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, had infamous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony while trying to keep Egypt out of Rome's clutches.
- Anne Frank. Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl in the Netherlands, kept a diary during the time she and her family were hiding from the Nazis. She did not survive her time in a concentration camp, but her diary still speaks of hope in the midst of war and persecution.
- Lifestyle Editor
- 1 min
- Maya Angelou. From her powerful poetry to her moving autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou forever changed the literary world and opened doors for Black authors everywhere.
- Lucille Ball. While she was an undeniable light onscreen in I Love Lucy, Ball was an extremely powerful figure off camera as well. She was the first woman to own a major studio, called Desilu Productions.
- Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth II served as head of the royal family for 70 years, making her the longest-reigning monarch in British history. She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, just three months before she passed away at 96 years old.
- Rosa Parks. Parks famously became a leader in the 1950s Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white passenger. Her bravery sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was a major factor in the end of legal segregation.
- Jane Austen (1775 –1817) You can thank Jane Austen for basically creating those rom-com books you love to read. In her teenage years during the early 1810s, she started writing her most famous novels, like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
- Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) Ada Lovelace's genius was years before her time. As an English mathematician, she is credited with being the world's first computer programmer.
- Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) Florence Nightingale, a.k.a. Lady with the Lamp, was a British nurse who is credited as the founder of modern-day nursing.
- Nellie Bly (1864-1922) Nellie Bly basically set the standard for investigative journalism. At a time when women writers were confined to the society pages, Bly tackled more serious topics like mental health, poverty, and corruption in politics.
70 Famous Women who Changed the World. A list of famous and influential women, including women’s rights activists, poets, musicians, politicians, humanitarians and scientists.
- Influential Actresses and Entertainers
- Famous Female Authors
- Influential Women Pioneers in Medicine, Science and Math
- Famous Female Politicians
- Influential Activists
- Famous Women in Sports
- Influential Women in Business
Katharine Hepburn 1907-2003. Known for Lion In Winter, On Golden Pond and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.Ruby Dee, 1922-2014. Known for American Gangster, A Raisin In The Sun and Do The Right Thing.Julie Andrews, b. 1935. Known for The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The Princess Diaries.Jane Austen, 1775-1817. Author of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility and more.Louisa May Alcott, 1832-1888. Author of Little Women.J.K. Rowling, 1965-. Author of the Harry Potter series.Toni Morrison, 1931-2019. Author of Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and more.Ann Preston, 1813-1872. American physician who worked to educate women about their bodies.Mary Edwards Walker, 1832-1919. Surgeon, abolitionist, and only female student in her medical school in 1855.Rebecca Lee Crumpler,1831-1895. The first black woman to earn her medical degree in the United States.Mary Putnam Jacobi,1842-1906. Medical physician, scientist and suffragette.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 1989-. Activist, U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, and the youngest woman to serve in the United States Congress.Elizabeth Warren, 1949-. U.S. senator from Massachusetts, bankruptcy expert, 2020 presidential candidate.Angela Merkel, 1954-. German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 2005.Mary McLeod Bethune, 1875-1955. Director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on issues of minority affairs and interracial relations.Simone de Beauvoir, 1908-1986. Author of The Second Sex, a book that paved the way for modern feminism.Eleanor Roosevelt,1884-1962. First Lady of the United States, known for being outspoken and involved in women's issues.Betty Friedan, 1921-2006. Author of The Feminine Mystique.Gwen Ifill, 1955-2016 . Journalist for The New York Times and The Washington Post, first African American woman to moderate a major television-news analysis show.Doris Burke, 1965-. American sports announcer and the first female announcer to call a New York Knicks game.Becky Hammon, 1977-. First female assistant coach in NBA history.Jackie MacMullan, 1960-. Trailblazing female sports journalist.Pat Summitt, 1952-2016. Women's college basketball head coach who accrued 1,098 wins throughout her career—the most in college basketball history.Sheila Johnson, 1949-. Co-founder of BET, CEO of Salamander Hotels and the first black woman to attain a net worth of a billion dollars.Sheryl Sandberg, 1969-. CEO of Facebook and founder of the "lean in" movement.Marissa Mayer, 1975-. Former CEO of Yahoo!Indra Nooyi, 1955-. CEO of PepsiCo and consistently ranked among the world's most powerful women.Jun 8, 2023 · From singers to scientists and athletes to activists, here are 130 women who have changed the world. 1. Fatima al-Fihri. In the early 9th century, in what is now Morocco, Fatima al-Fihri...
From Amelia Earhart to Beyoncé and Eva Perón to Malala, meet 100 women who defined the last century.
