Rolling Out The Red Carpet

Since what seems like the dawn of time, women have had to fight their way into positions of power, or even simple acknowledgement. The barriers they overcame were incredibly difficult, which makes their achievements all the more thrilling. Throughout their work, many of them were mocked or nearly pushed out, and some had to wait a very long time for their names to get the attention they deserved. Here are 20 historical women whose breakthroughs changed what people believed women could do.

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1. Enheduanna, The First Known Author By Name

Enheduanna lived in ancient Mesopotamia around 2300 B.C., and she’s widely regarded as the first author known by name. She was a high priestess and poet whose religious writings were tied to devotion, authority, and public life.

Mefman00 on Wikimedia

2. Sobekneferu, An Early Female Pharaoh

Sobekneferu ruled Egypt near the end of the 12th Dynasty, taking on the formal role of pharaoh rather than appearing only as a queen beside a king. Her reign was brief, and the surviving record is limited, which makes some details difficult to pin down. Even so, her place in history is clear. She held royal power in one of the ancient world’s major kingdoms, and she did it in her own name.

Hedwig Fechheimer (1871-1942), Die Plastik der Ägypter, Berlin 1914, pl. 57 on Wikimedia

3. Wu Zetian, China’s Only Woman Emperor

Wu Zetian rose through the Tang court and declared herself emperor in 690. She remains the only woman in Chinese history to rule with that title in her own right. Her reign was ambitious, sharp, and often controversial. Later writers were not always generous to her, which says plenty about how uneasy people were about a woman in power. 

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4. Elizabeth Smith Miller, A Woman Who Made Pants Political

Elizabeth Smith Miller helped turn women’s clothing into a public reform issue in the 1850s. Her shorter skirt and loose pantaloons were practical and comfortable, but they still shocked people who thought women’s clothes should look a certain way.

Library of Congress, attribution on Wikimedia

5. Hélène De Pourtalès, The First Female Olympic Champion

Hélène de Pourtalès competed in sailing at the 1900 Paris Olympics, when women first took part in the modern Games. As part of a winning Swiss crew, she became the first female Olympic champion.

Levitsky of Paris on Wikimedia

6. Charlotte Cooper, The First Woman To Win Individual Olympic Gold

Charlotte Cooper won the women’s singles tennis title at the 1900 Paris Olympics. That victory made her the first woman to win Olympic gold in an individual event. She was already an accomplished tennis player, but the Olympic win gave her career another layer of history.

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7. Alice Coachman, The First Black Woman To Win Olympic Gold

Alice Coachman won the high jump at the 1948 London Olympics, becoming the first Black woman to win Olympic gold. She grew up in the segregated South, where proper training spaces and support were often closed off to Black athletes.

berria.eus on Wikimedia

8. Kathrine Switzer, The First Woman Boston Marathoner

Kathrine Switzer ran the 1967 Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor, using her initials on the entry form. During the race, an official tried to force her off the course. She finished anyway, which turned the moment into one of the most memorable images in running history.

Marathona on Wikimedia

9. Ada Lovelace, A Pioneer Of Computer Programming

Ada Lovelace worked on ideas for a proposed calculating machine in the 1840s. Her notes described a step-by-step process the machine could follow, which is why she’s often called the first computer programmer.

Alfred Edward Chalon on Wikimedia

10. Elizabeth Blackwell, The First Woman To Earn A Medical Degree In The U.S.

Elizabeth Blackwell earned her medical degree in 1849, becoming the first woman in the United States to do so. Her admission to medical school was initially treated almost like a joke, which makes her success feel even sharper. She graduated and went on to open the field of medicine to other women.

Unknown photographer on Wikimedia

11. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, The First Black Woman Physician In The U.S.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler earned her medical degree in 1864, becoming the first Black woman in the United States to receive an M.D. After the Civil War, she cared for formerly enslaved people in Richmond, Virginia, at a time when that care was badly needed.

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12. Arabella Mansfield, The First Woman Lawyer In The U.S.

Arabella Mansfield passed the Iowa bar in 1869, even though the law had been written with male applicants in mind. Her admission made her the first woman admitted to the legal profession in the United States.

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13. Jeannette Rankin, The First Woman In Congress

Jeannette Rankin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916, before many American women had the guaranteed right to vote. Rankin was a suffragist and pacifist, and she later became known for voting against both world wars. Whether people admired her or argued with her, she made women visible as national lawmakers.

Adam Cuerden on Wikimedia

14. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, The First Woman Prime Minister

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, in 1960. That made her the world’s first woman prime minister. Her rise came after her husband’s assassination, but her political career became much bigger than that beginning. She served multiple terms and showed that a woman could lead a modern government.

United Press International (UPI) on Wikimedia

15. Bessie Coleman, The First Black Woman Licensed Pilot

Bessie Coleman wanted to fly, but American flight schools wouldn’t train her. To fight this, she traveled to France and earned her pilot’s license in 1921.

Dove & Porter on Wikimedia

16. Amelia Earhart, The First Woman To Fly Solo Across The Atlantic

Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic in 1932, traveling from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland in about 15 hours. The flight made her the first woman to complete that crossing alone.

Underwood & Underwood (active 1880 – c. 1950)[1] on Wikimedia

17. Sabiha Gökçen, The First Female Combat Pilot

Sabiha Gökçen trained as a military aviator in Turkey in the 1930s and is recognized as the world’s first female combat pilot. Aviation was still new, dangerous, and heavily male at the time. Her career pushed women into one of the most closed-off spaces imaginable.

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18. Valentina Tereshkova, The First Woman In Space

Valentina Tereshkova launched aboard Vostok 6 in 1963, becoming the first woman in space. She spent nearly three days orbiting Earth. Before she was selected, she had worked in a textile factory and trained as an amateur parachutist.

Alexander Mokletsov / Александр Моклецов on Wikimedia

19. Junko Tabei, The First Woman To Summit Everest

Junko Tabei reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1975, becoming the first woman to stand on the world’s highest peak. She led a women’s expedition and survived an avalanche during the climb. Tabei later completed the highest peaks on all seven continents.

Jaan Künnap on Wikimedia

20. Marie Curie, The First Woman To Win A Nobel Prize

Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize when she shared the physics prize in 1903. She later won a second Nobel Prize in chemistry, becoming the first person to receive two. Her research helped change modern science, especially through the study of radioactivity.

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