Fay Kellogg, ambitious architect
She built an ambitious architectural career and pushed for women’s place in the profession, combining design talent with a determination to see buildings completed.
Women worth knowing
All Stories
Extraordinary women, overlooked stories, and a more complete history. Explore the lives, ideas, and achievements that changed the world.
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, Hawaiian healer
She adapted a spiritual tradition centered on reconciliation and shared it internationally, building a following around forgiveness, personal reflection, and the repair of relationships.
Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian feminist & activist
She brought women into public life through education, organizing, and demands for political rights, helping turn restrictions on their independence into a cause for reform.
Elizabeth Yates, the British Empire’s first female mayor
Her election as mayor challenged expectations of women in public office. Fierce opposition exposed how much resistance remained even after women won the vote.
Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., America’s first female doctor
She earned a medical degree when the profession excluded women, then helped build hospitals and schools that made it possible for others to follow.
Qiu Jin, Chinese feminist & revolutionary martyr
She used poetry, journalism, and revolutionary organizing to demand education and freedom for women, risking her life to challenge the political and social order.
Indra Devi, Mother of Western Yoga
She pushed into a yoga tradition dominated by men, then carried its practice across continents, helping new audiences find a place in an ancient discipline.
Queen Liliʻuokalani, first and last queen regnant of Hawaii
She defended her people’s sovereignty as foreign interests threatened their kingdom, while her music preserved a love of homeland that political defeat could not erase.
Sarah Guppy, Eclectic English Inventor
She devised practical inventions for bridges, boats, and the home, pursuing useful solutions when women faced formidable barriers to owning and patenting their ideas.
Marguerite D’Youville, the First Canadian Saint
She built a community devoted to people in need, challenging authorities to protect the sick and poor and leaving a lasting legacy of care.
Fanny Blankers-Koen, wife, mother, and four-time Olympic gold medalist
Her Olympic victories challenged the belief that motherhood ended an athlete’s career, proving that women could raise families and compete at the highest level.
Wilma Rudolph, Olympic gold medalist & civil rights pioneer
Olympic victories gave her a platform she used to challenge segregation, turning athletic fame into a powerful example for women athletes and civil rights campaigners.
Gay Allis Rose Clifford, poet & scholar
Her study of allegory influenced literary scholarship, while her poetry turned a deep love of language into work that reached readers beyond academia.
Miss Florence Smith, factory manageress at Tate & Lyle
She managed women in a sugar factory with authority they remembered long afterward. Their recollections capture the lasting influence of a formidable workplace leader.
Trieu Thi Trinh, the Vietnamese Joan of Arc
A young rebel leader became a lasting symbol of resistance to foreign rule, with legends of her courage carrying her influence far beyond the battlefield.
Katharine McCormick, biologist & millionaire philanthropist
She put her fortune behind women’s ability to choose when to have children, funding research that helped make the birth control pill a reality.
Esther Howland, the Mother of the American Valentine
Esther Howland turned paper lace and an upstairs workshop of women into a thriving valentine business, helping Americans send their love.
Madam C. J. Walker, self-made millionaire
She built a haircare business that created jobs for Black women, then used her wealth to support education, community institutions, and resistance to racism.
Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux, French painter, composer, and musician
Her self-portrait captures an artist who understood music as intimately as painting, preserving the skill and ambition of a woman working across creative disciplines.
Suzanne Valadon, self-taught artist of Bohemian Paris
She learned to paint while modeling for other artists, then built a celebrated career of her own with bold work that challenged artistic conventions.