Fannie Farmer was a teacher and the author of the innovative Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, the first cookbook to use strict standardized measurements.
Alice Freeman Palmer, Pioneer of Women’s Education
Alice Freeman Palmer was among the most influential people who expanded the academic horizons for women in the USA.
Vigdis Finnbogadóttir: The World’s First Female President
Who was the world’s first female president? This amazing woman was a pioneer who was also the first single woman to adopt a child solo.
Mary Bunting, Champion of Women’s Education
Mary I. Bunting was the Rutgers dean who led the fight for coeducation at the United States’ most prestigious universities. The program she created in 1958 to support a community of mature women lives on at Douglass Residential College in her name. When Mary Bunting began her academic career in 1937, women like her had limited […]
Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., America’s first female doctor
Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. (1821-1910), was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States and is often thought of as America’s first woman doctor. A dedicated public health advocate, social reformer, and prolific writer, Blackwell changed the course of modern medicine, founding hospitals and medical colleges for women in the United States […]
Qiu Jin, Chinese feminist & revolutionary martyr
Qiu Jin (1875–1907) was a Chinese writer & poet, a strong-willed feminist who is considered a national hero in China. Also called “Jianhu Nüxia” (Woman Knight of Mirror Lake”), she was executed after participating in a failed uprising against the Qing Dynasty. Qiu Jin was born in 1875 to a family of the gentry, and […]
Indra Devi, Mother of Western Yoga
Indra Devi was not only a female pioneer in the field of yoga; she helped spread the ancient discipline to Western civilization. Yoga was the domain of men from its inception. The earliest visual evidence of yoga comes from about 2500 BC. Men were the teachers and practitioners of yoga from that point until the […]
Nana Asma’u: princess, poet, reformer of Muslim women’s education
Nana Asma’u (1793-1863) was a princess, poet, and teacher, and is considered the precursor to modern feminism in Africa. She had such an impact of the education of women, that in Nigeria today, many Islamic women’s organisations, schools, and meeting halls are named after her. Nana was a member of the Fodio clan who ruled […]
Anna Essinger: Avant-Garde Educator
Anna Essinger (September 15, 1879 – May 30, 1960) was a German-Jewish teacher. She founded a boarding school in Germany with her sister in 1926 and acted as headmistress. Anna was a pioneer of progressive education. Her school used a program similar to a Montessori program, placing high value on communal living, mutual respect and […]
