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Izumo no Okuni, Founder of Kabuki
Izumo no Okuni turned comic scenes, dancing, and a swaggering male character into a sensation. The great tradition of kabuki began with her.
Women worth knowing
All Stories
Extraordinary women, overlooked stories, and a more complete history. Explore the lives, ideas, and achievements that changed the world.
17th century women
Women’s lives, work, and ideas, 1601–1700.
Explore the lives of women who lived during the 17th century. Discover their ambitions, achievements, and struggles through biographies and stories that bring their worlds into view.
Where to begin
Power & patronage
Influence took many forms. Royal women supported buildings, trade, and the arts, while finding ways to shape public life within the limits of their positions.
- Princess Jahanara — a Mughal princess whose interests encompassed commerce, architecture, and spiritual writing.
- Queen Anna of Denmark — a patron who made court performance a space for women’s artistic participation.
Land & authority
Struggles over land and authority could take women into courtrooms or onto battlefields. These lives reveal different ways of defending a claim and resisting the power of others.
- Lady Anne Clifford — a landowner and writer who pursued her inheritance through a long legal struggle.
- Ana Nzinga Mbande — a ruler who used diplomacy, warfare, and alliances to resist Portuguese expansion.
Writing & belief
Faith and intellectual life could offer women purpose while also bringing conflict. Writing and religious accounts preserve their experiences, though those records need careful reading.
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — a poet and scholar who defended women’s right to learning.
- Kateri Tekakwitha — a Mohawk woman whose religious life and later reputation were shaped by Indigenous and colonial worlds.
All 17th-century stories
Anna Maria Garthwaite: Successful Silk Designer
She turned observations of flowers and plants into intricate textile designs, building a successful creative career and leaving rare evidence of women’s work in the industry.
Women Who Sued For Freedom From Slavery
Enslaved women fought in court for their own freedom and their children’s, using legal claims to challenge a system that treated their families as property.
Queen Anna of Denmark, Theater Pioneer & Patron of the Arts
She used royal performances to celebrate powerful women and bring them into dramatic art, creating opportunities for participation that challenged the limits of a queen’s formal authority.
Lin Siniang: Marshalling Spear and Sword
A young warrior’s leadership of women in battle placed martial skill in unexpected hands, leaving a story of courage, loyalty, and sacrifice that endured.
Kateri Tekakwitha: The Making of a Mohawk Saint
Her religious conversion unfolded amid colonial pressure and Indigenous community life, creating a spiritual legacy whose meaning continued to grow long after her death.
5 Surprising Facts About the Mughal Princess Jahanara That History Forgot
Royal women could shape an empire through commerce, architecture, and spiritual writing, exercising influence that reaches far beyond the familiar image of life inside a palace.
Ana Nzinga Mbande, fearless African queen
She used diplomacy, warfare, and shifting alliances to resist colonial expansion, defending her kingdoms and building the political and commercial strength needed to survive.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, self-taught scholar and poet of New Spain
When religious authorities challenged her intellectual pursuits, she answered with a bold defense of women’s education, turning personal criticism into an enduring argument for equality.
Lady Anne Clifford, patron of the arts
She fought for an inheritance others expected her to surrender, then used her wealth to restore historic buildings and support writers and the arts.