Famous women in history

Especially many proponents of feminism have argued that the achievements of women have been insufficiently represented in works of history up through the 20th century. Therefore, many historians and especially those who concentrate on women's studies[?] have drawn attention to women who can be considered historically significant.

• Rulers, consorts, heads of state:
  • Hatshepsut of Egypt (Egypt)
  • Arsinoe II of Egypt (Egypt)
  • Cleopatra VII of Egypt (Egypt)
  • Boudicca (England)
  • Zenobia (Palmyra)
  • Theodora, Empress of Byzantium
  • Wu Zetian, Empress of China
  • Melisende (Jerusalem)
  • Isabella of Spain
  • Eleonora di Arborea[?] (Sardinia)
  • Margaret I of Denmark and Norway
  • Eleanor of Aquitaine (France)
  • Catherine de Medici (France)
  • Jeanne d'Albret (France)
  • Diane de Poitiers, France
  • Gabrielle d'Estrée (France)
  • Agnès Sorel (France)
  • Anne of Austria (France)
  • Marguerite de Valois (France)
  • Mary I of England (England) - (Bloody Mary)
  • Mary, Queen of Scots (Scotland)
  • Maria Theresa of Austria (Austria)
  • Anna I of Russia (Anna I) (Russia)
  • Catherine I of Russia (Russia)
  • Catherine II of Russia (Russia) - (Catherine the Great)
  • Elizabeth of Russia (Russia)
  • Christina of Sweden
  • Elizabeth I of England
  • Queen Anne
  • Mary II (Great Britain)
  • Victoria I of the United Kingdom (England)
  • Anne Neville (England))
  • Catherine of Valois (England)
  • Diana, Princess of Wales (United Kingdom)
  • Elizabeth Woodville (England)
  • Margaret of Anjou (England)
  • Mary of Teck (United Kingdom)

• Politicians, political figures
  • Madeleine Albright – United States
  • Corazon Aquino[?] – Philippines
  • Nancy Astor – United Kingdom
  • Aung San Suu Kyi – Myanmar
  • Benazir Bhutto – Pakistan
  • Sarah Churchill
  • Helen Clark
  • Vigdis Finnbogadottir – Iceland
  • Indira Gandhi – India
  • Sonja Gandhi – India
  • Tarja Halonen – Finland
  • Petra Kelly - (Germany)
  • Aleksandra Kollontai[?] – Soviet Union
  • Constance Markiewicz[?] (nee Gore-Booth) (1868-1927) - Ireland
  • Golda Meir – Israel
  • Eva Peron – Argentina
  • Janet Reno – United States
  • Mary Robinson - Ireland
  • Eleanor Roosevelt - United States
  • Margaret Chase Smith – US congresswoman
  • Margaret Thatcher – United Kingdom

• Activists and revolutionaries
  • Susan B. Anthony – United States
  • Annie Besant
  • Millicent Fawcett
  • Emma Goldman
  • Rosa Luxemburg – Germany
  • Rigoberta Menchu[?]
  • Lucretia Mott
  • Madalyn Murray O'Hair[?] – United States
  • Christabel Pankhurst[?] – United Kingdom
  • Emmeline Pankhurst – United Kingdom
  • Rosa Parks – United States
  • Margaret Sanger
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • Gloria Steinem[?]
  • Sojourner Truth
  • Tončka Čeč[?], Slovene national heroine

• Artists, writers, poets
  • Emma Abbott
  • Isabel Allende (writer)
  • Jane Austen (writer)
  • Margaret Atwood (writer)
  • Mary Cassatt (painter)
  • Régine Deforges (writer, 1st woman in France to own a Publishing company)
  • Grazia Deledda (writer, Nobel prize)
  • Karen Blixen (writer)
  • George Eliot (writer)
  • Ninon de lEnclos
  • Marie de France (troubador)
  • Veronica Franco (poet)
  • Artemisia Gentileschi[?]
  • Nina Hamnett, painter, designer
  • Sappho (poet)
  • Ouida (writer; a.k.a. Marie Louise de la Ramee)
  • Zora Neale Hurston (writer)
  • Toni Morrison (writer, Nobel prize)
  • Mary Pickford, actress, co-founder of United Artists
  • Christine de Pizan (writer)
  • Ayn Rand (writer)
  • Murasaki Shikibu (writer)
  • Gertrude Stein (writer)
  • Suzanne Valadon, painter
  • Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • Phillis Wheatley (poet)
  • Virginia Woolf (author)

• Scientists and mathematicians
  • Hypatia of Alexandria (mathematician)
  • Ruth Benedict, (anthropologist)
  • Ada Byron, Countess Lovelace
  • Emilie du Chatelet - studied with Voltaire
  • Vera Gordon Childe[?] (archeology)
  • Marie Sklodowska-Curie (Nobel prize)
  • Irene Joliot-Curie (physicist)
  • Dian Fossey (biology)
  • Rosalind Franklin (DNA)
  • Sophie Germain (mathematician)
  • Dorothy Hodgkin (chemist)
  • Grace Hopper
  • Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya - (1850-1891), Russian mathematician
  • Margaret Mead (anthropologist)
  • Lise Meitner (physicist)
  • Emmy Noether (mathematician)

• Medical notables
  • Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (physician)
  • Virginia Apgar (physician)
  • Clara Barton (nurse, activist)
  • Elizabeth Blackwell (physician)
  • Dorothea Dix
  • Florence Nightingale (nurse)
  • Jennie Kidd Trout first licensed woman physician in Canada in 1875.
  • Mary Edwards Walker[?] (physician)

• Musicians
  • Josephine Baker
  • Maria Callas
  • Ella Fitzgerald
  • Aretha Franklin
  • Billie Holiday
  • Mahalia Jackson
  • Janis Joplin
  • Fanny Mendelssohn
  • Joni Mitchell
  • Edith Piaf
  • Clara Schumann
  • Bessie Smith
  • Lucinda Williams[?]

• Outlaws, pirates and criminals
  • Phoolan Devi (the Bandit Queen)
  • Cheng I Sao
  • Grace O'Malley (a.k.a. Grainne Ni Mhaille) (1868-1927) (Ireland)
  • Ulrike Meinhof
  • Mary Read[?] (168?-1721), pirate

• Religious figures
  • The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus
  • Esther
  • Ruth
  • Eve
  • Mary Magdalene
  • Hildegard of Bingen (writer, philosopher)
  • Kwannon[?]
  • Julian of Norwich (writer)
  • Mother Theresa of Calcutta

• Soldiers, agents, spies
  • Joan of Arc (military leader)
  • Denise Bloch[?], French Resistance agent
  • Edith Cavell (World War I heroine)
  • Julia Child
  • Tomoe Gozen[?] (original, not fictitious)
  • Mata Hari (spy)
  • Odette Sansom, SOE agent
  • Hannah Shenesh[?]
  • Violette Szabo
  • Harriet Tubman (Moses; rebel, spy, activist)
  • Nancy Wake of Maquis

• Famous actors
  • Lucille Ball
  • Tallulah Bankhead
  • Ingrid Bergman
  • Sarah Bernhardt
  • Bette Davis
  • Judy Dench
  • Mia Farrow
  • Jodie Foster
  • Greta Garbo
  • Ava Gardner
  • Katherine Hepburn
  • Helen Hunt
  • Grace Kelly
  • Nicole Kidman
  • Vivien Leigh
  • Sophia Loren
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Mary Pickford
  • Isabella Rossellini
  • Meryl Streep
  • Reese Witherspoon

See list List of female actors

• Sportswomen
  • Laila Ali
  • Delia Gonzalez
  • Steffi Graf
  • Jackie Joyner-Kersee[?]
  • Billie Jean King
  • Jeannie Longo[?]
  • Christy Martin
  • Shirley Muldowney[?]
  • Martina Navratilova
  • Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias[?]
  • Reneé Richards, M.D[?]
  • Rebecca Rodriguez
  • Laura Serrano

• Famous models (most are female)

• Other
  • Rosa Mustafa Abdulkhaleq first female commercial pilot in Yemen
  • Gladys Aylward {missionary}
  • James Barry, Victorian lady who worked as a male physician
  • Dorothea Beale (pioneer of women's education)
  • Margaret Bourke-White[?]
  • Frances Buss[?](pioneer of women's education)
  • Coco Chanel (fashion designer)
  • Bessie Coleman[?] (aviator)
  • Amelia Earhart (aviator)
  • Lillian Hellman
  • Amy Johnson (aviator)
  • Helen Keller
  • Kathleen Kenyon (archaeologist)
  • Maria Montessori
  • Julia Morgan[?] (architect)
  • Anna Reitsch[?] (German aviator)
  • Leni Riefenstahl (German movie director)
  • Emily Warren Roebling[?] (engineer)
  • Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut
  • Billy Tipton (musician)