50 Women who Changed the World

[seabeyond]

http://www.biographyonline.net/people/women-who-changed-world.html

1. Sappho -570BC

One of the first published female writers. Much of her poetry has been lost but her immense reputation has remained. Plato referred to Sappho as one of the great 10 poets. View: Sappho Biography

11. Elizabeth I 1533-1603

Queen of England during a time of great economic and social change, she saw England cemented as a Protestant country. During her reign she witnessed the defeat of the Spanish Armada leaving Britain to later become one of the world’s dominant superpowers. Biography Elizabeth I

13. Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797

Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the most significant book in the early feminist movement. Her tract “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” laid down a clear moral and practical basis for extending human and political rights to women. - A true pioneer in the struggle for female suffrage. View: Biography Mary Wollstonecraft

20. Emmeline Pankhurst 1858-1928

A British suffragette, Emily Pankhurst dedicated her life to the promotion of women’s rights. She explored all avenues of protest including violence, public demonstrations and hunger strikes. She died in 1928, 3 weeks before a law giving all women over 21 the right to vote. View: Biography Emily Pankhurst

21. Marie Curie 1867-1934

Marie Curie was the first women to receive the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it for 2 separate categories. Her first award was for research into radioactivity (Physics 1903). Her second Nobel prize was for Chemistry in 1911. A few years later she also helped develop the first X ray machines. View: Biography of Marie Curie

[emilyg]

1. I take great pride

in Marie Curie - a fellow Pole.

[seabeyond]

2. some woman....

I take great pride

as you should

[redqueen]

3. Mary Wollstonecraft

[jimlup]

4. An oversight in my opinion is Lise Meitner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Mary Wollstonecraft was a very interesting woman - a feminist at such an early time, plus...

her daughter wrote Frankenstein, the classic.

In Wiki, it tells a few very interesting things about Mary Wollstonecraft's background which may have propelled her to become who she was:

The family's financial situation eventually became so dire that Wollstonecraft's father compelled her to turn over money that she would have inherited at her maturity. Moreover, he was apparently a violent man who would beat his wife in drunken rages. As a teenager, Wollstonecraft used to lie outside the door of her mother's bedroom to protect her.[3] Wollstonecraft played a similar maternal role for her sisters, Everina and Eliza, throughout her life. For example, in a defining moment in 1784, she convinced Eliza, who was suffering from what was probably postpartum depression, to leave her husband and infant; Wollstonecraft made all of the arrangements for Eliza to flee, demonstrating her willingness to challenge social norms. The human costs, however, were severe: her sister suffered social condemnation and, because she could not remarry, was doomed to a life of poverty and hard work.[4]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. Impressive list! But I'm surprised they didn't have Hypatia or Margaret Fuller...

or several others...

Maybe Hepburn, Monroe, or Madonna crowded them out of the top

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller

[seabeyond]

7. agreed. was surprised with choices more recent. nt

[iverglas]

8. yeah, not to mention

Mother bloody Theresa. All very well if you like your heroes to be buddies with murderous dictators ...

I've just noted in my Canadian feminist history thread how they got the legal/historical facts quite wrong in the case of #22, Emily Murphy, as well.

Kinda pop culture- and US-centric after the first few, that list.