Womens History Kiosk

Denison University CelebratesWomen’s History MonthImages Creative Commons unless otherwise credited

Hatshepsut (1508-1458 BCE) Female Pharaoh of EgyptHatshepsut, meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. She established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, thereby building the wealth of the eighteenth dynasty.She was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, that were grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors.

Sappho, Ancient Greek Poet (c.620-570 BCE)Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments. Her poetry centers on passion and love for various personages and both genders, and the adjectives deriving from her name and place of birth (Sapphic and Lesbian) came to be associated with female homosexuality.www.artinthepicture.com

Deborah (c. 1150 BCE)Judge & Prophetess of IsraelThe fourth, and the only female, Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, her story is told twice in Tanakh, in chapters 4 and 5 of The Book of Judges.She was a poet and she rendered her judgments beneath a palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the land of Ephraim. Some people today refer to Deborah as the mother of Israel because of the "Song of Deborah and Barak" found in Judges 5. This “Song of Deborah” is theorized to be the oldest extant Hebrew poetry.Deborah demanded that Barak meet the Egyptians in battle and prophesied the Israelites’ victory. After this battle, there were 40 years of peace in Israel.

Aspasia of Athens (470-400 BCE)StateswomanA Milesian woman who was famous for her involvement with the Athenian statesman Pericles. Being a foreigner and possibly a hetaera, Aspasia was free of the legal restraints that traditionally confined married women to their homes, and thereby was allowed to participate in the public life of the city.In social circles, Aspasia was noted for her ability as a conversationalist and adviser rather than merely an object of physical beauty.According to Plutarch, their house became an intellectual centre in Athens, attracting the most prominent writers and thinkers, including the philosopher Socrates. Aspasia appears in the philosophical writings of Plato, Xenophon, AeschinesSocraticus, and Antisthenes. Some scholars argue that Plato was impressed by her intelligence and wit and based his character Diotima in the Symposium on her.

Empress Wu Zetian (625-705)Empress Regnant, Tang/Zhou DynastiesThe only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant, as de facto ruler of China from 665 to 690, she then broke all precedents when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou , interrupting the Tang Dynasty. In order to challenge Confucian beliefs against rule by women, Wu began a campaign to elevate the position of women. Although short-lived, the Zhou Dynasty, according to some historians, resulted in better equality between the sexes during the succeeding Tang Dynasty.She placed Buddhism over Daoism as the favored state religion. She invited the most gifted scholars to China and built Buddhist temples and cave sculptures. Chinese Buddhism achieved its highest development under the reign of Wu Zetian.

Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (717–801 CE) Sufi PoetRabi’a was the first to set forth the Islamic doctrine of Divine Loveand is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets.After a life of hardship, she spontaneously achieved a state of self-realization. When asked by Sheikh Hasan al-Basri how she discovered the secret, she responded by stating: "You know of the how, but I know of the how-less."One of the many myths that swirl around her life is that she was freed from slavery because her master saw her praying while surrounded by light, realized that she was a saint and feared for his life if he continued to keep her as a slave.It is said that she helped further integrate Islamic slaves into Muslim society. Because of her time spent as a slave early in life, Rabi'a was passionately against all forms of slavery.

Theodora the Armenian (c. 815-867 CE) Regent of the Byzantine EmpireTheodora’s husband, Theophilus, was an iconoclast (reviler of religious imagery) and had a man named Lazarus tortured for his veneration of icons. Theodora intervened and halted the torturing. Following the death of her husband, Theodora served as regent for her son Michael. She overrode Theophilus' ecclesiastical policy and summoned a council under the patriarch Methodius, in which the veneration, but not worship, of icons (images of Jesus Christ and the saints) was finally restored and the iconoclastic clergy deposed.She carried on the government with a firm and judicious hand; she replenished the treasury and deterred the Bulgarians from an attempt at invasion. However, it was during her regency that a vigorous persecution of the Paulician 'heresy' commenced.

Empress Suiko(554–628 CE)First Female tenno of JapanEmpress Suiko was a consort to her half-brother, Emperor Bidatsu, but after Bidatsu's first wife died she became his official consort and was given the title Ōkisaki (official consort of the emperor).Empress Suiko acceded to the throne to fill a power vacuum, becoming the first of several examples in Japanese history where a woman was chosen to accede to the throne to avert a power struggle.Some of the many achievements under Empress Suiko's reign include the official recognition of Buddhism by the issuance of the Flourishing Three Treasures Edict in 594, the adoption of the 12 Level Cap and Rank System in 603 and the adoption of the Seventeen-article constitution in 604. Suiko was also one of the first Buddhist monarchs in Japan and had taken the vows of a nun shortly before becoming empress.chestofbooks.com

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)Mystic, Musician, & ScientistHildegard was a Christian mystic, German Benedictine abbess, author, counselor, linguist, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, mystic, composer, and polymath. She wrote theological and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and the first extant morality play. She left behind over 100 letters, 72 songs, 70 poems, and 9 books.She is the first composer whose biography is known.Hildegard communicated with many notable figures, such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, Abbot Suger, Frederick I Barbarossa, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work.Her genius has attracted the attention of scholars, musicians, and feminists alike.

AminaSukhera (1533-1610)Queen of Modern-day NigeriaAminaSukhera (also called Aminatu) was a Muslim princess of the royal family of Zazzau (now Zaria), in what is now north central Nigeria. When Amina was seven years old her mother, BakwaTurunku, became queen. During this point in her life, she became involved in the Zazzau military, earning much admiration formaritimeheritage.orgher bravery. Her military achievements brought her great wealth and power. She is credited as the architect of the earthen walls around the city of Zaria, for which the providence is named. In her thirty-four year reign she expanded the domain of Zazzau to its largest size. Some sources state that her main focus was not on the annexation of neighboring lands, but on forcing local rulers to accept vassal status and permit Hausa traders safe passage.

Jeanne d’Arc (1412-1431)Military Leader and MartyrJoan of Arc, known as The Maid of Orléans, is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old.Twenty-four years later, on the initiative of Charles VII, Pope Callixtus III reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510-1569)Jewish Political ActivistGracia Mendes was perhaps the most successful and influential businesswoman of her time. Using her wealth and influence, she freed countless persecuted Jews from unjust imprisonment, secretly funded the printing of important Jewish texts, and swayed the papacy to delay the Inquisition.Fleeing Portugal, she found herself in Venice where Jews were blamed for the bubonic plague. She was arrested and eventually escaped to the city of Ferrara, now unable to hide her Jewish identity. In response to a state-sanctioned murder of several Jews in Portugal, Nasi used her wealth and influence to place a trade embargo on the port of Ancona. She funded the construction of Jewish schools and synagogues, and provided grants to promising scholars. One of the synagogues she built in Istanbul still functions today.judeotalk.com

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)Virgin Queen of EnglandElizabeth was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, never marrying. The daughter of Henry VIII, her mother was executed, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Yet, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I after being imprisoned for months for suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.She established the Church of England, of which she became the Supreme Governor, otherwise known as Anglican Church.She instituted The Poor Laws to provide support to England’s poor. She also encouraged widespread literacy and supported the arts. She achieved an excellent reputation as a good and wise ruler, who was truly loved by her people. Her rule was called The Golden Age due to its length of stability and growth.

Catherine II of Russia (1729-1762)Empress of RussiaKnown by the moniker “Catherine the Great,” Catherine was a strong and influential ruler. Under her direct auspices the Russian Empire expanded, improved its administration, and continued to modernize along Western European lines. Catherine's rule re-vitalized Russia, which grew ever stronger and became recognized as one of the great powers of Europe. Her successes in complex foreign policy and her sometimes brutal reprisals in the wake of rebellion (most notably Pugachev's Rebellion) complemented her hectic private life.Yet, despite Catherine's friendships with western European thinkers of the Enlightenment, Catherine found it “impractical” to improve the lot of her poorest subjects, who continued to suffer.

Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)AuthorJane was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature. Amongst scholars and critics, Austen's realism and biting social commentary have cemented her historical importance as a writer.Austen's plots, though fundamentally comic,highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. During Austen's lifetime, because she chose to publish anonymously, her works brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship. In popular culture, a Janeite fan culture has developed.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)Abolitionist and FeministSojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery but escaped to freedom with her infant daughter. She became a Methodist, and became a traveling preacher about abolition. She took a man to court for the freedom of her son, who had been “bought” and abused . She became the first black woman to go to court against a white man and win the case.Truth preached about abolition, women's rights, pacifism, prison reform, and preached to the Michigan Legislature against capital punishment.Her best-known speech, Ain't I a Woman?, was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)Nurse & Patient Rights AdvocateFlorence Nightingale was an English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence during the Crimean War for her pioneering work in nursing, and was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night to tend injured soldiers. Nightingale laid the foundation stone of professional nursing with the principles summarized in the book Notes on Nursing. She advocated for the rights of patients, particularly for the poor, fighting for reform in the Poor Laws.The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)Abolitionist & Union SpyHarrietwas an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid on the Combahee River, which liberated more than seven hundred slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents and was active in the women's suffrage movement.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) Physicist & ChemistMarie was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes,receiving one in physics and later, one in chemistry. She was the first woman to serve as professor at the University of Paris.She named the first new chemical element that she discovered (1898) polonium for her native country, and in 1932 she founded a Radium Institute (now the Maria Skłodowska–Curie Institute of Oncology) in her home town, Warsaw, which was headed by her sister, Bronisława, who was a physician.

Susan B. Anthony (1820 – 1906)Women’s Rights ActivistSusanwas a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrageinto the United States. She traveled the United States and Europe, and gave 75 to 100 speeches every year on women's rights.In the era before the American Civil War, Anthony took a prominent role in the New York anti-slavery & temperance movements. Anthony attempted to unify the African-American and women's rights movements when she became an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society of New York. Speaking at the Ninth National Women’s Rights Convention, Anthony asked "Where, under our Declaration of Independence, does the Saxon man get his power to deprive all women and Negroes of their inalienable rights?"

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)Civil Rights ActivistMary Church Terrell, daughter of two former slaves, was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She became an activist who led several important associations and helped to work for civil rights and suffrage.Through her father, Mary met and worked with Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. She was especially close to Douglass and worked with him on several civil rights campaigns. In 1950 Terrell started what would be a successful fight to integrate eating places in the District of Columbia.She also had a successful journalism career. Often writing under the pen name of "Euphemia Kirk," Terrell utilized both black and white press outlets to communicate the message of the African American Women's Club Movement

Amalie Noether (1882-1935)Mathematician & PhysicistNoether was a German-born mathematician known for her groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Described by Albert Einstein and others as the most important woman in the history of mathematics, she revolutionized the theories of algebra. In physics, Noether's Theorem explains the fundamental connection between symmetry and conservation laws, which has been called "one of the most important mathematical theorems ever proved in guiding the development of modern physics."She published major works on noncommutative algebras and hypercomplex numbers and united the representation theory of groups with the theory of modules and ideals. In addition to her own publications, Noether is credited with several lines of research published by other mathematicians.

Muna Lee (1895-1965)Author & Pan-AmericanistMuna Lee was an American author and poet who became widely known for her writings that promoted Pan-Americanism and Feminism.Lee began her writing career as a well-known lyric poet. As a translator and advocate of Latin American literature, she made major contributions to the modern Pan-American literary tradition.As a feminist leader, Muna Lee made important contributions to the modern women's movement, in particular the struggle for equal rights. She was a founder of the Inter-American Commission of Women.Lee wrote five detective novels and in 1941, she joined the U.S. State Department as an inter-American cultural affairs specialist.

Annie Oakley (1860 –1926)SharpshooterAnnie Oakley was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Using a .22 caliber rifle at 90 feet (27 m), Oakley reputedly could split a playing card edge-on and put five or six more holes in it before it touched the ground.Throughout her career, it is believed that Oakley taught upwards of 15,000 women how to use a gun. Oakley believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975)Entertainer and Civil Rights ActivistJosephine Baker was an American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre.

Simone Weil (1909-1943)Philosopher, Activist, & Mystic Simone Weil was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist. A child prodigy, her brilliance, ascetic lifestyle, introversion, and eccentricity limited her ability to mix with others, but she was nonetheless deeply involved in the political movements of her time, triggered by her intense sympathy for the working class and the poor. She fasted out of this sympathy, which ultimately led to her demise. She wrote extensively with both insight and breadth about Marxism, pacifism, political movements of which she was a part, and later she wrote extensively about Christian theology and universalistic mysticism, having a vision while visiting Assisi. Weil biographer Gabriella Fiori writes that Weil was "a moral genius in the orbit of ethics, a genius of immense revolutionary range.“www.siue.edu

Anne Frank (1929-1945)Writer & Holocaust VictimAnne is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films. She died in the concentration camp of Auschwitz.Writer, Roger Rosenblatt, described her legacy with the comment, "The passions the book ignites suggest that everyone owns Anne Frank, that she has risen above the Holocaust, Judaism, girlhood and even goodness and become a totemic figure of the modern world—the moral individual mind beset by the machinery of destruction, insisting on the right to live and question and hope for the future of human beings."

Coco Chanel (1883-1971)Fashion Designer"Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the first to create menswear-inspired fashions for women. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on fashion was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

“Babe” Zaharias (1911-1956) AthleteZaharias was an American athlete named by the Guinness Book of Records as the most versatile female competitor. She achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field.Zaharias gained world fame in track and field and All-American status in basketball. She played organized baseball and softball and was an expert diver, roller-skater and bowler. She won two gold medals and one silver medal for track and field in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.Zaharias broke the accepted models of femininity in her time, including the accepted models of female athleticism. Although just 5'5" tall, she was physically strong and socially straightforward about her strength.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)First Lady & Human Rights AdvocateEleanorwas the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 and had assumed a role as an advocate for civil rights. She was an internationally prominent author, speaker, politician, and worked to enhance the status of working women.She was one of the co-founders of Freedom House and supported the formation of the United Nations. She founded the UN Association of the United States and was a delegate to the UN General Assembly, drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. wagingpeace.org

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)Marine Biologist & EnvironmentalistCarson was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.Carson started her career as a biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. She became a full-time nature writer and activist, turning her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. Her book Silent Spring brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public, and it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides—and the grassroots environmental movement the book inspired led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter.

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)Prime Minister of IndiaIndira Gandhi was the prime minister of the Republic of India for three and a half terms until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first, and to date only, female prime minister.Gandhi’s rule was fraught with turmoil, challenges, and conflict. She acquired a formidable international reputation as a "statesman", and there is no doubt that she was extraordinarily skilled in politics. She had an authoritarian streak, and though a cultured woman, rarely tolerated dissent.Being the first woman Prime Minister, and an influential leader, in a prevalently male-dominated society, Indira Gandhi is a symbol of feminism in India.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980)Social ActivistDorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist, distributist, anarchist, and devout Catholic convert. In the 1930s, Day worked to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a nonviolent, pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf.A revered figure within the U.S. Catholic community, Day's cause for canonization is open in the Catholic Church.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)PainterFrida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico and European influences including Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Drawing on personal experiences, including her marriage, miscarriages, illnesses, and her numerous operations, Kahlo's works often are characterized by stark portrayals of pain. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.“Kahlo's work was not widely recognized until long after her death. She was the first Hispanic woman to be honored with a U.S. postage stamp.

Katherine M. Dunham (1909 -2006)Choreographer, Activist, & EducatorKatherine was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator and activist who was trained as an anthropologist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century.For more than 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only permanent, self-subsidized American black dance troupe at that time, and was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of Dance Anthropology.In 1992, at the age of 82, Katherine Dunham went on a highly publicized 47-day hunger strike to protest discriminatory U.S. foreign policy against Haitian boat-people.

Maria Tallchief (1925-)1st Native American BallerinaTallchief was the first American Prima ballerina. From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet. Her performance of Balanchine's The Firebird and her time at the Paris Opera elevated her to the world stage. She also originated the role of the Sugarplum Fairy in Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker.She has received several honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors, and was awarded the American National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented a special tribute to her for her achievements titled "A Tribute to Ballet Great Maria Tallchief".

Constance B. Motley (1921-2005)Judge & Civil Rights ActivistConstance Baker Motley was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, and state senator.In 1950, she wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The first African-American woman to argue and win a case before the Supreme Court, she successfully won Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, and was a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement.She was the first African American woman to be elected as federal court judge. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)HumanitarianMother Teresa was an Albanian Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. For over 45 years she ministered to and evangelized the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.By the 1970s, she was internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. At the time of her death her order was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.

Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007)Prime Minister of PakistanBhutto was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a centre-left political party in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996). She fought for equal rights for women, Christians, and minority sect Muslims. After being removed from office a number of times for unfounded charges of corruption and spending a period of time in exile, Bhutto returned to Pakistan but was assassinated on 27 December 2007.The following year she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.

Toni Morrison (1931- )NovelistToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved.It has been said of her that she "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.“In 1996, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities.

Aung San SuuKyi (1945-)Human Rights Advocate Aung San is a Burmese opposition politician and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy.Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and by more specifically Buddhist concepts, she entered politics to work for democratization and helped found the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, SuuKyi was elected Prime Minister. She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She has remained under house arrest in Myanmar for 14 out of the past 20 years.She was the recipient of the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by India.

Michelle Bachelet (1951-)President of ChileVerónica Michelle BacheletJeria is a center-left politician and the first female president of Chile. A moderate Socialist, she campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile's free market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the country's gap between rich and poor.She served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos. A polyglot, she speaks Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and French. Forbes and Time magazines ranked her as one of the world's most influential people.

Annie Sprinkle (1954-)Performer & Sex EducatorSprinkle is an American former prostitute, stripper, pornographic actress, artist, porn magazine editor, writer and sex film producer. She received a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1986. Currently, Sprinkle works as a performance artist and sex educator.The first porn star known to have earned a Ph.D., Sprinkle received her doctorate in Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. Her work, spanning more than three decades, is studied at many universities, in theater history, women's studies, and film studies courses.Sprinkle's work has always been about the political, spiritual, and artistic qualities of human sexuality and the challenging of social norms.

Margaret Thatcher (1925-)Prime Minister of the United KingdomMargaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post.Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since that of Lord Salisbury and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century. She was the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom, and the first of only three women to hold any of the four great offices of state. In 1999 Thatcher was among 18 included in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th century, from a poll conducted of Americans. In a 2006 list compiled by New Statesman, she was voted 5th in the list of "Heroes of our time."

bell hooks (1952-)WomanistHooks is an American author, womanist, and social activist. Her writing has focused on the inter-connectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She has published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in various public lectures. Primarily through a postmodern perspective, hooks has addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, and mass media.She was called “one of the twenty most influential women in the last 20 years" by Publishers Weekly, and The Atlantic Monthly said she is “one of our nation’s leading public intellectuals."

Linda B. Buck (1947-)BiologistBuck, Ph.D. is an American biologist best known for her work on the olfactory system. She was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on cloned olfactory receptors, which opened the door to the genetic and molecular analysis of the mechanisms of olfaction. She is a Full Member of the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, an Affiliate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington, Seattle and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2004.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-)U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg is an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. She is the second female Justice and the first Jewish woman to serve on the Court.Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her career as an advocate for the equal citizenship status of women and men as a constitutional principle. She engaged in advocacy as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s. She served as a professor at Rutgers School of Law—Newark and Columbia Law School. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Madonna (1958-)Performer & EntrepreneurMadonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. After performing as a member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album Madonna in 1983. Madonna has sold more than 200 million albums and is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist. The U.S. Guinness World Records listed her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time.She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is considered to be one of the most influential women in contemporary music. She is known for continually reinventing both her music and image and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.

Wendy Luhabe (1957-)Social EntrepreneurLuhabe is regarded as one of South Africa 's prominent, visionary and pioneering women. She is most known for her vision in the founding of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings in 1993, an initiative that revolutionized the participation of women in the economic landscape of South Africa . She has been a director since the age of 36 and is chairman of International Marketing Council (IMC) and Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).She launched a R120 million private equity fund for women-owned enterprises and also serves on the Board of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and is a member of the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy .She was recognized as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and was honored as one of the 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World.

Jane Goodall (1934-)Primatologist & Peace ActivistGoodall is an English primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. She is well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family interactions.Goodall is best known for her study of chimpanzee social and family life. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute and she is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. One of Goodall's major break-throughs in primatology was the discovery of tool-making among chimpanzees. Jane Goodall has received many honors for her environmental and humanitarian work, as well as others. Her honors include the title United Nations Messenger of Peace, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, and the Gandhi-King Award for Nonviolence.

Mia Hamm (1972-)Soccer PlayerMia Hamm an American soccer player who played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female, in the history of soccer.Hamm is an iconic symbol of women's sports and an inspiration and role model to a generation of sports-minded girls. As part of the first generation of women to grow up with gender equality rights after Title IX passed, she received the college scholarships, endorsements and training opportunities necessary to become a top athlete. She was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year. Washington Post called Hamm, "Perhaps the most important athlete of the last 15 years."

Sonia Sotomayor (1954-)U.S. Supreme Court JusticeSotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice.Sotomayor graduated with an A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal. She was an advocate for the hiring of Latino faculty at both schools. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for five years before entering private practice in 1984. She played an active role on the boards of directors for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board.She was given the Outstanding Latino Professional Award in 2006 by the Latino/a Law Students Association.

L. Frank ManriquezNative American Activist & ArtistL. Frank is a California Indian artist, writer, tribal scholar, cartoonist, and community activist. She belongs to the Tongva and Acjachemen tribes of California.Frank’s artwork has been exhibited widely throughout California and appears in several publications. She is a Board Member of the Advocates for Indigenous California Languages, organizations that are involved in the preservation and revival of Native Californian languages through traditional arts practice, language immersion, conferences and workshops.She has won awards from the American Association of University Women, the James Irvine Foundation, the Fund for Folk Culture.

Oprah Winfrey (1954-)Television Entrepreneur & PhilanthropistWinfrey is an American television host, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century and beyond, the greatest black philanthropist in American history. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.Born into poverty in rural Mississippi, she experienced considerable hardship. Yet through tenacity and her natural charisma, she worked her way up, launching her own production company and became internationally syndicated.Her philanthropic endeavors have included helping the poor, the elderly, children, the oppressed and is funding the creation of schools in the poorest areas of Africa.

PemaChödrön (1936-)Buddhist NunPemaChödrön is an ordained Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, and a teacher in the lineage of ChögyamTrungpa. The goal of her work is the ability to apply Buddhist teachings on suffering and existential angst in the western context.A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats to bring Buddhist wisdom to western cultures.She is a fully-ordained bhikṣuṇī in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, having received full ordination in Hong Kong in 1981 at the behest of the 16th Karmapa. She has been instrumental in trying to reestablish full ordination for nuns in the Mulasarvastivadin order, to which all Tibetan Buddhist monastics have traditionally belonged.examiner.com

Hillary Clinton (1947-)Secretary of StateClinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. She served as the 42nd First Lady of the United States. She was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential Nomination in 2008.She was twice listed as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and led a task force to reform Arkansas's education system. She advocated for the establishment of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act.

Michelle Obama (1964-)First Lady of the United StatesMichelle Obama is the first First Lady of the United States of African-American heritage.A Harvard Law School graduate, she worked at the law firm Sidley Austin. she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.As First Lady, she frequently visits homeless shelters and soup kitchens, advocates for public and for military families, and supports the organic movement, planting an organic garden.

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