From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list in alphabetical order of notable women, both past and present, based on a variety of sources (see below). It is still being developed and expanded. Further lists by continent or country are under consideration.
Jane Addams (1860–1935), pioneering American social worker and women's rights activist
Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), Austrian-born Queen Consort of France
Corazon Aquino (1933–2009), Filipina politician, President of the Philippines
Anna Atkins (1799–1871), early English photographer
Aung San Suu Kyi (born 1945), Burmese politician, State Counsellor of Myanmar
Jane Austen (1775–1817), English novelist
Josephine Baker (1906–1975), American vaudeville dancer and entertainer
Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916–2000), Sri Lankan politician, modern world's first female head of government
Mary Barra (born 1961), American business executive, CEO of General Motors Company
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1968), French philosopher and writer
Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), English traveller, explorer and administrator
Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), French actress
Annie Besant (1847–1933), British women's rights activist, writer and orator
Liliane Bettencourt (1922–2017), French businesswoman, world's richest woman
Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007), Pakistani politician
Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891), Russian occultist
Karen Blixen (1885–1962), Danish writer
Enid Blyton (1897–1968), English children's writer
Letizia Bonaparte (1749–1836), mother of Napoleon I
Boudica (died ca, 60 AD), leader of the early Britons
Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), English novelist
Gro Harlem Brundtland (born 1939), Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway
Carla Bruni (born 1967), Italian-French singer and songwriter, First Lady of the French Republic
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973), American novelist, Nobel Literature laureate
Maria Callas (1923–1977), Greek-American soprano opera singer
Catherine the Great (1728–1796), Empress of Russia
Coco Chanel (1883–1971), French fashion designer and businesswoman
Eileen Chang (1920–1995), Chinese writer
Agatha Christie (1890–1976), English crime novelist and playwright
Cleopatra (69–30 BC), Egyptian ruler
Hillary Clinton (born 1947), American politician
Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695), Mexican nun, writer and philosopher
Marie Curie (1867–1934), Polish-French physicist and chemist
Princess Diana (1961–1997), British Princess of Wales
Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992), German-American actress and singer
Isadora Duncan (1877–1878), American modern dancer
Amelia Earhart (1897–1937), pioneering American aviator
Shirin Ebadi (born 1947), Iranian lawyer and human rights activist
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204), Queen Consort of France and later of England
Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Queen of England and Ireland
Elisabeth II (born 1926), Queen of the United Kingdom, Head of the Commonwealth
Cesária Évora (1941–2011), Cape Verdean morna singer
Renée Fleming (born 1959), American soprano opera singer
Margot Fonteyn (1919–1991), English ballet dancer
Anne Frank (1929–1945), Dutch Jewish diarist
Aretha Franklin (1942-2018), American singer and songwriter
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), English chemist and X-ray crystallographer
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984), Indian politician
Sonia Gandhi (born 1946), Italian-born Indian politician
Melinda Gates (born 1964), co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), Iraqi-British architect
Mata Hari (1876–1917), Dutch exotic dancer, executed for spying
Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), British film actress
Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), German astronomer
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), German abbess, writer and visionary
Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994), British chemist and Nobel chemistry prize winner
Grace Hopper (1906–1992), American computer scientist
Hypatia of Alexandria (ca. 350–415), Greek mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and educator
Michaëlle Jean (born 1957), Canadian stateswoman
Joan of Arc (1412–1431), French heroine
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Mexican painter
Helen Keller (1880–1968), deaf-blind American writer and political activist
Grace Kelly (1929–1982), American actress and Princess of Monaco
Billie Jean King (born 1943), American tennis player and gender equality activist
Melanie Klein (1882–1960), Austrian-British psychoanalyst
Umm Kulthum (1898–1975), Egyptian singer and actress
Yayoi Kusama (born 1929), Japanese artist, avant-garde painter and writer
File:Yayoi Kusama signing.jpg
Christine Lagarde (born 1956), French politician, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Estée Lauder (1908–2004), American businesswoman specializing in cosmetics
Jenny Lind (1820–1887), Swedish opera singer
Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002), Swedish children's writer
Audre Lorde (1934–1992), American writer, feminist and civil rights activist
Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), English mathematician
Ida Lupino (1918–1995), Anglo-American actress, singer and film director
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919), Polish-German socialist politician
Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), Kenyan political activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Madonna (born 1958), American singer and actress
Miriam Makeba (1932–2008), South African musician and civil rights activist
Mary Magdalene (1st century AD), biblical figure, follower of Jesus
Winnie Mandela (born 1936), South African politician
Margaret Mead (1901–1978), American cultural anthopologist
Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), Italian noblewoman, influential queen consort of France
Meera (1498–1546), Indian Hindu mystic
Golda Meir (1917–1956), Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel
Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959), Guatemalan civil and women's rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize lauteate
Angela Merkel (born 1954), German politician
Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist
Lee Miller (1907–1977), American photographer and war correspondent
Maria Montessori (1870–1952), Italian physician and educator
Berthe Morisot (1841–1895), French impressionist painter
Alice Munro (born 1931), Canadian short story writer
Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973–1014), Japanese novelist
Nefertiti (ca. 1370–1330), Egytian queen
Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), English social reformer, founder of modern nursing
Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (1583-1663), Angolan queen of the Mbundu people
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), American modernist artist
Michelle Obama (born 1964), American lawyer, First Lady of the United States
Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793), French playwright, political activist and feminist
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994), First Lady of the United States
Camille Paglia (born 1947), American academic and social critic
Anna Pavlova (1881–1931), Russian ballet dancer
Édith Piaf (1915–1963), French cabaret singer and songwriter
Rosa Parks (1913–2005), American civil rights activist
Eva Perón (1919–1952), First Lady of Argentina
Jiang Qing (1914–1991), Chinese politician, active in the Cultural Revolution
Qiu Jin (1875–1907), Chinese feminist, revolutionary and writer
Ayn Rand (1905–1882), Russian-American writer
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900–1978), Nigerian political campaigner and women's rights activist
Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003), German film director, screenwriter and actress
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), American politician, activist and First Lady
Dilma Rousseff (born 1974), Brazilian economist, former President of Brazil
J. K. Rowling (born 1965), British novelist, writer of the Harry Potter series
Sheryl Sandberg (born 1969), American technology executive
Margaret Sanger (1879–1966), American birth control activist
Sappho (630–570 BC), ancient Greek poet
Clara Schumann (1819–1896), German musician and composer
Irena Sendler (1910–2008), Polish nurse, social worker and Jewish resistance leader
Mary Shelley (1797–1851), English novelist
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (born 1942), Icelandic politician, world's first openly lesbian head of government
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 1938), President of Liberia
Soong Ching-ling (1893–1981), Chinese politician
Gloria Steinem (born 1934), American feminist leader
Meryl Streep (born 1949), American actress
Joan Sutherland (1926–2010), Australian colatura soprano
Kiri Te Kanawa (born 1944), New Zealand soprano
Mother Teresa (1910–1997), Albanian-Indian nun and missionary
Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937), Russian cosmonaut, first woman in space
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), British politician
Margrethe Vestager (born 1968), Danish politician, European Commissioner for Competition
Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), English philosopher and women's rights advocate
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), English modernist writer
Janet Yellen (born 1946), American economist, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Malala Yousafzai (born 1997), Pakistani women's education activist, Nobel Prize laureate
Addams, Jane (18 November 2010).
"The 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" . Time.
Apotheker, Jan; Sarkadi, Livia Simon (2011).
European Women in Chemistry . John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN
978-3-527-63646-4 .
Ashby, Ruth; Ohrn, Deborah Gore, eds. (1995).
Herstory: women who changed the world . New York, New York: Viking Press.
ISBN
0-670-85434-4 .
"Famous Women in Modern History" . HistoryNet. Retrieved 9 October 2017 .
Hartley, Cathy (2003).
A Historical Dictionary of British Women . Psychology Press.
ISBN
978-1-85743-228-2 .
Helleberg, Maria (2015).
Kvinder der forandrede verden (in Danish). Informations Forlag.
ISBN
978-87-7514-861-5 .
Kuiper, Kathleen (December 2009).
The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time . The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 4–.
ISBN
978-1-61530-010-5 .
Merritt, Alicia, ed. (2006).
Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present . ABC-CLIO.
ISBN
978-1-85109-770-8 .
Resch, Yannick (2009).
200 femmes célèbres: Des origines à nos jours (PDF) (in French). Eyrolles.
ISBN
978-2-212-54291-2 .
Rosenberg, Jennifer (2017).
"100 Famous Women of the 20th Century" . ThoughtCo.
Showalter, Elaine; Baechler, Lea; Litz, A. Walton (1993).
Modern American Women Writers . Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
978-0-02-082025-3 .
Smith, Bonnie G. (2005).
Women's History in Global Perspective . University of Illinois Press.
ISBN
978-0-252-02997-4 .
Vega, Carlos B. (2003).
Conquistadoras: Mujeres Heroicas de la Conquista de America (in Spanish). McFarland.
ISBN
978-0-7864-8208-5 .
"Women who changed the world " . Biography Online. Retrieved 9 October 2017 .
"The World's 100 Most Powerful Women " . Forbes. Retrieved 9 October 2017 .