Famous women A-Z

Mary Anning

Mary Anning (1799–1847) was an English fossil-hunter and self-taught palaeontologist who was once described as "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew". Her discoveries, most...

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) was an American social reformer who played a key role in the women’s suffrage movement (the campaign to win the right to vote) in the USA during...

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi (born 1945) is a human rights activist who has become an international symbol of peaceful protest in the face of political oppression. Winner of the Nobel Peace...

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker (1906–75) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. She was the first black woman to star in a major movie, the 1927 French silent film La Sirène...

Nellie Bly

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly (1864–1922), was an American journalist who wrote hard-hitting stories about the poor and oppressed. She is...

Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell (1865–1915) was an English nurse who, during World War I, cared for wounded soldiers of both sides at the hospital where she was working in Brussels. She helped...

Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (1883–1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman, best known for her clothing, jewellery, handbags and fragrance. Born into poverty...

Emily Davison

Emily Davison (1872–1913) was an English suffragette who was fatally injured at the Epsom Derby in 1913 when she stepped out on to the racetrack and collided with King George...

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) was an American aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Much celebrated during her lifetime, Amelia...

Millicent Fawcett

Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847–1929) was a leading campaigner for equal rights for women in Britain. A political leader and writer, she led the biggest suffrage organization...

Anne Frank

Anne Frank (1929–45) was a young German Jewish girl whose account of being forced to go into hiding with her family during World War II has since become a classic of war...

Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry (1780–1845) was an English Quaker who dedicated much of her adult life to helping those in need. A compassionate and brave campaigner, she became well known for her...

Jane Goodall

Dame Jane Goodall (1934–2025) was an English primatologist (an expert on primates). She was best known for her 45-year study of the lives of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National...

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson (1918–2020) was an African American mathematician who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She performed the accurate...

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (1907–54) was a Mexican artist, best known for her self-portraits and works inspired by themes from Mexican history and popular culture. She began painting after she...

Helen Keller

A childhood illness left American Helen Keller (1880–1968) blind and deaf. With the help of a remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan, Helen overcame her disabilities to lead an...

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai (1940–2011) was a Kenyan environmental and political campaigner. She became the first woman in East and Central Africa to gain a doctorate, receiving a PhD from...

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was an English nurse who worked to improve the quality of medical care for British soldiers during the Crimean War (1853–56). Her work there...

Mother Teresa

Blessed Mother Teresa (1910–97) was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. She had moved to Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta)...

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg (born 2003) is a Swedish student and climate activist. Aged 15, she began the School Strike for Climate movement in August 2018 with her solo Skolstrejk för...

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883) was an American abolitionist and campaigner for African American civil rights, women's rights and alcohol temperance. She is best known for her...

Harriet Tubman

American anti-slavery and women's rights' campaigner Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) escaped slavery to become one of the leading abolitionists in the time before the American Civil...

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai (born 1997) is a Pakistani activist who from an early age spoke out publicly against the activities of the Taliban as they tried to suppress girls’ education in...