(6) Groundbreaking Milestones for Women throughout History

Dorothea Erxleben earns her Medical Degree, 1754

Her father taught medicine to this German woman at a young age becoming the first female in the world to graduate with a medical degree, from the University of Halle.

Susan B. Anthony

The 19th Amendment to the American Constitution—which granted the right to vote to all U.S. women over 21 in 1920—is also known by her name.
She participated in her first women’s rights convention in 1852.
Over the next 54 years, she published "The Revolution"; circulated petitions for married women’s property rights; gave speeches; called the first Woman Suffrage Convention in Washington, D.C. (1869); and was arrested for voting (1872).

Charlotte Cooper wins Olympic Gold, 1900

At the original Olympic Games (776 BC) women couldn't even be spectators... Many years later, Charlotte’s tennis skills helped her become the first woman to earn the golden medal at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

She also won five Wimbledon championships during her impressive career.

Malala Yousafzai

When the Taliban group took power in her hometown in Pakistan and started attacking girls’ schools, she, then a student at school (only 11 years old) gave a speech defending her and all women’s right to an education.

She used a fake name to blog for the BBC in 2009, talking about living under the Taliban’s oppressive thumb. 

In 2012, the 15-year-old was on her way home from school when a masked gunman boarded the bus and shot her in the head.
She survived, and after a medically induced coma and multiple surgeries, she returned to school in England, addressed the United Nations, published her first book "I Am Malala", and in 2014 she became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Marie Curie wins The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903

She worked alongside her husband Pierre Curie (who, unlike Einstein, saw his genius wife as an equal and shared authorship with her on papers they did together). 

She shared the award with Antoine Henri Becquerel and her husband Pierre. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences, for physics in 1903 and for chemistry in 1911

She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.



Gertrude Ederle swims The English Channel, 1926

Though she was only 20 years old at the time, the young woman could swim across the channel from France and she also beat the previous record by doing so in just 14 hours and 31 minutes.

Reporters at the time called Gertrude “Queen of the Waves.”



Amelia Earhart crosses The Atlantic, 1932

The aviator’s solo flight from Newfoundland, Canada, tried to emulate Charles Lindbergh’s previous journey, with Amelia landing in Paris.
However, icy conditions on the nearly 15-hour trip caused her to make her descent in Derry, Ireland, instead.

She was greeted by a farmer of the land she’d touched down on, who asked how far she had flown. Amelia gave him a shock when she replied “from America!”



Valentina Tereshkova goes to Space, 1963

After beating out more than 400 other applicants, the Russian cosmonaut became the first woman to enter space as the pilot of Vostok 6.

Valentina spent three days in the craft, orbiting Earth 48 times.



Junko Tabei climbs Mount Everest, 1975

Junko became the first woman to make the full ascent as she successfully led a team of 15 women to the top of the mountain.
After that, she became the first woman to climb the highest mountain on every continent (known as the Seven Summits).

Ali Stroker - Tony Award

After becoming the first actor in a wheelchair in Broadway history in 2015, on June 9, 2019, she became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award.

She won the award for her powerhouse performance in the revival of "Oklahoma!"

She dedicated her acceptance speech to “every kid…who has a disability, a limitation, a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena.”

Sirimavo Bandaranaike - PM

When Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected the prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1960—the first woman to hold a PM position in the world—it was so unusual to have a female head of government that newspapers were unsure how to address her. 

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759-97)Writer, feminist and philosopher Wollstonecraft was the first woman to articulate the gap between the rights of man and rights of women. 

In 1792 she wrote her book, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", which is still powerful today. Her daughter, of course, was Mary Shelley, the famous author of "Frankenstein".

Victoria Woodhull

The first woman who run for president of the United States was Victoria Woodhull, who started a bid for the presidency in 1872, writing to the New York Herald: “I…claim the right to speak for the unenfranchised women of the country.” 

The Equal Rights Party chose her as their presidential candidate—and though she didn’t end up appearing on the ballot, her historical impact can still be felt today.

Janet Guthrie drives in The Indy 500, 1977

Despite the objections of many male drivers, Janet became the first woman to enter a NASCAR competition in 1976. The next year she participated in Indianapolis 500.

Three-time champion A.J. Foyt came to her defense when other drivers tried to prevent her from competing, even loaning her one of his backup cars.

Katherine Johnson - "Hidden figures"

This West Virginian was always exceptional at math. In 1939, she was one of three black students (and the only female) to be offered a spot at West Virginia University. 

According to NASA, in 1962, John Glenn refused to take his orbital mission, which would shift the Soviet-American space race, until “the girl” ran the numbers personally as he didn’t trust only the computer to do it.
In her 33 years with NASA, she also did calculations for the Project Apollo Lunar Lander, the Space Shuttle, and the Earth Resources Satellite.

Edith Wharton - Pulitzer Prize for literature

A member of East Coast high society, she became novelist and short story writer, and the first woman to get the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1921 for her book "The Age of Innocence"—despite never attending school.

She also was awarded France’s Cross of the Legion of Honor for feeding and housing 600 Belgian refugee orphans during World War I, because she was living in Paris when the fighting started.

Kathryn Bigelow wins the Oscar for Best Director, 2010

Her film "The Hurt Locker" was nominated the same year her ex-husband, James Cameron, was up for several of the same awards with "Avatar".
Kathryn not only beat him to the Best Director title, she got the Best Picture award, too.

Grace Hopper

She worked on the “Mark I project”, one of the original functioning computers, through Harvard and the United States Naval Reserve, as well as its future iterations Mark II and III.
She led the team that invented COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), the first programming language that used words instead of numbers. It is still used today.

Anna Bissell - CEO

Although it was her husband who invented the carpet-sweeping machine in 1876 and founded Bissell, Anna Bissell became the CEO of the company in 1889, making her the first female CEO in America.

After her husband’s death, Anna was the one who took the sweepers to the next level with aggressive marketing. She traveled around the country selling sweepers and making deals with major retailers to carry the Bissell brand. Eventually, she took the brand international.

Ella Fitzgerald

She’s known as the “First Lady of Song” for a reason!

The first-ever woman to win two Grammies and first African-American to win the award. 

In her life, she performed at Carnegie Hall 26 times and won 11 Grammies after her history-making first two.