Women's Studies : Key Figures

African American chemist Alice Ball developed the first successful treatment for leprosy (Hansen's disease) in the early twentieth century. She was the first woman and the first African American to receive a master's degree from the University of Hawaii, and she would become the university's first female chemistry professor.

The leader of the radical wing of the woman suffrage movement that helped ensure the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Paul also introduced the Equal Rights Amendment.

Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique (1963) energized an untold number of women and helped spark the second wave of the feminist movement. Although Friedan became a leader in the continuing struggle for women’s rights, she also was a controversial figure. She later advocated against radical feminism and sexual politics and argued instead for unity with men in common struggle for gender equality.

Cruz had a flamboyant stage presence and a supple, powerful vocal style characterized by a raspy sensuality and a flair for jazzy improvisation. In a forty-year career largely centered on her embrace of the percussive Afro-Cuban music known as salsa, she helped engender the international popularity of contemporary Latin music, inspiring a generation of young Latino singers who saw in Cruz’s passionate celebration of her Latina identity a model of ethnic pride, uncompromising integrity, and prodigious artistic achievement.

Nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu disproved the principle of conservation of parity and proved the law of vector current in beta decay. Wu was the first woman elected president of the American Physical Society and honored with Israel’s Wolf Prize.

After devoting half of her life to humanitarian pursuits, Barton became the key figure in establishing the American Red Cross.

American primatologist Dian Fossey gained international recognition for her groundbreaking studies of mountain gorillas in central Africa. She spent eighteen years living among the gorillas, dispelling myths of their aggressiveness and ferocity, and spurring conservation efforts to protect the endangered species.

Cofounder of the United Farm Workers Association with César Chávez, Huerta earned renown through contract negotiations with California growers during the Delano grape strike, the crowning achievement of one of the greatest victories in the history of American workers. Her role as a Chicana labor leader in the male-dominated culture of farmworkers made her a champion of the women’s movement as well.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a founder of the organized women's movement in the United States. Stanton, who rarely shied from controversy, considered the political, social, and religious aspects when discussing or writing about the oppression of women. As a theorist, Stanton established the broad concerns of the women's rights movement, achieving a position of preeminence within the movement.

Florence Nightingale revolutionized the nursing profession and the design and conditions of medical care and hospital facilities.

Kahlo’s paintings depict the shocking reality of her lifelong, chronic emotional and physical pain. Her emotional expression combined with her flamboyant personality made her notable to artists and the general public alike. Her memory lives on in the numerous recreations of her image and in the retelling of her life story, elevating her to cult status.

Activist Greta Thunberg has drawn global attention to climate change and has inspired thousands of schoolchildren to strike to draw attention to the issue. She has addressed lawmakers, government bodies, and economic leaders and chided them for their failures to take meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions.

Lamarr starred in dozens of films during the golden age of Hollywood, and she coinvented a communications method, involving the basic technology used in cellular telephones, that was utilized successfully during World War II.

Rankin devoted her life to women’s rights and advocating peace. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the only member to vote against the entry of the United States into both world wars.

The principal founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Low spent the last fifteen years of her life working for an organization that would be similar to, but independent of, the Boy Scouts of America.

Known for her smart-on-crime approach, Kamala Harris became the thirty-second attorney general of California in 2011. She is the first woman, first South Asian American, and first African American to hold the office of attorney general in California’s history as well as the first Indian American attorney general in the United States. In November 2020, she became the first Black woman to be elected vice president of the United States.

Working as a "human computer" for NASA in the 1950s and 1960s, Katherine Johnson performed calculations for missions that sent an astronaut into orbit around Earth and successfully landed humans on the moon.

As ambassador to the United Nations and the first woman to hold the office of US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright helped shape a foreign policy that emphasized an activist but not unilateral role for the United States.

n addition to opening the field of space exploration to African American women, Jemison also dedicated her substantial later career to education and to using her experience as a business leader to find solutions to medical and environmental problems.

Malala Yousafzai is an activist in education and is the youngest person to have been awarded the Nobel Prize. She is known mostly for her advocacy work for the education and support of women, particularly in disadvantaged countries.

Best known as a recitalist who performed in both Europe and the United States, Anderson became an inadvertent civil rights activist when she sang at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 after being turned away from performing in the recital hall owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie conducted pioneering research into radioactivity. She and her husband, Pierre Curie, discovered the radioactive elements radium and polonium. Curie was the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize, which she received in both 1903 and 1911.

Angelou, best known for her rhythmic, gospel-inspired poetry and candid autobiographical works, namely I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, professed a philosophy that spoke to women, especially black women, facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles and challenges in life: “You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated.”

Iconic character representing women working in U.S. wartime industries.

As an attorney and a law professor, Ginsburg was a leader in the legal movement seeking to enhance the rights of women. In 1993, she became the first Jewish woman to serve on the US Supreme Court.

NASA astronaut Ride was the first American woman to fly in space when she flew aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1983 as a mission specialist. She was one of the first of a new breed of astronauts who were primarily scientists, and who were called mission specialists. Ride later founded NASA’s Office of Exploration.

Beauvoir cut across traditional academic fields to produce major works of literature, criticism, and philosophy, while her political activism anticipated the late twentieth century women’s movement and made her a leading figure in the human rights, peace, and social reform movements.

Sotomayor is an associate justice on the US Supreme Court. She started her life in the housing projects of New York City but went on to attend Yale Law School and become a federal district and circuit court judge, before being nominated to the nation’s highest court. She is the first Hispanic person to attain that position.