1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. She taught at Rutgers University Law School in New Jersey, then at Columbia University. At Colombia, she became the first female tenured professor. In the 1970’s she served as the director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1980 she was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993. She argued in many gender equality cases such as United States v. Virginia which fought against the male-only admission to the Virginia Military Institute. Another case is Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which fought for equal pay. She passed on September 18, 2020 due to complications with metastatic pancreas cancer.

2. Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter and is known best for her self portraits. Her art explored things such as gender, identity, class, and race in Mexican society. She is also known for painting about her chronic pain caused by a bus accident when she was 18. She was planning on going to medical school before the accident, but during her recovery she rediscovered her love for art. She was very open about female sexuality which impacted and inspired the LGBTQ+ community. She had created multiple paintings celebrating lesbian love such as “What I Saw in the Water”. She died from pneumonia in 1954 at the age of 47.

3. Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Pakistani activist. She is known for her advocacy surrounding human rights and the education of women and children. She was shot on the bus by the Taliban after taking an exam. She survived and later wrote a book on her experience called “I am Malala” which was published on October 8, 2013. Yousafzai graduated from Oxford University with her degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

4. Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. She escaped from the South and later went back 13 times and rescued 70 other enslaved people. They would go and stay with a network of anti-slavery activists known as the Underground Railroad. She was a spy for the Union Army and activist for the women's suffrage movement. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war.

5. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American poet and civil rights activist. She has more than 50 honorary degrees, seven autobiographies, and several books of poetry. She performed her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration. She ran for president in 2008 but lost to Barack Obama.

These women have paved the way for people everywhere. They have shown young women everywhere that they can do anything they set their mind to. Our society would not be the same without them.