Women’s History

From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.

Featured Overview

Discover five extraordinary women whose leadership and determination redefined America —proving that change happens when bold voices rise.

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History.com Women's History Collage

Illustration by Eduardo Ramón Trejo. Photos from Getty Images.

Featured Overview

Discover five extraordinary women whose leadership and determination redefined America —proving that change happens when bold voices rise.

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Start Here

From a plea to a founding father, to the suffragists to Title IX, to the first female political figures, women have blazed a steady trail towards equality in the United States.

Writer, feminist, poet and civil-rights activist Audre Lorde (1934-1992) poses for a photograph during her 1983 residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

The history of established feminist movements in the United States roughly breaks down into four different time periods.

Why the 19th Amendment Did Not Guarantee All Women the Right to Vote

Despite the adoption of the 19th Amendment, many women of color, immigrant women and poorer women continued to face barriers at the polls.

Margaret Thatcher

They scored historic victories in their respective countries and left lasting legacies.

Women Take to the Skies During WWII

More to History: Women Take to the Skies During WWII

In America's forgotten war, one hero with heritage on the other side of the battlefield put himself in harm's way to save his fellow soldiers.

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Women’s History

Women have been held to ever-shifting, often extreme standards of beauty for centuries. But some have taken matters into their own (well-groomed) hands.

A photo of Madam C.J. Walker, the first woman to become a self-made millionaire in the United States, driving a car, circa 1911. From the New York Public Library.

While male business titans dominated in the late 1800s, these women also made their mark, from opening their own banks to amassing millions on Wall Street.

Discover five extraordinary women whose leadership and determination redefined America —proving that change happens when bold voices rise.

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Researchers at the National Archives have found evidence that at least 250 women dressed as men to fight in the Civil War, some motivated by ideology, some by a taste for adventure and some by the need for a job.

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Elizabeth Freeman's story is nothing short of incredible—her ability to win freedom in Massachusetts' courts prompted future legislation for abolition.

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Belva Lockwood, lawyer, presidential candidate (and bicycle rider).

Belva Lockwood not only ran for president—twice—she was also the first female lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talks about Women's Rights past and present.

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Esther Peterson

Esther Eggertsen Peterson was a driving force behind the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and also pushed for better child care resources.

In America's forgotten war, one hero with heritage on the other side of the battlefield put himself in harm's way to save his fellow soldiers.

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Carrie Chapman Catt

Carrie Chapman Catt fought for equal voting rights as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and founder of the League of Women Voters.

Muriel Siebert, first female head of a brokerage firm, above the floor of the NY Stock Exchange.

Long before Martha and Oprah, as far back as the late colonial era, these successful business women were breaking glass ceilings.

A 1976 photo of a woman holding a pack of birth control pills.

Since the early 1800s, U.S. federal and state governments have taken steps both securing and limiting access to contraception and abortion.

November 1991: Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William Rehnquist and the newly installed Associate Justice Clarence Thomas (l) in the Supreme Court building. All nine Supreme Court Justices are shown.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirmed a woman's right to an abortion as granted in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. However, the decision altered Roe and upheld a number of abortion requirements cited in the case, while broadening the authority of states to regulate and restrict abortions. Planned Parenthood v. Casey was overturned in 2022.

The Female Navigator Who Trained WWII Pilots and Guided Astronauts

Mary Tornich Janislawski guided World War II pilots and astronauts in how to use celestial bodies for navigation.

Writer, feminist, poet and civil-rights activist Audre Lorde (1934-1992) poses for a photograph during her 1983 residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

The history of established feminist movements in the United States roughly breaks down into four different time periods.

How a Female Pinkerton Detective Helped Save Abraham Lincoln's Life

In 1861, Kate Warne kept the president-elect safe from an assassination plot on his train journey to Washington.

Nellie Bly (1867-1922), an American journalist and around the world traveler.

From a Viking 'far traveler' to a Soviet cosmonaut, these fearless women blazed daring new trails.

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, and in 1972 she was the first Black major party candidate to run for president. But beyond being a first, who was Shirley Chisholm? And how does her legacy impact us all today?

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Sometimes, it really does come down to one vote (and the voter's mother) to change history.

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From Tomoe Gozen to Jeanne Hachette, these 10 badass warrior women have slashed their way into the history books, in this episode of History Countdown.

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These 6 women were true triple threats: performers, celebrities - and spies! From Julia Child to Audrey Hepburn, these are 6 famous women who were secretly spies, in this episode of History Countdown.

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How World War I Helped Women Shed the Corset

A combination of cultural shifts and metal rationing spelled the demise of the stiff undergarment.

How Suffragists Pioneered New Types of Peaceful Protest

Women infused their protests with creativity, PR savvy and in-your-face urgency.

The Forgotten Women Doctors of WWI

Doctors of the Women's Oversea Hospitals Unit operated under bomb and gas attacks. And their all-female support teams built new hospitals—even the coffins.

Why the 19th Amendment Did Not Guarantee All Women the Right to Vote

Despite the adoption of the 19th Amendment, many women of color, immigrant women and poorer women continued to face barriers at the polls.

Generic IVF clinic, stem cell research, health, test tube, r&d, microscope, testing, 1995

Women inventors are behind a wide range of key innovations, from Kevlar to dishwashers to better life rafts.

Carrie Shelton, This photo from the Library of Congress of Shelton from 1914 lists her as "Miss Carolyn B. Sheldon"

Carrie B. Shelton had the power to veto bills as Oregon governor—but she couldn’t vote.

19th Amendment: A Timeline of the Long Fight for All Women's Right to Vote

From Seneca Falls to the civil rights movement, see what events led to the ratification of the 19th amendment and later acts supporting Black and Native American women's right to vote.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in America to earn a medical degree, and used her talents to support Union troops on the frontlines of the Civil War. But she was never given the credit she deserved.

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The 19th Amendment was ratified just in time to include women voters in the presidential election.

Without their sister, Katharine, the Wright brothers may have never taken flight.

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Phyllis Schafly

The ERA was on track to become the 27th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Then a grassroots conservative movement halted its momentum.

Margaret Thatcher

They scored historic victories in their respective countries and left lasting legacies.

Pregnancy in the Workplace

Women working while pregnant in the United States have faced shifting rules and protections through the decades.

Growing up in the Bronx, Sonia Sotomayor was a die-hard Yankees fan. Little did she know she would one day help save the sport itself.

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World War I helped women around the world get the vote.

American history author David McCullough shines a light on Emily Roebling, the true driving force behind the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Under the 'American Plan,' women could be detained for sitting in a restaurant alone, changing jobs—or, often, for no reason at all.

Brenda Berkman is the reason women are allowed to join the New York City fire department-- this is the story of her fight.

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From historical figures like Jeannette Rankin, the first woman in Congress, to modern ones like Tammy Duckworth, the first disabled person in Congress, meet 5 women who have paved the way for others in politics.

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Robin Morgan led the protest of the 1968 Miss America Pageant by the New York Radical Women. This event brought feminism to the forefront and left an imprint on protest movements that followed.

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A group called The New York Radical Women may have protested the 1968 Miss America Pageant, but contrary to popular myth, they did not burn any bras.

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On 9/11, Heather Penney, a fighter pilot with the Washington D.C. Air National Guard, was tasked with the unthinkable; taking down Flight 93.

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Suffragist Lucy Burns in a cell

After peacefully demonstrating in front of the White House, 33 women endured a night of brutal beatings.

Feminism, a belief in the political, economic and cultural equality of women, has roots in the earliest eras of human civilization.

Although now a standard part of any makeup kit, red lipstick has a long and turbulent history that dates back to ancient times. Often controversial and sometimes heroic, red lipstick has always meant much more than just a choice of color.

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From a plea to a founding father, to the suffragists to Title IX, to the first female political figures, women have blazed a steady trail towards equality in the United States.

In 1834, men and women—African American and white—of William Lloyd Garrison’s newly formed Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society saw Christmas as an opportunity to expose a republic that proclaimed liberty yet held millions as slaves. Women assumed the lead, boldly defying a society that denied them a public voice or political opinions. To finance the abolition cause, these women organized Christmas bazaars that sold donated gifts, and trumpeted anti-slavery messages in the name of the prince of peace and emancipation.

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Learn how Virginia Hall, woman with a prosthetic leg, became the most feared allied spy in WWII. See how she eluded Nazi capture and aided in a victory at D-Day.

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In the 1800s, a woman shopping for herself was a novel activity. It wasn't until the rise of department stores that women had a space where they could purchase clothing and other wares apart from the men in their lives.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg has achieved legendary status as the second woman ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court. But her path to Associate Justice was not an easy one, filled with obstacles faced by countless 20th century women looking to break into male-dominated professions.

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The all-female Soviet bomber aviation regiment flew under the cover of night and dropped more than 23,000 tons of bombs on Nazi targets during World War II.

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After decades of organizing, lobbying, and protesting, American women finally gained the right to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. This film offers rare footage of the struggle leading up to and including that pivotal moment.

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Harry Burn reversed his anti-suffrage vote after receiving a plea from his mother.

Gertrude Ederle

Gertrude Ederle slathered herself in grease, wore a controversial two-piece bathing suit and ate chicken legs along the way.

Susan B Anthony, front row and second from the left, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two seats over, with executive committee members from the International Council of Women.

It was at this small gathering where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others let the discontent of their lives boil over—and decided to do something about it.

Women around the world have fought against oppressive regimes, either with the pen, the podium or their very own fists.

Details of a U.S. armed service recruiting poster featuring women in different uniforms: Marines, Navy (WAVES), Army (WAC), and Coast Guard (SPARS). (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

U.S. women served their country bravely during multiple wars. But once the fighting stopped, they were expected to step down.

Sally Ride

Ride was eminently qualified for space flight. So why did the press ask about makeup and periods?

The First Miss America Pageant 1921

The Miss America Organization recently dropped the swimsuit competition from its pageants, but the original pageant only featured 'bathing beauties.'

Members of the National Women's Liberation Party hold protest signs outside of the 1968 Miss America Pageant. (Credit: AP Photo)

Inaccurate coverage of the 1968 protest gave rise to the ‘bra-burner’ stereotype used to malign women’s rights activism.

The Supreme Court Justice was the second woman to hold the role—and battled gender discrimination since the 1970s.

Crowd at pro-choice rally, re possible SCrowd at pro-choice rally, re possible Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade decision. (Photo by Andrew Holbrooke/Getty Images)

Roe v. Wade was a landmark legal decision issued on January 22, 1973, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas statute banning abortion, effectively legalizing the procedure across the United States.

The Gloucester Street Laundry in Dublin, the last of Ireland's infamous Magdalene Laundries, which closed in 1996.

Until 1996, pregnant or promiscuous women could be incarcerated for life in Magdalene Laundries.

How did the fight for equal pay evolve over a century of United States politics? What did the Equal Pay Act of 1963 enshrine in law, and what effect did it have on U.S. workplaces?

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Learn about the movement for women's equality that precipitated the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, and what its attendees - including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott - hoped to achieve.

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Susan B Anthony, front row and second from the left, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two seats over, with executive committee members from the International Council of Women. (Credit: Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Voting wasn't their only goal, or even their main one. They battled racism, economic oppression and sexual violence—along with the law that made married women little more than property of their husbands.

See a newly colorized portrait of the grande dame of feminism.

An illustration of a consultation with a back-street abortionist due to the new laws and scandal surrounding abortions. (Credit: CCI/REX/Shutterstock)

Abortion was common during the 19th century.

A woman walking by two seated men.

Meet Lin Farley, the woman who helped coin the term 'sexual harassment.'

US-WHITE HOUSE-KENNEDY Standing behind President John F. Kennedy (Seated-R) signing the Equal Pay Act on 10 June 1963 from (R-L) are: Congresswoman Edna Kelly, Congresswoman Edith Green, an unidentified woman, Mary Anderson, Women's Bureau Director, and Dr. Dorothy Height, President National Council of Negro Women. Other organizations represented at this event included the National Council of Catholic Women, the National Council of Jewish Women, the United Auto Workers, and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. AFP PHOTO/HO (Photo by - / John F. Kennedy Library Foundation / AFP) (Photo by -/John F. Kennedy Library Foundati/AFP via Getty Images)

Wage Gap The Equal Pay Act was an effort to correct a centuries-old problem of gender-based wage discrimination. Women made up a quarter of the American workforce by the early 20th century, but they were traditionally paid far less than men, even in cas...

Illustration of First Women's Rights Convention in 1848(Original Caption) Seneca Falls, NY: Cartoon representing feminist speaker denouncing men at the first Women's Rights Convention, July 19-20, 1848, Seneca Falls, NY, where the American feminist movement was launched. Undated engraving. BPA2# 5480

The Seneca Falls Convention, held in upstate New York over two days in July 1848, was the first women’s rights convention in the United States.

A woman demonstrating how to use a hat pin in self defense, 1904

“No man, however courageous he may be, likes to face a resolute woman with a hatpin in her hand.”

A woman smoking a cigarette.

The short-lived law only increased women’s freedoms.

Marriage to a royal consort has not always been the fairytale we believe it to be.

Jacqui Rossi details Amelia Earhart's trajectory from baby tomboy in Kansas to the world's foremost aviatrix.

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Marion Barbara 'Joe' Carstairs

Among the adventuresses: a swashbuckling pirate, a medieval crusader and pioneering space traveler.

They were a crucial Soviet asset to winning World War II.

Bet you've never heard of all 11 of these game-changing women and their incredible accomplishments.

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From the female Paul Revere and a Hollywood starlet-turned-inventor to a political pioneer and the first female sports star, explore the legacies of these daring women.

Historian Yohuru Williams recaps the efforts of women to secure the right to vote in the early 19th century.

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Historian Matthew Pinsker Learn about the long arduous journey made by suffragists that eventually won them the right to vote in 1920. Hosted by historian Matthew Pinsker.

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Sirimavo Bandaranaike at a 1988 press conference.

The first woman in the modern world to run a country hailed from Southeast Asia. Many have followed.

Molly Pitcher, the heroine of Monmouth. (Credit: Public Domain)

She supposedly cared for American soldiers during the war—and then took over for one of them when he could no longer fight.

Florence Nightingale was so respected in the field of nursing that she was tapped to consult with the British Army. Learn more about the health reforms that she instituted in this video.

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In their battle to win the vote, early women's rights activists employed everything from fashion innovations to hungers strikes.

elizabeth cady stanton

Brash, uncompromising and fiercely intelligent, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spent more than 50 years as one of the leading voices of the American women’s rights movement.

vintage map macro of Wyoming

For 50 years before the adoption of the 19th Amendment, women in Wyoming had full voting rights.

Madame Curie in her laboratory ca. 1905.

Marie Curie was the first and most famous, but there were other early trailblazers.

Portrait of American feminist Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), circa 1872.

Check out some surprising facts about the colorful feminist trailblazer.

19th Amendment

American women achieved the right to vote on August 18, 1920, thanks in part to a Tennessee legislator with a very powerful mother.

Dr. Margaret Mead, 1901-78: Holding artifact from the Pacific Area. Undated photograph.

Margaret Mead’s Early Life Mead, who turned the study of primitive cultures into a vehicle for criticizing her own, was born in Philadelphia on December 16, 1901. Both her father, Edward Mead, an economist at the Wharton School, and her mother, Emily Me...

Frances Perkins, named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as his Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet office in the United States.

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) achieved historic gains as U.S. secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, she was a teacher before becoming involved in social reform. She was the first woman to se...

Jane Addams, 1906. Artist George de Forest Brush. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Hull House founder and peace activist Jane Addams (1860-1935) was one of the most distinguished of the first generation of college-educated women, rejecting marriage and motherhood in favor of a lifetime commitment to the poor and social reform.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller was an author, lecturer, and crusader for the handicapped. Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, She lost her sight and hearing at the age of nineteen months to an illness now believed to have been scarlet fever. Five years later, on the advice of Al...

Frances Elizabeth Willard (1839-1898), founder of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and lobbyist for women's suffrage

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. After Frances Willard took over leadership in 1879, the WCTU became one of the largest and most influential women’s groups of the 19th century by expanding it...

Suffragist and women's rights leader Susan B. Anthony, circa 1857.

Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the U.S. women’s suffrage movement and president of the National Woman Suffrage Association, is honored by a one dollar coin.

19th Amendment: A Timeline of the Long Fight for All Women's Right to Vote

The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 guaranteed women the right to vote. Learn how suffragists fought for the cause and hear a summary of amendment in this brief video.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her chambers at the US Supreme Court in Washington DC, 5th October 1981, ten days after she became the first female Justice to serve on the Court. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

American women’s history has been full of pioneers: Women who fought for their rights, worked hard to be treated equally and made great strides in fields like science, politics, sports, literature and art.

Portrait of American feminist leader and author Gloria Steinem in a room at a Holiday Inn, San Francisco, California, November 1977. (Photo by Janet Fries/Getty Images)

Early Life Born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Since the late 1960s, Gloria Steinem has been an outspoken champion of women’s rights. She had an unusual upbringing, spending part of the year in Michigan and the winters in Florida or California. Wit...

Bella Abzug

A leading liberal activist and politician, Bella Abzug (1920-1998) was especially known for her work for women’s rights. After graduating from Columbia University’s law school, she became involved the antinuclear and peace movements. In the 1960s, she h...

Lucretia Mott, women's rights, feminism, Seneca Falls convention

Lucretia Mott was a 19th-century feminist activist, abolitionist, social reformer and pacifist who helped launch the women’s rights movement. Raised on the Quaker tenet that all people are equals, Mott spent her entire life fighting for social and political reform on behalf of women, blacks and other marginalized groups.

WASHINGTON - MARCH 03: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg smiles during a photo session with photographers at the U.S. Supreme Court March 3, 2006 in Washington DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Early Life Ruth Joan Bader, the second daughter of Nathan and Cecelia Bader grew up in a low-income, working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Ginsburg's family was Jewish. Ginsburg’s mother, a major influence in her life, taught her the value o...

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (1829-1910) was an English social reformer who is considered the founder of modern nursing.

elizabeth cady stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist, human rights activist and one of the first leaders of the women’s suffrage movement and the women’s rights movement.

Alice Paul, American suffragist, 1920.

Alice Paul was a Quaker suffragist who fought to secure women the right to vote and other feminist causes. The author of the Equal Rights Amendment, written in 1923 but still not ratified, died at the age of 92 in 1977, and remains one of the nation’s most outspoken voices in the battle for equality.

Dorothea Lynde DixDorothea Lynde Dix, 1868. Artist Samuel Bell Waugh. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Dorothea Dix’s Early Life Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine, in 1802. Her father Joseph was an itinerant Methodist preacher who was frequently away from home, and her mother suffered from debilitating bouts of depression. The oldest of three child...

Clara Barton was an educator who became known for tending to wounded Civil War soliders on the battlefield and later founded the American Red Cross.

Former NOW president Betty Friedan speaks at a conference at Mills College, Oakland, California, April 6, 1970.

With her book The Feminine Mystique (1963), Betty Friedan (1921-2006) broke new ground by exploring the idea of women finding personal fulfillment outside of their traditional roles. She also helped advance the women’s rights movement as one of the foun...

Early Life and Rise to Power Benazir Bhutto was born June 21, 1953, in Karachi, SE Pakistan, the eldest child of former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and was prime minister from 1971 to 1977. After completing ...

Jeannette Rankin’s Early Years Jeannette Rankin, born on June 11, 1880, grew up on her family’s ranch near Missoula in the Montana Territory. The eldest of seven children, Rankin helped care for her younger siblings, perform farm chores and maintain far...

Suffragettes Marching with Signs(Original Caption) New York: New York Society Woman Suffragettes as sandwich men advertise a mass meeting to be addressed by the Governor of the Suffrage states. Photograph.

The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

The 19th Amendment guaranteed women’s right to vote, but the women who fought for decades for that right are often overlooked by history. Here are their stories.