10 Women Who Defied The Times And Redefined History

Throughout history, women have challenged the rules and shaped the world in powerful ways. Several of their stories show how they made moves even when the odds were stacked against them. These stories aren’t just real but also worth knowing. Now, let us look at 10 of these women who faced major challenges and still made history.

Joan Of Arc

At just 17, Joan commanded French troops in key battles during the Hundred Years’ War, claiming guidance from divine voices. Captured by enemies and tried for heresy, she was executed at 19. In 1920, the Catholic Church formally declared her a saint and martyr.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala survived a Taliban gunshot to the head at 15 for defending girls’ right to attend school. Months later, she addressed the United Nations. At 17, she earned the Nobel Peace Prize, and today, she funds schools for refugee girls while promoting education worldwide.

Rosa Parks

By refusing to vacate her bus seat in segregated Alabama, Rosa ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, lasting 381 days. Her quiet stand challenged laws and inspired mass protest. As a longtime NAACP staffer, she helped shift the national focus to civil rights reform. She was also called “Mother of the Freedom Movement.”

Marie Curie

Marie isolated two new elements—radium and polonium and coined “radioactivity.” She’s the only person to be awarded Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry, and during WWI, she outfitted mobile X-ray units for soldiers. Currently, Curie’s scientific notebooks remain too radioactive to handle without protective gear.

Harriet Tubman

After escaping slavery, Harriet returned to rescue over 70 others through the Underground Railroad, and she never lost a single person in her care. Working later as a Union Army scout and spy, she also endured seizures from a head injury sustained as a child. Tubman helped plan a raid with John Brown, which failed to free enslaved men in 1858.

Frida Kahlo

Frida overcame polio and a bus accident that fractured her spine, yet she created striking self-portraits. She painted from the bed using a mirror and corset brace. Her art highlighted identity, pain, and culture. In a milestone moment, the Paris Museum acquired one of her works.

Susan B. Anthony

In 1872, Susan voted illegally in a U.S. election and was arrested. However, she refused to pay the fine. A pioneering voice for women’s rights, she published a suffrage newspaper and campaigned for decades. Before suffrage became law, her face appeared on the U.S. dollar coin.

Wangari Maathai

Wangari started Kenya’s Green Belt Movement. She was jailed for protesting government corruption, and her work fused environmental activism with women’s rights. Besides earning a biology degree in the 1960s in America, she became the first woman from Africa to be honored with a Nobel Peace Prize.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline launched Britain’s Women’s Social and Political Union, organizing protests, window-breaking campaigns, and hunger strikes. Even though the Police jailed her multiple times, her bold tactics helped force voting reform. The term “suffragette” was coined to describe her group’s confrontational push for women’s electoral rights.

Junko Tabei

In 1975, Junko became the first woman to summit Mount Everest. She later completed the Seven Summits—climbing the highest peak on every continent. An avalanche once struck her camp mid-climb. To afford expeditions, she cooked and cleaned. Tabei founded Japan’s first women-only mountaineering club.