Today’s post consists of a short description of 15 women that helped and help make the world a better place for women and their children regardless of gender.

These 15 women — and countless others — did and do so at the risk of persecution, imprisonment, torture, and murder or any combination thereof.

Not sure what this post is about?

Then I suggest you read up on the catholic inquisition, which was rampant from 546 years ago to 190 years ago, and on the Hexenhammer/The Hammer of Witches, rampant from 538 years ago to 242 years ago, both of which made being born female a venture fraught with extreme danger.

Know what this post is about? Then let’s go.

Christine de Pizan, born 660 years ago, died 594 years ago.
Philosopher and poetess renowned for her erudition. She is notably the author of La Cité des Dames, considered one of the first feminist literary works.

Jeanne Barret, born 284 years ago, died 217 years ago.
Explorer and botanist, she was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, and contributed to the identification of many plants.

Olympe de Gouges, born 276 years ago, died 231 years ago.
Woman of letters and politician, pioneer of feminism in France and drafter of the “Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens”.

Mary Wollstonecraft, born 265 years ago, died 227 years ago.
Women rights advocate at a time when women were denied the most basic of rights. She knew women are not a mere copy of men. Encompassed several unconventional (at the time) personal relationships which gained more attention than her writing. Wollstonecraft is one of the founding feminist philosophers. Feminists often cite both her life and her works as important influences. She knew women are not inferior to men but appear to be because they lack education, and that men and women must be treated as equals founded on reason.

Florence Nightingale, born 204 years ago, died 114 years ago.
Social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.[4] She significantly reduced death rates by improving hygiene and living standards. Nightingale gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of “The Lady with the Lamp” making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

Louise Michel, born 194 years ago, died 119 years ago.
Schoolteacher, writer and anarchist activist, feminist symbol of the Paris Commune.

Marie Stritt, born 169 years ago, died 96 years ago.
Feminist and a leading force in the international and German women’s suffrage movement. She helped worked towards woman’s education and fought against state regulated prostitution. Stritt also worked for changes regarding divorce laws through the Woman’s Legal Aid Society. She was a strong proponent of birth control and abortion.
“Mothers care less about genders than fathers. Nobody ever does it alone.” – Marie Stritt

Emmeline Pankhurst, born 166 years ago, died 96 years ago.
Political activist that organised the British suffragette movement and helped women win in 1918 the right to vote in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1999, Time magazine named her as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating “she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back”. Widely criticised for her militant tactics. Her work is a crucial element in achieving women’s suffrage in the United Kingdom

Alice Guy, born 151 years ago, died 56 years ago.
Film director, screenwriter and producer. She was the first film director in the history of cinema and the author of one of the very first fiction films.

Margaret Sanger, born 145 years ago, died 58 years ago.
Also known as Margaret Sanger Slee. USA birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Popularized birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the USA, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of the USA.

Alice Milliat, born 140 years ago, died 67 years ago.
A swimmer, ice-hockey player and rower, she was instrumental in gaining international recognition for women’s sport.

Paulette Nardal, born 128 years ago, died 39 years ago.
Woman of letters and journalist, militant for the black cause, she was one of the inspirations for the négritude movement. She was also the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne.

Simone de Beauvoir, born 116 years ago, died 38 years ago.
Woman of letters, author of Le Deuxième Sexe. An important theorist of feminism and women’s liberation in the 1970s.

Simone Veil , born 97 years ago, died 7 years ago.
Magistrate and stateswoman. An Auschwitz survivor, she was appointed Minister of Health in France where she decriminalized abortion. Fought against discrimination against women.

Gisèle Halimi, born 97 years ago, died 4 years ago.
Lawyer, feminist activist and politician campaigning against war crimes and colonialism and for women’s rights. She defended activists for Algerian independence, women accused of illegal abortions and contributed in France to the adoption of a law recognizing rape as a crime.

Emily Williamson (born 169 years ago), Marie Curie (born 157 ya), Colette (born 151 ya), Coco Chanel (born 141 ya), Eleanor Roosevelt (born 140 ya), Georgia O’Keeffe (born 137 ya), Bessie Coleman (born 132 ya), Amelia Earhart (born 127 ya), Anaïs Nin (born 121 ya), Mother Teresa (born 114 ya), Josephine Baker (born 84 ya), and Lee Miller (born 48 ya), to name a few, also played their part.

126 years ago, the first country to grant all women the right to vote was New Zealand. Chapeau!

Now, 127 years later, we have far too many word-users bent on taking us back to the darkest of dark ages, when women were void of rights.

As the standup comic sees it
The sheik to his wife: “Why do you love me?”
His wife: “For your sense of humor.”
The sheik: “I thought it’s because I love you so.”
His wife: “My point exactly.”