Our mission is to shine a light on the determination, talent, achievements, passion and wisdom of 50+ women, both past and present.
Professor Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Hobart in 1948 to parents who were both family physicians. Her family moved to Melbourne when she was sixteen where she attended University High School, gaining very high marks in the end-of-year exams. [...]
Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy was born in 1941 in Melbourne into a well-known Australian show business family. Her mother was an actress, singer and dancer and her father a writer, producer and actor. At age four, she joined her parents [...]
Diana Ross
Diana Ross was born in Detroit in 1944. She began taking classes in clothing design, millinery and pattern making as she aspired to become a fashion designer. However, at fifteen, Diana joined a girl band called the Primettes, [...]
Tina Turner
Anna Mae Bullock was born in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939, the youngest of three daughters. As a young girl, she sang in the Baptist Church choir. Anna first saw Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, [...]
Dionne Warwick
Marie Dionne Warrick was born in New Jersey, USA in 1940. Many of Dionne's family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group performing in the New York area. Member Cissy Houston, mother of famed [...]
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Anderson was born in 1943, in Alberta, Canada. Joni struggled at school and her main interest was painting. At age nine, she contracted polio in an epidemic and was hospitalised for weeks. One of her teachers [...]
Carole King
Carol Klein was born in 1942 in New York. Her mother played piano at home and Carol was eager to learn. When Carol was four years old, her mother started teaching her music theory and elementary piano technique, [...]
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Jones-Owen was born in Sydney in 1944. Her love of cinema was ignited at a young age by the Saturday afternoon matinee of double feature, short and serial at her local cinema. Margaret enrolled in Engineering at [...]
Professor Fiona Wood
Fiona Wood was born in a Yorkshire mining village in England in 1958. In 1978 she was one of twelve women admitted to the St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, London where she graduated. After completing her internship and [...]
Sophia Loren
Sophia was born in Rome in 1934 in a charity ward for unwed mothers. Her father, Riccardo Scicolone, refused to marry her mother Romilda, leaving her with no support and refusing to allow Sophia's sister to take his [...]
Faith Thomas
Faith Thomas was the first indigenous woman selected to play any sport for Australia. Faith was born in the Nepabunna Aboriginal mission in South Australia in 1933. Her mother, Ivy, was a traditional Adnyamathana woman from the Flinders [...]
Ursula K Le Guin
Ursula was born in 1929 in California. Her father was an anthropologist and her mother was a writer. Having earned a Master's degree in French, she began doctoral studies, but abandoned these after her 1953 marriage to historian [...]
Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading was born in 1950 in Basseterre on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, the third of six children. When she was three years old, her parents moved with their two eldest boys to Birmingham, England, while Joan was sent to [...]
Margaret Fulton
Born in Scotland in 1924, Margaret's parents emigrated to Australia when she was 3 years old. She began as a cooking teacher at the Overseas Corporation in 1947 and was later promoted to sales manager. Gaining a reputation [...]
Susan Ryan
Born in Sydney in 1942, Susan Ryan graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts, followed by a Master of Arts in English Literature from the ANU. Following graduation she served as a delegate to [...]
Danielle Steel
Danielle Schuelein-Steel was born in New York City in 1947, and spent much of her childhood in France. Danielle started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry. From an early age [...]
Dame Carol Kidu
Carol Millwater was born in Brisbane in 1948. Originally trained as a teacher, Carol’s life was transformed when she met her future husband Buri Kidu, a young boy on a colonial scholarship from Papua New Guinea, on a [...]
Mairead Maguire
Mairead Corrigan was born in 1944 into a Roman Catholic community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the second of eight children. She became active with the Northern Ireland peace movement after a tragic incident in 1976 where her sister [...]
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox Musician and AIDS Activist Since 2005, pop singer Annie Lennox has devoted the majority of her time to her SING campaign, raising awareness and money to combat HIV/AIDS. She shares the experiences that have inspired her, [...]
Maeve Binchy
Maeve Binchy was born in Dublin in 1939, the oldest of the four children. She went on to study at University College Dublin (where she earned a bachelor's degree in history), worked as a teacher of French, Latin, [...]
Diane Bryant
Born in 1962, Californian Diane Bryant had good grades in school, but no one in her family had gone to college before and her family expected her to become a hairdresser. But she had dreams of going to [...]
Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright was born in South Carolina in 1939. When she was 14, her father died of a heart attack, urging in his last words, "Don't let anything get in the way of your education." Studying at Spelman [...]
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle was born in Robbins, near Chicago in 1932 where her father was elected mayor of Robbins as well as chief magistrate. She toured the United States, Canada and Europe as a singer with Duke Ellington and Lionel [...]
Professor Sigma Ankrava
Born in Riga, Latvia, Sigma Ankrava was the eldest of three sisters who enjoyed a happy childhood, going skiing and ice skating with friends in winter. Graduating in English literature from the University of Latvia, and, after her [...]
Michelle Bachelet
Born in Santiago in 1951, Michelle and her family were living in Chile during the 1973 military coup and subsequent rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Her Air Force Brigadier father was arrested and following months of torture by [...]
Mary Barra
When she was appointed Chairwoman and Chief Executive of General Motors in 2014, Mary Barra became the first ever female to head an automobile manufacturer. Born in Detroit in 1961, both Mary's parents are of Finnish descent. Her [...]
Alva Myrdal
Born in 1902 in Uppsala, Sweden, educator Alva Myrdal was one of the most influential social reformers of the 20th century. She was highly critical of developments in the operation of preschools for children in Sweden, becoming director [...]
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave was born in London in 1937 into a family of actors. Both of her grandparents and her parents were actors – Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson – as well as her siblings Corin and Lynn [...]
Martha Graham
Born in Pittsburgh in 1894, Martha Graham has been said to be the one that brought dance into the 20th century. She founded the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1926 (now the oldest dance company in America) and [...]
Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver was born in 1955 into a politically prominent family as the daughter of diplomat Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy (a sister of John F. Kennedy). After earning a B.A. in American studies she forged a career [...]
Patsy Adam-Smith
Born in 1924, Patricia Smith was adopted by railway workers, her mother a station-mistress and her father a fettler - growing up in a number of small Victorian country towns and educated at small country schools. In conservative [...]
Gloria Steinem
Born in Ohio in 1934, Gloria had an unsettled childhood, living in a trailer from which her father carried out his trade as a roaming antiques dealer, attending school sporadically until she was 11. Before Gloria was born, [...]
Shirley MacLaine
Born in 1934, young Shirley Beaty had weak ankles as a toddler – would falling over with the slightest misstep. So her mother enrolled her in a ballet class at the age of three which sparked her interest [...]
Quentin Bryce
The second of four daughters, Quentin Bryce grew up in the small town of Ilfracombe, near Longreach, where all of the children in her family were home-schooled. Later moving to Brisbane, Quentin met her future husband Michael at [...]
Dr Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered radio pulsars in 1967 – considered one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th century. Jocelyn Bell was born in Belfast in 1943. Her father was an architect who had helped design [...]
Dame Judi Dench
Judi Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest British actresses of the post-war period, primarily through her work in theatre, and later films. Judi Dench was born in Yorkshire in 1934. She attended a Quaker [...]
Susan Alberti
Businesswoman, philanthropist and women’s football pioneer Susan Alberti was named the 2018 Victorian of the Year. A defining moment in Susan's life was her journey to New York to collect her daughter Danielle who was suffering severe complications [...]
Crown Princess Masako Owada
The daughter of a career diplomat and former Ambassador to the United Nations, Masako was born in Tokyo in 1963. Growing up in several countries due to her father's career, Princess Masako is an intelligent, sporty, educated woman [...]
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen got her big debut as a comedian in 1986 aged 28, on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson after working in standup for a few years and making regular appearances on the talk show circuit. Finding success [...]
Pat O’Shane
Trailblazer Pat O'Shane's life is full of "firsts" - the first female Aboriginal teacher in Queensland; the first Aboriginal to earn a law degree; the first Aboriginal barrister; and the first woman and indigenous person to be the [...]
Melissa Fleming
As Head of Communications and chief spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming works to drive empathy and generate support for the world’s 65 million refugees and displaced people. Prior to working for the [...]
Tenley Albright
From an early age Tenley had two ambitions, to be a doctor and to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. She started skating at 9 years of age, but was diagnosed with polio the next year. [...]
Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi is an 89 year old Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry and fiction. She has been acknowledged as one of the most important [...]
Susan Kiefel
In January 2017, Susan Kiefel was sworn in as the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of Australia. That she came into the law without any prior social or family connection, marked her as an outlier in [...]
Olga Korbut
As a young gymnast from Belarus, Olga Korbut was nicknamed the "Sparrow from Minsk", winning four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games, in 1972 and 1976 for the Soviet team. She also won [...]
Robyn Archer
A specialist in cabaret, Robyn Archer has released 10 solo albums, several more as collaborations, and written 20-odd shows for theatre, including The Pack of Women which was adapted into a TV special for the ABC. Born in [...]
Violet Roumeliotis
As CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), Violet Roumeliotis was named Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year for 2017 – selected from 4000 entrants for her work building her not-for-profit organisation that helps settle refugees in Australia. [...]
Christine Lagarde
An anti-trust and labour lawyer, Christine Lagarde was the first female chair of major international law firm Baker & McKenzie, between 1999 and 2004. Born into a family of academics, as a teenager, Christine was a member of [...]
Diane von Furstenburg
Born in Belgium, Diane initially rose to prominence when she married German Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. Following their divorce, she has continued to use his family name. Studying economics at Madrid University and University of Geneva, Diane worked [...]
Ann Dunwoody
General Ann Dunwoody (retired) is the first woman in US military history to achieve a four star officer rank. Her father, Brigadier General Dunwoody, was a highly decorated veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the [...]
Isabel Allende
The feminist author is known for the strong portrayals of women she gives in her works. Born into a Chilean family with political ties, she went into exile in the United States in the 1970s – an event [...]
Lente Roode
It was during her childhood that Lente developed a great love for animals and the African bushveld. At just six years old Lente was given an orphaned cheetah cub after a neighbouring farmer had shot its mother. Together, [...]
Jody Williams
Born in 1950 in Vermont, USA., Jody Williams learned to hate injustice at an early age when she witnessed fellow school children ruthlessly bullying her brother who was deaf and suffered from schizophrenia. Williams spent eleven years on [...]
Helen Clark
The eldest of four daughters of a farming family based in the Waikato region, Helen graduated with an MA (Honours) from the University of Auckland in 1974, majoring in politics. As a teenager Helen became politically active, protesting [...]
Valentina Tereshkova
In 1961, after Yuri Gagarin had beaten the Americans to become the first man in space, the Soviets decided to also go for the accolade of first woman in space. Tereshkova was selected out of 400 applicants, largely [...]
Ruth Coker Burks
It was 1984 and Ruth Coker Burks was just 25 years old when she came across a young gay man dying alone in the hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. She tried reaching out to his mother, but she [...]
Carmen Yulín Cruz
Carmen Yulín Cruz is the elected mayor of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, since 2012. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States located approximately 1,600 km southeast of Miami, Florida. Puerto Ricans are [...]
Gillian Armstrong
Born in Melbourne, Armstrong attended Swinburne Technical College with the intention of becoming a theatre costume designer, but became increasingly interested in film. In 1972 Armstrong won a scholarship to join the first 12 students at Australia’s first [...]
Dr Shirin Ebadi
Shirin studied law at the University of Tehran and passed the judicial qualification exams upon her graduation in 1969, continuing her studies, to earn a Ph.D. in law. As a lawyer, she is known for taking up pro [...]
Christina Fonfé
After learning 80 percent of those who drowned during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were women and children, British swimming instructor Christina Fonfé left her life in England behind to teach Sri Lankan women and girls basic swimming [...]
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop was born in New York City to professional musician parents, and was educated at the Masters School. She attended Yale University, but later transferred to the Juilliard School, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's [...]
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright paved the way for women when she became the first female Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton's administration. Her position made her the highest-ranking woman in the federal government's history – representing the US at [...]
Michelle Obama
Michelle Robinson was raised on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle’s father suffered from multiple sclerosis, which had a profound emotional effect on her as she was growing up. She was determined to stay out of trouble and [...]
Dr Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up while the South was racially segregated. Her father instilled in his daughter that black people would have to prove themselves worthy of advancement, and would simply have to [...]
Kirsty Sword Gusmão
Born in Melbourne, Sword was a promising ballet dancer but decided not to pursue it as a career. As a teen, she travelled to Bali and Jakarta with her father and brother, sparking an interest in the region. [...]
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is one of the most-honoured female country performers of all time. A composer of more than 3,000 songs, she is also one of the few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, [...]
Vivienne Westwood
Considered one of the most unconventional and outspoken fashion designers in the world, Westwood rose to fame in the late 1970s when her early designs helped shape the look of the punk rock movement, in partnership with Malcolm [...]
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand was born in Brooklyn, New York, growing up in near-poverty after her father died suddenly when she was one year old. Although she knew her voice was good and she liked the attention it brought when [...]
Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas
As a young child, Birutė's head was filled with visions of far off forests and exotic creatures. The first book she borrowed from the library was a tale about a mischievous little monkey named Curious George. When she [...]
Posie Graeme-Evans
Posie Graeme-Evans has worked in Australian film and television for the last 30 years as a director, commissioning executive and creator/producer of hundreds of hours of drama and children’s series, including the worldwide smash hit McLeod’s Daughters and [...]
Lucille Ball
Beginning her career in 1929 as a model, Lucille Ball was the star of the self-produced sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, and Life with Lucy. After marrying Cuban bandleader Desi [...]
Kerri Judd QC
Kerri Judd's career has included stints as a judge's associate and a defence barrister and she represented the state at the royal commissions into the Black Saturday bushfires and child sexual abuse. She also spent time in Alice [...]
Joanne Rowling
Joanne Rowling is a British novelist, philanthropist, film producer, television producer and screenwriter, best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series. The books have won multiple awards, and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling [...]
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is one of today’s best-known Buddhist teachers. Born in New York City in 1952, Sharon Salzberg experienced a childhood involving considerable loss and turmoil. However, the teachings of Buddhism would eventually turn her life around. Through [...]
Mireille Guiliano
A native of France, Mireille Guiliano grew up in Lorraine amidst cooks, chefs, and restaurateurs. After a year as an exchange student in the United States, she completed her education in Paris, receiving her Master's degree in French [...]
Dr Catherine Hamlin AC
Elinor Catherine Hamlin is an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband, New Zealander Dr. Reginald Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. The Fistula Hospital is the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric [...]
Amina J. Mohammed
Former Minister of Environment of Nigeria, Amina Mohammed was born in Nigeria in 1961. The eldest of five daughters, her mother is British, while her father is a Nigerian. In a 2017 article in the Guardian Ms Mohammed [...]
Dame Stephanie Shirley
Social Entrepreneur Stephanie Shirley was born in 1933 as Vera Buchthal in Dortmund, Germany. Her Jewish father was a judge but lost his post to the Nazi regime. In 1939 Shirley (aged five) together with her nine-year-old [...]
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro President and CEO of Global Fund for Women Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro is an activist for women and girls’ health and human rights, and passionate about using philanthropy and technology to drive social change. Born in [...]
Pam Warhurst
Pam Warhurst: Eating our landscapes With energy and humour, Pam Warhurst tells the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change [...]
Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel is currently Chancellor of Germany. She is also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel has been described as the de facto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, [...]
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Evonne Goolagong Cawley, AC, MBE is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, during which she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles (four at the Australian Open, two [...]
Dr Jane Goodall
"My job is giving people hope" • This video interview is part of the Human – the movie project Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born in 1934 in London. Jane had always been passionate about animals and Africa, which brought her to [...]
Annie Liebovitz
An American portrait photographer, Anna-Lou Leibovitz was born in Connecticut, in 1949, the third of six children. Her mother Marilyn was a modern dance instructor of Estonian-Jewish heritage. Her father Samuel was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air [...]
Jane Fonda
Jane Seymour Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She is a two-time Academy Award winner, two-time BAFTA Award winner, and four-time Golden Globe Award winner. In 2014, Fonda was the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2017, she was awarded [...]
Heather McKay
Heather McKay, AM, MBE, AO was born Heather Blundell in 1941, the eighth of eleven children growing up in Queanbeyan, NSW. She played tennis in summer and hockey in winter. and most of her brothers and sisters also [...]
Alla Wolf Tasker
Alla Wolf Tasker has enough national and international awards to fill virtually every wall of her house on the lake. Recent accolades include a listing in Tatler’s Top 100 hotels in the world, listing in The Australian’s Hottest [...]
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ONZ DBE AC, has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Born in Gisborne, New Zealand in 1944, the Māori soprano is acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in the [...]
Francine Christophe
Francine Christophe is a French writer and poetess born in 1933. She was deported with her mother to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944. Released in 1945, she continues to share her experience and memories and regularly speaks to [...]
Betty Friedan
A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. The "Problem That Has No [...]
Jill Bolte Taylor
Jill Bolte Taylor: An extraordinary journey One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor's brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realised she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions [...]
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville: Pioneer Scientist Mary Fairfax Somerville was born on 27 December 1780, the daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax (scion of a distinguished family of Fairfaxes), and was related to several prominent Scottish houses through her mother. She [...]
Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen: First woman Chair of US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen became the new chair of the US Federal Reserve on 31 January 2014. Yellen, 67, is the first woman to head the US Federal Reserve in its [...]
Hanna Rosin
Hanna Rosin reviews startling new data that shows women actually surpassing men in several important measures, such as college graduation rates. Do these trends, both US-centric and global, signal the "end of men"? Probably not – but they point [...]