The face of female leadership throughout time – 75 women leaders
March is Women’s History Month, the theme is empowerment through education. As I started to consider what I knew about the role of women leaders throughout history, I decided to come up with a list of 75 inspirational female leaders through time, some of these are for fun others are truly admirable women …. Some I knew of, others I got to know while researching this list – ALL are fascinating and brave who have contributed to our history.
Please share this list with your friends, sisters and daughters – and come up with one of your own, the more we know about women, the more we are empowered with “her-story”.
- The women in my family who emigrated from Cuba with nothing, and managed our family in exile
- Asmaa Mahfouz (1987 – ) Egyptian activist, founder of the April 6 Youth Movement
- Sheryl Sandberg (1971 – )
- Arianna Huffington (1950 – )
- Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, Supreme Court (1954 – )
- Zaha Hadid, First Woman to Win a Pritzker Prize (1950 – )
- Michelle Bachelet (1951 – ) Ms. Michelle Bachelet Under-Secretary-General Executive Director of UN Women, former President of Chile

- Angela Merkel (1954 – ) Chancellor of Germany
- Kazuyo Sejima (1956 – ) SANAA Japanese architect
- Wangari Maathai (1940 – 2011) Founder of Green Belt Movement and 2004 Nobel Peace prize
- Hillary Clinton (1947 – ) US Secretary of State, former First Lady
- Madeleine Albright (1937 – ) Former US Secretary of State, first woman.
- Isabel Ayende (1942 – )
- Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007)
- Mother Theresa (1910 – 1997)
- Margarret Thatcher (1925 – )
- Gloria Steinem (1934 – )
- Sirivamo Bandaranaike (1916-2000) Sri-Lanka, First elected woman prime minister
- Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers (U.F.W.) (1930
- Antonia Coello Novello first Latina Surgeon General of the United States.
- Julia Child (1912 – 2004)
- Princess Diana (1960 – 1997)
- Margaret Mead (1901 – 1979)
- Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)
- Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India (1917 – 1984)
- Golda Meir (1898 -1978)
- Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR (1906 – 1992) Computer pioneer
- Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954)
- Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946)

- Valentina Tereshkova (1937 – ) Cosmonaut, first woman in space
- Amelia Earhart (1897 – 1937?)
- Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910)
- Juliette Gordon Low (1860 – 19270 Founder of the Girl Scouts
- Marie LaVeau (1801 – 1881) Voodoo Queen of New Orleans and famous herbalist.
- Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 – 1896)
- Pocahontas (1594 0 1615)
- Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431)
- Madame Curie (1867 – 1934) The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903
- Wilma Mankiller (1945 – ) First woman to lead the Cherokee Nation
- Susan B. Anthony (1820 – 1906)
- Clara Barton (1821-1912) Founder of the Red Cross
- Frances Perkins (1882-1965) First woman member of the presidential Cabinet
- Mary Lyon (1797-1849) Founder of Mt. Holyoke College, first college for women in the US
- Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651 – 1695) Mexican poet, writer
- Anne Bonny (1698-1782) Female pirate
- Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793)
- Isabella I of Castile Queen of Spain (1451 – 1504)
- Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901)
- Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 - 1204)
- Elizabeth I Queen of England (1533 – 1603)
- Queen Sukda of Mandara (Cameroon) (Around 1500)
- Regent Dowager Empress Eleni of Ethiopia (1507-1516)
- Governor Sayyida al-Hurra of Tetouán (Morocco) (1510-1552 )
- Maria Theresa of Hapsburg (1717-1780) Empress of Austria
- Queen Regnant Anacaona of the Maguana (early 1500) Taino Tribe Hispanola
- Catherine the Great Empress of Russia (1729 – 1796)
- Verónica I of Matamba ruler of Ndongoand Matamba (1681-1721)
- Lady Isabel Xipaguazin Moctezuma of Tacuba (1525-1550) Mexico
- Regent Dowager Duchess Chiara Giorgio of Athenai (1451- 1454) Greece
- Female King Atotoztli of Tenochtitlán (1466-1472) Mexico
- Princess Regnant Bigum Hatun of Qara Quyünlü (1435-67) Iran/Iraq
- Governor Lucrezia Borgia of Spoleto and Foligno (1480 – 1519) Italy

- Queen Regnant Paccha of Quito (Cara) (1487-1488) (Ecuador)
- Empress Theodora (500 – 548)
- Wu Zetian (690 – 705)
- Cleopatra (69 – 30 BC)
- Makeda, Queen of Sheba (10th century B.C.)
- Chieftainess Sharifa Fatima of the Zaydi (Yemen) (1450-1500)
- Taoist Priest Empress Zhang in China (1493 – )
- Empress Liu (Wu) (318–349)
- Kubaba (only queen on the Sumerian King List) (2500-2330 BC)
- Sapho (580 – 570)
- Esther from the bible

- Deborah was one of the Judges of Israel
Do you know another woman leader that I didn’t mention? please let me know in the comment section.
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How about a female athlete who transcended her sport like Billie Jean King?
It’s amazing, any famous woman leader I though of was on this list, particularly:
- Angela Merkel
- The Queen of Sheba
- Joan of Arc
I can’t think of any female leader who is not on the above list.
You’ve compiled an amazing list although I don’t see any business or fashion icons. For that reason I would like to add Coco Chanel to the list. Talk about a brand that has endured with only minor updating. And who wouldn’t die for a Chanel handbag?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton – a major driving force in teh women’s suffrage movement (i.e. Seneca Falls)