the 100 most influential women of all time

359 Pages·2009·4.12 MB·English

Published in 2010 by Britannica Educational Publishing
(a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.)
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First Edition
Britannica Educational Publishing
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Introduction by Kristi Lew
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The 100 most influential women of all time / edited by Kathleen Kuiper.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(The Britannica guide to the world’s most influential people)
“In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.”
Includes index.
ISBN978-1-61530-058-7 (eBook)
1. Women—Biography. 2. Women—History. I. Kuiper, Kathleen. II. Title: One hundred
most influential women of all time.
HQ1121.A14 2010
920.72—dc22
[B]
2009029761
Cover photo: Jodie Coston/Photodisc/Getty Images; p. 16 © www.istockphoto.com/Diane Diederich.
CONTENTS
Introduction 8
Hatshepsut 17
Nefertiti 19
Sappho 23
Cleopatra 25
Mary 31
Hypatia 34
Theodora 36
Wuhou 38
Irene 41
Murasaki Shikibu 43
20
Hildegard 45
Eleanor of Aquitaine 47
Margaret I 51
Christine de Pisan 54
Joan of Arc 55
Mira Bai 70
Isabella I 71
Teresa of Ávila 78
Mary I 80
Catherine de Médicis 83
32
Elizabeth I 89
Artemisia Gentileschi 103
Okuni 105
153
Christina 107
Maria Theresa 110
Catherine II 115
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun 125
Marie-Antoinette 126
Mary Wollstonecraft 128
Germaine de Staël 131
Jane Austen 136
Sacagawea 144
Sojourner Truth 147
Dorothea Dix 149
Charlotte and Emily Brontë 151
231
Victoria 159
Susan B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 170
Florence Nightingale 177
Harriet Tubman 182
Elizabeth Blackwell 184
Mary Baker Eddy 186
Cixi 192
Mary Cassatt 195
Sarah Bernhardt 197
Sarah Winnemucca 201
Emmeline and
Christabel Pankhurst 203
Jane Addams 206
Annie Jump Cannon 208
Marie Curie 209
Gertrude Bell 213
Maria Montessori 215
Rosa Luxemburg 217
Colette 220
Gertrude Stein 223
Isadora Duncan 225
Margaret Sanger 229
Helen Keller 230
Marie Stopes 233
Anna Pavlova 235
Virginia Woolf 237
Coco Chanel 253
Eleanor Roosevelt 255
Karen Horney 260
Martha Graham 262
Soong Mei-ling 267
Amelia Earhart 270
Irène Joliot-Curie 271
Golda Meir 274 268
Marlene Dietrich 276
Simone Weil 279
289
Katherine Dunham 281
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin 282
Mother Teresa 286
Lucille Ball 288
Rosa Parks 291
Jiang Qing 292
Elizabeth Stern 295
Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike 296
Indira Gandhi 299
Eva Perón 301
Rosalind Franklin 303
Rosalyn S. Yalow 304
Nadine Gordimer 306
Elizabeth II 307
Anne Frank 310
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro 312
Sandra Day O’Connor 313
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf 316
Gro Harlem Brundtland 318
Wangari Maathai 319
Martha Stewart 320
317
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard 323
Billie Jean King 324
Mary Robinson 327
Aung San Suu Kyi 329
Shirin Ebadi 330
Hillary Rodham Clinton 332
Oprah Winfrey 338
Rigoberta Menchú 340
Diana, Princess of Wales 342
Glossary 345
For Further Reading 348
Index 350
336
I
NTRODUCTION
7 Introduction 7
he world is fi lled with fascinating women, each with
T
her own compelling story. Clearly, no single tome can
hold all the intricate details of their collective lives. But
this book, filled with profiles of striking individuals
who serve as outstanding representatives of their gender,
covers many of the most outstanding, infl uential women
from around the globe. Coverage runs the gamut from
queens to commoners, with a tip of the hat to those who
have made their mark in the arts and sciences, in their
country’s political arena, and on the world stage.
Most of these women managed to fl ourish in the face
of adversity. Some withstood opposition from outside
sources, while family intrigue was a malevolent force in
the lives of others. For centuries, merely being a woman
was an obstacle these individuals had to overcome.
Consider the case of Hatshepsut, the eldest daughter of
ancient Egyptian King Thutmose I and his queen, Ahmose.
After her father and half brother died, Hatshepsut was
allowed to assume the role of regent only because the rightful
heir, her son, was an infant. She took full advantage of the
situation, essentially claiming the throne for herself while
nominally coruling with her son. For a woman, Hatshepsut
wielded unprecedented power. Court artists, unfamiliar
with representations of a queen in such fi rm control, took
to depicting her as a man, full beard and all.
Another ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra, rose to power when
she was 18 years old, coruling with her brother, Ptolemy
XIII. As the eldest sibling by eight years, Cleopatra
quickly became the dominant ruler, much to Ptolemy
XIII’s displeasure. It did not take long for Ptolemy to
forcibly remove Cleopatra from her position. The young
queen did not take this coup lying down. She fl ed to Syria,
where she promptly gathered an army and returned to
confront her brother in a successful attempt to reclaim
the throne.
9
7 The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time 7
Restored to power after forcing Ptolemy to flee
Alexandria, Cleopatra fortified her position through
clever political and romantic alliances with future emperor
Julius Caesar and the Roman general Mark Antony.
Although forced to share power with first her brothers,
then her son (allegedly fathered by Caesar), Cleopatra
proved to be the true driving force behind the Egyptian
throne for 22 years.
Other women became influential rulers directly
through marriage or by giving birth. Eleanor of Aquitaine,
for example, had considerable power as the wife and
mother of several reigning kings of France and England.
As the daughter of William X, the duke of Aquitaine,
Eleanor inherited a large portion of western France upon
his death. In 1137, she married the heir to the throne of
France, Louis VII, and became queen of France. When
the marriage was annulled in 1152, she married the heir
to the throne of England, Henry II, and became queen of
England. She and Louis had two daughters, but she and
Henry produced three daughters and five sons, including
Richard the Lion-Heart, and John, both of whom would
become kings of England. Her daughters also married into
the royal families of Bavaria, Castile, and Sicily.
The women of England were not always relegated to
the role of wife and mother of kings. Some of them ruled the
country on their own. The first English queen to rule in
her own right was Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and his
first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary is better known by
the nickname “Bloody Mary,” a moniker she earned while
trying desperately to suppress a Protestant uprising and
restore Roman Catholicism to England. Hundreds of people
died during this three-year, ultimately unsuccessful, battle.
After the death of her half-sister Mary, Elizabeth
ascended the throne and became the queen of England
at the age of 25. Religious and political strife did not
10