101 Awesome Women Who Changed Our World

by Louise Wright

  Joanne is also a philanthropist. She uses her vast wealth to help disadvantaged children, support single parents, fund MS research, and much more.

  Xian Zhang

  Conductor

  (b.1973)

  From the moment she was born, Xian Zhang was surrounded by music. Her father worked in a factory that made violins and guitars, and he later owned a music shop. Her mother had trained as a pianist.

  Xian’s mother started to teach her piano when she was three years old. By the time she was six, Xian was playing up to eight hours a day. At 13 years old she left her home city of Dandong, China, to study music in Beijing. She wanted to be a concert pianist, but her teacher at the conservatory (music school) said her hands were too small. She decided to be a conductor instead.

  “I was lucky in that what my parents wanted me to do and trained me for was what I wanted to do.”

  Xian was just 19 the first time she led an orchestra. Her teacher encouraged her to conduct a rehearsal at the Central Opera House in Beijing. Xian did such an outstanding job that she was asked to come back.

  In 1998 Xian went to the United States to study for her PhD in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2002 she won the first Maazel–Vilr Conductor’s Competition, which was founded to support up-and-coming conductors. She joined the New York Philarmonic Orchestra as sick cover and went on to be associate conductor.

  Since then, Xian has been in demand all over the world. She has conducted in Milan, Amsterdam, Dresden, London, Cardiff, and New Jersey. In the very male world of conducting, she is an inspiration.

  Arundhati Roy

  Writer and Activist

  (b.1961)

  Suzanna Arundhati Roy was born in Assam, northeastern India. Her Hindu father ran a tea plantation. Her mother Mary was from a Syrian Christian community in Kerala, southern India.

  When Arundhati was two years old, her parents separated and her mother moved back to Kerala with the children. Arundhati’s grandparents had disapproved of their daughter’s mixed marriage to a Hindu and they turned her away. Mary took the children to a cottage her father owned 150 km (90 miles) away. It was a time of hardship. Their mother was ill, so Arundhati and her older brother had to beg for food. They returned to Kerala three years later and Mary became a teacher.

  Arundhati went to boarding school at 10, then moved to Delhi when she was 16. She had no money and lived in slums. Arundhati studied architecture because she wanted to know how to design cheap, sustainable housing but she became downhearted and eventually chose to be a writer instead.

  Arundhati had an acting part in Massey Sahib (1985), a film about mixed marriage and discrimination directed and written by Pradip Krishen. Arundhati went on to collaborate with Pradip on scripts for a television series and a couple of films.

  In 1997 Arundhati’s first novel, The God of Small Things, was published. Written as a series of flashbacks, it told the story of a twin brother and sister growing up in Kerala. They witness violence and injustice because of the caste system (the Indian way of grouping the people in society by race). Its character Velutha is an “Untouchable” from the lowest caste.

  In 1997 The God of Small Things won the Man Booker, a prize that had never been awarded to an Indian woman before. Arundhati donated her prize money and royalties to human rights charities.

  “If you ask me what is at the core of what I write, it isn’t about “rights,” it’s about justice. Justice is a grand, revolutionary, beautiful idea.”

  To her readers’ surprise, Arundhati did not publish another novel for 20 years. After experiencing hopeless poverty as a girl, Arundhati was sensitive to society’s treatment of its most vulnerable citizens. In the booming Indian economy, new money was often made by exploiting the poor or damaging the environment—and it almost all ended up in rich people’s pockets.

  Arundhati’s political writings exposed the dangers of greed and globalization and supported issues such as Kashmiri independence. In 2004 she was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize and in 2014 she was on the Time list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Arundhati’s long-awaited second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, appeared in 2017.

  Maya Angelou

  Writer, Singer, Actor, and Activist

  (1928–2014)

  To this day, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings can be found on many school and college reading lists. An account of Maya Angelou’s childhood, it illustrates the painful reality of African-American life in the early 1900s.

  Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, Maya was sent to rural Arkansas with her brother when she was 3 years old. Her parents had divorced, and her father wanted the children to live with his mother.

  Arkansas was segregated at that time, which meant that black citizens could not share the same public spaces as white people and were regularly discriminated against. Schools put black children at a disadvantage.

  “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”

  Maya’s autobiography described a distressing incident that happened when she was eight years old. She was abused by a family friend. Maya was brave enough to tell someone and her attacker was caught, tried, and imprisoned. Unfortunately he was released a day later and murdered. Maya felt so guilty about his death that she didn’t speak for five years. She finally found her voice again thanks to help from a kind woman called Mrs. Flowers.

  Maya moved to San Francisco with her mother and brother when she was 14. While she was still finishing school she worked on the streetcars. She was the city’s first black female conductor. Maya had a baby son when she was 17, just after leaving school.

  When she was 20 years old, Maya started training as a dancer and decided to use her nickname “Maya” as her professional name. She toured Europe in musicals and found roles in plays in New York City.

  From 1961 to 1965 Maya spent time in Egypt and Ghana. When she returned to the United States she became involved in the civil rights movement.

  Maya worked closely with the civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X. When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Maya was devastated. She put her energy into writing.

  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, was one of seven autobiographies that Maya wrote during her lifetime. Some of Maya’s fans believe that these are her most important works because they look at black identity.

  Maya’s first collection of poems appeared in 1971 and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The following year Maya became the first African-American woman to have written the screenplay for a feature film. In 2011 President Barack Obama presented Maya with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  Laverne Cox

  Actor and Activist

  (b.1972)

  Laverne Cox is a successful actor, producer, writer, and activist. She is transgender, meaning that her identity and gender is not the same as her birth sex. She was Time magazine’s first openly transgender cover star and one of the first in the transgender community to find worldwide fame.

  Laverne was born in Alabama, USA, and raised by her mother and grandmother. She was bullied at school for appearing feminine. Laverne found acting fame in 2013 when Netflix broadcast the first season of Orange is the New Black. She played the transgender inmate and prison hairdresser Sophia. Laverne travels widely to raise awareness and talk about how racism and poverty make life even more difficult for people in LGTBQ+ communities.

  Maria Callas

  Opera Singer

  (1923–77)

  Maria Callas was born in New York City, USA, to Greek parents. When she was 13, she moved to Athens, Greece, with her mother and older sister. The great Spanish soprano Elvira de Hidalgo taught her to sing and after World War II suggested that she move to Italy. Maria built up her career there. By the 1950s she was performing in the world’s leading opera houses, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Maria stopped singing live in 1965
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  Maria’s voice divided opinion. Some said that she sang like an angel, while others criticized her technique and “wobbly” high notes. She could also be difficult to work with. But everyone agreed that she brought opera to life like no other.

  Millo Castro Zaldarriaga

  Drummer

  (b.1922)

  Growing up in Cuba in the 1920s and 1930s, Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a young girl of Cuban, Chinese, and African heritage, dreamed of being a bongo player. The drums were an important part of Cuban culture, just as they are today. But at that time only boys and men were allowed to play them. Millo’s father refused to pay for her to have lessons but she was so persistent that he eventually gave in.

  Millo formed an all-girl band when she was ten, played at American President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s birthday party at 15, and later toured the world as a jazz musician. Millo had rhythm, talent, and determination—but above all, she had the courage to follow her dreams.

  Grace Cossington Smith

  Painter

  (1892–1984)

  Born Grace Smith in Sydney, Australia, Grace studied art in England and Germany as well as her home city. She became an artist when most painters were men. Grace’s style of painting was post-impressionist—it emphasized the basic shapes of figures and scenery and used striking shades and thick brushstrokes to capture the effects of the light. Her 1915 work The Sock Knitter is Australia’s first post-impressionist painting.

  Grace painted many pictures of Sydney, including the building of its iconic bridge. Her work was admired by other painters, but ignored by the critics. In 1973 Grace was given an Order of the British Empire (OBE). She admitted that she was glad she hadn’t received much attention during her career because it had allowed her to focus on how she wanted to paint.

  Coco Chanel

  Fashion Designer and Businesswoman

  (1883–1971)

  The “little black dress,” the neat tweed suit, the quilted purse, and the costume pearl necklace … all of these timeless “classics” have one thing in common. They were designed by the groundbreaking fashion designer Coco Chanel.

  Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in Saumur, western France, Coco’s spent her childhood in poverty. When she was 12, her mother died of tuberculosis. Coco and her two sisters were sent to a convent, while their brothers became farmhands.

  Coco learned to sew at the convent. When she left aged 18, she went to work as a seamstress and bar singer in the city of Moulins. It was around this time that she took the name “Coco.”

  Coco made some rich friends in Moulins, including the French socialite Étienne Balsan and English polo player Boy Capel. These men helped her to fund her first businesses: a hat shop that she opened in Paris in 1910 and a clothing boutique in the fashionable seaside resort of Deauville in 1913.

  At the time women were expected to wear long frilled dresses in heavy fabrics, over tight, restrictive corsets. Coco wanted to make simple, elegant clothing in comfortable fabrics and she drew her inspiration from menswear. Her sailor’s clothes and shorter skirts gave women more freedom and captured the spirit of the time.

  “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”

  Coco’s boutique was a runaway success and she soon opened stores in Biarritz and Paris. By 1919 she was a registered couturier (fashion designer).

  One of Coco’s biggest successes was Chanel No. 5, the perfume that she launched in 1922. No fashion house had released its own branded scent before. Chanel No 5 was also the first mass-produced perfume with multiple “notes” rather than a single scent. It is still a bestseller today.

  In 1926 Coco created the little black dress—a simple dress suitable for any occasion. Coco was responsible for making black—associated with mourning—chic and fashionable. It was perfect for showing off strings of large, fake pearls and other accessories.

  By the late 1930s the House of Chanel had 4,000 employees. Coco closed her business at the start of World War II (1939–45) and did not reopen until 1954. She updated her tweed suit, launched the “hands-free” Chanel bag with its long strap of gold chain, and rescued women from high heels with her flat, two-tone ballet pumps.

  Coco died in 1971, but her bold ideas lived on. She revolutionized fashion and the Western woman’s wardrobe, giving them clothes that suited their new, active lifestyles.

  Zaha Hadid

  Architect

  (1950–2016)

  When Zaha Hadid died suddenly in March 2016, it wasn’t just fellow architects who mourned. Zaha’s inspirational, monumental, and unique buildings had shaped cities and landscapes all over the world. Her creations were part of people’s lives. Unusually for an architect, Zaha had made the leap from unconventional outsider to famous and “mainstream” in a very short space of time.

  Zaha was born in Baghdad, Iraq. Her family were Sunni Muslims and she was one of three children. Her father was a prominent politician who believed in democracy and social reform; her mother was an artist. Zaha went to schools in Baghdad, England, and Switzerland. She gained a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

  As Zaha was growing up, she became interested in architecture. It was a time of great optimism, when forward-thinking architects were rebuilding cities after the devastation of World War II.

  “Yes, I am a feminist, because I see all women as smart, gifted, and tough.”

  In 1972 Zaha moved to London, UK, to study at the Architectural Association (AA). Her tutors included the architects Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, who were known for their daring and intelligent work. The AA had a reputation for radical architecture that looked amazing on paper but was not actually buildable. Zaha excelled there but, unlike many fellow students, she wanted to construct her creations.

  Zaha opened her own architectural firm in London in 1980. One of her first projects was a small fire station on the German–Swiss border. Its dramatic, sloping concrete walls at irregular angles and large, frameless windows catapulted her to fame. Today the building is used for art exhibitions.

  Over Zaha’s career, technology improved and materials could be used in new ways. Zaha refined her trademark style, creating curvy buildings such as the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games and the Heydar Aliyev Center, an arts complex in Azerbaijan.

  In 2004 Zaha became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, which recognizes architects who show great vision and talent. In 2010 she was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize for the MAXXI, a museum of modern art and architecture in Rome, Italy. She was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2012.

  Zaha proudly collected the RIBA Royal Gold Medal just 8 weeks before her sudden heart attack. She was the first woman to receive the prize, which acknowledges a lifetime of great architecture.

  Chapter 4

  Athletes and Adventurers

  History books are packed with real-life male action heroes—explorers, generals, spies, and sports stars—but where are the female ones? Many women have excelled in these areas, often against all odds.

  The energetic high-achievers in this chapter went above and beyond to prove their power. Whether they were floating in space, scaling a mountain, steering a faulty plane over the ocean, or redefining a whole sport, they faced challenges with courage. They believed in themselves, and that made anything possible.

  Sometimes these women risked their lives for their ideals. Some crossed enemy lines with fake identities to help their countries win a war—and they all refused to shrink their ambitions to fit silly notions of feminine frailty. Some overcame disabilities to win medal after medal in Paralympian sports—showing us, in the process, that physical prowess has a lot to do with attitude. By boldly ignoring all those restrictive rules about what women can and cannot do, these extraordinary role models have opened up the world to us all.

  Ida Pfeiffer

  (1797–1858)

 
Born in Vienna, Austria, Ida dreamed of far-off places after a childhood trip to Palestine and Egypt. Her globetrotting began late in life when she was a 45-year-old widow. Ida journeyed around the world twice. Her trips could last months or even years and she paid for them by publishing her travel journals. She also sold specimens of animals, plants, and minerals.

  Vera Atkins

  (1908–2000)

  Born in Romania, Vera emigrated to Britain in 1937 and became a key secret agent of World War II. Her job was recruiting spies to gather intelligence in France. Vera was dedicated to her work and had a strong sense of duty. After the war she visited France in person to find out what had happened to British agents who went missing there.

  Marta

  Soccer player

  (b.1986)

  Far in the northeast of the country, Alagoas is one of Brazil’s most disadvantaged states. More than one-fifth of its people cannot read or write; the hospitals are understaffed and overcrowded; its industries are declining; and water supplies and sanitation are limited.