List of women's rights activists
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This article is a list of notable women's rights activists.
List
Albanian
American (United states)
- Jane Addams (1860-1935) - major social activist, president Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) - prominent civil rights leader, played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States
- Alice Stone Blackwell (1857–1950) - feminist and journalist, editor of the Woman's Journal, a major women's rights publication
- Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) - founded American Woman Suffrage Association with Lucy Stone in 1869
- Henry Browne Blackwell (1825-1909) - businessman, abolitionist, journalist, suffrage leader and campaigner
- Amelia Bloomer (1818–1894) - suffragist, publisher and editor of The Lily, advocated for many women's issues
- Helen Gurley Brown (1922–2012) - Author of Sex and the Single Girl, longtime editor of Cosmopolitan; advocated for women's self-fulfillment through personal achievement
- Lucy Burns (1879–1966) - suffragist and women's rights activist
- Jacqueline Ceballos - feminist and founder of Veteran Feminists of America
- Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) - suffrage leader, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, founder of League of Women Voters and the International Alliance of Women
- William Henry Channing (1810-1884) - minister, author
- Carol Downer (1933) - founder of women's self-help movement, feminist, author, health activist, attorney
- Elisabeth Freeman (1876–1942) - suffragist and civil rights activist, participated in the Suffrage Hikes.
- Betty Friedan (1921–2006) - writer, activist, feminist
- Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) - Transcendentalist, critic, advocate for women's education, author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century
- Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) - suffragist, editor, writer, organizer.
- William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) - abolitionist, journalist, organizer, advocate
- Emma Goldman (1869–1940) - Russian-American campaigner for birth control and other rights
- Judy Goldsmith (1938–) - feminist activist, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 1982 to 1985.
- Grace Greenwood (1823–1904) - first woman reporter on the New York Times payroll, advocate for social reform and women's rights
- Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1828-1911) - abolitionist, minister, author
- Julia Ward Howe (1818–1910) - suffragist, writer, organizer
- Rosalie Gardiner Jones (1883–1978) - suffragist and organizer of the Suffrage Hikes
- Mary Livermore (1820–1905) - women's rights journalist, suffragist
- Abby Kelley (1811–1887) - suffragist and activist
- Inez Milholland (1886–1916) - suffragist, key participant in the National Woman's Party and the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
- Robin Morgan (1941-) - poet, author, political theorist and activist, journalist and lecturer
- Pauli Murray (1910-1985) - civil rights activist, women's rights activist, lawyer, and Episcopal priest.[1]
- Diane Nash (1938–) - 1960s Civil Rights Movement leader and organizer, voting rights proponent
- Maud Wood Park (1871–1955) - founder College Equal Suffrage League, first president League of Women Voters
- Alice Paul (1885 - 1977) - Leader, main strategist, and inspiration for the 1910s Women's Voting Rights Movement for the 19th Amendment. Founder National Woman's Party, initiator of the Silent Sentinels and the 1913 Women's Suffrage Parade, author of the Equal Rights Amendment.
- Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) - abolitionist, orator, lawyer
- Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) - founder American Birth Control League, co-founder and long-time president Planned Parenthood, writer, nurse
- May Wright Sewall (1844 - 1920) - educator, feminist, president of National Council of Women for the United States (1897-1899), president of the International Council of Women (1899-1904)
- Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919) - president of National Women's Suffrage Association 1904–1915
- Eleanor Smeal (1939–) - organizer, initiator, president of NOW, founder and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) - social activist, abolitionist, suffragist, organizer of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention, co-founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the International Council of Women
- Gloria Steinem (1934–) - writer, activist, feminist, women's rights journalist
- Doris Stevens (1892-1963) - organizer for National American Women Suffrage Association and the National Woman's Party, prominent Silent Sentinels participant, author Jailed for Freedom
- Lucy Stone (1818–1893) - orator, organizer of the first National Women's Rights Convention, founder of the Woman's Journal, and first recorded American woman to retain her surname after marriage
- Roshini Thinakaran - filmmaker, focussing on the lives of women living in post-conflict zones
- Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) - Buffalo and New York suffragist, later an influential journalist and radio broadcaster
- Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883) - abolitionist, women's rights activist, speaker, women's rights speech "Ain't I a Woman?".
- Mabel Vernon (1883–1975) - suffragist, principal member of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage, major organizer for the Silent Sentinels
- Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) - civil rights and anti-lynching activist, suffragist noted for her refusal to avoid media attention because she was African American
- Frances Willard (1839-1898) - suffragist and organizer
- Victoria Woodhull (1838–1927) - suffragist, organizer, innovator, first woman to run for U.S. presidency
Australian
- Thelma Bate (1904–1984) - community leader, advocate for inclusion of Aboriginal women in Country Women's Association
- Sandra Bloodworth - labour historian, socialist activist, co-founder of the Trotskyist organisation Socialist Alternative, editor of Marxist Left Review.
- Eva Cox (1938 - ) - sociologist and feminist active in both the political and social services sectors. Long-time member of the Women's Electoral Lobby and social commentator on women in power, women and work and social justice.
- Louisa Margaret Dunkley (1866–1927) - telegraphist, labor organizer.
- Elizabeth Evatt (1933 - ) - legal reformist and juror; outspoken on inadequacy of Australia's Sex Discrimination Act in relation to CEDAW. Evatt was the first Australian to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
- Miles Franklin (1879-1954) - writer and feminist of national significance.
- Vida Goldstein (1869-1949) - early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for women's suffrage and social reform. First woman in the British Empire to stand for election to a national parliament.
- Germaine Greer (1939-) - Author of The Female Eunuch, academic and social commentator.
- Bella Guerin (1858-1923) - first woman to graduate from an Australian university, Guerin was a socialist feminist prominent (although with periods of public dispute) within the Australian Labor Party.
- Louisa Lawson (1848-1920)) - feminist, suffragist, author and publisher. Founder of The Dawn, Lawson was a radical pro-republican federalist.
- Eileen Powell (1913-1997) - trade unionist, women's activist and important contributor to the Equal Pay for Equal Work decision.
- Millicent Preston-Stanley (1883-1955) - first female member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. Campaigned for the custodial rights of mothers in divorce and women's healthcare.
- Elizabeth Anne Reid - world's first advisor on women's affairs to a head of state (Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam) and active on women's development for the UN. Also prominent in HIV activism.
- Bessie Rischbieth (1874-1967)) - earliest female appointed to any court (honorary position to the Perth Children's Court in 1915); early activist against the Australian Government's practice of taking Aboriginal children from their mothers (Stolen Generation; leading founding member of many women's organisations and editor of The Dawn.
- Jessie Street (1889 - 1970) - Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner. Influential in labor rights and early days of UN.
- Anne Summers (1945-)- women's rights activist, prominent in political and media spheres. Women's advisor to Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating and editor of Ms. magazine (New York).
Austrian
- Marianne Hainisch (1839–1936) - Austrian activist, proponent of women’s right to work and to receive education
Belgian
- Marguerite Coppin (1867–1931) - woman poet laureate of Belgium and advocate of women's rights
- Frédérique Petrides (1903–1983) - Belgian-American pioneering orchestral conductor, activist and editor from of Women in Music, a series of periodicals chronicling the activities of women in music
British
- Ida Craft - suffragist, one of the main organizers of the Suffrage Hikes
- Millicent Fawcett (1847–1929) - suffragist and feminist, long-time president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
- Christabel Pankhurst (1880–1958) - suffragette, co-founder and leader of the Women's Social and Political Union
- Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928) - one of the founders and the leader of the British suffragette movement
- Dora Russell (1894–1986) - progressive campaigner, advocate of marriage reform, birth control and female emancipation
- Edith Margaret Garrud (1872–1971) - trained the 'Bodyguard' unit of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in jujutsu self-defence techniques.
- Alice Vickery (1844-1929) - physician, supporter of birth control as means of emancipation of women
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873]]- philosopher, political economist, civil servant author of The Subjection of Women
Canadian
- Nellie McClung (1873–1951) - feminist and suffragist, part of The Famous Five
- Jamie McIntosh (21st century) - lawyer and women's rights activist
- Emily Howard Stowe (1831–1903) – physician, advocate for women's inclusion in the medical professional community, founder of the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association
- Edith Archibald (1854–1936) - suffragist, writer, led the Maritime Women's Christian Temperance Union, the National Council of Women of Canada and the Local Council of Women of Halifax.
- Anna Leonowens (1831–1915) - travel writer, educator, social activist.
- Eliza Ritchie (1856-1933) - prominent suffragist, executive member of the Local Council of Women of Halifax.
- Laura Borden (1861–1940) - president of the Local Council of Women of Halifax.
- Marie Lacoste-Gérin-Lajoie (1867-1945) - suffragette, self-taught jurist.
- Idola Saint-Jean (1880-1945) - suffragette, journalist.
- Thérèse Casgrain (1896 - 1981) - suffragette, reformer, feminist, politician and senator, mostly active in Quebec.
- Léa Roback (1903-2000) - feminist and workers' union activist tied with the communist party.
- Françoise David (1948-) - politician, feminist activist.
Danish
- Annestine Beyer (1795-1884) - pioneer of women's education
- Widad Akrawi (1969-) - writer and doctor, advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment and participation in peacebuilding and post-conflict governance.
- Astrid Stampe Feddersen (1852-1930) - chaired the first Scandinavian meeting on women's rights
- Caroline Testman (1839-1919) - feminist, co-founder of the Dansk Kvindesamfund.
Egyptian
- Qasim Amin (1863–1908) - jurist, early advocate of women’s rights in Egyptian society
- Nawal el-Saadawi (born 1931) - writer and doctor, advocate for women’s health and equality
- Hoda Shaarawi (1879–1947) - feminist, organizer for the Mubarrat Muhammad Ali (women’s social service organization), the Union of Educated Egyptian Women and the Wafdist Women’s Central Committee, founder and first president of the Egyptian Feminist Union
- Engy Ghozlan (1985–) - Coordinator of campaigns against sexual harassment in Egypt
French
- Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) - playwright and political activist who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791
- Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt (1762-1817) - politician.
- Charles Fourier (1772-1837) - philosopher.
- Hubertine Auclert (1848-1914) - feminist activist, suffragette.
- Louise Weiss (1893-1983) - journalist, writer, politician.
- Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) - philosopher, writer.
- Françoise Giroud (1916-2003) - journalist, writer, politician.
German
- Ruth Bré (1862-7–1911), writer, advocate for matrilineality and women's rights, founder of the Bund für Mutterschutz (League for Maternity Leave).[2]
- Alice Schwarzer (1942–) - journalist and publisher of the magazine "Emma".
Indian
- Margaret "Gretta" Cousins (1878–1954) - Irish-Indian suffragist, established All India Women's Conference, co-founded Irish Women's Franchise League
- Jyotiba Phule (1827–1890) - social reformer, critic of the caste system, founded a school for girls, a widow-remarriage initiative, a home for upper caste widows, and a home for infant girls to discourage female infanticide
- Sunitha Krishnan (1972–) - Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, an institution that assists trafficked women, girls and transgenders in finding shelter, giving education and employment.
Iranian
- Parvin Ardalan (1967–) - women's rights activist
- Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh (1958-) - women's rights activist, founder of ZananTV and NGO Training Center (ZTNTC)
- Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi (1859–1921) - writer
- Sediqeh Dowlatabadi (1882–1962) - journalist and women's rights activist
- Shirin Ebadi (1947–) - activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts for the rights of women and children.
- Mohtaram Eskandari (1895–1924) - woman's rights activist, founder of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah" (Society of Patriotic Women)
- Sheema Kalbasi (1972–) - writer and advocate for human rights and gender equality
- Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani (1970–) - women's rights activist
- Shadi Sadr (1975–) - women's rights activist
- Shahla Sherkat (1956–) - journalist
- Táhirih (?–1852) - Bábí poet, theologian, and proponent of women's rights in 19th-century Iran.
- Roya Toloui (1966-) - women's rights activist
Irish
- Margaret "Gretta" Cousins (1878–1954) - Irish-Indian suffragist, established All India Women's Conference, co-founded Irish Women's Franchise League
- Anna Haslam (1829–1922) - major figure in the early women’s movement in Ireland, founded the Dublin Women's Suffrage Association
- Francis Hutcheson (8 August 1694 – 8 August 1746) was an Irish philosopher born in Ireland to a family of Scottish Presbyterians who became one of the founding fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was an opponent of slavery and an advocate for women's rights who challenged Locke for ignoring those two issues.
New Zealand
- Kate Sheppard (1847–1934) - suffragette, influential in winning voting rights for women in 1893 (the first country and national election in which women were allowed to vote)
Pakistani
- Fatima Lodhi (1989–) - Pakistani women's rights activist who addressed colorism.
- Malala Yousafzai (1997–) - Pakistani women's rights activist shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by the Taliban for advocating for girls' education
Puerto Rican
- Luisa Capetillo (1879–1922) - Puerto Rican labor union suffragette; jailed for wearing pants in public
Russian
- Anna Filosofova (1837–1912) - early Russian woman's rights activist
Serbian
- Helen of Anjou (1236–1314) - Serbian Queen, feminist, establisher of women schools
- Milica of Serbia (1335–1405) - Serbian Empress, feminist, poet
- Jefimija (1349–1405) - Serbian politician, poet, diplomat, feminist
- Milunka Savić (1888–1973) - First European combatant, soldier, feminist
- Ksenija Atanasijević (1894–1981) - Philosopher, suffragette, first PhD Doctor in Serbian universities
- Stasa Zajovic (1953–) - co-founder and coordinator of Women in Black
Swedish
- Sophie Adlersparre (1823–1895) - publisher, women's rights activist and one of three (Fredrika Bremer and Rosalie Roos) most notable pioneers of women's rights movement in Sweden.
- Gertrud Adelborg (1853-1942) - teacher, active in the women's rights movement and struggle for woman suffrage
- Ellen Anckarsvärd (1833–1898) - women's rights activists, co-founded Föreningen för gift kvinnas äganderätt (The Married Women Property Right Association)
- Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865) - writer, feminist activist and pioneer of the organized women's rights movement in Sweden.
- Josefina Deland (1814–1890) - feminist, writer, teacher, founded Svenska lärarinnors pensionsförening (The Society for Retired Female Teachers)
- Anna Hierta-Retzius (1841–1924) - women's rights activist and philanthropist.
- Lotten von Kræmer (1828-1912) - Baroness, writer, poet, philatrophist, founder of the literary society Samfundet De Nio.
- Agda Montelius (1850–1920) - philanthropist feminist, chairman of the Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet.
- Rosalie Roos (1823–1898) - feminist activist, writer and pioneer of the organized women's rights movement in Sweden.
- Hilda Sachs (1857-1935) - journalist, writer and feminist.
- Sophie Sager, (1825 – 1902) - women's rights activist and writer.
- Anna Sandström (1854-1931) - educational reformer.
- Kajsa Wahlberg - Sweden's national rapporteur on human trafficking opposition activities.
- Anna Whitlock (1852–1930) - school pioneer, journalist and feminist.
Others
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969–) - Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer and politician
- Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel - Filipina women's right activist Philippines
- Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900-1978) - Foremost Nigerian women's rights activist
- Unity Dow (1959–) - judge and writer from Botswana, plaintiff in a case that allowed children of Motswana women and foreign men to be considered Batswana.
- Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879–1904) - Javanese advocate for native Indonesian women, critic of polygamous marriages and lack of education opportunities for women
- Laure Moghaizel (1929–1997) - Lebanese lawyer and women's rights advocate
- Shamima Shaikh (1960–1998) - South African activist, member of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa, proponent of Islamic gender equality
Images
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Board of directors of "Jam'iat e nesvan e vatan-khah" (Society of Patriotic Women) - a radical women's rights association in Tehran (1923-1933)
See also
- History of Feminism
- List of civil rights leaders
- List of feminists
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- List of women's rights organizations
- Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries
- Timeline of women's rights (other than voting)
- Timeline of women's suffrage
- Women's suffrage organizations
References
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