Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She is the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice. Ginsburg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University in 1954. In 1956 she enrolled at Harvard Law School, she was one of nine women in …
Jessica Ennis-Hill is a British track and field athlete. She is the current Olympic and world heptathlon champion and the current British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is also a former World and European champion. Ennis-Hill’s interest in track and field began when her parents took her and her younger sister, Carmel to …
Rosalind Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Franklin attended one of the few girls’ schools in London that taught physics and chemistry, she excelled at science and at 15 decided she would become a scientist. …
Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo. She is known as the ‘Voodoo Queen of New Orleans’. The history of Laveau is not certain, she is thought to have been born to a rich Creole plantation owner, Charles Laveau and his mistress Marguerite on a plantation on the outskirts of New Orleans. She …
Mary Beard OBE, FBA, FSA is an English Classical scholar. Beard became interested in the ancient world at the age of 5 after a trip to the British Museum in London. She attended Shrewsbury High School where she excelled, particularly in Latin and Greek. During the summer holidays she participated in local archaeological excavations. In …
Andrea Dworkin was an American feminist, author and outspoken critic of sexual politics, particularly the victimising effects she felt pornography had on women. Dworkin’s father, an educator and socialist was a big influence on her and her interest in human rights and human dignity. Her mother believed in legal birth control and legal abortion long …
Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher and writer. She laid the foundation for the modern feminist movement. De Beauvoir was born into a family that had lost most of their fortune shortly after World War 1. She attended a prestigious convent school and was religious to the point that she intended to become …
Lady Bo was an American musician and a pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll. She was one of the first female rock guitarists in a highly visible rock band and the “Queen Mother of Guitar”. Lady Bo was born Peggy Jones in Harlem, New York City. She attended Manhattan’s High School for the Performing Arts where …
Patti Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist. She became a high influential part of the New York City punk rock scene after the release of her 1975 album Horses. Smith was a tomboy as a child, experiencing gender confusion because she did not fit in with the social expectations of femininity. She …
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter and later a feminist icon. She is best known for her self-portraits. Kahlo was three when the Mexican Revolution began in 1910 and witnessed violent armed struggles in the streets of Mexico City and frequent gunfire. Her mother would occasionally feed the revolutionaries. Kahlo contracted polio when she was …