Every day is a good day to celebrate women, but March is an especially great time to do so since it is Women’s History Month. In honor of this special occurrence, here are a few heroes who changed the world for women.

1. Audre Lorde 

When Audre Lorde recognized systemic prejudices and injustices in the world, she worked to change them through activism and poetry. She was a generational leader who self-identified as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior and poet.” Lorde taught young black women about empowerment, gay rights, misogyny, racism and classism by publishing poetry collections that cemented her as one of her generation’s most well-known activists.

2. Fe del Mundo 

Fe del Mundo experienced tragedy early in life when she lost four siblings in Manila during their infancy and childhood. She used her grief to pursue a medical degree, eventually becoming the first woman accepted at Harvard Medical School at 15. During her life, she also protected children during World War II and set up one of the world’s leading pediatric hospitals.

3. Patricia Era Bath, M.D. 

After graduating in 1968 from Howard University with her medical degree, Dr. Patricia Era Bath began an ophthalmology fellowship at Columbia University. There, she discovered that African American patients were twice as likely to go blind compared to white patients. Dr. Bath then created the concept of community ophthalmology to make vision care more equitable and co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

4. Florence Howe 

If you’ve ever thought about taking a Women’s Studies course, you can thank Florence Howe for the opportunity. She began teaching college courses during the second wave of feminism when Women’s Studies didn’t exist. By weaving feminism with the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s, she helped the next generation find their voice and tools within their education to fight for equality.

5. Dolores Huerta 

Farmworkers often feel like they don’t have a voice in their business dealings and how the government treats their farms. Dolores Huerta’s family felt this way in the 1930s when they immigrated from Mexico to a farm in New Mexico. She grew up and became a civil rights activist focusing on improving economic conditions for Mexican, Latino and Chicano migrant workers. 

Huerta coined the term “sí se puede,” which means “yes we can” in Spanish. It’s the motto behind Huerta’s organizations like the Stockton Chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), the Agricultural Workers Association and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. She also advocated for farmworkers in Washington, D.C., lobbying for bills that addressed discriminatory laws.

6. Patsy Mink 

The world of education shifted when Patsy Mink decided to pursue law at the University of Chicago Law School. She had to fight for the right to take the bar exam due to sexist laws and won. Afterward, she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964. 

Mink became the first Japanese American Congressional representative and the first woman of color to win her seat. Throughout her career, she passed federal education bills to protect the rights of students and co-authored the Title IX Amendment to prohibit sex-based discrimination in all schools.

7. Fatima al-Fihri 

Historians are always searching for more information on Fatima al-Fihri’s life, but a few things are certain — she established the world’s oldest university by opening the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in 859 within the heart of Fez, Morocco. It also became the largest Arab university in North Africa. Future graduates included philosophers, historians, doctors and Pope Sylvester II. The vital exchange of European and Muslim ideals and customs shaped history when al-Fihri opened the mosque’s doors in medieval times.

8. Sarojini Naidu 

Sarojini Naidu spent some time with the suffragist movement in England before returning to India with her Cambridge degree at 19. She used her education, experience and worldview to become the first Indian woman president of the country’s National Congress. Even though Naidu had global support, she was arrested multiple times for anti-British protests. Her progressive views kept her in popularity and helped her win the governorship of the United Provinces, where she remained until her passing in 1949.

9. Wangari Maathai 

After graduating high school, an extensive college education pulled Wangari Maathai out of her home city of Nyeri, Kenya. She pursued a Biological Sciences degree from Mount St. Scholastic College, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Master of Science degree and achieved her Ph.D. in veterinary anatomy after returning to Kenya and the University of Nairobi.   

You would think she went on to break the record in the veterinary world, but a crisis at home made her pause. She saw rural Kenyan women struggling to feed their families due to streams drying up and other environmental changes. Maathai worked with those women and their communities to keep the soil together with root systems, strategize rainwater storage and restart their local economies. 

The Green Belt Movement organization began in 1977 to keep Maathai’s efforts going while she traveled the world and wrote four books about her devotion to sustainability and democracy.

10. Victoria Cruz 

People who’ve learned about the Stonewall Riots know of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. You may not know about Victoria Cruz, but she was also there. Her family moved from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn when she was young, which was where she began hormone therapy and the process of gender reassignment surgery later in life. 

Cruz was at Stonewall when the riots began and suffered abuse at the hands of police, other sex workers and nursing home coworkers when she worked at a facility. Afterward, Cruz worked for the Anti-Violence Project and thrived. She became a senior counselor through her advocacy for the LGBTQ community and won the Justice Department’s National Crime Victim Services Award in 2012 during a ceremony with former President Barack Obama.

Learn About Inspiring Historical Women 

There are many inspiring historical women to learn about in honor of Women’s History Month. Look to their examples to find the leadership, determination and courage within yourself to make a difference in your own community.