By Tim Lambert
This is a list of women who were the first to achieve certain things. It includes the first women to gain certain qualifications or to do a certain job.
In 583, Yohl Ik’nal became the first recorded female Mayan ruler.
In 690, Empress Wu Zetian became the first woman to rule China
In 1553, Queen Mary became the first woman to rule the whole of England.
Francesca Caccini was born in 1587. She was the first woman to compose an opera.
In 1637, Amye Everard Ball became the first woman in England to be granted a patent (for making tinctures from flowers).
In 1678, Elena Piscopia became the first woman in the world to gain a PhD.
In 1725, Catherine I became the first woman to rule Russia.
In 1784, Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered balloon
In 1809, Mary Dixon Kies became the first woman in the USA to be granted a patent (for a method of weaving silk, straw, and thread).
The first known photograph taken by a woman was a photo of a leaf taken by Sarah Anne Bright in 1839.
In 1842, Anna Atkins became the first woman to publish a book illustrated with photos instead of drawings.
In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the USA to qualify as a doctor.
In 1866, Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman in the USA to qualify as a dentist.
In 1878, Emma Nutt became the first female telephone operator.
In 1883, Susan Hayhurst became the first woman in the USA to graduate from a Pharmacy college.
In 1887, Emily Valentine became the first recorded female rugby player.
In 1893, Kate Hall became the first female museum curator in Britain. (She was curator of Whitechapel Museum).
In 1903, Marie Curie was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
In 1909, Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to fly solo.
In 1910, Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to gain a pilot’s licence.
In 1910, Mrs Alice Stebbin Wells became the first policewoman with full powers of arrest. (It was in Los Angeles).
In 1911, Eleanor Davies-Colley became the first woman fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
In 1911, Harriet Quimby became the first woman in the USA to gain a pilot’s licence (1911)
In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
In 1912, Anita Loos became the first female scriptwriter in Hollywood.
In 1917, Johanna Westerdijk became the first woman professor in the Netherlands. She was made Professor of Plant Pathology at Utrecht University.
In 1920, Ivy Williams became the first woman in Britain to qualify as a barrister.
In 1920, Mary Harris Smith became the first woman chartered accountant in Britain.
In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons.
In 1925, Florence R. Sabin became the first woman elected to the US National Academy of Sciences.
In 1929, Jane Archer became the first female MI5 officer.
In 1930, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly from Britain to Australia.
In 1933, Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman to be elected to the New Zealand Parliament.
In 1933, Frances Perkins was appointed Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman member of a US cabinet.
In 1936 Elizabeth Cowell became the first female TV announcer.
1949 Orapin Chaiyakan became the first female member of Thailand’s parliament.
In 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than sound.
In 1955, Louise Arner Boyd became the first woman to fly over the North Pole in 1955.
In 1955, Barbara Mandell became the first woman to read the news on British TV.
In 1956, Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge in Britain.
In 1957, Rawya Ateya became an MP in Egypt. She was the first female MP in the Arab world.
In 1957, Anne Burns became the first woman to fly a glider across the English Channel.
In 1958, Hilda Harding became the first woman bank manager in Britain.
In 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first female prime minister. She was the PM of Sri Lanka.
In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.
In 1964, Dorothea Hodgkin became the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize.
In 1972, Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge at the Old Bailey (a famous court in London).
In 1974, Jill Viner became the first woman licensed to drive a London Transport bus.
In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to climb Mount Everest
In 1976, Mary Langdon became the first woman firefighter in Britain.
In 1978, Naomi James became the first woman to sail around the world single-handed.
In 1978, Karen Harrison became the first woman train driver in Britain.
In 1978, Ann Dadds became the first woman to drive a train on the London Underground.
In 1980, Vigdis Finnbogadóttir became president of Iceland. She was the first elected female president in the world.
In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman US Supreme Court Justice.
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
In 1983, Mary Donaldson became the first woman Lord Mayor of London.
In 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to spacewalk.
In 1986, Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first woman to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
In 1986, Corazon Aquino became the first female president of the Philippines.
In 1991, Stella Rimington became the first female head of MI5 (British Intelligence).
In 1995, Pauline Clare became the first female chief constable in Britain.
In 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle.
In 1999, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.
In 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as president of Liberia. She was the first woman to be elected head of state of an African country.
In 2007, Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal (given every four years for outstanding contributions to mathematics).
