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Now that the second Millennium is truly over, for Women's History Month 2001 Sunshine for Women is bringing you brief biographies on 30 of the most influential women of the Millennium.
Sunshine's pick for Most Influential Man of the Millennium was a humble inventor whose 15th century invention literally changed the course of world history for all time. His name is Johann Gutenberg (1400?-1468) and he invented the printing press. The women who have made it onto Sunshine's list of 30 of the Most Influential Women of the Millennium have almost influenced the course of world history as profoundly as Gutenberg, but Gutenberg remains in a class by himself.
Sometimes that influence was, to put it politely, less than positive; sometimes that influence was overwhelmingly positive; sometimes that influence had both positive and negative consequences; sometimes the influence can be viewed as either positive or negative, depending upon world-view of the reader. But all of the women Sunny picked women for this list did, nonetheless, have a profound influence on world history, for good or for bad. They are philosophers, religious leaders, politicians, queens, writers, reformers, physicians, scientists, inventors, lawyers, and just plain gals.
Unfortunately, Sunshine does not know every thing about all women, and due to time constraints, tends to read about women like her - middle aged, middle class, some what educated, white, and living in the United States. Consequently, I am sure that many illustrious women who deserve a place on this list have not been included. Please do not attribute to racism, classism, or ethnocentrism what can much more readily be ascribed to ignorance (which means the absence of knowledge as opposed to stupidity which means the inability to become educated). My apologies to all of the deserving women who are missing from this list and their advocates. If any reader feels that I have inadvertently left out some important women, I will be happy to add them to the page as reader responses. All you have to do is write the biography and send it to me at sunshine@pinn.net.
A few of the women who are included on this list appear elsewhere on Sunshine for Women, but many women are making a "first time appearance" at Sunshine for Women. I hope you enjoy meeting these new women and uncovering new episodes in women's history as much as I enjoyed discovering the women and women's history.
I would like to offer a sincere "Thank You" to Lenka Vytlacilova, author of Sunshine for Women's Czech Feminist Trailblazers page, for her suggestions both for this presentation and the Czech Feminist Trailblazers page, as well as for passing along the names of influential European women over the years. She has enriched my understanding of women's history and feminism immensely.
With one exception, the women are listed in the order in which Sunny wrote the biographies, which is in no particular order. I started 2000 with a list of about 15 women who were definitely going to be included on this list, and another 20 candidates. After talking with a few people and reading a few bios, I added more names throughout the year. The final list was only determined when I wrote the 30th biography. Bios for some of the women listed on the original list were written late in the year - either I was trying to get information on the woman together, I was trying to find something new and different to say about her, or I was busy writing other bios and I just didn't have time to get around to the old list until the middle of the year. Suffice it to say, the women are not listed in Sunny's order of importance - that order is for you, the reader, to decide. In a couple of cases, there are "group achievement awards." :-)
About the exception, Sunny's pick for Woman of the Millennium. To keep you in suspense about her identity, I'm going to present her biography on the last day of the month. :-)
With that said, here is Sunny's list of the 30 Most Influential Women of the Millennium.
| 1 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - ca.1762) | Smallpox Vaccine |
| 2 Isabella of Spain | Queen |
| 3 Clara Barton | Founder of the American Red Cross |
| 4 Margaret Askew Fell Fox | Theologian and Religious Leader |
| 5 Martha Griffiths | Politician, US House of Representatives |
| 6 Grace Hopper | Computers |
| 7 Madame du Chatelet | Scientist |
| 8 Emma Willard | Educator |
| 9 Josephine Butler | Reformer |
| 10 Maria Theresa of Austria | Queen |
| 11 Aphra Behn | Writer |
| 12 Rachel Carson | Environmentalist |
| 13 Bertha Suttner | Noble Peace Prize 1905 |
| 14 Huda Shaarawi | Egyptian Nationalist and Feminist |
| 15 Aletta Jacobs | Physician |
| 16 Laura Bassi | Scientist |
| 17 Mary Wollstonecraft | Philosopher and Writer |
| 18 Lucretia Mott | Abolitionist and Reformer |
| 19 Sarah and Angelina Grimke | Abolitionists and Woman's Rights Advocates |
| 20 Beate Sirota Gordon | Translator, Artist |
| 21 Harriet Beecher Stowe | Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| 22 Frances Power Cobbe | Anti-vivisection and Woman's Rights Activist |
| 23 Matilda Joslyn Gage | Reformer |
| 24 Elizabeth Cady Stanton | Woman's Rights Activist |
| 25 Susan B. Anthony | Suffragist |
| 26 Women in Philanthropy | Philanthopy |
| 27 Ida B. Wells | Cvil Rights Activist |
| 28 Sarah Weddington | Lawyer (Roe v. Wade) |
| 29 Pauli Murray, Dorothy Kenyon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Lawyers |
| 30 Christine de Pizan | Woman of the Millennium |
| 31 Conclusion |
Return to Women's History Month 2001 Table of Contents
sunshine@pinn.net
Sunshine for Women encourages you to support our feminist sisters by purchasing their books, reading them, disseminating the ideas they contain, but most especially, by making their book available to our sisters, our daughters, and the community at large by requesting your school library, your public library, and area bookstores to carry their books. Remember it is not enough to write literature, history, and theology, we must pass these works on to future generations. Help us to preserve these works for a new generation by putting them on library bookshelves.
last updated February 2001