Amazing Women: 101 Lives to Inspire You

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Christine Lagarde has spent her entire career breaking stereotypes in banking. She was the first woman to serve as France’s finance minister, as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and now as president of the European Central Bank. In her current role, she has been faced with stabilizing the Eurozone banking system during the pandemic. In 2019, Lagarde was named the second most powerful woman in the world. Lagarde is a champion for gender inclusion and notes that although she has faced sexism throughout her career, she is breaking down barriers for future female leaders. Octavia Hill was an artist and radical who pioneered affordable housing and can be considered as the founder of modern social work. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, but with no formal schooling, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people, starting with teaching toy-making to a group of girls from a Ragged School. In 1864 she embarked on the re-development and management of a handful of run down properties in Marylebone Place in London, her plan being to rehabilitate the slums and then rent them at low cost to poor tenants. Financing her project with a loan from the writer John Ruskin, she was able to set up a network of regenerated tenanted housing. Supporting her tenants by providing clear expectations and promoting financial responsibility, she also believed that people should have access to fresh air and open public spaces and provided playgrounds and parks near her homes. Her campaigning eventually led to the founding of The National Trust in 1895. Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936)

Yes, Aly Raisman is a two-time Olympian and winner of six medals, including three gold, in gymnastics. And yes, she’s the athlete behind one of the most difficult tumbling sequences in the sport. But her power on the mat is nothing compared to the power of her voice. Raisman is also the survivor of sexual assault, which she—and hundreds of other female athletes—experienced at the hands of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. For Raisman, the abuse began when she was 16 and continued for years. When Raisman faced her abuser in court, she told Nassar, “Larry, you do realize now that we, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time, are now a force and you are nothing … We have our voices, and we are not going anywhere.” History is not always what is seems—regardless of what even the most robust textbooks might say. Take, for example, the work of Rosalind Franklin: The British scientist whose 1952 research was integral to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, but who had her research swiped by male colleagues who announced their"discovery" to the world—and won a Nobel Prize for it—without giving Franklin any of the credit. Susie continues to raise awareness for the charity, which is completely reliant upon donations and legacies. Guide Dogs supports adults and children with sight loss to live the life they choose, thanks to expert advice, dedicated volunteers and staff, and life-changing dogs. Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights leader, at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. / Public Domain, Wikimedia CommonsAngela Middleton MBE, 58, began weight-training in 2019 and has now entered her first bodybuilding competition. She has also created a bespoke programme, Your Body Means Business , to help others smash their fitness and business goals. In 2013, I reached out to the charity to see if I could help and to make sure people know that support is available. Being an ambassador gives me an enormous sense of pride. I was one of the first in the country to become a dementia friend, launching the campaign with my good friend and fellow ambassador, Jo Brand.

Reaching one million customers and knowing that a category we created from scratch has a big community who, like us, believe being good with money is a vital life skill. I’d like to expand to make every kid good with money. A patent drawing for Margaret E. Knight's paper bag machine, 1871. / National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Amazing Women Quotes & Sayings

Kate says, "In Nosy Crow, we have been able to build an organization from scratch, and being an independent company means that we’re not in thrall to corporate finances. I love being able to do what we think is the right thing. The charity enables sighted volunteers to guide those with sight loss through new environments, and to increase opportunities for social interaction. I can’t recommend the work they do highly enough, and I have also seen just how loved these animals are.’

Susie says, ‘We have been welcoming a Countdown audience member, Craig, and his guide dog, Bruce, to the studio for many years now. Through Craig I’ve come to appreciate the enormous difference that Bruce has made to his life, so when I was approached by Guide Dogs to do the training and raise awareness of the My Guide service, I jumped at the chance. We’ve returned to volunteer since and I’ve also been involved with campaigning and fundraising. The work Crisis does is year-round and it’s astonishing.

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Three years on, I look and feel better than ever. People were so fascinated by my transformation that I built a programme to help others be the best versions of themselves, starting with health and fitness.’ Margaret Hamilton is a computer scientist and systems engineer who was the Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. Were it not for Hamilton, Neil Armstrong might not have walked on the moon in 1969. Hamilton worked hard to gain hands-on experience during a time when computer science and software engineering courses or disciplines were non-existent. What’s even more unusual is that she was a working mother. At NASA, Hamilton supervised the team which was responsible for helping pioneer the Apollo on-board guidance software required to navigate and land on the moon – a radical feat for a woman in the 1960s – and she later helped popularise the term ‘software engineering’. Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 – ) Maria Eitel spent the early days of her career working for the White House and Microsoft before joining Nike as the company’s first vice president of corporate responsibility. In 2004, she founded the Nike Foundation and created the theory of The Girl Effect—the idea that adolescent girls have a unique ability to stop poverty before it starts. Eitel is also founder and chair of Girl Effect, an organization with a goal of helping 250 million young girls below the poverty line in four key areas: ending early marriage and delaying first birth, enhancing the health and safety of girls, increasing secondary school completion and improving access to economic assets. Her work has already helped millions of girls around the world and is only getting started.