Female Trailblazers Who Have Changed the World

International Women’s Day just passed, and I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate some amazing recent achievements that were made by trailblazing women around the world. These women are breaking the mold and advancing in their field like never before.

So let’s celebrate these women! Let’s cheer on their accomplishments and use them as an example for the next generation of what they can achieve.

Amazing Women in Science

Science has long been a male-dominated field, but women are making amazing strides with their research! From healthcare to robotics, here are some notable mentions!

Dr. Betty Sim Kim Lee started Sanaria Inc. together with her husband. The sole focus of their company is the development of a malaria vaccine. Their trials are very promising, so hopefully we will soon have a preventative vaccine against malaria!
Debbie Sterling is the founder of Goldieblox. Her company produces construction toys designed for girls and has an app that focuses on getting girls interested in STEM education with a focus on engineering. By making engineering fun, they are creating a new generation of women in STEM!
Christina Koch is a phenomenal astronaut! She spent 328 days in space, which was the longest single space flight made by a woman. Koch was also part of the first all-female spacewalk together with Jessica Meir. She recently returned from the ISS after her record-breaking stay in space!
Macinley Butson is a 20 year old Australian inventor who is working to improve the world through STEM! She has won a number of awards, but perhaps her most notable invention is a smart shield that protects women from excess radiation while undergoing radiotherapy.
Somaya Faruqi is part of an all-female robotics team in Afghanistan. She is fighting for more equality in STEM. Her team developed a low-cost prototype ventilator that can be used to help treat the sick. They just received funding to further develop their ventilator and are hoping to bring it to hospitals soon!

These are some huge achievements across scientific disciplines!

Women for the Environment

Environmental science and awareness is high on the agenda right now with climate change becoming more apparent. That’s why I’m so happy to see these amazing women fight to protect the environment!

We have all heard of amazing climate activist Greta Thunberg. Her lone protest resulted in a global movement, leading millions of young people to skip school to strike for the climate. She has achieved so much at a young age and is showing no sign of stopping!
Thunberg is not the only great climate activist of her generation. With her, many young women are making sure that their voice and demand for change is heard.
Xiye Bastida is a lead organizer of Fridays for Future. At just 18 years old, she gave a very powerful TED talk called ‘If you adults won’t save the world, we will’. Women like Bastida give me hope for the future!
Other notable young female climate activists are Alexandria Villaseñor, co-founder of US Youth Climate Strike and founder of Earth Uprising, and Jamie Margolin, co-founder of This Is Zero Hour. These and many other young women are taking action to bring awareness to climate change and turn it around before it’s too late!
Leah Thomas is an environmentalist passionate about fighting for the environment and social justice. She uses her writing to reach people, and it’s working! Her articles have been published in Vogue and Elle, and she’s been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, and on a lot of podcasts. She is showing that your voice can make a difference!

Women in Sports

Sports is another field where women had to fight hard for a seat at the table. It’s amazing to see more successful women in powerful positions in sports, and their achievements will allow for more opportunities for women in sports leadership!

Kim Ng is the general manager of the Marlins. She’s the first female GM in any of the 4 major sports, so her appointment was groundbreaking! On top of that, she’s also the second Asian American to lead a baseball operations department. She’s paving the way for women in sports management!
Jessica Mendoza started her career as a very successful softball player, winning Olympic medals. She’s made history by joining ESPN as the first female baseball analyst and just keeps breaking barriers. She’s recently become the first woman to serve as a game analyst for the World Series on ESPN Radio.
Jen Welter is another amazing athlete that had a groundbreaking career. She was part of the U.S. football team that won the women’s world championships in 2010 and 2013 and was then offered a spot on a men’s indoor team. She went on to coach Texas Revolution as the first female coach in the NFL. She blew the door wide open for future female coaches. Now, she’s focused on running flag-football camps for girls that feature former NFL players. She wants to introduce young girls to the game, but also makes sure this provides networking opportunities for women that want to coach professional football.
Becky Hammon recently made history by acting as the first female head coach during a regular season game in the NBA. She has been breaking these barriers all throughout her career, opening up more opportunities for women in NBA coaching.

It’s amazing to see how these women have climbed up the ladder and are now looking to create more opportunities for women in sports leadership.

Women in Politics

I’m so happy to say that women are nearly everywhere these days, and that’s exactly as it should be. And women in politics are making a difference around the world!

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has broken some barriers. She is the second elected leader to give birth while in office. She’s truly proving women can do it all, and doing a really good job at it, proven by her recent re-election in a landslide victory. Her leadership is admirable, with notable mentions for her policy on climate change and strong, successful approach to the pandemic.
While talking about female prime ministers, I do have to mention Sanna Marin, PM of Finland! She’s the youngest serving prime minister in the world at 34 years old and the majority of the ministers in her cabinet are women as well. Who run the world? Girls!
There’s also some good news from U.S. politics! All four members of The Squad were recently re-elected to congress! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib are all women of color that are working hard to champion progressive causes like climate action and healthcare for all Americans. Their Squad actually grew this election when Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman were elected and joined the group of progressive politicians.

Celebrate Women for International Women’s Day!

This is just a small selection of women that have changed the world as we know it. There are so many amazing women out there making a change for other women, their field and the world. And every achievement deserves to be celebrated. So let’s do that on this year’s International Women’s Day!

Do something nice for the amazing women in your life and celebrate what they have achieved. Whether big or small, it deserves to be recognized! And let’s make sure to encourage the next generation, so we can make note of more amazing accomplishments and a better world for women everywhere year after year!