Women’s History
From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.
Start Here
From women’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment to modern political firsts, see key dates for women’s rights in the United States.
The history of established feminist movements in the United States roughly breaks down into four different time periods.
Despite the adoption of the 19th Amendment, many women of color, immigrant women and poorer women continued to face barriers at the polls.
They scored historic victories in their respective countries and left lasting legacies.
3 Women Who Ruled the Ancient World
Women Take to the Skies During WWII
More to History: Women Take to the Skies During WWII
In America's forgotten war, one hero with heritage on the other side of the battlefield put himself in harm's way to save his fellow soldiers.
Explore All Related Topics
For 50 years before the adoption of the 19th Amendment, women in Wyoming had full voting rights.
Wearing black was a nod to Anthony's Quaker upbringing—and the uniform of her movement.
Carrie B. Shelton had the power to veto bills as Oregon governor—but she couldn’t vote.
In their battle to win the vote, early women's rights activists employed everything from fashion innovations to hungers strikes.
World War I helped women around the world get the vote.
Harry Burn reversed his anti-suffrage vote after receiving a plea from his mother.
It was at this small gathering where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others let the discontent of their lives boil over—and decided to do something about it.
The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States.
Doctors of the Women's Oversea Hospitals Unit operated under bomb and gas attacks. And their all-female support teams built new hospitals—even the coffins.
Gertrude Ederle slathered herself in grease, wore a controversial two-piece bathing suit and ate chicken legs along the way.
Betty Reid Soskin and the Fight to Preserve World War II's Untold Stories
National Park Ranger Betty Reid Soskin helped establish the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, ensuring that often-overlooked stories and voices of the war were preserved.
The Legacy of Betty Reid Soskin
Explore the lasting legacy of Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Ranger who helped preserve the overlooked stories of World War II and ensured that diverse voices from the home front became part of America’s historical record.
The Wright Brothers' Sister Was the Secret to Their Success
Without their sister, Katharine, the Wright brothers may never have taken flight.
The Women Soldiers of the Civil War
Researchers at the National Archives have found evidence that at least 250 women dressed as men to fight in the Civil War, some motivated by ideology, some by a taste for adventure and some by the need for a job.
After peacefully demonstrating in front of the White House, 33 women endured a night of brutal beatings.
19th Amendment
Learn about the arduous journey made by suffragists that eventually won them the right to vote in 1920.
