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Women's History

Women of the Signal Corps run General Pershing's switchboard at the First Army headquarters.

World War I: 100 Years Later

Women On the Frontlines of WWI Came to Operate Telephones

The “Hello Girls” risked their lives to run military communications—and were denied recognition when they returned home

April 25, 2017, marks the centennial birthday of Ella Fitzgerald (above, in a triple-exposure undated photograph).

Women Who Shaped History

Never Mind Her Stellar Jazz Career, Young Ella Fitzgerald Just Wanted to Dance

The preeminent vocalist didn’t actually start out as a singer

Emmy Noether, mathematical genius

Mathematician Emmy Noether Should Be Your Hero

She revolutionized mathematics, and then was forgotten because she was a woman

Ruth Law, (circa 1915, at the controls of her Curtiss Model D Headless biplane) once said that wearing a seatbelt "was a bit cowardly."

Women Who Shaped History

This Ace Aviatrix Learned to Fly Even Though Orville Wright Refused to Teach Her

With flint and derring-do, the early 20th century pilot Ruth Law ruled American skies

Vessel (#2309) by June Schwarcz, 2006, electroplated copper foil and enamel, gold plated

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Artist June Schwarcz Electroplated and Sandblasted Her Way Into Art Museums and Galleries

The Renwick hosts a 60-year career retrospective for the innovative California enamelist

The male mountain gorilla Limbo (left) and Green Lady, a female from the same species, are on view in the exhibition, "Objects of Wonder," at the Natural History Museum.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Dian Fossey’s Gorilla Skulls Are Scientific Treasures and a Symbol of Her Fight

At a new Smithsonian exhibition, the skulls of “Limbo” and “Green Lady” have a story to tell

A portrait of Fanny Mendelssohn, by her husband Wilhelm Hensel.

Sonata by Fanny Mendelssohn, Mistakenly Attributed to Her Brother, Premieres Under Her Name

The Royal College of London performed the Easter Sonata in honor of International Women’s Day

Portrait of women shirtwaist strikers holding copies of "The Call," a socialist newspaper, in 1910

The American Garment Workers Who Helped Inspire International Women’s Day

Jobs in the garment industry were some of the first to empower women in the industrial workforce

Cunitz was among the few who saw the truth in Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, which stated that planets moved in elliptical orbits around the sun. Here, a concept drawing of the Earth and moon in orbit around the sun.

Space Hub

The 17th-Century Lady Astronomer Who Took Measure of the Stars

Astronomer Maria Cunitz might not be such an anomaly, were other women given the same educational opportunities

Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, Mae Jemison

Cool Finds

LEGO Is Making a Women of NASA Set

The toy company selected Maia Weinstock’s proposal to celebrate the space agency’s female pioneers during its Lego Ideas competition

Susan, far left, with her husband (seated with puppy) at their Bancroft, Nebraska, home.

The Incredible Legacy of Susan La Flesche, the First Native American to Earn a Medical Degree

With few rights as a woman and as an Indian, the pioneering doctor provided valuable health care and resources to her Omaha community

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Follow the Polka Dots to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms That Are Breaking Museum Records

“Polka dots are a way to infinity,” says Japan’s most successful artist, now at the Hirshhorn

African-American Girl Scouts chat at a camp named after Josephine Holloway, who pioneered scouting for girls of color.

Cool Finds

Girl Scouting Was Once Segregated

Though the Girl Scouts of the USA initially declared itself a space for all girls, the reality was different for girls of color

Cradle to Cradle laid out a strategy for reducing waste through smarter product design. Case in point: the book itself is plastic and waterproof; the pages can be recycled and the ink can be washed off for reuse.

The Inventors of Upcycling Published Their Manifesto In a Plastic Book. Why?

You might have heard the term in relation to crafting, but it means a lot more

World War I: 100 Years Later

Russia’s February Revolution Was Led by Women on the March

How the downfall of the Romanovs finally came about 100 years ago

The "Little Laundress" was manufactured by a sister company to the one that invented the Erector Set.

This Sexist 1920s Toy is Part of the Reason for the Women in STEM Gap

Boys got Erector Sets. Girls got this stellar consolation prize

Mary Leakey and her husband Louis in 1962.

Mary Leakey’s Husband (Sort of) Took Credit For Her Groundbreaking Work On Humanity’s Origins

Leakey and her husband, Louis Leakey, were a paleoanthropology power couple

This photograph of Abigail Scott Dunway features the words "Yours for Liberty,"—the phrase she always used when she signed her name.

Cool Finds

This Hell-Raising Suffragist’s Name Will Soon Grace an Oregon Hotel

Abigail Scott Duniway staged a lifelong fight for women’s rights

Demonstrators hold portraits of some of the victims of the Montréal Massacre during the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa December 6, 2011.

The Mass Shooting That Reshaped the Canadian Debate About Guns and Political Identity

The 1989 Montreal Massacre set the stage for discussions about insane killers and targeting women

A horse chestnut tree outside of Susan B. Anthony’s home in Rochester, New York is the last living witness to the suffragette’s life.

Eight Places to Celebrate the Accomplishments of Great American Women

Women are grossly under-represented when it comes to recognition in public places, but here are a few places that pay tribute to their contributions

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