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1973: Billie Jean King wins 'The Battle of the Sexes' -

Tennis icon Billie Jean King won the historic 'The Battle of the Sexes' against Bobby Riggs. The match was aired on primetime TV and reached 90 million viewers.

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1960: The first birth control pill gets approved -

In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first commercially-produced birth control pill in the world. This allowed women to control when and if they wanted to get pregnant.

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1980: First democratically-elected female president takes office -

In 1980, Iceland elected their first female president, the first democratically-elected female president in the world. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir held the presidency for 16 years.

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1939: Kitty O'Brien Joyner became NASA's first female engineer -

Kitty O'Brien Joyner was the first woman to graduate from the University of Virginia's engineering program in 1939, and became NASA's first female engineer that same year.

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1983: Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space -

Sally Ride was the first American woman and youngest astronaut to go to space. She inspired generations of girls and worked to promote women in science.

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2008: Rwanda becomes first country with majority-female legislature -

The 2003 Rwandan Constitution reserved 30% of the seats in its decision-making bodies for women. By 2008, Rwanda's female politicians claimed those seats, winning 56% of parliamentary seats. Rwanda became the first modern democracy where women held the majority in the legislature, and it continued breaking its own records.

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2016: Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential candidate for a major party -

Eight years after losing the 2008 Democratic presidential primary to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders to win the 2016 Democratic nomination.

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1940: Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Oscar -

Hattie McDaniel won for her supporting role as Mammy in 'Gone with the Wind' (1939). She was seated at a separate table from her costars, and the show's organizers had to fight for her to be allowed inside the venue. Another black actor would not win an Oscar until 1964.

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1927: Women in Canada petition to become 'persons' -

Five Canadian women's rights activists, known as the 'Famous Five,' argued before the country's Supreme Court in 1927 that women had the right to be appointed to the Senate. The Court ruled against it, stating that women were not considered 'persons' according to the constitution and therefor ineligible for Senate seats. An appeal reversed the ruling.

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1924: Alexandra Kollontai was the first female diplomat -

Alexandra Kollontai joined the new Russian government formed after the Bolshevik Revolution as the People's Commissar of Social Welfare. In 1924, she was asked to tackle diplomatic work as the second in command of the Soviet Union's Norwegian embassy. She continued working in Sweden, Finland, and Mexico until her retirement in the 1940s.

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1851: Sojourner Truth delivers her famous 'Ain't I a Woman?' speech -

Former slave turned abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth delivered her famous 'Ain't I a Woman?' speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

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1948: UN Declaration of Human Rights was debuted -

The United Nation's historic Declaration of Human Rights was the first international document to state that both men and women should have their "dignity and worth of [their] human person" protected.

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2014: Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize -

In 2014, Pakistani activist for girls' education Malala Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2020, she graduated from Oxford University.

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1893: Women in New Zealand win the right to vote -

In 1893, the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law, which gave women in New Zealand the right to vote in parliamentary elections. It became the first self-governing country in the world to do so.

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1921: Edith Wharton was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize -

In 1921, Edith Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, for her novel 'The Age of Innocence' (1920). She became this first woman to receive the award.

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2012: United Nations passes a resolution banning female genital mutilation -

Female genital mutilation (FGM) terrorizes young women and girls around the world. But thanks to increased awareness of this physically and emotionally scarring practice, many are actively fighting to eradicate it.

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1949: ‘The Second Sex’ was published -

In 1949, French essayist, political theorist, and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir published her most famous and influential work on the oppression of women.

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2013: Pentagon announced the end of the ban of women in combat -

The Pentagon announced plans to lift the ban on women in combat in 2013. It was an effort driven by the military itself that went into full effect in 2015.

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1903: Marie Curie becomes the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize -

In 1903, Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics for her research in radiation. She won her second Nobel Prize in 1911 in Chemistry for her discovery of polonium and radium.

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1938: Pearl S. Buck wins the Nobel Prize in Literature -

Pearl S. Buck became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her most notable work was the 'House of Earth' trilogy: 'The Good Earth' (1931), 'Sons' (1932), and 'A House Divided' (1935).

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2015: Emma Sulkowicz carried her mattress across campus -

Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz's, who uses they/them pronouns, protested against the school's failure to remove the student who sexually assaulted them from campus. They used their visual arts thesis, 'Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight),' as a way to bring awareness to the issue.

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1953: Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier -

Jacqueline Cochran became one of the most successful female aviators of the 20th century. After obtaining her pilot's license in three weeks, she took the aviation world by storm, setting several records. She is known for flying faster than the speed of sound (761.2 miles per hour), which she later doubled in 1964.

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1990: First female president of the Americas is elected -

Violeta Chamorro made history as the first democratically-elected female president of the Americas. She was president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997.

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1926: Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel -

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle swam the 35-mile (56-km) length of the English Channel, something only five men had done before her. Ederle beat the men's record by over two hours.

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1992: Junko Tabei finished climbing the Seven Summits -

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1947: Gerty Cori became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Medicine -

Alongside her husband, Gerty Cori became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Medicine. The couple won for developing the Cori cycle, which explained how energy moves through different parts of the body.

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2018: Women in Saudi Arabia allowed to drive -

Saudi Arabia was the last country in the world that prevented women from driving. But in 2011, Saudi women's rights activists used social media to organize a protest by driving. The ban was lifted in 2018.

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2017: #MeToo spreads globally -

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2020: Kamala Harris became the first woman elected US vice president -

Kamala Harris made history in 2020 when she was elected vice president of the US. She also became the first black American and the first South Asian American to win the vice presidency.

Sources: (History) (Reader's Digest) (Stacker)

See also: Random historical facts you didn't know

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