Novel enthusiasts can thank authors like Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte for paving the way. Austen (1813), who wrote Pride and Prejudice, among others, was thought incapable of writing a book because she was a woman. Bronte (1847), on the other hand, was forced to write Jane Eyre under a man’s name, Currer Bell.

It would be correct to call Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895) of England a "woman of steel." She was works manager at her husband’s Dowlais Ironworks, and upon his death in 1852, became its full manager. New iron-working techniques were developed under her management.

Think Geraldine Ferraro or Hilary Clinton are the first women to run for president in the United States? Think again! In 1872 Victoria Claflin Woodhull announced she would be a candidate on the People’s party ticket. Woodhull, who made a fortune on Wall Street, was unable to get on the ballot.

Now here’s a woman’s woman. From the early 1900s, Paulina Luisi worked to destroy white slavery and change prostitution laws in Uruguay. She was the first female holder of a bachelor’s degree, the first woman physician and surgeon, and a member of the Uruguayan diplomatic corps.

In 1952, computers were the stuff of sci-fi. Not for Grace Brewster Hopper. A Vassar graduate with a Ph.D. from Yale in math, Hopper is credited with inventing COBOL, the first user-friendly business-oriented language for computers.

It was one small step for womankind. In 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayeva was the first woman to orbit the earth in the Soviet spaceship Vostok VI.

Hey, girls. She was only 13 when she lived her dream, but she did it. In 1974, Abla Khairi of Egypt was the youngest person to swim the English Channel. She finished the feat in 12 hours and 36 minutes.

In 1975, Junko Tahei literally reached the summit of her dreams. She was one of 15 Japanese women to make an assault on Mt. Everest, and the only one who reached the top—the first woman to conquer the 29,028 foot mountain.