Here's a list of some of the notable women whose lives ended in 2003 -- famous and not so famous, with links to biographies and obituaries.
December
- Isabelle Stevenson - president of the American Theater Wing for over 30 years.
- Mary Jean Tully - feminist activist, 1970s women's movement leader
- Elizabeth Bates - researcher on the development of language in children.
October
- Madame Chiang - political force in Chinese politics, widow of Chinese leader.
- Carolyn Heilbrun - feminist scholar and mystery writer.
- Louise Day Hicks - opposed busing for school integration in Boston - a City Council member and school official.
- Margaret Murie ("Mardy") - writer who worked to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
September
- Althea Gibson - tennis champion, first African American title winner at Wimbledon.
- Leni Riefenstahl - film director.
- Anna Lindh - Swedish foreign minister.
August
- Lady Diana Mosley - British fascist, sister of Jessica and Nancy Mitford.
July
- Jane Barbe - you know her voice though you probably didn't know her name: recordings of her voice were used by many phone companies and voice mail systems.
- Carol Shields - Canadian feminist writer.
June
- Katharine Hepburn - actress whose roles often depicted independent and strong women.
- Natalya Reshetovskaya - chemist, married to Aleksandr I Solzhenitsyn.
- Shirley B Stamps - as a child, she was at the center of a landmark 1954 desegregation case.
May
- June Carter Cash - country music singer.
April
- Karen Morley - movie star whose career was sidelined by the 1947 Congressional hunt for suspected communists in the film industry.
- Nina Simone - jazz songwriter and musician, civil rights activist.
- Martha Griffiths - Michigan Congresswoman and activist for women's rights.
- Margaret Formby - founder of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
- Anita Borg - pioneer computer scientist.
February
- Amy Bess Miller - a founder of the Hancock Shaker Village and Museum in Hancock, Massachusetts.
- Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Salton Clark ( pictures ) - Columbia Space Shuttle astronauts.
- Annemarie Schimmel, writer and expert on Islam.
- Bobbi Evelyn Trout, early record-setting aviator.
January
- Doris Fisher, songwriter, including for Ella Fitzgerald.
- Vivi-Anne Hulten, Swedish figure skating champion.
- Nell Carter, star on television and musical "Ain't Misbehavin'."
- Gertrude Janeway, last recognized widow of a Union Civil War veteran.
