Readers Respond: Most Important Women in World History

Note: links don't work in the answer field, and will be edited out. Also, if you submit a name already on the list, your answer likely won't be approved and show up here. My request is for additional names!

Most Important Woman

Elizabeth Cady Stanton most important American woman. Elizabeth I for world

—Guest Jeanne Miller

Most Influential Women

Eleanor of Aquitaine; Joan of Arc, Sappho, Hatshepsut, Abigail Adams, Phyllis Wheatly, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Julia Ward Howe, the Grimke Sisters, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great of Russia, Queen Victoria, Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothea Dix, ALL of the Suffragists, Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells, Josephine Baker, Biblical Heroines: Eve, Miriam (Moses' sister), Deborah the Judge, Judith (slew Holofernes), Hannah (mother of the Maccabi Brothers), Esther, Rachel, Rebecca, Leah, Ruth & Naomi, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Mother Jones, the women pioneers who trekked west with their families; Marie Curie, Pavlova, all mothers who raised wonderful children who contributed to society; Christine McAuliff, the prehistoric women who invented agriculture, pottery and clothing; Sally Ride, all women who staff libraries and museums, all nurses, all female doctors, all teachers of special needs children, all teachers in general; - fictional: Rosie the Riveter! Wonder Woman!,

—Guest Susan Addelston

Writers

George Eliot, whose novel, Middlemarch, is on many lists as among the top 10 books ever written.

—Guest Shelley Dreyer-Green

Valentina Tereshkova

She was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight.

—Guest Arielle Karp

Mary Robinson

First female Irish president from 1990 to 1997. Before that she practiced law, was Law Professor in Ireland's best university (appointed in her mid twenties) and campaigned for Irish women's rights in a strictly Catholic patriarchal society (including, but not least, a long battle to legalise contraception in Ireland). After her presidency, she was Human Rights commissioner with the UN, and she is currently a Co-chair for the World Justice Project. In 2009 Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that through her work she illuminated a better future for the world. I reckon she's worth a mention.

—Guest Daire

Lucretia

Thinking of cause and effect, or chains of events, Lucretia's suicide led to the creation of the Roman Republic.

—gillns

Every Women in History Thankyou:

Every Women who came before me, and fought for my right to be counted. To have the right to own property, right to my own money, to get credit, to vote, to reach for the stars, and for the right for me to make my own decisions and not have someone tell me what to do. There is a difference between someone telling you and someone giving advice.

—Guest Theresa

Suggestions

Margaret Sanger for family planning; Lady Montague for bringing the small pox vaccine idea back from Turkey; Rachel Carson, Dolores Huerta for the United Farmworkers movement; Riane Eisler for ground breaking history of gender; Marilyn Waring, author of "If Women Counted," ground-breaking economist from NZ; Matilda Joslyn Gage; Fanny Wright; Emma Willard; Sacajawea.

—Ellensnortland

Nursing/Writing

Margaret Sanger -- the nurse who tried to bring birth control to the women of the slums of New York. Doris Lessing --wrote "The Golden Notebook." Modern historian: Sara M. Evans -- wrote "Born for Liberty," a history of American women.

—Guest Kay Anderson

One more modern, Asian woman

I believe that the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma (Myanmar) who has been jailed by the military coup for most of the last 20 years yet remains an incredible inspiration to her people and the world certainly belongs on this great list.

—Guest Jess Wilhelm

Tahirih

Tahirih has influenced millions with relation to equality and human rights:

—Guest Renett

Oprah Winfrey

I would add Oprah because she has used her "fame and fortune" to make the world a better place for people, women especially with her many initiatives including the Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Here is a great role model for someone who has taken their power and influence and made a difference to thousands if not millions of women around the globe. Love your list, by the way and plan to tweet about it today on Twitter

—Guest Heidi Richards Mooney, Publisher

Dr. Estelle Ramey

Don't forget Dr. Estelle Ramey who used her science to show gender equality and her wit to make men understand.

—Guest twandx

Explorers

Mary Kingsley who explored west Africa, Emily Hobhouse and British concentration camps in Africa.

—Guest Rai

Rosalind Franklin

Ms. Franklin was seminal in the discovery of the DNA structure. Since she died from cancer at only 27 years of age she could not be included in the Nobel Prize honors but she was just as important as the three men who were honored. She deserves to be listed among the most important female scientists.

—Guest Pat Fox