List of women's firsts


This is a list of women's firsts noting the first time that a woman or women achieved a given historical feat. A shorthand phrase for this development is "breaking the gender barrier" or "breaking the glass ceiling." Other terms related to the glass ceiling can be used for specific fields related to those terms, such as "breaking the brass ceiling" for women in the military and "breaking the stained glass ceiling" for women clergy.
Inclusion on the list is reserved for achievements by women that have significant historical impact.

Arts and entertainment

Academy Awards

DateNameMilestone
June 4, 1784Élisabeth ThibleFirst known woman to ride in a hot air balloon.
1805Sophie BlanchardFirst woman to pilot a hot air balloon.
March 8, 1910Raymonde de LarocheFirst woman to receive a pilot's license.
1910–1911Lilian BlandFirst woman in the world to design, build, and fly an aircraft.
1912Harriet QuimbyFirst woman to fly across the English Channel.
1912Rayna KasabovaFirst woman to participate in a military flight during the Siege of Odrin.
1914Eugenie Mikhailovna ShakhovskayaFirst woman commissioned as a military pilot; she flew reconnaissance missions for the Czar in 1914.
1915Marie MarvingtFirst woman to fly a fighter plane in combat.
1930Amy JohnsonFirst woman to fly from Britain to Australia.
1932Amelia EarhartFirst woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1933Lotfia ElNadiFirst African woman and first Arab woman to earn a pilot's license.
1937Sabiha GökçenThe first military woman to fly combat missions.
May 18, 1953Jacqueline CochranFirst woman to break the sound barrier.
1957Jackie MoggridgeFirst woman to become a British airline captain.
June 16, 1963Valentina TereshkovaFirst woman in space.
1963Betty MillerFirst female pilot to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.
1964Jerrie MockFirst woman to fly solo around the world.
1973Rosella BjornsonFirst female pilot for a commercial airline in North America
1976Emily Howell WarnerFirst woman to become an American airline captain.
1978Judy CameronFirst female pilot hired to fly for a major Canadian carrier.
1984Svetlana SavitskayaFirst woman to space walk.
February 1995Eileen CollinsFirst woman space shuttle pilot.
2004Irene Koki Mutungi, from KenyaFirst African woman to qualify to captain a commercial aircraft; she qualified to command the Boeing 737.
2005Hanadi Zakaria al-HindiFirst Saudi woman to become a commercial airline pilot.
September 18, 2006Anousheh AnsariFirst female space tourist.
2009Patricia Mawuli NyekodziGhana's first female civilian pilot, and the first woman in West Africa certified to build and maintain Rotax engines.
2014Nicola Scaife, from AustraliaWinner of the first women's hot air balloon world championship, which was held in Poland.
2015DaliaIraq's first female commercial airline pilot.
2015Ouma LaoualiNiger's first female pilot.

Computing

Dentistry

1866: Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first American woman to earn a doctorate in dentistry.
Born Lucy Hobbs on March 14, 1833 in Constable, New York. She was initially denied admission to dental school, then began private study with a professor from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery. In November 1865, she entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, where in 1866 she earned her doctorate in dentistry, becoming the first woman in the United States to do so. She married James Taylor and he followed her into the practice of dentistry. The two moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where they practiced together until her husband's death in 1886. She retired and became active in women's rights, and died in 1910.

Education

YearNameMilestone
1608Juliana MorellFirst woman to earn a doctorate degree.
1678Elena Cornaro PiscopiaFirst woman to earn a Philosophy doctorate degree.
1732Laura BassiFirst woman to officially teach at a European university.
1875Stefania Wolicka-ArndFirst woman to receive a PhD in the modern era.

International bodies

Mathematics

Military

Nobel Prizes

Politics

Historic firsts for women as heads of state or government:

Women's rights