The first woman to graduate in chemical engineering from the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University and first woman to receive an MS and a PhD in engineering from the University of Florida (1962). She then got a job as a propellant and aerospace engineer for Rocketdyne Corporation and United States Naval Research Laboratory, developing solid fuel and engines which are still used in the space program today.
Kuwaiti chemical petroleum engineer, and women’s rights campaigner who is considered a national hero for her role coordinating the firefighting to extinguish the 700 oilwell fires started by the Iraqi regime (1991).
One of the first women in Cuba to study chemical engineering, graduating from the Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois was mostly known as one of the leading Cuban revolutionaries, feminist, and wife of Raúl Castro.
She is thought to be one of the first Nigerien women to pursue a career in the sciences and headed the mineralogy division of SOMAIR, the national mining company of Niger. She is the first wife of former President Mahamadou Issoufou (‘First Lady’ 2011-21) and has used her influence to improve access to health care in her country.
As the wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Stella Obasanjo was the First Lady of Nigeria from 1999 until her death in 2005.
Congolese writer and activist Léonie Abo is best known for her role in the 1963-65 Kwilu rebellion.
Beninese lawyer, feminist and human rights activist
South African trade unionist Christina “Chrissie” Jasson was part of the Port Elizabeth trade union movements. She led several strikes and organized workers from the textiles and food and canning industries, and served as acting secretary of the Eastern Cape Action Committee from 1954 to 1955.
Despite dying from tuberculosis when she was just 27, Argentine industrial researcher and social/political activist Carolina Muzzilli improved conditions in work sites in her short life.
Ugandan medical anthropologist who has written about sexuality, HIV/AIDS and women’s health. She is also a political activist who campaigns for women and girls rights, as well as the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.