From queens and scientists to activists and athletes, women have shaped every corner of history.
This mega set of women’s history trivia spans time and continents, starting accessible and getting trickier as you go.
Use it for classrooms, pub nights, or solo study then share your score and stump your friends.
Queens & Rulers Across History
Q: Which Egyptian pharaoh-queen expanded trade to Punt and built the temple at Deir el-Bahri?
A: Hatshepsut.
Q: Which last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt allied with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony?
A: Cleopatra VII.
Q: Who is the only woman to rule China as emperor in her own right (690–705)?
A: Wu Zetian.
Q: Which 18th-century Russian empress modernized the empire and corresponded with Enlightenment thinkers?
A: Catherine the Great.
Q: Which long-reigning British monarch saw the Industrial Revolution surge during her rule (1837–1901)?
A: Queen Victoria.
Q: Which Korean queen (r. 632–647) is associated with building Cheomseongdae, an early observatory?
A: Queen Seondeok of Silla.
Q: The 12th-century ruler who ushered in Georgia’s “Golden Age” was which queen?
A: Queen Tamar.
Q: Crowned “king” of Poland in 1384 to emphasize sovereignty, which sainted ruler promoted learning and charity?
A: Jadwiga of Poland.
Q: The 17th-century ruler of Ndongo and Matamba who resisted Portuguese expansion is known as whom?
A: Queen Nzinga (Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande).
Q: According to tradition, which Hausa warrior-queen expanded the walls of Zazzau (Zaria) in the 16th century?
A: Amina of Zazzau (Amina of Zaria).
Q: Which claimant to the English throne fought during “The Anarchy” and paved the way for the Plantagenets?
A: Empress Matilda (Maud).
Q: Which 13th-century Delhi ruler, one of the few female sultans in South Asia, reigned briefly yet boldly?
A: Razia Sultana (Razia al-Din).
Suffrage & Political Breakthroughs
Q: Which country is widely recognized as the first to grant women national voting rights (1893)?
A: New Zealand.
Q: The U.S. constitutional change that prohibited denying the vote based on sex is which amendment?
A: The 19th Amendment (ratified 1920).
Q: In Britain, which 1918 law first enfranchised many women (full equal franchise arrived in 1928)?
A: Representation of the People Act 1918.
Q: Which Scandinavian country pioneered full political rights (vote and stand) for women in 1906?
A: Finland.
Q: Often credited as the first woman to run for U.S. president, who campaigned in 1872?
A: Victoria Woodhull (often credited; her candidacy’s legality was contested).
Q: Who was the first female prime minister in the world, elected in 1960?
A: Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon/Sri Lanka.
Q: Which U.S. city elected Susanna M. Salter as mayor in 1887, a national first for women?
A: Argonia, Kansas.
Q: Which activist died after stepping onto the Epsom Derby track in 1913, becoming a suffragette martyr?
A: Emily Wilding Davison.
Q: Swiss women gained federal voting rights in what year (with one canton holding out until 1991)?
A: 1971 (Appenzell Innerrhoden granted local rights in 1991).
Q: Which country allowed women to vote in municipal elections for the first time in 2015?
A: Saudi Arabia.
Q: Who became the first woman vice president of the United States in January 2021?
A: Kamala D. Harris.
Q: Who was the first woman to preside over the U.N. General Assembly (1953–54)?
A: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
Science & Medicine Pioneers
Q: Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize—and the only person to win Nobels in two sciences?
A: Marie Curie (Physics 1903; Chemistry 1911).
Q: Which 19th-century physician became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S.?
A: Elizabeth Blackwell (1849).
Q: Which geneticist discovered transposable elements (“jumping genes”) and won a 1983 Nobel?
A: Barbara McClintock.
Q: Whose X-ray diffraction “Photo 51” was key to elucidating DNA’s double helix?
A: Rosalind Franklin.
Q: Which chemist determined structures of important biomolecules and won the 1964 Chemistry Nobel?
A: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin.
Q: Which physicist’s parity-violation experiment transformed particle physics (though the Nobel went to others)?
A: Chien-Shiung Wu.
Q: Which physicist helped explain nuclear fission but never received a Nobel Prize?
A: Lise Meitner.
Q: Which biochemist became the first woman to win the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine (1947)?
A: Gerty Cori.
Q: Which Chinese pharmacologist discovered artemisinin, revolutionizing malaria treatment?
A: Tu Youyou (Nobel 2015).
Q: Which mathematician’s theorem links symmetries and conservation laws in physics?
A: Emmy Noether.
Q: Which crystallographer shared the 2009 Chemistry Nobel for ribosome studies?
A: Ada Yonath.
Q: The first immortal human cell line, vital for research, came from which woman’s biopsied cells?
A: Henrietta Lacks (HeLa).
Technology & Computing Trailblazers
Q: Who is often called the first computer programmer for her notes on the Analytical Engine (1843)?
A: Ada Lovelace.
Q: Which U.S. Navy rear admiral pioneered compilers and popularized “debugging”?
A: Grace Hopper.
Q: Which engineer led Apollo’s onboard flight software team and helped popularize the term “software engineering”?
A: Margaret Hamilton.
Q: Which Hollywood star co-invented a frequency-hopping system that anticipated spread-spectrum tech?
A: Hedy Lamarr (with George Antheil).
Q: Which network engineer created the Spanning Tree Protocol, foundational for Ethernet switching?
A: Radia Perlman.
Q: Who became the first woman to win the Turing Award (2006) for optimizing compilers?
A: Frances E. Allen.
Q: Which computer scientist co-invented zero-knowledge proofs, reshaping cryptography?
A: Shafi Goldwasser (with Micali and Rackoff).
Q: Which information retrieval pioneer introduced inverse document frequency (IDF) weighting?
A: Karen Spärck Jones.
Q: Which Bell Labs mathematician patented computerized telephone switching in 1967?
A: Erna Schneider Hoover.
Q: Which designer created many of the original Macintosh icons and type-inspired interface glyphs?
A: Susan Kare.
Q: Which nun was among the first U.S. women to earn a PhD in computer science (1965)?
A: Sister Mary Kenneth Keller.
Q: Which Xerox PARC researcher co-created Smalltalk and influenced modern GUIs?
A: Adele Goldberg.
Explorers, Aviators & Space
Q: Who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932?
A: Amelia Earhart.
Q: Which American earned her pilot’s license in 1911, the first U.S. woman to do so?
A: Harriet Quimby.
Q: The first African American and Native American woman pilot, licensed in France in 1921, was who?
A: Bessie Coleman.
Q: Who was the first woman in space, orbiting Earth in 1963 aboard Vostok 6?
A: Valentina Tereshkova.
Q: Which cosmonaut performed the first female spacewalk in 1984?
A: Svetlana Savitskaya.
Q: Who became the first American woman in space in 1983?
A: Sally Ride.
Q: Who was the first woman to command a space shuttle (1999) and the first female shuttle pilot (1995)?
A: Eileen Collins.
Q: Who was the first woman to command the International Space Station (2007)?
A: Peggy Whitson.
Q: Who was the first African American woman in space (1992)?
A: Mae Jemison.
Q: Which Japanese physician-astronaut became her country’s first woman in space in 1994?
A: Chiaki Mukai.
Q: Who was the first Chinese woman in space (2012)?
A: Liu Yang.
Q: Which private spaceflight pioneer became the first self-funded female space traveler in 2006?
A: Anousheh Ansari.
Arts & Literature
Q: Which 11th-century Japanese noblewoman wrote “The Tale of Genji,” often called the world’s first novel?
A: Murasaki Shikibu.
Q: Which English novelist authored “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”?
A: Jane Austen.
Q: Who wrote “Frankenstein” (1818), a landmark of Gothic and science fiction?
A: Mary Shelley.
Q: Which Swedish writer became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1909)?
A: Selma Lagerlöf.
Q: Which American author became the first African American woman to win the Literature Nobel (1993)?
A: Toni Morrison.
Q: Which British writer’s 1929 essay “A Room of One’s Own” argues for women’s artistic space and income?
A: Virginia Woolf.
Q: Which philosopher wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792)?
A: Mary Wollstonecraft.
Q: Which mystery writer is the best-selling novelist of all time and created Miss Marple?
A: Agatha Christie.
Q: Which Harlem Renaissance author wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937)?
A: Zora Neale Hurston.
Q: Which Canadian author wrote “The Handmaid’s Tale” (1985)?
A: Margaret Atwood.
Q: Which Nigerian novelist wrote “Half of a Yellow Sun” and the essay “We Should All Be Feminists”?
A: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Q: Which ancient Greek poet from Lesbos is famed for lyric poetry, surviving mostly in fragments?
A: Sappho.
Film, TV & Journalism
Q: Which pioneer is often credited as the first female film director, making shorts in the 1890s?
A: Alice Guy-Blaché.
Q: Who became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director (for a 2009 film)?
A: Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”).
Q: Who was the second woman—and first woman of color—to win Best Director at the Oscars?
A: Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland,” 2020 release; ceremony 2021).
Q: Who was the first African American to win an Oscar (1940)?
A: Hattie McDaniel.
Q: Who became the first female co-anchor of a U.S. network evening news broadcast (1976)?
A: Barbara Walters.
Q: Which journalist’s undercover asylum exposé “Ten Days in a Mad-House” shook Gilded Age America?
A: Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane).
Q: Which investigative journalist crusaded against lynching and helped found the NAACP in 1909?
A: Ida B. Wells.
Q: Which media mogul launched Harpo Productions and later the OWN cable network?
A: Oprah Winfrey.
Q: Which TV creator/showrunner built hits like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal”?
A: Shonda Rhimes.
Q: Which war correspondent became synonymous with CNN’s 1990s conflict coverage?
A: Christiane Amanpour.
Q: Which filmmaker became the first Black woman to win the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance (2012)?
A: Ava DuVernay.
Q: Which British reporter famously broke news of Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland?
A: Clare Hollingworth.
Music & Performing Arts
Q: Which 12th-century abbess composed visionary chants and wrote on natural philosophy?
A: Hildegard of Bingen.
Q: Which Romantic-era virtuoso balanced concertizing with composing Piano Concerto in A minor?
A: Clara Schumann.
Q: Which 19th-century composer’s works were long overshadowed by her brother Felix’s—until revived?
A: Fanny Mendelssohn (Hensel).
Q: Which American composer’s Symphony No. 1 (1933) made her the first Black woman performed by a major U.S. orchestra?
A: Florence Price.
Q: Which gospel guitarist is hailed as the “Godmother of Rock ’n’ Roll”?
A: Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Q: Who is the “Queen of Soul” and the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1987)?
A: Aretha Franklin.
Q: Which jazz singer’s haunting performance of “Strange Fruit” became a civil-rights touchstone?
A: Billie Holiday.
Q: Which “First Lady of Song” won 13 Grammys and was famed for scat singing?
A: Ella Fitzgerald.
Q: Which artist holds the record for most Grammy wins by any performer?
A: Beyoncé (32 Grammy wins).
Q: Which artist became the first to win four Album of the Year Grammys?
A: Taylor Swift.
Q: Which modern dance pioneer founded a technique emphasizing contraction and release?
A: Martha Graham.
Q: Which ballerina became American Ballet Theatre’s first Black female principal in 2015?
A: Misty Copeland.
Sports & Athletics
Q: Which tennis legend owns 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era?
A: Serena Williams.
Q: Who won a hyped 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, boosting women’s sports visibility?
A: Billie Jean King (defeated Bobby Riggs).
Q: Which Romanian gymnast earned the first Olympic “perfect 10” in 1976?
A: Nadia Comăneci.
Q: Which U.S. gymnast is the most decorated in history, with multiple world and Olympic titles?
A: Simone Biles.
Q: Which American sprinter still holds the women’s 100m and 200m world records from 1988?
A: Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo).
Q: Which American track legend set the still-standing heptathlon world record (1988)?
A: Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Q: Which American swimmer shattered distance records and became the most decorated female Olympian in her sport?
A: Katie Ledecky.
Q: Which pioneer swam the English Channel in 1926, beating the men’s best time?
A: Gertrude Ederle.
Q: Who became the first woman to summit Mount Everest in 1975?
A: Junko Tabei.
Q: Which Brazilian footballer holds the record for the most Women’s World Cup goals?
A: Marta.
Q: Which racing driver became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race (2008)?
A: Danica Patrick.
Q: Which Moroccan hurdler became the first Arab and Muslim woman to win Olympic gold (1984)?
A: Nawal El Moutawakel.
Civil Rights, Law & Social Change
Q: Which abolitionist’s 1851 speech—often titled “Ain’t I a Woman?”—challenged racial and gender prejudice?
A: Sojourner Truth (exact wording varies by transcript).
Q: Which Underground Railroad conductor also led a Civil War raid freeing hundreds in South Carolina?
A: Harriet Tubman (Combahee River Raid, 1863).
Q: Which suffragist was arrested for voting in 1872 and tried the next year?
A: Susan B. Anthony.
Q: Which co-organizer of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention drafted the “Declaration of Sentiments”?
A: Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Q: Which journalist led anti-lynching campaigns and co-founded the NAACP?
A: Ida B. Wells.
Q: Which seamstress and activist’s 1955 refusal to surrender her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
A: Rosa Parks.
Q: Which community organizer co-founded the United Farm Workers and popularized “Sí, se puede”?
A: Dolores Huerta.
Q: Who became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981?
A: Sandra Day O’Connor.
Q: Which Supreme Court justice, a pioneering litigator for gender equality, served from 1993 to 2020?
A: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Q: Which congresswoman became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968 and later ran for president in 1972?
A: Shirley Chisholm.
Q: Which Pakistani activist and youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate champions girls’ education?
A: Malala Yousafzai.
Q: Which Kenyan environmentalist founded the Green Belt Movement and won the 2004 Peace Nobel?
A: Wangari Maathai.
Business, Economics & Entrepreneurship
Q: Which hair-care entrepreneur is often cited as the first self-made female millionaire in U.S. history?
A: Madam C. J. Walker (often cited; estimates vary by source).
Q: Which cosmetics titan co-founded her namesake brand and built a global beauty empire?
A: Estée Lauder.
Q: Which entrepreneur founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963, pioneering direct sales for women?
A: Mary Kay Ash.
Q: Which former eBay CEO later led Hewlett-Packard as one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent women?
A: Meg Whitman.
Q: Which executive became the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company (Xerox)?
A: Ursula Burns.
Q: Which economist became the first woman to chair the U.S. Federal Reserve (2014) and later served as Treasury Secretary?
A: Janet Yellen.
Q: Which former IMF chief and current ECB president was the first woman to head each institution?
A: Christine Lagarde.
Q: Who founded Spanx and became one of the youngest self-made female billionaires?
A: Sara Blakely.
Q: Which founder took Bumble public in 2021, becoming the youngest female CEO to IPO a company?
A: Whitney Wolfe Herd.
Q: Who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2009)?
A: Elinor Ostrom.
Q: Which economist won the 2019 Economics Nobel with Banerjee and Duflo for poverty research?
A: Esther Duflo (co-laureate and second woman laureate).
Q: Which economic historian won the 2023 Economics Nobel for advancing understanding of women’s labor market outcomes?
A: Claudia Goldin.
Wartime Bravery & Espionage
Q: Which French teenager led troops during the Hundred Years’ War before being executed in 1431?
A: Joan of Arc.
Q: Which Civil War surgeon remains the only woman to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor (later restored)?
A: Mary Edwards Walker.
Q: Which WWI figure, alleged spy, was executed by France in 1917 and became a legend?
A: Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle).
Q: Which SOE wireless operator, great-granddaughter of Tipu Sultan, was executed at Dachau in 1944?
A: Noor Inayat Khan.
Q: Which SOE agent dubbed the “White Mouse” aided the French Resistance with daring missions?
A: Nancy Wake.
Q: Which German student resisted Nazism with the White Rose pamphlets and was executed in 1943?
A: Sophie Scholl.
Q: Which Soviet sniper, credited with hundreds of kills, toured the U.S. in 1942 to rally support?
A: Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
Q: Which Soviet all-female night bomber regiment terrified enemies with “whooshing” glides?
A: The “Night Witches” (46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Regiment).
Q: Which actor-inventor’s WWII patent aimed to secure torpedo guidance from jamming?
A: Hedy Lamarr (with George Antheil).
Q: Which British cryptanalyst worked at Bletchley Park on Enigma—later portrayed in film?
A: Joan Clarke.
Q: Which Filipino guerrilla leader, sometimes called the “Joan of Arc of Leyte,” spied for U.S. forces in WWII?
A: Remedios Paraiso-Gomez (popularly “Commander Liwayway”)—one of several notable Filipina fighters.
Q: Which group of U.S. Navy WAVES codebreakers (often unnamed in public) helped crack Japanese naval codes?
A: Women codebreakers of the Navy’s OP-20-G (collective contribution).
Education & Ideas
Q: Which 5th-century Alexandrian mathematician-philosopher taught astronomy and was later killed by a mob?
A: Hypatia of Alexandria.
Q: Which Italian physician and educator developed a child-centered method now used worldwide?
A: Maria Montessori.
Q: Which American educator founded a college that became Bethune-Cookman University?
A: Mary McLeod Bethune.
Q: Which writer’s 1949 book “The Second Sex” analyzed women’s social construction?
A: Simone de Beauvoir.
Q: Which American author’s 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique” ignited second-wave feminism?
A: Betty Friedan.
Q: Which environmental scientist’s “Silent Spring” (1962) helped launch modern environmentalism?
A: Rachel Carson.
Q: Which anthropologist’s “Coming of Age in Samoa” (1928) sparked debate on culture and adolescence?
A: Margaret Mead.
Q: Which poet-playwright-nun of New Spain defended women’s education in “Respuesta a Sor Filotea”?
A: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Q: Which political philosopher’s concept of intersectionality reframed how we analyze discrimination?
A: Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Q: Which Nigerian writer’s TED Talk “We Should All Be Feminists” popularized accessible feminist discourse?
A: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Q: Which U.S. law (1972) prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs?
A: Title IX of the Education Amendments.
Q: Which American jurist became the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court (2022)?
A: Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Nice work!
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