From ancient times to now — the women who built the country.
Savitribai Phule
1831–1897 · Naigaon, Maharashtra, India
She opened India's first school for girls — while villagers threw stones at her.
Ahilyabai Holkar
1725–1795 · Chondi, Maharashtra, India
Widowed at 29, she became the queen who built temples across India and personally sat as judge every day.
Pandita Ramabai
1858–1922 · Maharashtra, India
She was a child widow who became India's most dangerous scholar — because she translated the Bible herself.
Fatima Sheikh
1831–1900 · Pune, Maharashtra, India
She opened her home as India's first school for girls — and history forgot her name for 150 years.
Begum Rokeya
1880–1932 · Rangpur, Bengal (now Bangladesh)
She wrote the world's first feminist utopia — in 1905 — from her own house, in secret, while her husband slept.
Tarabai Shinde
1850–1910 · Buldhana, Maharashtra, India
In 1882 she wrote India's angriest book about women's lives. It was 50 pages long and it changed everything.
Ela Bhatt
1933–2022 · Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
She organized the women no one else thought needed organizing — the street vendors, the rag pickers, the home-based workers. 2 million women joined her.
Rukmini Devi Arundale
1904–1986 · Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
They called the dance she loved "immoral." She performed it anyway — and gave India one of its greatest art forms back.