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Female Firsts
The role of women has changed greatly over the centuries. In the past, it was especially hard for women to achieve success. There have been exceptional women, who against all odds have achieved great firsts in their time. By their courage and determination, they have greatly advanced gender equity. -
Votes for Women
New Zealand was the first self-governing country to grant all women the right to vote.This achievement was the result of years of effort by suffrage campaigners. This is in comparison to men in New Zealand who could vote forty years earlier in 1853. -
First Women to compete in the Olympic Games
Women competed for the first time at the 1900 Games in Paris. Of a total of 997 athletes, 22 women competed in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf. This is the first time women competed in the Games which have a long history going back as far as 776 BC. -
First Nobel Prize
Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize for physics, for the discovery of radium. She was an extrordinary scientist who overcame many obstacles such as receiving a higher education to achieve success. Prior to this, winners of the Nobel Prizes were men. -
The Right to Vote in Ireland
In 1918 after a long campaign, women succeeded in getting the right for women to vote. But they had to be 30 years of age and own property. In 1922 all Irish women over 21 were given the right to vote. Prior to this, Irish men had the right to vote since 1884. -
First Female Member of Parliament in Ireland
In 1918, Countess Markievicz was elected the first female Member of Parliament. She refused to take her seat as Parliament was in London. She became a member of the first 'Dail' (Irish Parliament) in 1919 and became the first Irish female Cabinet Minister, serving as Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922. -
First Solo Flight
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She was the navigator on the flight. On June 18, 1928 after twenty one hours of flying, the plane landed in Wales. This is is comparison to the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh who completed the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic on May 21st 1927 -
First Female Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, was elected Prime Minister on the 20th of July 1960. She became the first female Prime Minister in the world.She served as Prime Minister three times, 1960–65, 1970–77 and 1994–2000. -
First Woman in Space
Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman to have flown in space. She spent three days orbiting the Earth. This comes two years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space when he launched into orbit on the Vostok 3KA3 spacecraft. -
First Woman to climb Mount Everest
On May 16,1975, Junko Tabei from Japan became the first woman to climb Mount Everest. In comparson to this, the first man to climb Everest, Edmund Hillary, completed his ascent 22 years earlier on May 19th 1953. -
First Irish President
On 3 December, 1990, Mary Robinson was inaugurated as the seventh President of Ireland. She was the first female President in Ireland. She resigned from the office of President on 12 September, 1997, to take up appointment as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. This comes after almost 70 years of male Presidents in ireland
