Equality for All: Eight Foreign Women’s Equality Activists to Know

This radical group reflects a diverse, global movement.

Working for Women's Rights - Women’s Equality Day commemorates those who bravely fought for women’s voting rights, leading to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Keep reading to learn about an unconventional group of women who have pioneered women’s equality all over the world. –Patrice Peck(Photo: REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas)

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Working for Women's Rights - Women’s Equality Day commemorates those who bravely fought for women’s voting rights, leading to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Keep reading to learn about an unconventional group of women who have pioneered women’s equality all over the world. –Patrice Peck(Photo: REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas)

Egypt: Nawal el-Saadawi - This internationally renowned Egyptian physician has published a number of foundational feminist works about women in Islam and female genital mutilation. In addition to founding both the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and the Arab Association for Human Rights, el-Saadawi has been awarded several international awards for her activism, including the 2011 Stig Dagerman Prize. (Photo: Mona Sharaf / Reuters)

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Egypt: Nawal el-Saadawi - This internationally renowned Egyptian physician has published a number of foundational feminist works about women in Islam and female genital mutilation. In addition to founding both the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and the Arab Association for Human Rights, el-Saadawi has been awarded several international awards for her activism, including the 2011 Stig Dagerman Prize. (Photo: Mona Sharaf / Reuters)

New Zealand: Kate Sheppard - Kate Sheppard’s dedication to advancing New Zealand’s suffrage movement played a large role in women’s rights worldwide, given that the Pacific nation was the first country to introduce universal voting rights in 1893. Three years later, Sheppard was elected president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand.(Photo: WikiCommons)

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New Zealand: Kate Sheppard - Kate Sheppard’s dedication to advancing New Zealand’s suffrage movement played a large role in women’s rights worldwide, given that the Pacific nation was the first country to introduce universal voting rights in 1893. Three years later, Sheppard was elected president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand.(Photo: WikiCommons)

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Liberia: Leymah Gbowee - Born in 1972 in Liberia, Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist who, with her compatriot President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her “non-violent struggle for the safety of women.” She also spearheaded a women’s peace movement that facilitated the end of the country's Second Civil War in 2003 and the subsequent free election that Sirleaf won.(Photo: Kyodo /Landov)

Iran: Shirin Ebadi - The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi was the first Iranian awarded the international honor, given to her for her human rights work with women, children and refugees. Considered one of the most influential women of all time, the 66-year-old judge-turned-lawyer founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a human rights organization home to several of the country’s most prominent lawyers in Tehran.(Photo: REUTERS/Thierry Roge)

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Iran: Shirin Ebadi - The 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi was the first Iranian awarded the international honor, given to her for her human rights work with women, children and refugees. Considered one of the most influential women of all time, the 66-year-old judge-turned-lawyer founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a human rights organization home to several of the country’s most prominent lawyers in Tehran.(Photo: REUTERS/Thierry Roge)

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Puerto Rico: Luisa Capetillo - Feminist and labor leader Luisa Capetillo is one of Puerto Rico’s most reputable labor organizers. Capetillo pressured her union to support a policy of women’s suffrage, but what got her thrown into jail for about 10 years in 1919 was a far simpler, illegal act at the time: wearing pants.(Photo: WikiCommons)

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Puerto Rico: Luisa Capetillo - Feminist and labor leader Luisa Capetillo is one of Puerto Rico’s most reputable labor organizers. Capetillo pressured her union to support a policy of women’s suffrage, but what got her thrown into jail for about 10 years in 1919 was a far simpler, illegal act at the time: wearing pants.(Photo: WikiCommons)

Egypt: Doria Shafik - Doria Shafik was one of the leaders of the Egypt’s women’s liberation movement in the early 1950s. Her role as a freedom fighter against British colonization and champion of women’s suffrage positioned her as a global icon.(Photo: /AFP/Getty Images)

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Egypt: Doria Shafik - Doria Shafik was one of the leaders of the Egypt’s women’s liberation movement in the early 1950s. Her role as a freedom fighter against British colonization and champion of women’s suffrage positioned her as a global icon.(Photo: /AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan: Malala Yousafzai - As an adolescent living in a town where girls were banned from attending school, Malala Yousafzai advocated education for girls in a blog anonymously for BBC and in a New York Times documentary. Despite being shot in the head in 2012 in an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012, the 16-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee continues to speak internationally on the importance of access to education.(Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

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Pakistan: Malala Yousafzai - As an adolescent living in a town where girls were banned from attending school, Malala Yousafzai advocated education for girls in a blog anonymously for BBC and in a New York Times documentary. Despite being shot in the head in 2012 in an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012, the 16-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee continues to speak internationally on the importance of access to education.(Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Rainatou Sow — Guinean Founder of Make Every Woman Count - Sow is a social justice advocate and women’s rights activist who founded U.K.-based non-profit Make Every Woman Count, which monitors women’s rights across Africa. (Photo: Courtesy Make Every Woman Count)

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Guinea: Rainatou Sow - Founder and executive director of Make Every Women Count Rainatou Sow was named last year's "inspirational woman" by the British group Women4Africa and one of 20 youngest power women in Africa by Forbes. The Guinean activist launched the organization to better monitor women’s rights in every African nation.(Photo: Make Every Woman Count)