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Hailing from a family of political big shots, Indira Gandhi was the daughter of the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1966 Gandhi was appointed prime minister and, for over a decade, fended off challenges to her authority. Her government was eventually voted out, and she was locked up on corruption charges. After she emerged from prison, she led her party to power and became the prime minister again. She was assassinated in office in 1984 by her two bodyguards, who were taking revenge for Sikh casualties at the hands of the Indian army under Gandhi’s administration.

Chisholm adopted the campaign slogan “Unbought and Unbossed” for her 1972 run at the White House. She was a pioneer, having become the second Black woman elected to the New York State Assembly and the first in the US Congress. In the House, Chisholm spoke out against the Vietnam War, helped institute the national food stamp program, and employed an all-women staff. Chisholm placed fourth in the presidential nominee race, losing to pro-segregation Alabama governor George Wallace. Chisholm opened the Democratic Party’s eyes to the leadership potential of people of all races and genders. “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair,” she liked to say.

It is a distinctly Icelandic story that an experimental theater director and media personality who taught French on public television would, in 1980, become the first woman to get elected president. Finnbogadóttir was a single adoptive mother who spent her four-term administration promoting the Icelandic arts culture in which she had long worked. After stepping down as head of the country, she founded the Council of Women World Leaders, then based at Harvard University.

This Liberian politician had an early reputation of being trustworthy in financial matters. She clashed with the demonstrably corrupt regime of Samuel K. Doe, was nearly put to death once, and eventually was sent to jail for criticizing the military-controlled government during a run for vice president. During her twelve years of exile, and while Liberia suffered a devastating civil war, she became a well-known World Bank economist. After the war, she returned to the country, was elected president, and spent twelve years in power from 2006 to 2018. Her administration was hounded by charges of the very corruption she once fought and had to fight against the Ebola virus that took over forty-eight hundred Liberian lives.

In 1984 pearls-wearing Queens, New York, criminal prosecutor Ferraro was tapped by Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale to be his running mate. Ferraro, a congressmember and mother of three, had both conservative and progressive stances, and was a staunch supporter of a woman’s right to choose. Her charisma and influential committee work made her a seemingly potent candidate, but her slate was smashed in one of the biggest Republican landslides ever. Ferraro vacated her congressional seat in 1985 and went on to become a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Fascinating fact: This Illinois member of Congress was the first person to give birth while serving in the US Senate. Another one: She is the country’s first Thailand-born senator. Also, in 2004, while she was serving in the Iraq War (2003–2011), a rocket-propelled grenade was launched at the helicopter she was piloting and she lost both of her legs. There are a lot of reasons to pay respect to this Purple Heart recipient. With her legislative work in gun safety laws and veterans’ rights, she’s proven unafraid of a political challenge. That was most evident when she told an unsuccessful Senate challenger, “These legs are titanium. They don’t buckle. Go ahead, take a shot at me.”