importantwomensbirthdays

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Nia Dinata

Nia Dinata was born in 1970 in Djakarta, Indonesia. Dinata is a director known for her films on controversial subjects, such as polygamy, migrant workers, and gender and sexual identity. She made her directorial debut in 1998 with the short film Looking for the Rainbow. Dinata went on to direct Ca-bau-kan, which was released in 2002 and was chosen as Indonesia's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. She wrote and directed the 2003 film Arisan! which won critical acclaim for its portrayal of gay characters in Indonesia. This would be considered Dinata's breakout film. Her film Love For Share was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was also Indonesia's submission to the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Susan McKenna-Lawlor

Susan McKenna-Lawlor was born in 1935 in Dublin, Ireland. McKenna Lawlor is a professor emeritus in the Department of Experimental Physics at Maynooth University. She also serves as managing director of Space Technology Ireland, a company that builds instrumentation for space missions. McKenna-Lawlor developed instruments to monitor solar wind on Mars for the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission. She was also involved in the ESA's Giotto Mission and the Rosetta Mission. In 1998, McKenna-Lawlor was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics. She has written or co-written several books and over two hundred peer-reviewed scientific articles.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Pandelela Rinong

Pandelela Rinong was born in 1993 in Bau, Malaysia. Rinong began diving at eight years old, and at the age of fifteen, she competed in the Beijing Olympics. The following year, she won Malaysia's first ever medal at the World Aquatics Championships. At the 2012 Olympics, Rinong took home the bronze medal in the platform event. Four years later, in Rio, she won a silver medal in the synchronized platform event. In 2021, Rinong won a gold medal at the Diving World Cup.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Laura Netzel

Pianist and composer Laura Netzel was born in 1839 in Rantasalmi, Finland. Netzel made her debut as a pianist at 18 with the Swedish Court Ensemble. She made her debut as a composer at 35 at the Harominc Society's concerts in Stockholm. Using a pseudonym, Netzel published more than seventy works, including piano solos, piano trios, choral works, and almost forty songs. Her work was mostly in a romantic, chromatic style, with influences from contemporary French music. From 1892 to 1908, Netzel ran a series of low-cost concerts for working class people in Stockholm, and the shows had to repeatedly move to larger venues as the audiences grew. Netzel also raised large sums of money for charitable causes.

Laura Netzel died in 1927.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Edna Manley

Edna Manley was born in 1900 in Bournemouth, England. In 1922, Manley moved to Jamaica, where she would become one of the country's most important artists. The first piece she created in Jamaica, The Breadseller, was plaster cast in bronze. A prolific sculptor, she worked mainly with wood from 1925 until 1974, when she switched to clay. Through her art, Manley explored her own Jamaican heritage, and strove to honor the culture and people of Jamaica. She exhibited in the Caribbean, London, and the United States, and co-founded the Jamaica School of Art.

Edna Manley died in 1987 at the age of 86.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Mary Gibby

Mary Gibby was born in 1949 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Gibby was a botanist who promoted the study of non-flowering plants, and gained international recognition for her innovative research on ferns. From 2000 until 2012, she served as Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In this role, Gibby developed partnerships with Scottish National Heritage and the University of Edinburgh. These partnerships led to the restoration of several native Scottish plants that were previously in danger of extinction. In 2005, Gibby was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 2010, she was appointed an OBE.

Mary Gibby died in 2024 at the age of 75.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Rosebud Yellow Robe

Rosebud Yellow Robe was born in 1907 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Yellow Robe was an early proponent of the study of Native American cultures. From 1930 to 1950, she served as director of Indian Village at Jones Beach State Park. There, she educated schoolchildren by performing ceremonial dances, teaching crafts, and telling stories. In 1969, Yellow Robe published her first book, Album of the American Indian, which depicted the daily lives of seven different Indian tribes before colonization. In 1979, she published her second book, Tonweya and the Eagles, a collection of Native American folktales for children.

Rosebud Yellow Robe died in 1992 at the age of 85.

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[importantwomensbirthdays]

Emma Catherine Embury

Emma Catherine Embury was born in New York City in 1806. Embury regularly contributed essays, poems, children's stories, and articles to the leading periodicals of her day. In the 1830s and 40s, she published collections of short stories. These included Constance Latimer, or the Blind Girl, with Other Tales in 1838, and Glimpses of Home Life, or Causes and Consequences in 1848. Overall, Embury wrote more than four hundred stories, poems, and essays.

Emma Catherine Embury died in 1863 at the age of 56. Two volumes of her work, Poems and Selected Prose, were published posthumously.

Image source: National Portrait Gallery

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Risa Hontiveros

Risa Hontiveros was born in 1966 in Manila, Philippines. Hontiveros was first elected to the Philippine Senate in 2016, and re-elected in 2022. She was the principal author of the landmark Philippine Mental Health Law and the Expanded Maternity Leave Law. Hontiveros has spearheaded other legislative efforts including the Free Dialysis Act, and the SOGIE Equality Bill, a law to protect LGBT rights.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Agnes Arber

Agnes Arber was born in London in 1879. Arber was a botanist whose research mainly focused on the anatomy and morphology of monocots, a type of plant with only one seed leaf or cotyledon emerging from its embryo. In 1912, Arber published her first book, Herbals, their origin and evolution, which remains a foundational work. She went on to publish several books from the 1920s to the 1950s. Arber also published over 90 scientific papers. In 1946, she was elected to the Royal Society. In 1948, Arber won the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society, becoming the first woman to receive this honor.

Agnes Arber died in 1960 at the age of 81.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Naomi Simson

Naomi Simson was born in 1964 in suburban Melbourne. Simson is one of Australia's most well-known entrepreneurs. In 2001, she founded RedBalloon, a platform that allows customers to gift experiences rather than items. Two years later, the company reached $1 million in revenue, and it later grew to generate over $20 million in revenue. In 2017, Simson co-founded the Big Red Group. The largest experience marketplace in Australia and New Zealand, it serves an experience once every 18 seconds.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Sally Jewell

Sally Jewell was born in London in 1956. In 1959, Jewell moved to the United States, where she has had a successful career in both business and politics. She joined the board of REI in 1996, and became the company's chief operating officer in 2000. From 2013 to 2017, Jewell served as Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama. In this role, she gained recognition for a collaborative and science-based approach to natural resource management. Jewell and her team encouraged sustainable water use in the West, and supported commercial-scale renewable energy development on public lands and waters. Since leaving the Cabinet, she has remained active with several non-profits, including the Nature Conservancy, where she serves as a board member.

Image source: Department of the Interior

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Ruth Gipps

Composer and musician Ruth Gipps was born in 1921 in Bexhill-On-Sea, England. Regarded as a child prodigy, one of Gipps' compositions was bought by a publishing house when she was eight years old. She composed more than 70 works over the course of her career. She was also known as a soloist in both oboe and piano until a hand injury at the age of 33 ended her performing career. In 1955, Gipps founded the London Repertoire Orchestra, and ran it virtually on her own for more than 30 years. In 1961, she founded the Chanticleer Orchestra. In 1981, Gipps was awarded an MBE.

Ruth Gipps died in 1999 at the age of 78.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Elfrida Andrée

Organist, composer, and conductor Elfrida Andrée was born in 1841 in Visby, Sweden. Andrée first became a professional organist in 1857. Ten years later, she became organist of Gothenburg Cathedral, and stayed in this role for the rest of her life. In 1879, she became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. As a composer, Andrée's body of work included roughly twenty solo songs, as well as organ pieces, choral songs, and symphonies. When her orchestral symphony in A minor (No.2) was performed in Dresden in 1904, Andrée herself was the conductor.

Elfrida Andrée died in 1929.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Elizabeth Nunez

Elizabeth Nunez was born in 1944 in Cocorite, Trinidad and Tobago. Nunez was the author of eleven books. Her novel Bruised Hibiscus was the winner of the 2001 American Book Award. She won the won the 2010 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Anna In-Between and the 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for her memoir, Not for Everyday Use. Nunez was a co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference. A devoted educator, her teaching career began at Medgar Evers College in 1972. In 2010, Nunez became a distinguished professor at Hunter College.

Elizabeth Nunez died in 2024 at the age of 80.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Mary Frances Berry

Civil rights activist Mary Frances Berry was born in 1938 in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1980, Berry was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights, and served as the Commission's chair from 1993 until 2004. She was one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, which helped to end apartheid in South Africa. For this work, she won the Nelson Mandela Award from the South African government in 2013. Berry is the author of twelve books and currently a professor emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.

Image source: Kennedy Space Center

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Roberta Williams

Game designer Roberta Williams was born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California. In 1980, Williams designed "Mystery House", which is widely considered the first graphic adventure game. Her next game, "The Wizard and the Princess", sold over 60,000 copies. Williams is best known for the game "King's Quest", a 2.5-D adventure game credited with reinventing adventure gaming. The game and its sequels sold millions copies. She later designed the horror game "Phantasmagoria", and other successful games. Williams' games have sold a combined total of over 15 million copies.