Moms Who Broke Barriers

The Polish physicist and chemist was a true pioneer: She worked with her husband, Pierre, to coin the theory of radioactivity, discover two chemical elements and develop a method to isolate radioactive isotopes. The mother of two daughters, Irene and Eve, she was also the first woman to win a Nobel prize.

This German science pioneer’s father taught her about medicine from the time she was a child, which made a lasting impact. Erxleben became the first woman to earn a medical degree from the University of Halle after she published an argument about why women should be allowed a higher education. She died young at age 46, but instilled the love of science and schooling in her son, Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben, who was a prominent professor of physics and veterinary medicine at the University of Göttingen.

It took 29 days, 21 stopovers and 22,860 miles, but Jerrie Mock made the long trip into history. When she touched down near her Columbus, Ohio home on April 17, 1964, Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world. The mother of three also broke eight other world aviation records during her career and won a Louis Blériot medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in honor of her across-the-globe accomplishment.

The seventh of 10 children born to poor parents in rural Ohio, Victoria Woodhull was just 15 years old when she married her first husband in 1853—finding out soon after that he was an unfaithful alcoholic. She divorced him after less than a decade, but not before having two children, Byron and Zula. From that point on, she became a women's right advocate, strong supporter of feminism and big player in the suffrage movement during the same era as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Victoria and her sister were the first female stock brokers, opening up a Wall Street firm in 1870. They used their earnings to launch a newspaper, Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, to discuss politics and the women’s movement. In 1872, the newly launched Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria for President of the United States, making her the first woman to run for the office.

Before Arlene Francis, TV game show hosts were fast-talking men with microphones. When Blind Date moved from radio to TV, Francis stepped into unfamiliar shoes, becoming the first woman to host a TV game show. She went on to a long and distinguished media career, with a lengthy stint on the show What’s My Line? and a hosting gig on NBC’s Today and Tonight complement, Home. She had one son, Peter, with her second husband.

She may have had four children across the course of her tennis career, but Margaret Court was still able to win every possible tennis Grand Slam title in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, while amassing the most Grand Slam titles in the history of the sport, male or female. She shares the record for the most Grand Slam titles by a mother with Kim Clijsters, and has also been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame as arguably the greatest player ever.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan chose Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice after pledging to appoint a woman during his 1980 campaign. From there, O’Connor spent 25 years in her seat with a case-by-case approach to rulings that often made her the swing vote. She had her critics, but was loved by many, carving out her place in our national history. The mother of three finally retired in early 2006. Three years later, President Obama awarded her with the highest civilian honor a person can be given, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her service to the country.

The first woman to pilot a space shuttle back in 1992, Eileen Collins retired from active NASA duty in 2006 having logged a whopping 38 days, 8 hours and 10 minutes in outer space. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and earned an honorary doctorate from Elmira College for her distinguished career. She married fellow pilot Pat Young in 1987, and the couple has two children.

American author, poet and creative genius Maya Angelou will go down in history as one of the greatest literary figures of all time. She was the first African-American woman to have her screenplay produced (Roots), and she directed her own motion picture, Down in the Delta in 1998. She is also one of the first African-Americans to openly discuss her personal life with the publication of her widely acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969. Her work spans many mediums—essays, plays, scripts, fiction, poetry—and she has been nominated for countless awards, like the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. And all of her accomplishments came as a single mom to her son, Guy Johnson, whom she had at age 16.

Before Katie Couric, men dominated the evening news on major national networks. But in 2006, CBS hired the former Today host as one of the few women to anchor a major national weekday evening news program, joining journalistic legends like Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. The single mother of two, Elinor and Caroline, held the position for five years before switching networks to ABC. She now has her own daytime TV show, Katie.