ABSTRACT
From West Asian princess Enheduanna in 2400 BCE to Wangari Maathai in the twenty-first century of our era, women have advocated for the improvement of their world and protested gender inequities and violence against them. This essay surveys commitments to both activism and ideas, driving women to rethink, subvert, refashion, and politick on behalf of a more humanely conducted social order. Across the centuries they debated, fashioned revolutionary ideologies, and engaged locally, regionally, nationally, and transnationality to amplify and actualize elemental and often wildly divergent programs for change. Behind these programs was avid opposition to misogyny, racism, colonialism, militarization, violence toward women including sexual assault, women’s poverty, and lack of education and the basic necessities of life. Often religious faith, political beliefs, moral values, and scientific knowledge fortified their pro-women commitments.
