Ida Lupino 

She began her acting career during the mid-30s.  A decade later, she switched from acting to directing, becoming the first (and only) woman to direct a film noir during the Hollywood's noir Golden Age, "The Hitch-Hiker"

Fanny Durack

She was the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming, during the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, first Games that allowed women in swimming competitions.  Her Olympics's participation was obstructed both from the Olympic Committee's men and women's associations.  Australians wanted to see their own heroine in the Olympics and eventually public opinion won, as well as Fanny

Nadia Comaneci

She was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games, then no longer allowed to travel outside of Romania after the defection of her coaches Béla and Márta Károlyi, strong enough to defect from Ceaușescu's dictatorship, as well, few years later​​​​​​​

Coco Chanel

Her revolutionary designs​​​​​​​ allowed women to put away the corsets and restricting garments​​​​​​​ and replace them with comfortable, simple and elegant outfits that influenced the fashion world in a way that won't ever be forgotten

Eileen Gray

According to critics, Le Corbusier was affronted that a woman could create such work of modernism and out of jealousy he painted murals all over the house, to claim a bit of ownership of the project, thus causing Eileen's architectural career break. Villa E-1027 is now recognized as one of the first masterpieces of modernist architecture​​​​​​​

Amelia Earhart

During June 1928 she became the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.  That time she was a passenger and she had not flown the plane.  But that flight brought her international fame and the opportunity to plan a new historic record. On May 1932 she became the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, alone.

Lucia Valerio

She was the best Italian female tennis player during the late 1920s and the 1930s.  Used to be called "La Signora del Tennis" ("The Tennis Lady"), she liked to be called "Miss" instead of "Lady"  because she chose to never marry, for the love of tennis

Tina Modotti

She's recognized as one of the most important female photographers of the 20th century. She was also a model, an actress, a traveller, a revolutionary activist. She lived many lives in many worlds, becoming a symbol of freedom and women's empowerment 

Franca Viola

She was the first one to say no to the Italian "rehabilitating marriage" law ("matrimonio riparatore") according to which the crime of rape could be cancelled by the marriage between the victim and the rapist. 

Kidnapped and raped by a local young criminal that wanted her to become his wife, she refused to marry him, breaking the Southern Italy social conventions and allowing the abolition of the law on August 5th, 1981