Women's Safety Index 2026

Survived a Taliban assassination attempt at 15 for advocating girls' education. The youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2014), she leads the Malala Fund fighting for 130 million girls out of school worldwide.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2014, girls' education

Started the global Fridays for Future climate strike movement at 15. Time's Person of the Year 2019 and the defining voice of youth-led climate action.

Known for: Fridays for Future, climate activism

First Iranian woman judge, stripped of her role after 1979. Nobel Peace Prize 2003 for relentless advocacy for democracy, women's and children's rights under the Islamic Republic.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2003, human rights law

Yazidi survivor of ISIS captivity turned UN Goodwill Ambassador. Nobel Peace Prize 2018 for testimony that brought global attention to the Yazidi genocide and sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2018, Yazidi rights

Biochemist who co-developed CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing, revolutionising medicine and biology. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 — shared with Emmanuelle Charpentier, the first all-female Nobel Chemistry duo.

Known for: Nobel Chemistry 2020, CRISPR gene editing

Microbiologist who co-invented CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing alongside Jennifer Doudna, sharing the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Founding director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin.

Known for: Nobel Chemistry 2020, CRISPR co-inventor

Biochemist whose decades of persevering mRNA research, long dismissed by academia, formed the foundation for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023.

Known for: Nobel Medicine 2023, mRNA vaccine technology

Pharmaceutical chemist who discovered artemisinin, saving millions from malaria. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 — the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel in science.

Known for: Nobel Medicine 2015, artemisinin, malaria

Afro-Colombian environmental activist who won the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize for defending her community against illegal gold mining, then served as Colombia's first Afro-Colombian Vice President from 2022 to 2026.

Known for: Goldman Prize 2018, Colombia VP, Afro-Colombian rights

Spent nearly three years in a Saudi prison for campaigning for women's right to drive and abolition of the male guardianship system. A global symbol of courage for Gulf women.

Known for: Women's right to drive, Saudi guardianship reform

Chemical engineer who pioneered directed evolution of enzymes, transforming pharmaceutical and biofuel production. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 — only the fifth woman to win the Chemistry Nobel.

Known for: Nobel Chemistry 2018, directed evolution

First African American woman in space (1992). Physician, engineer and founder of 100 Year Starship, dedicated to enabling interstellar travel. An enduring symbol for women of colour in STEM.

Known for: First Black woman in space, NASA astronaut

Co-founder of Rappler and Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2021 for fearless investigative journalism exposing disinformation and authoritarian abuse of social media in the Philippines.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2021, press freedom Philippines

Figurehead of Belarus's 2020 pro-democracy uprising after her husband was jailed. Now leads the democratic opposition in exile, demanding free elections and an end to Lukashenko's rule.

Known for: Belarusian pro-democracy movement, opposition in exile

Vaccinologist at Oxford who led development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine — one of the most widely distributed vaccines in history, especially across low-income countries.

Known for: Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Afghanistan's youngest mayor at 26, survived multiple assassination attempts. Now advocates internationally for Afghan women's rights after fleeing Taliban rule in 2021.

Known for: Youngest Afghan mayor, Afghan women's rights

Neuroscientist who discovered grid cells — the brain's internal GPS. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014. A champion of women in neuroscience across Scandinavia.

Known for: Nobel Medicine 2014, grid cells, brain navigation

Virologist who co-discovered HIV in 1983, laying the scientific foundation for antiretroviral therapies that have kept millions alive. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008.

Known for: Nobel Medicine 2008, HIV discovery

Investigative journalist who exposed a child sex-trafficking network linked to powerful Mexican politicians, facing death threats and imprisonment. A global icon of courageous journalism.

Known for: Investigative journalism, press freedom Mexico

Born in poverty in the Amazon, she became Brazil's Environment Minister and three-time presidential candidate. Returned as Environment Minister in 2023, a global icon of environmental justice.

Known for: Amazon conservation, Brazil environment minister

Crystallographer who mapped the structure of ribosomes. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 — the first Israeli woman and first Middle Eastern woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Known for: Nobel Chemistry 2009, ribosome structure

Indigenous K'iche' Maya activist whose memoir exposed brutal repression of indigenous communities during Guatemala's civil war. Nobel Peace Prize 1992 — the youngest recipient at that time.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 1992, indigenous Maya rights

Known as the 'Iron Lady of Manipur,' she held the world's longest hunger strike — 16 years — protesting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and extrajudicial killings in northeast India.

Known for: Longest hunger strike, AFSPA campaign India

Co-founded Transparency International and served as World Bank VP for Africa. Launched #BringBackOurGirls after the Chibok abductions, turning it into a global movement.

Known for: #BringBackOurGirls, Transparency International

Virologist and first Indian woman elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Her vaccine research on rotavirus has directly reduced child mortality across South Asia.

Known for: Rotavirus vaccine, Royal Society Fellow India

Human rights lawyer who has defended death-row juveniles and women arrested for removing their hijab. Sentenced to 38 years in prison — a global symbol of judicial persecution.

Known for: Human rights law Iran, hijab protests defence

Student whose photograph atop a car leading protest chants became the defining image of Sudan's 2019 revolution. Known as 'the woman in white,' she embodies the women-led uprising that toppled al-Bashir.

Known for: Sudan 2019 revolution, women-led democratic uprising

Ecologist at CONICET whose research on plant functional diversity transformed global biodiversity science. Co-chair of IPBES and lead author of its landmark 2019 Global Assessment on biodiversity loss.

Known for: IPBES biodiversity, plant ecology Argentina

Former president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. Won the UN Human Rights Prize 2013 for documenting forced disappearances and torture in North Africa.

Known for: UN Human Rights Prize 2013, Morocco human rights

Led Chile's 2011 student uprising demanding free public education. Became the youngest female minister in Chilean history as Government Spokesperson in 2022.

Known for: Chilean student movement 2011, youngest Chilean female minister

MIT astrophysicist who helped build the instruments behind the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, one of the landmark discoveries of modern physics. She became Dean of MIT's School of Science in 2020.

Known for: LIGO gravitational waves, MIT Dean of Science

Peace activist who organised a women's nonviolent movement that helped end Liberia's brutal civil war. Nobel Peace Prize 2011, subject of the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2011, Liberian peace movement

Academic, activist and poet who used radical body-positive protest to challenge Uganda's authoritarian government. Has fought for LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and free speech despite imprisonment.

Known for: LGBTQ+ rights, feminist protest Uganda

Paediatrician and president of the South African Medical Research Council who led landmark HIV vaccine trials and steered South Africa's COVID-19 scientific response.

Known for: HIV vaccine trials, COVID-19 response South Africa

Indigenous Mbororo activist co-chairing the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. Her participatory 3D mapping of Lake Chad is a global model for community-based climate adaptation.

Known for: Indigenous climate mapping, Lake Chad, Paris Agreement

Human rights defender who has spent much of the past decade in prison for campaigning against the death penalty, solitary confinement and compulsory hijab laws. Awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize while behind bars in Evin Prison.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2023, Woman, Life, Freedom

Geneticist who pioneered stem cell research in Brazil and was a leading scientific voice linking the Zika virus to microcephaly during the 2016 outbreak.

Known for: Stem cell research, Zika virus, Brazil genetics

Physician and Vietnam's Health Minister from 2011 to 2019, who expanded health insurance coverage and grassroots care. Later chaired the National Assembly's social affairs committee.

Known for: Vietnam health system, COVID-19 response Southeast Asia

Sociologist and activist who spent over two decades fighting fabricated terrorism charges in Turkey for her work with Kurdish and LGBT+ communities. Acquitted four times, continues advocacy in exile.

Known for: Kurdish rights, LGBTQ+ Turkey, unjust imprisonment

Former judge and first female opposition party leader in Ethiopia, twice imprisoned for democratic activism. Appointed chairperson of the National Electoral Board, overseeing Ethiopia's 2021 elections.

Known for: Ethiopian democracy, electoral reform

Harvard economist whose two centuries of labour-market data explained why the gender pay gap persists, and how the timing of parenthood drives it. The first woman to win the economics Nobel on her own.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2023, gender pay gap research

Land rights activist who led displaced Phnom Penh communities against forced eviction at Boeung Kak Lake. Imprisoned multiple times, she became a symbol of urban land rights across Southeast Asia.

Known for: Land rights Cambodia, forced eviction resistance

Developmental biologist who discovered how the placenta forms, fundamentally advancing understanding of miscarriage and foetal development. President of the Gairdner Foundation and Fellow of the Royal Society.

Known for: Placenta biology, developmental biology Canada

Scholar, legislator and longtime PLO spokesperson — one of the most articulate and prominent international voices for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution for decades.

Known for: Palestinian rights, PLO spokesperson, diplomacy

Human rights lawyer and champion of Bangladesh's war crime tribunals, seeking justice for atrocities of the 1971 Liberation War. A fearless voice for women's rights and minority protection.

Known for: Bangladesh war crimes justice, women's rights

Psychologist and member of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her groundbreaking work on trauma, memory and forgiveness has shaped transitional justice globally.

Known for: Truth & Reconciliation Commission, transitional justice

Geophysicist at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, whose research on the equatorial ionosphere advances space-weather science. A 2013 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureate.

Known for: Geophysics, space weather, women in STEM Nigeria

Investigative journalist whose reporting since the 1990s broke the silence around so-called honour killings in Jordan and pushed for tougher sentences for perpetrators.

Known for: Reporting on honour crimes, author of Murder in the Name of Honour

Ophthalmologist who led the world's first clinical trial using iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells to treat age-related macular degeneration, opening a new era in regenerative medicine.

Known for: iPS cell clinical trials, regenerative medicine Japan

Nobel Peace Prize 1991 for her nonviolent struggle for democracy. Led the NLD to a landslide victory in 2015 and was detained by the military after it seized power in 2021.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 1991, Myanmar democracy, NLD

UN Deputy Secretary-General and former Nigerian Environment Minister driving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and championing climate finance for the Global South.

Known for: UN Deputy Secretary-General, SDGs, climate finance

Physician, anti-apartheid activist and the first woman to chair the African Union Commission (2012–2017). As South Africa's health minister she introduced some of the world's strictest tobacco-control laws.

Known for: African Union, tobacco control law, public health SA

Founder of Ar.Rukh.Hak, Kazakhstan's leading human rights NGO. Has campaigned against torture, arbitrary detention and political repression in Central Asia for over two decades.

Known for: Human rights Kazakhstan, torture prevention

Feminist activist and former ActionAid International director who has championed African women's political participation and challenged patriarchal structures in development organisations for 30 years.

Known for: African feminist activism, women's political participation

Biochemist at the University of Chile whose research on calcium signalling in muscle and brain cells has advanced understanding of heart disease and ageing. Winner of Chile's National Prize for Natural Sciences.

Known for: Neuroscience, calcium signalling, Chilean science

Founder of Msichana Initiative who won a landmark 2016 High Court case striking down Tanzania's law allowing girls to marry at 14, protecting thousands from child marriage.

Known for: Child marriage Tanzania, Msichana Initiative, legal victory

Paediatrician and former Health Minister credited with rebuilding Rwanda's health system after the genocide. Led introduction of the HPV vaccine and universal health coverage, dramatically cutting child mortality.

Known for: Rwanda health reconstruction, HPV vaccine, universal coverage

Journalist and founder of the South Kivu Women's Media Association, who has spent 20 years giving voice to survivors of sexual violence in eastern DRC and demanding accountability.

Known for: Sexual violence DRC, women's media, journalism

Physicist at Lund University whose experiments with attosecond pulses of light let scientists watch electrons move inside atoms. Only the fifth woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Physics 2023, attosecond physics

Elected the world's first female president of a republic in 1980, serving four terms. A champion of linguistic diversity, advocating for preservation of smaller languages globally.

Known for: World's first elected female president, linguistic rights

Known as the 'Missile Woman of India,' she is the first woman to head a missile project in India, leading development of the Agni-IV and Agni-V ballistic missiles for DRDO.

Known for: India missile programme, Agni missiles, DRDO

Peruvian farmer who refused to cede her land to a gold mining company and won. Goldman Environmental Prize 2016 — her courage has inspired communities across the Andes to resist extractive industries.

Known for: Goldman Prize 2016, land rights Peru, anti-mining

Lawyer and women's rights leader who co-founded the Indonesian Women's Coalition and fought for decades for legal protections against domestic violence in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Known for: Women's rights Indonesia, domestic violence law

Human rights lawyer and former president of the Malaysian Bar who co-chaired the Bersih movement for clean and fair elections. Recipient of the US International Women of Courage Award in 2009.

Known for: Bersih electoral reform, human rights law Malaysia

Stanford chemist who invented bioorthogonal chemistry — reactions that work inside living cells without disrupting them — now used to develop targeted cancer drugs.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022, bioorthogonal chemistry

Former UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict who documented and prosecuted wartime rape across Syria, South Sudan and Somalia, elevating it as a global justice issue.

Known for: UN sexual violence in conflict, wartime rape accountability

Mathematical ecologist whose climate-driven infectious disease modelling — on cholera and malaria — has reshaped how global health agencies predict and respond to outbreaks.

Known for: Climate and disease modelling, global health ecology

Waived her anonymity so the 2024 trial of her former husband and 50 other men could be held in public, insisting that "shame must change sides." All defendants were convicted, and her stand reshaped debate on consent across Europe.

Known for: Avignon rape trial 2024, consent law debate

Journalist and founder of Women Journalists Without Chains who led Yemen's 2011 protests. The first Arab woman and, at the time, the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Known for: Nobel Peace Prize 2011, press freedom Yemen

Infectious disease epidemiologist whose research showed an antiretroviral gel could protect women from HIV. A pioneer in gender-responsive HIV science across sub-Saharan Africa.

Known for: HIV prevention women, gender-responsive science

Anti-corruption lawyer and policy expert whose research at Expert Forum Romania has been central to landmark anti-corruption reforms and the fight against judicial capture in Eastern Europe.

Known for: Anti-corruption Romania, judicial reform

MIT development economist who pioneered randomised field trials to test which anti-poverty programmes actually work, including many focused on girls' schooling and women's economic power.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2019, J-PAL

Lawyer, feminist and former MP who chaired Tunisia's Individual Freedoms and Equality Committee, whose 2018 report proposed equal inheritance rights for women — a first in the Arab world.

Known for: Women's rights Tunisia, inheritance equality, Arab world reform

Parasitologist whose malaria research at the University of Yaoundé has trained generations of African scientists and shaped malaria control policy across Central and West Africa.

Known for: Malaria research, parasitology, scientific training Africa

Lawyer who co-founded COFAVIC, a Venezuelan organisation that has represented families of victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances for more than three decades, taking cases to the Inter-American human rights system.

Known for: COFAVIC, accountability for extrajudicial killings

Young pro-democracy activist and co-founder of Demosistō, jailed multiple times for her role in Hong Kong's democracy movement. Her case drew global attention to Beijing's crackdown on civil liberties.

Known for: Hong Kong democracy, Demosistō, pro-democracy activism

Physicist and science policy leader who has championed renewable energy research and women in science across Latin America, shaping Mexico's national energy transition strategy.

Known for: Renewable energy research, science policy Mexico

Founder of China's first legal aid centre for women, who has spent over 30 years fighting gender discrimination, domestic violence and violations of migrant women's rights in Chinese courts.

Known for: Women's legal aid China, domestic violence law

Community organiser who started the "me too" movement in 2006 to support Black girls who had survived sexual violence, years before the phrase went global in 2017.

Known for: Founder of the me too movement

Paediatrician and tuberculosis researcher who served as the World Health Organization's first Chief Scientist, steering global scientific guidance through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Known for: WHO Chief Scientist 2019–2022, TB research

Founder of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), ensuring African women scientists lead the solutions to Africa's food security challenges.

Known for: Women in agricultural research Africa, AWARD

Molecular biologist who co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that protects the ends of chromosomes, transforming the study of ageing and cancer. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009.

Known for: Nobel Medicine 2009, telomerase, chromosome biology

Supreme Court advocate who co-founded Pakistan's first all-women law firm and the women's shelter Dastak. A member of The Elders, she has defended women facing honour-based violence for four decades.

Known for: Women's legal aid Pakistan, The Elders

Former Tupamaro guerrilla turned senator, then Vice-President of Uruguay. One of Latin America's most influential progressive voices on drug policy reform and women's rights.

Known for: Uruguay VP, drug policy reform, progressive politics

Particle physicist who announced the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 as spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment, and became the first woman to lead CERN as Director-General.

Known for: Higgs boson discovery, first woman CERN Director-General

Former Education Minister who authored the landmark 1996 UN report on the impact of war on children. A global advocate for children's rights, African development and women's leadership.

Known for: Children's rights in conflict, UN report, African development

Laser physicist at the University of Waterloo whose chirped pulse amplification technique made ultra-intense lasers possible, now used in eye surgery worldwide.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Physics 2018, chirped pulse amplification

Climate activist who founded the Rise Up Movement to amplify African voices on climate change, and campaigns for solar power in Ugandan schools. A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Known for: Rise Up Movement, African climate justice

UCLA astrophysicist whose decades of observations of stars orbiting the Milky Way's centre proved that a supermassive black hole sits at the heart of our galaxy.

Known for: Nobel Prize in Physics 2020, Sagittarius A*

Former Prime Minister who led New Zealand's compassionate response to the Christchurch mosque attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally recognised for combining decisive leadership with empathy.

Known for: New Zealand PM, Christchurch response, compassionate leadership

Parasitologist and former Minister of Higher Education who has championed tropical disease research and women's participation in STEM across sub-Saharan Africa.

Known for: Parasitology, tropical disease, women in STEM Zambia

Genocide survivor whose memoir Left to Tell has sold over a million copies and whose advocacy for forgiveness and reconciliation has brought Rwanda's story to global audiences.

Known for: Rwanda genocide survivor, reconciliation, forgiveness advocacy

Geneticist who located the BRCA1 breast cancer gene and pioneered DNA identification to reunite Argentine children stolen during the dictatorship with their families.

Known for: BRCA1 discovery, forensic genetics for human rights

Women's rights advocate who chose to stay in Kabul after the Taliban returned in 2021, running shelters and speaking out publicly against bans on girls' education and women's work.

Known for: Afghan Women's Network, women's shelters Kabul

First African American woman to earn a PhD from MIT (physics). As chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic, she transformed science policy and STEM access.

Known for: First Black woman MIT physics PhD, nuclear regulation, STEM leadership

Founder of Nazra for Feminist Studies, Egypt's most prominent feminist organisation, which has documented sexual violence and advocated for women's rights through Egypt's turbulent political transitions.

Known for: Egyptian feminist movement, Nazra, sexual violence documentation

Astrophysicist who discovered the first radio pulsars as a PhD student in 1967. She donated her 2018 Breakthrough Prize to fund scholarships for under-represented physics students.

Known for: Discovery of pulsars, Breakthrough Prize 2018

Distinguished Professor and one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal scholars, whose work on Indigenous rights, land tenure and constitutional recognition has shaped national policy for decades.

Known for: Indigenous rights Australia, Aboriginal land tenure

Co-founder of the Elman Peace Centre, where she runs Somalia's first rape crisis centre and programmes that help former child soldiers and survivors of gender-based violence rebuild their lives.

Known for: Elman Peace Centre, Sister Somalia

Art historian, academic and author who has written over 1,000 articles on art, culture and heritage conservation. Produced the first exhaustive doctoral study of the Aurangabad Caves, discovered inscriptions at Pitalkhora, and pressured the Archaeological Survey of India to carry out conservation work at Ajanta. Cultural chairperson of the Ellora-Ajanta Aurangabad Festival and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Maharashtra Chambers of Commerce.

Known for: Aurangabad & Ajanta-Ellora cave research, heritage conservation, Indian art history