Leading Ladies
- Jane Addams (1860-1935)
- Corazon Aquino (1933-2009)
- Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
- Coco Chanel (1883-1971)
- Julia Child (1912-2004)
- Hillary Clinton (1947-Present)
- Marie Curie (1867-1934)
- Aretha Franklin (1942-Present)
- Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)
- Estée Lauder (1908-2004)
- Madonna (1958-Present)
- Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
- Golda Meir (1898-1978)
- Angela Merkel (1954-Present)
- Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-Present)
- Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
- Jiang Qing (1914-1991)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
- Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)
- Gloria Steinem (1934-Present)
- Martha Stewart (1941-Present)
- Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
- Margaret Thatcher (1925-Present)
- Oprah Winfrey (1954-Present)
- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
The 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century
TIME surveys the women who have most influenced our world