Changemakers of the 21st century

These are the remarkable women who topped the list when Kate Mosse ran her #Womaninhistory campaign on social media in 2021.

Your actions matter. No action or voice is too small to make a difference

Science does so much for us. If you feel uneasy about science, go and understand the science

Without equality you cannot have peace and love, and without peace and love, life is empty

PROFESSOR DAME SARAH GILBERT

The professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford co-founded Vaccitech, a biotech firm that develops vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious diseases and cancer. Now 60, she was project leader for the development of the Oxford Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Professor Gilbert and her team worked astonishingly fast – within 100 days of learning the genetic sequence of the virus, they were able to begin a clinical trial of the vaccine. In 2021, she was made a dame in honour of her work.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

From being shot by the Taliban at 15 for speaking out on girls’ right to attend school, Malala has gone on to campaign for equal rights in education worldwide. In 2014, she became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Now 25, she has graduated from Oxford and continues her work. In 2021, she married Asser Malik, a manager of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Malala continues to lobby for change, recently urging the UK Government to ‘step forward more boldly’ in its support of oppressed women living under the Taliban in Afghanistan, where secondary education for girls is banned.

VANESSA NAKATE

The 26-year-old Ugandan climate and environmental campaigner rose to prominence in 2018 after she spoke out on her concerns about the unusually high temperatures in her country. Vanessa founded the Rise Up Movement, which aims to give voice to African climate activists – and in 2019 began a strike against inaction by the Ugandan government. At first, she was the only protester outside the gates of the Ugandan Parliament. It took months of determination before others began to respond to her calls on social media and join her. Vanessa started the Green Schools Project, a renewable energy initiative that aims to transition schools in Uganda to solar energy and install eco-friendly stoves. Her book, A Bigger Picture: My Fight To Bring A New African Voice To The Climate Crisis, details her journey and her manifesto for change.

NASRIN SOTOUDEH

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin, 59, has dedicated her life and career to representing women’s rights activists and opposition activists. She defended women who were prosecuted for protesting against the compulsory veiling in Iran. She was imprisoned in Iran from 2010 until 2013, where she went on a 50-day hunger strike. In 2018, she was rearrested and sentenced to 38 years and 148 lashes. In 2020, a documentary filmed in secret in Iran about her ongoing battles for the rights of women, children and minorities was released, narrated by Olivia Colman. Nasrin has won numerous awards for her work.

JACINDA ARDERN

New Zealand’s 40th prime minister made history in 2017 when she became the youngest woman elected head of government in the world at the age of 37. She became the second elected head of government to have had a baby while in office when she gave birth to her daughter, Neve. After six weeks of maternity leave, she returned to office, famously bringing her then three-month-old baby to the United Nations General Assembly. Jacinda initiated a full national lockdown in New Zealand that stamped out the first wave of Covid-19. Earlier this year, aged 42, she announced she was stepping down, saying she didn’t have ‘enough in the tank’ to keep going. Her unexpected decision sparked debate on whether this was a sign of her taking her leadership role seriously – setting her apart from many male politicians who have chosen to cling to power at any cost.