When the Founding Fathers set out to create a new country under the declaration that all men are created equal, the phrase “all men” didn’t apply to many demographics of people, including women. Due to laws and stigmas, women have been left out of the workplace and political office. Women have had to fight their way into those spaces. Even nowadays, many believe that women are somehow inferior to men. For instance, in 2005, then Harvard president Dr. Lawrence H. Summers claimed that women were biologically predisposed to be worse than men at math and science (The Guardian). 

But the truth is, women have contributed significantly to all aspects of our world, from making ground-breaking chemical discoveries, to writing classic literature to serving in our governments, which is why we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8. In honor of this holiday, here’s a timeline of the plethora of ways women have advanced themselves and the world since 1800.