Notable women's rights activists are as follows, arranged alphabetically by modern country names and then by surname:
Afghanistan Farida Ahmadi (born 1957) – author and women's rights activist; imprisoned and tortured during the Soviet–Afghan War and founded "Women against Fundamentalism" in Norway Amina Azimi – disabled women's rights advocate Hasina Jalal – women's empowerment activist Quhramaana Kakar – Senior Strategic Advisor for Conciliation Resources Masuada Karokhi (born 1962) – Member of Parliament and women's rights campaigner Adela Mohseni, women's rights activist Zohra Rasekh (1969–2025) – doctor and women's rights activist; co-author of the report The Taliban's War on Women: A Health and Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan
Albania Evdhoksi Gërmenji (fl. 1921–1922) – women's rights activist and magazine editor Parashqevi Qiriazi (1880–1970) – teacher Sevasti Qiriazi (1871–1949) – pioneer of female education Urani Rumbo (1895–1936) – feminist, and playwright
Algeria Aïcha Lemsine (born 1942) – French-language writer and women's rights activist Ahlam Mosteghanemi (born 1953) – writer and sociologist Zazi Sadou – women's rights activist and spokeswoman for the Algerian women's resistance movement; founding member of the Algerian Assembly of Democratic Women (AADW)
Argentina Lucía Alberti (born 1944) – radical feminist and politician Virginia Bolten (1870–1960) – Argentine journalist as well as an anarchist and feminist activist of German descent Raymunda Torres y Quiroga – 19th-century Argentine writer and women's rights activist Azucena Villaflor (1924–1977) – social activist, a founder of the human rights association Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Australia
Thelma Bate (1904–1984) – community leader, advocate for inclusion of Aboriginals in Country Women's Association Rosie Batty (born 1962) – 2015 Australian of the Year and family violence campaigner Eva Cox (born 1938) – sociologist and feminist active in politics and social services, member of Women's Electoral Lobby, social commentator on women in power and at work, and social justice Zelda D'Aprano (1928–2018) – trade unionist, feminist, in 1969 chained herself to doors of Commonwealth Building over equal pay Louisa Margaret Dunkley (1866–1927) – telegraphist and labour organizer Elizabeth Evatt (born 1933) – legal reformist, jurist, critic of Australia's Sex Discrimination Act, first Australian in United Nations Commission on Human Rights Miles Franklin (1879–1954) – writer and feminist Vida Goldstein (1869–1949) – early Australian feminist campaigning for women's suffrage and social reform, first woman in British Empire to stand for national election Germaine Greer (born 1939) – author of The Female Eunuch, academic and social commentator Bella Guerin (1858–1923) – first woman to graduate from an Australian university; prominent socialist feminist (although with periods of public dispute) within the Australian Labor Party Louisa Lawson (1848–1920) – feminist, suffragist, author, founder of The Dawn, pro-republican federalist Fiona Patten (born 1964) – former leader of the Australian Sex Party, lobbyist for personal freedoms and progressive lifestyles Eileen Powell (1913–1997) – trade unionist, women's activist and contributor to the Equal Pay for Equal Work decision Millicent Preston-Stanley (1883–1955) – first female member of New South Wales Legislative Assembly, campaigner for custodial rights of mothers in divorce and for women's health care Elizabeth Anne Reid (born 1942) – world's first women's affairs adviser to head of government (Gough Whitlam), active in the United Nations and on HIV Bessie Rischbieth (1874–1967) – earliest female appointee to any court (honorary, Perth Children's Court, 1915), active against the Australian government practice of taking Aboriginal children from their mothers (Stolen Generation) Jessie Street (1889–1970) – Australian suffragette, feminist and human rights campaigner influential in labour rights and early days of the UN Anne Summers (born 1945) – women's rights activist in politics and media, women's advisor to Labor premier Paul Keating, editor of Ms. magazine (NY) Mary Hynes Swanton (1861–1940) – Australian women's rights and trade unionist
Austria Auguste Fickert (1855–1910) – feminist and social reformer Marianne Hainisch (1839–1936) – activist, exponent of women's right to work and education Bertha Pappenheim (1859–1936) – Austrian-Jewish feminist, founder of the German Jewish Women's Association
Belgium Marguerite Coppin (1867–1931) – female Poet Laureate of Belgium and advocate of women's rights Joséphine Nyssens Keelhoff (1833–1917) – Belgian temperance and women's rights activist, feminist, editor Christine Loudes (1972–2016) – proponent of gender equality and women's rights Frédérique Petrides (1903–1983) – Belgian-American pioneer female orchestral conductor, activist and editor of Women in Music Marie Popelin (1846–1913) – lawyer, feminist campaigner, leader of the Belgian League for Women's Rights
Benin Dossi Sekonou Gloria Agueh – founder and president of the Network of Women Leaders for Development
Bosnia & Herzegovina Indira Bajramović – Roma activist, director of the Association of Roma Women from Tuzla Azra Hasanbegović – Bosnian women's rights activist who documented the suffering of women refuges from Mostar and Prozor in the Bosnian War and established women's organisations
Botswana Unity Dow (born 1959) – judge and writer, plaintiff in case allowing children of mixed parentage to be deemed nationals
Brazil
Clara Ant (born 1948) – architect and political activist for the Partido dos Trabalhadores Márcia Campos (fl. 1970s) – democratic rights activist, president of the Women's International Democratic Federation Violante Atabalipa Ximenes de Bivar e Vellasco (1817–1875) – Brazilian feminist, writer and newspaper owner Albertina de Oliveira Costa (born 1943) – feminist activist, member of the Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Mulher (National Council for Women's Rights) Jaqueline Jesus (born 1978) – LGBT rights activist Lily Marinho (1921–2011) – UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Brazil 1999–2011 Míriam Martinho (born 1954) – leading feminist journalist and LGBT rights activist, known for her pioneering in Lesbian Feminism Laudelina de Campos Melo (1904–1991) – created the first trade association for domestic workers in Brazil Lucia Nader (born 1977) – human rights activist Matilde Ribeiro (born 1960) – political activist, feminist and part of the anit-racism movement in Brazil, as well as former Chief Minister of SEPPIR, a government agency promoting racial equality in Brazil Alzira Rufino (born 1949) – feminist, part of both the Black Movement and the Black Women's Movement Heleieth Saffioti (1934–2010) – feminist activist and sociology professor Miêtta Santiago (1903–1995) – suffragist, feminist activist, writer and poet Viviane Senna (born 1957) – president of the Instituto Ayrton Senna Yara Yavelberg (1943–1971) – university lecturer and part of the resistance against military dictatorship in Brazil
Bulgaria
Dimitrana Ivanova (1881–1960) – educational reformer and suffragist Ekaterina Karavelova (1860–1947) – suffragist and women's rights activist Anna Karima (1871–1949) – suffragist and women's rights activist Eugenia Kisimova (1831–1885) – feminist, philanthropist, women's rights activist Kina Konova (1872–1952) – publicist and suffragist Julia Malinova (1869–1953) – suffragist and founder of the Bulgarian Women's Union
Burkina Faso
Catherine Ouedraogo (born 1962) – social activist and environmental protection advocate
Canada
Edith Archibald (1854–1936) – suffragist, writer, promoter of Maritime Women's Christian Temperance Union, National Council of Women of Canada and Local Council of Women of Halifax Laura Borden (1861–1940) – president of the Local Council of Women of Halifax Thérèse Casgrain (1896–1981) – suffragette, reformer, feminist, politician and senator, mainly active in Quebec Françoise David (born 1948) – politician, feminist activist Emily Howard Stowe (1831–1903) – physician, advocate of women's inclusion in medical profession, founder of Canadian Women's Suffrage Association Marie Lacoste-Gérin-Lajoie (1867–1945) – suffragette, self-taught jurist Nellie McClung (1873–1951) – feminist and suffragist, part of The Famous Five (Canada) Jamie McIntosh (21st century) – lawyer and women's rights activist Eliza Ritchie (1856–1933) – prominent suffragist, executive member of Local Council of Women of Halifax Léa Roback (1903–2000) – feminist and workers' union activist tied with communist party Idola Saint-Jean (1880–1945) – suffragette, journalist Mary Two-Axe Earley (1911–1996) – indigenous women's rights activist Beverley Wybrow – established the Assaulted Women's Helpline in Toronto
Cape Verde Isaura Gomes (born 1944)
Chad Lydie Beassemda (born c. 1967) Céline Narmadji (born 1964) Halima Yakoy Adam (born 2000)
Chile Alicia Herrera Rivera (1928–2013) – feminist lawyer and minister of the Court of Appeals of Santiago María Rivera Urquieta (born 1894) – professor and feminist
China
Cai Chang (1900–1990) – politician, first chair of the All-China Women's Federation Chen Xiefen (1883–1923) – feminist, revolutionary and journalist Fok Hing-tong (1872–1957) He Xiangning (1878–1972) Huixing (educator) (1871–1905) Jiang Shufang (1867–1928) – school pioneer Li Maizi (born 1989) Lin Zongsu (1878–1944) Liu-Wang Liming (1897–1970) Lü Jinghua (born 1960) Mao Hengfeng (born 1961) Miao Boying Nurungul Tohti (born 1980) Qiu Yufang (1871–1904) Wan Shaofen (born 1930) Wang Huiwu (1898–1993) Wei Tingting (born 1989) Xiang Jingyu Xie Xuehong (1901–1970) Ye Haiyan (born 1975) Zheng Churan
Colombia Miriam Margoth Martínez (born 1966) – human rights defender Juana de J. Sarmiento (1899–1979) – Colombian politician, activist
Croatia Jelica Belović-Bernardzikowska (1870–1946) Marija Jurić Zagorka (1873–1957)
Democratic Republic of Congo Julienne Lusenge – women's activist, advocate for survivors of wartime sexual violence
Denmark
Widad Akrawi (born 1969) – writer and doctor, advocate for gender equality, women's empowerment and participation in peace-building and post-conflict governance Sophie Alberti (1846–1947) – pioneering women's rights activist and a leading member of Kvindelig Læseforening (Women Readers' Association) Johanne Andersen (1862–1925) – active in Funen and in the Danish Women's Society Ragnhild Nikoline Andersen (1907–1990) – trade unionist, Communist party politician and Stutthof prisoner Signe Arnfred (born 1944) – sociologist specializing in gender studies Matilde Bajer (1840–1934) – women's rights activist and pacifist Birgitte Berg Nielsen (1861–1951) – equal rights activist, educator Annestine Beyer (1795–1884) – pioneer of women's education Anne Bruun (1853–1934) – schoolteacher and women's rights activist Esther Carstensen (1873–1955) – women right's activist, journal editor, active in the Danish Women's Society Severine Casse (1805–1898) – women's rights activist, successful in fighting for a wife's right to dispose of her earnings Karen Dahlerup (1920–2018) – women's rights activist and politician Ulla Dahlerup (born 1942) – writer, women's rights activist, member of the Danish Red Stocking Movement Thora Daugaard (1874–1951) – women's rights activist, pacifist, editor Henni Forchhammer (1863–1955) – educator, feminist, peace activist Inger Gamburg (1892–1979) – trades unionist, Communist politician Suzanne Giese (1946–2012) – writer, women's rights activist, prominent member of the Red Stocking Movement Bente Hansen (born 1940) – writer, supporter of the Red Stocking Movement Eline Hansen (1859–1919) – feminist and peace activist Estrid Hein (1873–1956) – ophthalmologist, women's rights activist, pacifist Eva Hemmer Hansen (1913–1983) – writer and feminist Dagmar Hjort (1860–1902) – schoolteacher, writer, women's rights activist