Who is or was the most influential woman to have ever walked the earth?

Question

Who is or was the most influential woman to have ever walked the earth?

Answer 1

The very first one to exist...

Answer 2

Eve. So obvious. All others are consequential or subsequential.

Answer 3

Because the whole of mankind is under the condemnation of sin because of her disloyalty to God, it would have to be Eve who also enticed Adam to eat of the apple....

Answer 4

Hard to pick just one...

Queen Elizabeth I

Joan of Arc

Eleanor Roosevelt

Abigail Adams

Indira Gandhi

Susan B Anthony

Marie Curie

Rosa Parks

Oprah

Princess Diana

Maria Montessori

Helen Keller

For my #1 I'm going with Mother Teresa

Answer 5

JK Rowling. That woman has sold some serious quantities of literature. Lot of young minds influenced there over the last 7/8 years.

Answer 6

I got to say the Virgin Mary. You don't see many women worshipped, now, do ya?

Answer 7

Queen Elizabeth I

Answer 8

Julia Vipsania Agrippina

Answer 9

The Blessed Mother, or our own mothers.

Answer 10

smm: you may want to read something about Boudica

Answer 11

Lolo Ferrarri.

Answer 12

Mary

Answer 13

In terms of what the entire modern world looks like, I don't see how an educated person could overlook Elizabeth I. You could make a very good argument that she is the most influential leader of any gender, of the past 1000 years. I'm not saying this out of any sort of Anglophile hero worship, but out of actually considering what the map of the world came to look like due to her defeat of Spain.

In terms of American society over the last fifty years, you can make a nice argument for Rosa Parks. It is likely that the civil rights movement would have happened much as it did even without her, but she was still a very important catalyst in igniting it.

Princess Diana? Some moron said Princess Diana? Jesus H. Christ, that's the dumbest thing I've seen in this section in quite some time.

It is also laughable to nominate Thatcher--although she is infinitely more influential than Diana. But in terms of influence on the world, England just hasn't been that important since the end of WWII.  

The "Virgin" Mary is a mythological figure, not a historical one. There is no proof she ever even existed, and whatever is "known" about her comes from carefully selected stories written at least a hundred years after she would even have existed. The historical validity of Eve is not even worthy of comment.

It makes me want to throw up, but Oprah is in the running for this one, or may be by the time it's all said and done.

Answer 14

All of you are mentioning white people. Typically British racism.

I think Rosa Parks, the women who refused to sit at the back of the Bus and empowered the civil rights movement

Answer 15

Mother Teresa

Answer 16

I think it's misguided to think that there is ONE woman more influential than any other woman (or man, for that matter).

There's rarely any "most" or "best" in any category.

One influential woman who springs to mind is Eleanor Roosevelt, who, among other things, chaired the committee that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (PBS is playing a documentary about here tonight, which may be why she sprang to mind.)

But it's just wrong-headed to think in terms of MOST influential -- as though there's one and only one who was more influential than all others. There have been a lot of influential women. (Florence Nightengale also springs to mind: reformed nursing, and founded the field of statistics and data analysis.)

Answer 17

mother Teresa (social worker, use to take care leprosy people when there was no cure available)

Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.

Answer 18

This is very subjective.  There have been many.

Answer 19

For me, my mother.

And it should be the same for everyone else, that has a good mother.

Answer 20

Hillary Clinton.

Answer 21

Aspasia.  The mistress of Pericles

Answer 22

Margaret Thatcher maybe.  Then again, maybe Madonna.

Answer 23

To SMM with the Boudica comment....

Boudica LOST.

Answer 24

Paris Hilton

Answer 25

Paris Hilton.

Answer 26

today   Jordan or someone like her maybe kate moss    i know sad isnt it

Answer 27

Ever!. . . I would have to be Mary the Mother of Jesus.

Answer 28

I know it's been answered, but my mum. Generally speaking though, Marie Curie did discover the perils of radiation at the cost of her own life. So I would say her. Or my sister if I had one.

Answer 29

Boudica.  stopped the roman invasion.  changed history.

Answer 30

The Virgin Mary

Answer 31

The mother of the most influential man.