Starting in the fifth century BCE and continuing to the present, Lee introduces readers to bold and inspiring women who dared to step outside traditional gender roles of their time.

Express Xi Ling Shi -- Hatshepsut -- Agnodice -- Tru'ng Tr̐ac & Tru'ng Nhị -- Queen Arawelo -- Fatima Al-Fihri -- Murasaki Shikibu -- Khutulun -- Sayyida Al-Hurra -- Mochizuki Chiyome -- Doña Ana Lezama de Urinza & Doña Eustaquia de Sonza -- Lady Margaret Cavendish -- King Christina of Sweden -- Julie d'Aubigny -- Sybilla Masters -- Sybil Ludington -- Anne Lister -- Ching Shih -- Mary Anning -- Mary Seacole -- Frederike Mandelbaum -- Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi -- Stagecoach Mary Fields -- Isabella Stewart Gardner -- Emily Warren Roebling -- Buffalo Calf Road Woman -- Mary Bowser & Bet Van Lew -- Marie Duval -- Fannie Farmer -- Juliette Gordon Low -- Annie Jump Cannon -- Clelia Duel Mosher -- Sarah Breedlove -- Edith Garrud -- Emmy Noether -- Alice Ball -- Dorothy Arzner -- Nwanyeruwa -- Rukmini Devi Arundale -- Mariya Oktyabrskaya -- Irene Sendler -- Ursula Nordstrom -- Elvira de la Furnte Chaudoir -- Jackie Mitchell -- Noor Inayat Khan -- Fanny Blankers-Koen -- Kumander Liwayway -- Azucena Villaflor -- Angela Morley -- Maria Tallchief -- The Mirabal sisters -- Lorraine Hansberry.