For her contributions to space exploration, Katherine Johnson, who died in February 2020 at the age of 101, was selected as the 2020 recipient of the National Geographic Society Hubbard Medal, awarded for achievement in research, discovery, and exploration. Though she herself wasn’t physically exploring space, without her there might not have been any exploration at all.

Fifty years ago, few scientists believed a drug could fight viruses with low side effects. Then Gertrude Elion showed the doubters "what I could do on my own."

Over 3.5 million poorly paid, semi-literate women serving as community health workers are India’s first line of defense against the coronavirus, relied upon by a government that praises them but has done little to protect, support, or compensate them. “If they get infected who will take responsibility for that?” asked Girish Pandey, president the Women Anganwadi Workers Union. “They too have families. They are not nameless, faceless martyrs.

Being a mother is tough, no matter the time period. But these unforgettable moms managed to make their mark with help from their kids—or sometimes despite them.

Under lockdown, domestic workers’ already precarious situations are made all the more dangerous. Many are forced to continue working despite the risk of contracting COVID-19, while others are let go without pay, left to wonder how they’ll pay rent and feed their families.

Women overcame influenza, social distancing, and political bias to win the right to vote.

Barbara Washburn, a self-described "accidental mountaineer," spent 40 years mapping remote corners of the U.S.

Since a horrifying assault shocked the nation, women there have pressed for more protection from harassment and abuse in public spaces.

Out of tragedy, necessity, and pragmatism, women—up to 80 percent of Rwanda’s surviving population—stepped in to fill the leadership void. Aided by women’s civil society groups, lawmakers have introduced some of the most women-friendly policies in the world.

Females are taking more active roles in militaries, serving on the front lines of armed conflicts and as peacekeepers in the world‘s hot spots.

A combination of technology and social pressure drove us toward sanitary products shot through with plastic. To dislodge plastic from menstrual care, though, will take more than design disruption, because the reasons plastic has lodged itself so deep in the design in the first place are tangled in a web of culture, shame, science, and more.