Women’s History Month has arrived! It’s time to recognise women’s achievements. This blog specifically focuses on the successes of women last year, in 2023.  Many records were broken, and historic firsts were made. It’s important to acknowledge the successes by women to show the progress made towards gender equality. It’s also key to demonstrate that women can do anything they put their mind to! 

Achievements in Sports 

Tigst Assefa – A long-distance runner from Ethiopia, who set the new women’s world record marathon time with two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds! For more information click here 

Dong Hong Juan – A Chinese mountaineer, became the first female climber to complete all 14 peaks above 8000 meters (about 4.97 mi)! In total it took her ten years to complete. The list of mountains can be found here  

Kirsten Neuschäfer – A South African sailor who was the first woman to win the Golden Globe race, an around the world yacht race. Her official finishing time was 233 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes and 47 seconds. To learn more about her journey click here  

The Lionesses – The Womens World Cup Final was watched by 21.2 mil making it the second most watched BBC event after the Coronation of King Charles III. 

Lucy Clark – Became the first transgender woman to become a football referee in the UK. Read her story here 

Lisa Farthother – Became the first woman to row on the Southern Ocean. She rowed 407 nautical miles in the Antarctic waters as part of an expedition. She even broke a few toes doing it! 

Achievements in Science and Academics  

Christina Hammock Koch – Has been declared to take part in Artemis 2, a spaceflight to the moon. This will make her the first woman ever to travel to the moon. 

Claudia Goldin – Became the first solo women to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her study of women in the workforce. Find more about Claudia’s work here 

Achievements in Music 

Beyonce – Made Grammy history when she won her 32^nd Grammy for her album ‘Renaissance’. This meant she became the record holder for the most Grammy wins ever.  

Kim Petras – Became the first transgender woman to win the Grammy for pop duo/group performance for her collaboration with Sam Smith with the song ‘Unholy’. Her award speech can be found here 

Missy Elliott – The hip-hop star became the first ever woman rapper to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. Find out about her reaction here 

Tayler Swift – Became the first woman to amass 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify. She also was the most streamed artist in 2023! 

Blackpink – Became the most streamed female group on Spotify and Lisa became the first solo K-pop winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards.  

Achievements in Entertainment 

Greta Gerwig – Made history when her directed film, Barbie, achieved the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman. It made £276,000,000 in its opening weekend. Barbie also became the highest grossing movie directed by a woman.  

Michelle Yeoh – Became the first Asian woman ever to win the Oscar for best lead actress for her role in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’. Watch her acceptance speech here  

Justina Miles – Performed at the Super Bowl halftime show making her the first female deaf performer at a Super Bowl halftime show. 

California Pilots – Made history as they became the first ever all female flyover team to kick off the 2023 Super Bowl 

These are only a small handful of the achievements by women in 2023. Hopefully this inspires you to get out there and show the world what women are capable of! You don’t have to be famous to achieve something great. Even small successes show how powerful women are. Comment any accomplishments we missed. This can even include victories you have made! 

By Jenny Hall, SGO Project Officer