Women in History Quiz

Question 1

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. In which fields did she win?

Accepted Answer

Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911)

Answer

Chemistry only

Answer

Physics only

Answer

Medicine and Chemistry

Question 2

Cleopatra VII was the last pharaoh of Egypt. She was notable for:

Accepted Answer

Her political intelligence, alliances with Caesar and Antony, and being the first of her dynasty to learn Egyptian

Answer

Being the first female pharaoh

Answer

Her military conquests of Rome

Answer

Building the Great Pyramid

Question 3

Rosa Parks is famous for what act of civil rights resistance in 1955?

Accepted Answer

Refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger

Answer

Leading the March on Washington

Answer

Co-founding the NAACP

Answer

Joining Martin Luther King in jail

Question 4

Florence Nightingale is famous for reforming nursing during the Crimean War. What statistical innovation did she also pioneer?

Accepted Answer

She created the polar area diagram to visualise causes of soldier deaths, pioneering statistical data visualisation

Answer

She invented the stethoscope

Answer

She developed germ theory

Answer

She invented antiseptic surgery

Question 5

Emmeline Pankhurst was a leader of which movement?

Accepted Answer

The British suffragette movement campaigning for women's right to vote

Answer

The US Civil Rights Movement

Answer

The British trade union movement

Answer

The Irish independence movement

Question 6

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to do what in aviation?

Accepted Answer

Fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

Answer

Fly a plane

Answer

Fly faster than the speed of sound

Answer

Fly around the world

Question 7

Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Why was she shot by the Taliban in 2012?

Accepted Answer

For campaigning for girls' education in Pakistan's Swat Valley

Answer

For speaking out against Taliban rule in Afghanistan

Answer

For working with Western governments

Answer

For converting to Christianity

Question 8

Ada Lovelace is considered the world's first computer programmer. What was she working on?

Accepted Answer

Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine — a mechanical computer that was never built

Answer

An early electrical calculator

Answer

The first telegraph system

Answer

Early telephone technology

Question 9

Queen Elizabeth I of England (r.1558-1603) is celebrated for what achievements?

Accepted Answer

Leading England during its defeat of the Spanish Armada and a cultural 'Golden Age'

Answer

Converting England to Catholicism

Answer

Marrying Philip II of Spain

Answer

Ending the English Civil War

Question 10

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and then helped approximately how many enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad?

Accepted Answer

About 70 people

Answer

About 13 people

Answer

About 300 people

Answer

About 1,000 people

Question 11

Rosalind Franklin's X-ray crystallography work was crucial to the discovery of what?

Accepted Answer

The double-helix structure of DNA

Answer

The structure of proteins

Answer

The existence of viruses

Answer

The structure of penicillin

Question 12

Indira Gandhi was notable for being:

Accepted Answer

India's first and only female prime minister, who served twice (1966-77 and 1980-84)

Answer

India's first female president

Answer

The daughter of Mahatma Gandhi

Answer

The founder of the Indian National Congress

Question 13

The suffragette Emily Wilding Davison died in 1913 doing what?

Accepted Answer

Stepping in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby

Answer

Being force-fed during a hunger strike in prison

Answer

Chaining herself to the gates of Buckingham Palace

Answer

Setting fire to a post office

Question 14

Catherine the Great (r.1762-96) expanded which empire?

Accepted Answer

The Russian Empire

Answer

The Austro-Hungarian Empire

Answer

The Ottoman Empire

Answer

The Prussian Empire

Question 15

Sojourner Truth gave her famous 'Ain't I a Woman?' speech at a women's rights convention in which year?

Accepted Answer

1851

Answer

1829

Answer

1865

Answer

1876

Question 16

Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in which year?

Accepted Answer

1963

Answer

1957

Answer

1961

Answer

1969

Question 17

Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 book 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' argued for what?

Accepted Answer

Women's rights to education equal to men's, and women's rational capacity equal to men's

Answer

Women's right to vote only

Answer

Women's right to own property

Answer

An end to marriage as an institution

Question 18

Eleanor Roosevelt was instrumental in drafting which foundational document?

Accepted Answer

The UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Answer

The US Constitution

Answer

The Geneva Convention

Answer

NATO's founding charter

Question 19

Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. What was she known for at the time?

Accepted Answer

Her peaceful leadership of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement while under house arrest

Answer

Her role in Myanmar's military government

Answer

Her humanitarian work in refugee camps

Answer

Her role in ending the Vietnam War

Question 20

Who was the first woman elected as a head of government (prime minister) in the world?

Accepted Answer

Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon/Sri Lanka (1960)

Answer

Margaret Thatcher of the UK (1979)

Answer

Indira Gandhi of India (1966)

Answer

Golda Meir of Israel (1969)