March is Women’s History Month, and to celebrate the occasion it has become a tradition to look at some brave women from history who managed to gain renown for their accomplishments despite the gender barriers holding them back. Most of these spotlights tend to be focused on American women from the 19th and 20th centuries, but there are so many more amazing women in history who have managed to succeed against the pressures of a patriarchal society.

One of these women dates back to the middle ages: Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was born a peasant in 1412 in France, and for the first 16 years of her life, it seemed like that was all she would be. Yet, Joan always felt that she was meant for something greater, and at the age of 16 she went to meet the King, claiming to have received a divine message that she could save France. At the time, most of Northern France was controlled by the invading English, and the English even had a legitimate claim to the French throne. Joan single-handedly turned the tide of history, leading campaigns to protect France before she was even an adult at a time where women warriors were less common than a needle in a haystack. Eventually, Joan would be captured and executed by the English, but in France she is to this day revered as a saint– a clear example of how it is never too early to change the world.

Russia in the 18th century was a heavily patriarchal society, more so than even the rest of Europe at the time. This only makes this second story even more special. Sophia Augusta Fredericka was born in 1728. She was seen as a tool to be married off by her parents, hopefully to some mid-level noble. However, on a stroke of luck, Sophia was given the chance of a lifetime, an opportunity to impress and maybe even marry the heir to Russia itself. Sophia was not the first to be given this chance, but she showed such grace and respect that she became the natural choice. This is also when Sophia took on her Russian name, Yekaterina (translated in English as Catherine). She would eventually become known in history as “Catherine the Great.” Unfortunately, the marriage between Catherine and Emperor Peter III was loveless, and Peter would prove to be one of Russia’s most incompetent rulers. Even after marrying an emperor, Catherine had high ambitions, eventually overthrowing the Tzar and ruling as Empress herself. After taking power, Catherine expanded Russia’s borders, and modernized the country’s economy and infrastructure, and even got her lover on the Polish Throne. Furthermore, she was also a trailblazer for women’s rights, believing that women should be given more opportunities to participate in public life and to receive an education.

Finally, when people think of the “greatest” pirate, some names that often come to mind are ones like Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. In reality, the person who commanded history’s largest pirate fleet was a Chinese woman named Zheng Yi Sao. She was born in the late 18th century as Shi Yang, and due to her social status, Zheng Yi Sao spent her early years working in brothels. Her fortunes would only change when she had the opportunity to marry a pirate, and together they would end the infighting among pirates and create an entire pirate confederation. Unfortunately, Zheng Yi Sao’s husband would die relatively early in the marriage, leaving a power vacuum that she would eventually fill alone. Zheng Yi Sao was able to leverage her organizational and leadership skills to command nearly 60,000 pirates on over 400 ships, all in an era where women leaders were still incredibly uncommon in the region. Zheng Yi Sao serves as an example of how women can become the greatest in a male-dominated field, despite stigmas against women in leadership holding them down.