Serena Williams getting ready to hit a tennis ball
Serena Williams

Few women have revolutionized women’s tennis more than Serena Williams, whose powerful and precise playing style has won her a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

Serena Williams

Welcome to Women 100, a yearlong celebration marking a century of progress since women won the right to vote and set the agenda to achieve economic, political and social equality.

WHYY’S Marty Moss-Coane hosts the weekly spots focused on the achievements of women who changed our world.

After almost a century of protests, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was passed in 1919. It said: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

WHYY is producing the series with Drexel University College of Medicine’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, as part of their Vision 2020’s Women 100 project. The project is focused on the unfinished business of women’s equality, with special emphasis on shared leadership among women and men in business, the arts, science, government and beyond.

All Episodes

Serena Williams getting ready to hit a tennis ball

Serena Williams

Few women have revolutionized women’s tennis more than Serena Williams, whose powerful and precise playing style has won her a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

Air Date: December 21, 2020

Listen 00:58
Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice

American diplomat & political scientist Condoleezza Rice was the first woman head of the National Security Council & the second woman to be named Secretary of State.

Air Date: December 14, 2020

Listen 00:59
Simone Biles

Simone Biles

At the 2018 U.S. national championships, Simone Biles became the first female gymnast in nearly 25 years to win all five events.

Air Date: December 7, 2020

Listen 0:59
Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry wrote the celebrated "A Raisin in The Sun", the first play by an African American woman to be performed on Broadway.

Air Date: November 30, 2020

Listen 0:59
Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who became a symbol of the struggle for equality, when she refused to give her seat to a white man in a public bus.

Air Date: November 23, 2020

Listen 0:58
Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

In the late 1960s, Morrison became the first Black female editor in fiction at the publisher Random House in New York City.

Air Date: November 16, 2020

Listen 1:00

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is best known as an American woman who escaped from slavery to become one of America’s leading abolitionists before the Civil War.

Air Date: November 9, 2020

Listen 1:00
Amelia Earhart sitting in an airplane

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and one of the world’s best known aviators.

Air Date: November 2, 2020

Listen 1:00
Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt waves to the fans after Tennessee defeated LSU 70-58 to win the NCAA college basketball championship game at the women's Southeastern Conference tournament on Sunday, March 4, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Pat Summitt

Basketball coach Pat Summitt is praised as one of the 50 greatest of all time.

Air Date: October 26, 2020

Listen 1:00
Black and white photography of Wilma Mankiller in front of the tribal emblem at the Cherokee Nation

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller is a Native American activist, social worker and community builder. She was the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Air Date: October 19, 2020

Listen 1:00
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 22, 2020, at age 87, and the country lost an important pioneering woman.

Air Date: October 12, 2020

Listen 1:00
Dr. Bernadette Healy was appointed as the first woman director of the National Institutes of Health (1991-1993). Dr. Healy was a distinguished cardiologist and a dedicated and caring physician. She died in August 2011. (NIH History Office)

Dr. Bernardette Healy

Dr. Bernardette Healy, an influential federal health administrator, was known for her innovations and her campaigns to raise awareness about women’s health issues.

Air Date: October 5, 2020

Listen 1:01
Oprah Winfrey at an event for 30th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2015 ( Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is a well known television personality, actress, and entrepreneur whose syndicated daily show became the highest-rated talk show in the United States.

Air Date: September 28, 2020

Listen 0:58
Ellen Degeneres

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian, author, actor, dancer and television host, is best known for her quirky observational humor – often compared to Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moor

Air Date: September 21, 2020

Listen 0:57
Two women operating the ENIAC's main control panel while the machine was still located at the Moore School. Left: Betty Jennings (Mrs. Bartik) Right: Frances Bilas (Mrs. Spence) setting up the ENIAC. (United States Army/Public domain)

ENIAC Programmers

In 1946 a team of six young women mathematicians made computer science history by programming the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.

Air Date: September 14, 2020

Listen 0:58
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