2 Brigitte Bardot(Actress, Activist)
Brigitte Bardot is a French former singer and actress. One of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, Bardot remains a major pop culture icon despite quitting the entertainment industry in 1973. Bardot is credited with popularizing the bikini. She also popularized the town of Armação dos Búzios and the city of St. Tropez in Brazil.
3 Josephine Baker(Entertainer)
4 Simone de Beauvoir(Writer)
5 Olympe de Gouges(Playwright)
Olympe de Gouges was an 18th-century French playwright and political activist. Her writings on women's rights and abolitionism were popular in various countries. She was an outspoken advocate against the slave trade in the French colonies. She demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. She was executed during the Reign of Terror.
6 Elif Shafak(Writer)

Known widely as Turkey’s most popular female author, Elif Shafak is best known for her Booker-shortlisted bestseller 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. A fierce advocate for gender equality and LGBTQ rights, she is also a 3-time TEDGlobal speaker. She now lives in London, on a self-imposed exile.
7 Marina Picasso(Humanitarian)

Marina Picasso is a French humanitarian best known as the granddaughter of popular Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso. After inheriting a fifth of Pablo Picasso's estate, Marina Picasso used much of the inheritance to support humanitarian programs for children in need. Marina Picasso is credited with establishing a charitable organization called The Marina Picasso Foundation.
8 Héloïse(French nun)

9 Hélène Cixous(Writer)
Hélène Cixous is a professor, poet, playwright, rhetorician, literary critic, philosopher, and French feminist writer. She is best known for writing an article titled The Laugh of the Medusa, which earned her popularity and established her as a thinker in post-structural feminism.
10 Savitri Devi(Writer, Poet)

Born in Lyon, Frenchwoman Maximiani Julia Portas later changed her name to Savitri Devi and adopted Nazism. The ardent cat lover earned a PhD in philosophy and later acquired Greek nationality and served as an Axis spy. She claimed Adolf Hitler was an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.
11 Luce Irigaray(Philosopher, linguist, Feminist)

12 Julia Kristeva(Philosopher)

13 Delphine Seyrig(Actress)

14 Marlene Schiappa(Politician)

15 Alexandra Cousteau(Filmmaker)

16 Madame Roland(Revolutionary)

The wife of Jean-Marie Roland, Madame Roland was a leading French revolutionary and often hosted significant political meets at her salon. She often directed her husband’s political actions and was responsible for creating a rift between the Jacobin and Girondin factions. She was later arrested and guillotined.
17 Beate Klarsfeld(Activist)

18 Margaret of Valois-Angouleme(Author)

Margaret of Valois-Angouleme, the wife of Henry II of Navarre, was a significant figure of the French Renaissance, and is also regarded as The First Modern Woman. She patronized artists and was herself an author, with several short stories and a religious poem to her credit.
19 Monique Wittig(Novelist)

20 Danielle Mitterrand(François Mitterrand's wife)

21 Inessa Armand(Politician)

22 Ouida(Novelist)

23 Celine Cousteau(Director)

24 Pauline Harmange(Feminist writer and a self-declared misandrist)

25 Flora Tristan(Writer)

26 Line Renaud(Singer)

27 Frederique Bel(Model)

28 Rama Yade(Politician)

29 Zineb El Rhazoui(Journalist)

Zineb El Rhazoui is a French journalist best known for her contribution as a columnist for the popular magazine Charlie Hebdo where she worked from 2011 to 2017. Rhazoui was in Morocco on 7 January 2015 when the Charlie Hebdo massacre took place. Since 2015, Rhazoui has been working as a human rights campaigner, speaking about free speech and Islam.
30 Theroigne de Mericourt(Singer)

31 Priscillia Ludosky(One of the founders of the yellow vest movement)

32 Marie Souvestre(Educator)

33 Annie Belle(Actress)

34 Vernon Lee(Writer)

British author Violet Page wrote under the pseudonym Vernon Lee and dressed without inhibitions. Rumors claimed she was a lesbian, though she never stated so. The poet and critic is best remembered for her work on aesthetics, Belcaro. She was also a skilled harpsichord player and a true-blue feminist.
35 Jacline Mouraud(Politician)

36 Gisèle Halimi(Lawyer)

37 Assa Traore(Activist)

38 Germaine Dulac(Director)

39 Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier(Politician)

40 Rokhaya Diallo(Journalist)

Rokhaya Diallo is a French journalist, filmmaker, and author. Best known as an activist, Diallo works towards achieving gender, racial, and religious equality. Diallo is widely regarded as one of the most important anti-racism activists in France. In 2013, Rokhaya Diallo was named in the 100 most influential French women list published by Slate.
41 Françoise Dior(Activist, Criminal)

42 Suzanne Césaire(Writer)

43 Judy Minx(Adult film star)

44 Celine Bara(Actress)

45 Nadia El Fani(Film Director, Screenwriter)

46 Sister Emmanuelle(Human Rights Worker)

Sister Emmanuelle was a human rights worker and Catholic Religious Sister. She is best remembered for her work that aimed at helping the poor in Egypt and Turkey. Emmanuelle, who was born to a French father and a Belgian mother, was granted Egyptian citizenship in 1991 for her work in Egypt. She was also renowned for her unorthodox religious views.