Women the world over are celebrating their rights and shining a light on persisting gender inequality on Friday.
It’s all to mark International Women’s Day.
Euronews spoke to Google to find out some of the most commonly-searched questions it had received regarding women over the last year.
We have answered them below.
Who was the first woman in space?
Russian cosmonaut and engineer Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go to space in 1963. As part of the Vostok 6 mission, Tereshkova spent three days in space during which she orbited the Earth 48 times.
Who was the first woman to win a Nobel prize?
Polish-born French scientist Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel prize in 1903 for her work in Physics.
She won the prize with her husband and Antoine Henri Becquerel for “the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena”.
Curie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911, making her the only woman to have two Nobel prizes.
Who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic?
American aviator Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. She completed the feat five years after Charles Lindbergh, also an American aviator, who was the first pilot to accomplish the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Earhart, who was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross by the US Congress for her achievement, also flew solo from Honolulu in Hawaii to Oakland in California — a first in 1935 — pocketing $10,000 award for the exploit. She disappeared two years later in the South Pacific while attempting to fly around the world.
Who was the first female leader?
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike became Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960, making her the world’s first elected female leader. She was re-elected in 1970 and 1994.
Who was the first woman to run a marathon?
Women were not allowed to take part in the ancient Olympics and were excluded again when the Games were revived in 1896. However, Greek athlete Stamata Revithi insisted she be allowed to compete and completed the course a day after the men’s race but she was forbidden from entering the Panathinaiko Stadium at the end of the race.
Who was the first woman to climb Everest?
Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the world’s highest peak in 1975. She was also the first woman to successfully ascend the Seven Summits — the highest mountains of each of the seven continents.
Who was the number of women in EU politics?
According to 2018 figures, just over a third (36.1%) of members of the European Parliament are women.
When it comes to the make-up of national governments, France topped the ranking in 2017 with women occupying more than half of ministerial posts. However, just a quarter of MPs were women.
Over in the US, there are currently 102 women in the House of Representatives or 23.4% of the total.
What is the number of women killed by partners each year?
Figures released by the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in November 2018 revealed that 87,000 women were killed around the world in 2017, some 50,000 (58%) of them at the hands of intimate partners or family members.
Africa and the Americas are the regions where women are most at risk of being killed by intimate partners or family members with a rate of about 3.1 victims per 100,000 in Africa.
Europe had the lowest rate with 0.7 victims per 100,000 female population.
What is the number of women in Hollywood films?
According to Women and Hollywood, women-led or co-led 40 of the top 100 grossing films of 2018. the numbers then dwindle for female representation behind the camera.
On the top 100 growing films of 2018, women represented 4% of directors, 15% of writers, 3% of producers, 18% of producers and executive producers and 14% of editors.
The group highlighted that women account for 50% of moviegoers.
What is the number of women in top management positions?
Women’s participation in the workforce declined to 48.5% in 2018 from 51.4% in 1990, according to gender equality NGO Catalyst. In the EU, women’s employment rate stood at 46.0% last year.
At the senior level, only 24 women were CEOs of Fortune 500 companies last year or just 4.8% and women occupied just 24% of senior roles globally.
