What makes a remarkable woman? It’s a question that’s haunted me for months.

I agonised at the whole idea of just women, why not just a remarkable person? As I wrestled with imagined conversations with extraordinary women for my latest book, Conversations with Remarkable Women, now on Amazon, I concluded that it had to be women. Why? Because women throughout the millennia have had such a terrible deal, being remarkable is more than just a triumph. It’s heroic.

Someone whose wisdom I admired once told me, “Everybody is interesting if you dig deep enough.” This is another handy little truism, easily lost in the weeds. And still, I believe it is true. As I dug into the lives of my chosen women, I found a truly terrific person if one took the time to notice her.

Some women have made a louder impression in history, thought, and culture than others. Because their stories remain universally relevant even now,  I set out to have imaginary conversations with them and found the book wrote itself.

Consider, for example, Catherine the Great. History is not without its extraordinary empresses, to be sure: Cixi of China effectively ruled behind the scenes for decades; Elizabeth I of England overcame the expectations of her sex to preside over a golden age — but Catherine remains singular. Why?

She was more than a ruler; she was a philosopher, a strategist, and a correspondent of the Enlightenment’s most extraordinary mind, Voltaire. She maintained a lengthy and revealing correspondence with him, soaking up ideas that informed her governance. While busy expanding the Russian Empire, she engaged in philosophical debates with the most radical thinkers of her day.

Or take Maya Angelou, a woman who turned pain into poetry and experience into wisdom. She endured unspeakable hardship but forged a strong voice to move nations instead of collapsing. She was more than a poet, a memoirist, or a civil rights activist. She was a force of nature who would not be contained by one label.

Power, intelligence, or renown are no longer enough to define a woman’s exceptionality. It’s her influence over the world around her, her fight against limitations, and her fearlessness in embracing complexity.

Some women stand against injustice, such as Elizabeth Peratrovich, whose testimony before the Alaska legislature in 1945 led to America’s first anti-discrimination law. Others, like Frida Kahlo, redefined artistic expression, moving on through their pain and into masterpieces that still speak for them in our times.

Others stretch our very understanding of what it means to be human, such as Rosalind Franklin, whose uncredited work was the final piece needed to understand the structure of DNA.

All these women had something you can’t quite name: an impulse to create the world rather than be moulded by it.

So, what constitutes a remarkable woman? Maybe this: She won’t let history define her narrative.

To learn more about Remarkable Women, read my brand-new book on Amazon or visit andrewsbooks.site  

Feel free to email me with your thoughts, andrewsbooks@btinternet.com