Q: Who was the first female filmmaker to win an Oscar for best director?

A: In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director.  Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker.  She was the fourth woman in history to be nominated for the Best Director Award.  The previous female nominees were: Sofia Coppola (for 2003′s Lost in Translation), Jane Campion (for 1993′s The Piano) and Linda Wertmuller (for Seven Beauties in 1975).

Q: Who was the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court?

A: Appointed to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1981, Sandra Day O’Conner served on the high court for more than two decades before retiring in 2006.

Q: Which prolific poet and book author said: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”?

Q: Who was the first black woman elected to Congress?

A: Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968.  She served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969-1982.  In 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Q: Who was the first American First Lady to run for public office?

A: Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. First Lady to run for office when she ran for U.S. Senate in 2000.

Q: Which celebrated singer began performing at such a young age that she was nicknamed “The Baby Contralto?”  One of her most famous performances was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

Q: Who is the German Marxist credited with organizing the very first International Women’s Day?

A: Clara Zetkin fought for women’s rights and was active in politics throughout her life.  101 years ago, she organized the first International Women’s Day.

It is 5:00 am and one of the largest open markets in Ghana – Makola – is already inundated with hardworking traders.  They are mostly women and they all have one big expectation in mind as they embark on their daily journey to this market: economic security.  It is their greatest desire to secure a financial framework that will allow them to provide food, shelter, education and other basic necessities of life for their families.  In a patriarchal society such as Ghana, where women and girls are constantly marginalized, their ability to exhibit their entrepreneurial skills by engaging in different types of business ventures provides them a level playing field with their male counterparts in society.

Q: Who is the suffragist who wrote the first equal rights amendment presented to the U.S. Congress in 1923?

More than 20 years ago, the federal minimum wage for workers in tipped occupations was raised to $2.13 an hour.  In the two decades since, it has not budged.  The cost of living has risen, the economy has reached unprecedented highs and lows, and the restaurant industry has earned billions in profits.  But servers employed by those restaurants continue to earn the same abysmally low wages.