International Women's Day: 11 US women making history in 2022

'The National' takes a look at American women changing their country and the world

Ketanji Brown Brown Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace Justice Steven Breyer, whom she clerked for when she was fresh out of Harvard Law School. Reuters

Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Joe Biden announced her as his nominee to the Supreme Court. AP

Stacey Abrams is a leading figure in the US voting rights movement. AP

Musician Dave Matthews greets voting rights activist Stacey Abrams during a get-out-the-vote rally. Getty Images / AFP

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is one of the most influential women in health care in the US and the face of government's campaign against Covid-19. AP

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) speaks before the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee in Washington. EPA

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, last year called for the US to provide paid family leave, confessing in an open letter to congressional leaders to feeling overwhelmed by the arrival of her daughter. AFP

Queen Elizabeth II sits with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, an advocate for family rights. Getty Images

US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden hold hands as they walk to board Marine One. Reuters

First lady Jill Biden said on International Women's Day: 'Women have never been silent, but women have been silenced. That’s because our voices are powerful.' AP

First lady Jill Biden welcomes school children to the White House in Washington to celebrate Valentine's Day. AP

Nusrat Jahan Choudhury could potentially be the first Muslim-American woman to serve on the US federal bench. Photo: Nusrat Jahan Choudhury

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Nusrat Choudhury speaks at a news conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via AP

USAID chief Samantha Power speaks during a press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia. AP

USAID chief Samantha Power plays the Sri Lankan bat and ball game called Elle with girls at Osmaniay College in Jaffna. AFP

Frances Haugen gained international prominence when she became a whistleblower against Facebook. AP

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen speaks before a Senate Committee on Commerce. The Washington Post via AP

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington. AP

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines arrives on Capitol Hill. EPA

Tahera Rahman made history by being the first TV news reporter to wear the hijab on air back in 2018. Photo: Tahera Rahman

Reporter Tahera Rahman preparing for a live shot in Texas. Photo: Tahera Rahman

Soledad O'Brien, centre, accepts an award for documentary series 'Black and Missing' at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards. Invision / AP

From the first black woman Supreme Court nominee to a stout defender of voting rights, the US is home to many inspirational women.

For International Womens’ Day, The National takes a look at 11 American women who are changing their country and the world.

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Ms Brown Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace Justice Steven Breyer, whom she clerked for when she was fresh out of Harvard Law School.

Currently a judge on Washington’s Federal Appellate Court, she served as a US District judge from 2013 to 2021.

She is a mother of two daughters, a point she referenced with great pride during her acceptance speech at the White House.

Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams is a leading figure in the US voting rights movement and one of the country's most influential former politicians. Ms Abrahams served in the Georgia State House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017.

Ms Abrams, who narrowly lost her Georgia gubernatorial race in 2018, was credited as one of those responsible for driving historic turnout in the 2020 general election that turned the state blue.

Grassroots organisations are estimated to have helped register 800,000 new voters in a state that is purging voter rolls by the thousands,

Ms Abrams officially announced that she would once again run for governor of Georgia today on International Women's Day.

Dr Rochelle Walensky

As the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky is one of the most influential women in health care in the US and the face of government's campaign against Covid-19.

Dr Walensky revamped CDC efforts in tackling public health issues, bringing more focus on gender equity and underserved communities, launching a $2.25 billion initiative to fund health departments in places hit hard by Covid-19.

She embraced a cautious approach to lifting Covid-19 restrictions and has intensified messaging efforts by CDC since she took office in January 2021.

Throughout the pandemic, Dr Walensky has held hundreds of press conferences and interviews, sometimes to counter misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines.

In Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, sisters Ines, Israa and Oshin Muhsin have inherited a hefty mantle from their late father, using it to take their country to weightlifting glory. All photos: AFP

An Iraqi Kurdish woman competes during a weightlifting championship in Arbil, in which 14 Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, participated.

Women's sports have developed at a sluggish pace across much of conservative Iraq, which has struggled through decades of conflict.

The Kurdistan region was spared the brunt of the violence and destruction.

The Kurdistan region's infrastructure, facilities and government funding have paved the way for a boom in professional women's sports.

A woman trains in Arbil.

Woman in Iraq are slowly taking part in more and more sporting activities.

Weightlifting is just one sport that is proving popular among women in the country.

Going for glory: more and more women in Iraq are training to become professional athletes.

Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and wife of Britain's Prince Harry, has been a fixture in the headlines even after she gave up her royal duties and moved back to the US.

The actress-turned-royal was born in California and became an international sensation when she married Prince Harry in 2018.

Her rare public appearances often shine the spotlight on important national and international issues, such as vaccine equity.

She, along with Prince Harry, has also advocated paid family leave in the US and elsewhere.

Jill Biden

The first lady is not only the wife of Mr Biden but also a vocal advocate for education. While Mr Biden served as vice president and even as president, Ms Biden has worked as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, making her the only sitting first lady to ever hold a paying job.

She received her doctorate in education in 2007 from the University of Delaware.

The daughter of a Navy veteran and the mother of an Army veteran, Ms Biden has also done considerable work with military families. She has also pushed the US government to provide funding for gender equity and equality programmes in countries around the world.

Nusrat Jahan Choudhury

Nusrat Jahan Choudhury could potentially be the first Muslim-American woman to serve on the US federal bench, nominated to sit on the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union since 2020, Ms Choudhury led efforts to end racial profiling and the law enforcement targeting of people of colour.

Ms Choudhury's legal team has advanced cases pertaining to First Amendment rights, voting rights, gender equity and government transparency.

People take part in a Million Women Rise march outside Charing Cross Police Station in central London, before International Women's Day, to protest over violence against women, racism and misogyny. PA

A staff member applies coloured powder to a rangoli (traditional floor decoration) outside a restaurant in New Delhi. AFP

Protesters during a march to mark International Women's Day in Manila, Philippines. The protesters urged warring nations to look into problems caused globally by the latest Russia-Ukraine war. EPA

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women wear masks during a rally to denounce sexual harassment in the Haredi community in Israel, in the ultra-Orthodox district of Ramat Shlomo near Jerusalem. EPA

Members of the conservative activist group Manif pour Tous, or "Protest for Everyone", stage a demonstration against surrogacy near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. AFP

Women attend a rally marking the International Women's Day in Istanbul, Turkey. According to the 'We'll Stop Femicide' social platform, 417 women were killed through gender-based violence and hundreds were assaulted by men in 2021, in Turkey. EPA

Activists set up a work of art made from red fabric, titled 'Blood of My Blood', made to bring attention to the killing of women, in the main square of Zapopan, Mexico. EPA

Colombian TV journalist Catalina Gomez, working for France 24, comforts and checks the welfare of a female refugee who has just arrived by train from Ukraine in Zahony, Hungary. Getty Images

An activist performs the Chilean feminist protest anthem 'Un violador en tu camino', meaning 'A rapist in your path', in Santiago, Chile. Reuters

An Acehnese woman works in a swamp area as oyster hunter in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The UN has made 'gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow' the main theme for International Women's Day 2022 to recognise women and girls who are playing a leading role in the fight against climate change and to honour their contributions to a sustainable future. EPA

A female mechanic teaches students about car engines, as part of the Underprivileged Children's Educational Programmes, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. AFP

Commuters in a suburban train take part in a yoga session held to mark the International Women's Day in Mumbai, India. AP Photo

Samantha Power

Samantha Power took up her post as head of the US Agency for International Development last year.

The academic and former journalist rose to prominence with her 2002 award-winning book about genocide called A Problem from Hell.

She later served in former president Barack Obama's administration as UN ambassador and on the National Security Council, pushing for human rights, climate action and rallying international efforts against corruption, human trafficking and the Ebola epidemic.

Frances Haugen

Frances Haugen gained international prominence when she became a whistleblower against Facebook.

After working as a product manager for the company, she leaked internal research documents and more to news organisations to show how Facebook is harming its users.

Ms Haugen told to Congress that Facebook knew its platform enabled violence and extremism, rewarded divisive content and that Instagram was harming its young teenager users — putting profit over user well-being.

Avril Haines

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has ticked off a lot of firsts in her career.

For Mr Obama, Ms Haines served as the first woman deputy director of the CIA and the first woman deputy national security adviser. She is only the second woman to serve as the director of national intelligence.

Ms Haines has had a varied and interesting career. Before assuming the highest office for intelligence in the country, she graduated from law school, became a brown belt at an elite judo institute in Tokyo, repaired car engines at a mechanic shop, met her husband while taking flying lessons, obtained a degree in physics and owned an independent bookstore and cafe in Baltimore, The Hill reported.

Tahera Rahman

Tahera Rahman is the first Muslim news reporter in the US to appear on camera while wearing a hijab.

Her 2018 promotion from producer to being an on-air newscaster for a local TV news station in Illinois made national and global news waves.

She now works for a news affiliate in Austin, Texas.

Soledad O'Brien

Known for her long career as a TV news anchor on NBC, CNN and Al Jazeera, Soledad O'Brien is now taking on documentary journalism.

She is a host of Matter of Fact productions and a correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO.

O'Brien has covered a wide range of topics in her many years as a journalist but she has become known for tackling issues of racial and cultural identity in the US through documentaries such as Latino in America.

This week, her HBO Max Black and Missing docuseries, which examines the fight to prioritise black missing persons, won a Spirit Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.