5 Bloody Brilliant Women you don't know about but you should.

Charlotte Leask - Journalism Undergraduate, University of Roehampton.

Heavyweight journalist Cathy Newman’s new venture into book writing has birthed what should be the new modern woman’s bible. It provides a witty insight into forgotten women in history.
My article comes from the Newman’s argument that so many women of instrumental importance in history had been completely overlooked and unmentioned. Having previously been unaware of all these women, as I’m sure ashamedly most of us are, I feel it is now my duty as a woman (a hopefully brilliant one at that also) to raise awareness of these incredible, underappreciated women.
Sophia Jex-Blake
A physician, teacher and feminist. Sophia was born in 1840 she was the very first female doctor in Scotland, and one of the first in Britain. Not only was she able to accomplish this, she also was involved in founding two medical schools for women.
Beatrice Shilling
Beatrice was an aeronautical engineer during WW2. Prior to the battle of Britain, all Spitfires had a flaw within the design, meaning the engines would flood, destroying the plane and killing the pilot. Having been fixing mechanics since she was 14, Shilling designed a small piece of metal which restricted fuel flow. It was later known as ‘Ms Shillings Orifice’ and came to fix every spitfire used during the war.
Dorothy Lawrence
Dorothy was a wannabe journalist, born in 1896, she was determined to be a war reporter. She had some success early on in her career by having a few of her articles published in The Times. However, this wasn’t enough, so she travelled to France in pursuit of her story and ended up persuading a young British soldier to lend her his uniform. She successfully infiltrated the army for 10 days, before being discovered.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary was a philosopher, writer and feminist. Writing the book A Vindication Of The Rights of Woman in 1792. She believed women and men were both equal and deserved to be treated as so, and that women were not naturally inferior, a very controversial view for the time. She believed in a new ‘social order’ founded on reason and equality. She passed away giving birth to her second daughter who would grow to become legendary novelist Mary Shelley.
Lastly, but by no means least, Newman confirms her modern day, bloody brilliant woman is none other than the incredible Michelle Obama.
Although Michelle isn’t as unknown as others, her place as a brilliant woman is firmly deserved, having become first lady to the 44th President of the United States, Michelle went on to achieve great things for herself. Her ‘Let’s Move!’ campaign to tackle childhood obesity, and her work to improve LGBT rights in the States have impacted thousands of lives for the better. Combined with her kind, graceful and powerful attitude it’s not hard to see why she deserves a to be my final ‘Bloody Brilliant Woman’.