On International Women's Day March 8, five extraordinary women are highlighted for their pioneering achievements in travel. From the first female pilot on commercial flights to Ghana's first female taxi driver, they broke barriers. These stories illustrate how bold women expanded travel freedoms.
Travel for women was long restricted. In Germany, women could only get a driver's license without spousal permission in 1958, work independently in 1977, and take night jobs in 1992. Five women challenged these norms.
Nina Sedano from Frankfurt am Main became the first German to visit all 193 UN states in 2011, reaching Turkmenistan as the 193rd on September 30—at age 46, the youngest. She began her world trip from Ukraine in late 2002, authored books, and gives lectures. Now she targets all 1154 UNESCO World Heritage sites, having visited half.
Japanese Junko Tabei summited Mount Everest as the first woman in 1975, 22 years after the first man. At 30, she founded a women's climbing club; despite pregnancy, she reached the peak on May 16 with a 15-member group funded by sponsors. In 1992, she was the first woman to conquer the Seven Summits.
Rita Maiburg piloted a DLT passenger flight in 1976 as Germany's first, at age 24. The announcement stated: 'On behalf of Captain Maiburg, welcome aboard.' Rejected by Lufthansa, she died in a car accident in 1977. It was not until 2000 that Evi Hetzmannseder and Nicola Lisy flew solo for Lufthansa.
Esenam Nyador became Ghana's first female taxi driver, operating as 'Miss Taxi Ghana' in Accra to protect women from abuse by male drivers. Despite rejections, she formed her own union and trains female drivers, supported by GIZ. Some graduates now work in the UAE.
Jane Goodall traveled to Kenya at 23 in 1957, researched chimpanzees, and established Tanzania's Gombe National Park. Without a formal degree, she earned a Cambridge PhD. She launched projects like Roots & Shoots and Great Ape Project. Goodall died on October 1, 2025, at age 91.