TO mark National Women’s Month in March, we take a look at fierce, empowering and inspiring ladies who have challenged, shaped and smashed the status quo.
From the history makers you’re familiar with to lesser-known names you should have on your radar, these Filipino women blazed the trail while battling adversity – the inspirational females who are going further, doing more, overcoming barriers to reach extraordinary heights and giving people courage.
Women have set records in nearly every industry and area of life so this list features luminaries who are the first of their kind. Let these celebrated Pinay trailblazers inspire you to make a positive difference and fuel your vision for greater success.
Hidilyn Diaz
The first Filipino Olympic gold medalist, Diaz won in the women’s 55-kg category for weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal in the women’s 53-kg weight division – the first Filipino to win a medal in a non-boxing event since 1936 and ending the Philippines’ 20-year Olympic medal drought.
Nesthy Petecio
She bagged the silver medal in the women’s featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Filipino woman to win an Olympic medal in boxing. Petecio also won a silver medal at the 2014 World Championships and gold at the 2019 edition.
Alexandra Eala
She is the highest-ranked Filipino female singles player in Women’s Tennis Association Tour history. The 17-year-old won her first junior singles title at the 2022 US Open, making her the first Filipino player to win a junior Grand Slam singles title.
Carina Dayondon
A mountaineer, adventurer and Philippine Coast Guard officer, Dayondon is the first Filipina to reach the Seven Summits (the seven tallest mountains in every continent in the world) and the second Pinay, along with two female mountaineers, to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2007.
Aimee Carandang-Gloria
She has flown high since 1993 when she became the first Filipina commercial pilot and the first Asian female pilot. Carandang-Gloria is the country’s first Pinay pilot to fly as a full-fledged captain for Philippine Airlines.
Jessica Cox
Filipino-American Cox is the first armless person to fly a plane and receive a flying license in aviation history. She can also drive a car and play the piano and has earned two black belts in taekwondo.
Josephine Santiago-Bond
The chief of the advanced engineering development branch at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Santiago-Bond is also one of the branch’s creators. As head of the branch, she is in charge of more than 20 engineers and a handful of interns.
Maria Yzabell Angel Palma
The young inventor has reaped awards and recognition at home and abroad for her AirDisc, an airconditioner that does not use ozone-depleting coolants and consumes less energy.
Jenny Anne Barretto
A geologist and geophysicist based in New Zealand, Barretto is credited for the discovery of Apolaki, the largest caldera in the world with a diameter of 150 kilometers.
Gay Jane Perez
A physicist and environmental scientist, Perez is the deputy director general of the Philippine Space Agency. She led the Department of Science and Technology’s microsat program, which successfully sent the Philippines’ first satellite in space in 2016 – the Diwata-1 microsatellite.
Joy Ongcachuy
King Charles awarded the 2019 Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire to Ongcachuy, a nurse lead for robotic surgery at the Royal London Hospital, for her efforts in caring for patients who were victims of the 2017 London Bridge attacks.
Gini Santos
The first Filipino female supervising animator at Pixar in California, Santos has been with the American computer animation studio since 1996. Her first project was “Toy Story 2”, where she was a character animator. She has since worked on films like “A Bug’s Life”, “Monsters, Inc.”, “Finding Nemo”, “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille”, “Up” and “Coco”.
Lea Salonga
The multi-awarded singer and actress is the first Asian female to portray Eponine and Fantine in the Broadway musical “Les Miserables”. She is the first Asian female to win Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for “Miss Saigon” and Best Direction of a Musical at the Tony Awards. She’s also the first Asian woman to bag a Laurence Olivier award.
Gloria Diaz
The actress, model and beauty queen rose to fame after being crowned Miss Universe 1969, becoming the first Filipina to hold the title on its 18th edition.
Kelsey Merritt
She’s best known for being the first Filipino-American to walk Victoria’s Secret runway in New York in 2018 and appear in the pages of the 2019 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
Mika Reins
She is the first Filipina to win the Digital Creator Award at the 37th Elite Model Look World Final Competition in 2021.
Jessica Soho
A multi-awarded broadcast journalist, Soho is the first Filipino to win the British Fleet Street Award for Journalism in 1998. The following year, Soho and the “I-Witness” team received the Philippines’ first Peabody Award for producing the “Kidneys for Sale” and “Kamao” documentaries. In 1991, she earned a bronze award at the New York Film Festival for her coverage of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley, the first for a Filipino. She is a seven-time recipient of the Most Trusted News Presenter award of Reader’s Digest Asia.
Maria Ressa
In 2021, Rappler’s CEO became the first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She received the award alongside Dmitry Muratov of the Russian Federation “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”. Ressa and Muratov are the first journalists since 1935 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
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