Remembering the Legacy: 5 Female Fighters Across Eras
Let’s start today’s article with a dare.
I dare you to flip through any history book you can get your hands on and count if there are any stories featured about female fighters. Chances are, all you’d find are tales of men’s greatest feats. You might ask, “Where are the women?” or “What were the women doing?”.
The quick answer is, the women were out there, fighting and leading the same battles as the men. It just so happened that we live in a predominantly patriarchal world. Or, in layman’s terms, women’s achievements aren’t always in the spotlight.
But make no mistake, their legacy burns just as brightly.
In this article, let’s meet five of the countless fearless women who proved, time and again, that courage doesn’t come with a gender.
Their names may be ancient, legendary, or still echoing through the skies—but each left a mark history can’t erase.
1. Boudica – The Avenger Queen of the Celts
In the 1st century CE, Roman Britain met its fiercest resistance not from another general, but from Boudica, a queen pushed past her breaking point.
After Roman officials publicly flogged her and assaulted her daughters, Boudica united several tribes and led one of the most violent uprisings Rome had ever faced.
Her campaign was ferocious.
Together with other female fighters, she razed Roman settlements, including Londinium (modern-day London), leaving nothing but ash in her path. Her forces reportedly killed tens of thousands, sending a message to the empire that Britain would not go quietly.
Though her rebellion was ultimately crushed, Boudica’s defiance lit a fire that would burn in British memory for centuries. She became more than a rebel queen; she became a symbol of fierce independence and resistance against oppression.
Statues, poems, media inspirations, and military names honor her to this day. She was even adopted as one of the symbols of the campaign for women’s suffrage. In the age of empires, Boudica showed what a warrior queen could do when power tried to silence her.
2. Tomoe Gozen – The Samurai Warrior Woman
Fast forward to 12th-century Japan, during the brutal Genpei War between rival clans. Among the male warriors stood Tomoe Gozen, a rare onna-bugeisha, or female samurai.
She fought with elegance and ferocity, described in historical texts as “a warrior worth a thousand men.” Skilled in archery and the katana, Tomoe famously beheaded a rival warrior in single combat, earning her a place in war epics and folk legends.
There are several historical versions of how her life ended. Some points towards her imprisonment and death. Some accounts say she escaped and lived her life in hiding as a nun who died at the age of 90.
Nevertheless, her legacy outlived the battlefield.
In a culture that often confined women to domestic roles, Tomoe became an icon of strength and autonomy. Noh plays, kabuki theater, and modern feminist circles in Japan still tell her story.
Tomoe is also immortalized in Kyoto’s vibrant Festival of the Ages (Jidai Matsuri), held every 22nd of October.
While some of her history blends with myth, her impact is tangible. In a society steeped in tradition, Tomoe Gozen carved out her own path—sword first.
3. Joan of Arc – The Girl Who Heard God and Defied Kings
Okay, Joan of Arc wasn’t a warrior in its literal sense. She wasn’t in any fight, nor did she kill any enemy. Instead, she led the battle through an entirely different field.
She was just 17 when she changed the fate of a nation.
Joan of Arc, a peasant girl from France, claimed divine visions and convinced French leaders to let her lead their army during the Hundred Years’ War. What happened next was the stuff of legends.
Joan lifted the Siege of Orléans, a pivotal moment that revived French morale and turned the tide against England. Dressed in armor, sword in hand, she became the face of a movement—and a living miracle to some.
Captured and executed for heresy at 19, Joan became a martyr.
But her legacy only grew.
She was canonized as a saint, portrayed in literature and film, and remains one of the most iconic female leaders in Western history.
Her victories weren’t just military—they were symbolic. St. Joan of Arc reshaped national identity and what people believed one young woman could do.
4. Lozen – The Apache Warrior and Prophet
In the 19th-century American Southwest, the U.S. military faced fierce resistance from the Native American Apache warriors. Among them was Lozen, a woman said to have “powers in the battle to learn the movements of the enemy.”
Despite the Apaches’ strict adherence to gender roles, Lozen proved herself worthy of being a trusted warrior of her tribe.
She fought alongside tribe leaders like her brother, Chief Victorio, and later Geronimo, using her skills to guide ambushes, escape encirclements, and protect her people.
In Eve Ball’s In the Days of Victorio: Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache, a young Apache boy named James Kaywaykla said this about Lozen,
“She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio.”
After her brother’s death, she continued fighting, often leading missions solo to rescue women and children. Her courage became legend among the Apache and feared among U.S. forces.
Though captured in the end, her name remains sacred in Native American oral history.
Lozen was a shield and a sword for her people, in both body and spirit.
5. The Night Witches – WWII’s Silent Air Raid Queens
During World War II, a squadron of young Soviet female fighters took to the skies in flimsy wooden biplanes. They flew night bombing raids so silently that terrified German soldiers called them the Night Witches.
Officially known as the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, these women flew without parachutes, dropped bombs manually, and often returned with bullet holes in their wings. They cut their engines mid-flight to glide undetected before striking—and then vanished into the night.
Let’s get something clear: this wasn’t a military gimmick.
These women were one of the most decorated air units in the Soviet military. And they did it while facing sexism, poor equipment, and unimaginable danger.
Today, they’re remembered as heroes of the sky. The Night Witches proved that courage doesn’t always roar; it sometimes flies low, silent, and dead-on target.
Bravery Has Long Hair and Wears a Skirt
Mainstream history tends to spotlight kings, emperors, and generals. But these female fighters showed that true courage often rises from the margins. They didn’t ask for permission. They just fought with swords, visions, strategies, or sheer will.
Their legacy was of defiance, leadership, and showing the world what women can do when given—or when they seize—the chance.
These warriors weren’t just exceptions to the rule. They were the rule breakers. And because of them, history has a different shape, a different sound, and a stronger heartbeat.
SOURCES:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc
https://wams.nyhistory.org/industry-and-empire/expansion-and-empire/lozen/
