Marie Curie - the first woman to win a Nobel and the first person to win two separate Nobels, Curie (1867-1934) was born in Poland and won her first Nobel in 1903 with husband, Pierre, for discovering radioactivity. However, she was not allowed to participate in the keynote lecture winners give because she was a woman. After Pierre died in a road accident in 1906, she won her second Nobel in 1911 for discovering radium, though an attempt was made to rescind it when news emerged of her affair with married colleague Paul Langevin. After collecting the prize, Curie was pilloried by the French press. Langevin was ignored.

Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

guardiancomment:

Cambodia’s women activists are redefining the housewife

By leading a sustained campaign of nonviolent protest against forced evictions, Cambodian housewives are changing the country’s political map. Excerpt:

Western feminists should not lose sight of the fact that in many countries around the world, women’s role as wife and mother remains central to their family and societal status. When homes are threatened with destruction, it is women who are disproportionately affected. While women are commonly framed as defenceless “soft targets” in forced evictions, Vanny and her fellow housewives complicate this assumption. Harnessing softness as a strategy rather than a hindrance, these women have committed themselves to a sustained campaign of nonviolent protest. Worried that involving men would only encourage violence, “turning men into goldfish clashing with each other”, they are using their positions as wives and mothers to co-opt riot police through their songs of suffering and to morally shame them when they are publicly beaten.

Photograph: Erika Pineros/Demotix/Corbis

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman in Doctor Who. The new season of the BBC’s Doctor Who, starting Saturday, doesn’t use a single female writer. The count is similarly poor for other British science-fiction and fantasy shows – so what’s the problem?

Thanks to notabuddhist for the image suggestion

Photograph: BBC/Adrian Rogers

Women we love to love and women we love to hate

Why is it that Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Obama and Adele get all the love, while Anne Hathaway, Taylor Swift and Peaches Geldof get it in the neck? Sophie Lawrence explores on Guardian weekend

Photographs: Rex Features; Getty Images 

Mirren, Ditto, Gwyneth, Linda and Madonna.

Mary McCartney followed in her mother Linda’s footsteps to become a photographer, going on to shoot some eminent women,

Read the full interview in the Observer Magazine: ‘I’ve always been drawn to strong women’ & see a gallery of McCartney’s strong women.

Photographs: Mary McCartney

Happy International Women’s Day!

More coverage of the day: Interactive on world voices speaking on ending gender-based violence

Laura Bates writes on Comment is free about the sexist ‘laddism’ emanating from our universities

On Guardian data: see political rights around the world mapped

There are many ways of wearing the hijab, as photographer Sara Shamsavari’s pictures of Muslim women on the streets of London demonstrate. Her photographs are being exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall for International Women’s Day as part of the Women of the World festival

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Tanya Habjouqa’s Women Of Gaza series aims to capture moments of joy and respite for Palestinian women who are trying to live normal lives – caring for their families, getting an education and pursuing careers against the odds. She has photographed schoolgirls on a boat ride.

Photograph: Tanya Habjouqa

Sana’a, Yemen: women with hands painted in Yemen’s colours take part in a rally marking the first anniversary of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s downfall. See all our images from today’s 24 hours in pictures

Photograph: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images