The 10 Most Prominent Vietnamese Women in History

In the early stages of Vietnamese national journalism, women’s participation was limited, yet their impact was undeniably significant. One such figure celebrated in history is Sương Nguyệt Ánh, a poet and the first female editor-in-chief in Vietnam. Born Nguyễn Ngọc Khuê on March 8, 1864, in Ba Tri, Bến Tre, she was the fourth daughter of the famous poet Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, born during a tumultuous time as her father sought refuge in Bến Tre during wartime.

Growing up in a war-torn nation, Sương Nguyệt Ánh inherited the resilience and wisdom of her father, a patriotic poet, and her mother, a devoted and hardworking woman. Known for her beauty and intellect from a young age, her life was marked by hardship. She married at 24, but tragically, her husband passed away shortly after, leaving her a widow. With both of her parents gone, she was left in isolation, and it was during this time that she added the name 'Sương' to her pen name, 'Nguyệt Ánh.'

Although resigned to her fate, Sương Nguyệt Ánh could not ignore her passion for activism and intellectual pursuits. In the early 1900s, when Phan Bội Châu launched the 'Eastward Journey' movement, she contributed by selling her land to fund scholarships for students. Despite the movement’s failure, her resolve remained unshaken. In 1917, she became the editor of Vietnam's first women’s newspaper, 'Nữ giới chung' (Women’s Voice). Although the paper ceased publication in 1918, she continued her work as a teacher, herbalist, and writer until her death in 1922.

Throughout her life, Sương Nguyệt Ánh made remarkable contributions as a writer, a feminist pioneer, and a tireless advocate for women's rights. Today, her legacy lives on in schools, streets, and clubs bearing her name. As the poet Nguyễn Liên Phong wrote, 'Her life was a beacon of virtue, her name forever etched in the nation's history.'

Nguyễn Thị Chiên (1930 – 2016) was born in Kiến Xương, Thái Bình Province. She served as a lieutenant colonel in the Vietnam People’s Army and was the first female to be honored as a Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

From 1946 to 1952, Nguyễn Thị Chiên played a crucial role in building resistance cells in five villages. She led a guerrilla unit in Tán Thuật commune (now Thanh Nê town), fighting enemy incursions, sabotaging Route 39, and disrupting puppet forces. She killed, wounded, and captured 15 enemy soldiers. In April 1950, while assisting comrades, she was captured, tortured for over three months, but she never revealed any information.

In October 1951, during an ambush on Route 39, she shot and wounded one enemy soldier, captured six others, and seized four weapons. In December 1951, when French forces swept through her village, she led a successful raid, capturing four French soldiers. In 1952, she was named a national model soldier and became the first Vietnamese woman to be officially recognized as a Hero of the People’s Armed Forces by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

After the war against the French, Nguyễn Thị Chiên worked at the General Political Department in Hanoi. She was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1984. Nguyễn Thị Chiên passed away at 8:20 AM on June 1, 2016, at Đức Giang General Hospital in Long Biên, Hanoi, at the age of 87.

Võ Thị Sáu (1937 – 1953), born in Bà Rịa, was famously known as 'The Girl from Red Earth.' When the French invaded her homeland, she was just 12 years old. In an act of bravery, she threw a grenade, killing three French officers. She became well-known for her intelligence work, sabotage, and her role as a special messenger. At 15, she attempted to assassinate the Vietnamese collaborator Đốc phủ Tòng, but was captured by the French.

Even while imprisoned, she continued her revolutionary activities. In December 1952, she was transferred to the infamous Con Dao prison, where she was held in the 'White Stone' cell. Despite facing death, her spirit remained unbroken. She would sing and dance, and when the French brought a priest to give her last rites, she defiantly told him, 'I am a patriot, I am not guilty. It is you who are the invaders, you who are the criminals for killing my people.'

Before her execution, she shouted, 'Long live Vietnam! Long live Uncle Hồ!' Võ Thị Sáu was martyred at the age of just 17. In 1993, the Vietnamese government posthumously awarded her the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and the First-Class Military Merit Medal.

Hoàng Xuân Sính (born September 8, 1933) is a prominent politician, educator, mathematician, and the first female professor and doctoral graduate in mathematics from Vietnam. She hails from Cót Village, Từ Liêm, Hanoi (now part of Yên Hòa ward, Cầu Giấy district). During her childhood, her family lived at 102 Hàng Bông Street, Hanoi. Her mother passed away when she was only 8 years old, and her father, Hoàng Thúc Tấn, later remarried a successful textile entrepreneur. Both her father and stepmother were patriotic capitalists who supported the Thanh Nghị newspaper, a progressive nationalist publication of the time. Although often referred to as 'the granddaughter of Professor Hoàng Xuân Hãn,' their relationship was more of a close friendship rather than a family connection.

She pursued her doctoral studies in France under the guidance of renowned mathematician Alexander Grothendieck. Her doctoral thesis, titled 'Gr-categories,' was defended at the University of Paris 7 in 1975. Prior to defending her thesis in Paris, she presented her research at the 1971 Vietnam Mathematical Congress in Hanoi and the 1974 International Congress of Mathematicians in Vancouver, Canada. After completing her PhD, she returned to Vietnam to teach mathematics and write textbooks for both universities and high schools. She was head of the Algebra Department and later became the Dean of the Mathematics-Computer Science Faculty at Hanoi University of Education.

Hoàng Xuân Sính was one of the founders of Thăng Long University, the first private university in Vietnam, established on December 15, 1988. She currently serves as the Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Kovalevskaya Science Award Council in Vietnam and has been entrusted with leading Vietnam’s delegation to the International Mathematics Olympiad. In addition to her academic achievements, she has contributed to various social activities, including serving as Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (2004-present), a member of the National Science and Technology Policy Council, the National Education Council, and the Editorial Board of the Vietnamese Encyclopedia.

Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, born Nguyễn Thị Vịnh on November 1, 1910, in Vĩnh Yên, Vinh City, Nghệ An Province, is recognized as Vietnam’s first female communist revolutionary. Her family moved frequently, eventually settling in Đức Tùng, Đức Thọ, Hà Tĩnh. After learning the national language, she enrolled at Cao Xuân Dục Elementary School in Vinh. In 1927, she became actively involved in the workers' movement in Vinh and helped establish the Tân Việt Revolutionary Party, where she was elected as a member of the Party’s Central Committee. In 1930, she joined the Indochinese Communist Party, focusing on propaganda and training new members at the Thi and Bến Thủy training centers. She later moved to Hong Kong to serve as a secretary to revolutionary leader Nguyễn Ái Quốc at the Eastern Bureau of the Communist International.

Research by historian Sophie Quinn-Judge suggests that Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai claimed to be married to Hồ Chí Minh in 1931, though the nature of their relationship remains unclear. By 1933, she declared that her only 'husband' was her commitment to the revolutionary cause. In 1931, she was arrested in Hong Kong, imprisoned, and in 1934, released to attend the Seventh Congress of the Communist International in Moscow alongside Lê Hồng Phong. They reportedly married in 1935, and had a daughter, Lê Nguyễn Hồng Minh, born in 1939. In 1936, Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai returned to Vietnam to deliver the Communist International's directives, serving as Secretary of the Saigon-Chợ Lớn Party Committee during the revolutionary surge of 1936-1939, using the pseudonym Năm Bắc.

On July 30, 1940, she was arrested again, along with fellow Party member Nguyễn Hữu Tiến, after a meeting of the Southern Party Committee. Despite being imprisoned at Saigon's Khám Lớn, she continued to lead revolutionary activities. After the failure of the Nam Kỳ Uprising, Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai was sentenced to death by the French colonial authorities and was executed by firing squad at Ngã ba Giồng, Hóc Môn (now Ho Chi Minh City) on August 28, 1941.

Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích was born in 1830 in An Phước village, Ninh Thuận Province (formerly Phan Rang), as the fourth child of Nguyễn Nhược Sơn, a rare talent in the Chiêm Thành region. Her father, known for his bold and independent nature, worked as a government official, often defying rules, which led to his removal from office several times. Thanks to her father's intelligence and free spirit, Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích received an education and began to show her own talents. She traveled with her father on his official assignments and earned widespread praise wherever they went.

In 1848, she was appointed to the court of Emperor Tự Đức. During a poetry recitation, the emperor was impressed by her poem and rewarded her with twenty ounces of silver while also appointing her as the Thượng Nghi Viên Sư (a high-ranking court scholar). By 1868, she was tasked with educating the royal princes, including future emperors Đồng Khánh and Kiến Phúc. Known for her literary talents, she taught them poetry, classical Chinese literature, and court etiquette. Her contributions to the royal court earned her several titles, including Tài nhân (1850), Mỹ nhân (1860), and later, Quý nhân.

Despite her achievements, Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích struggled with the authoritarian rule of Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết during the turbulent “Tứ nguyệt tam vương” (Four-month regime of three emperors). In 1885, when the imperial capital fell, Emperor Hàm Nghi issued a call for national resistance against the French, and Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích assisted the royal family in their escape to Quảng Trị. However, the royal family soon turned back to the French-controlled Khiêm Lăng, unable to endure the hardships of exile. During her time in the palace, Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích closely observed and recorded events in the imperial court, particularly following Emperor Tự Đức's death in 1883. She later authored the *Hạnh Thục Ca*, a poem consisting of 1018 verses in Nôm script, which recounts the French invasion and praises the late emperor's legacy while criticizing the excesses of Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết in their handling of the succession crisis.

The poem's soft rhythm conveys a deep melancholy, and though written from the perspective of a royal consort, *Hạnh Thục Ca* is valued as a key historical and literary document. Few could have written such a work without being both intelligent and deeply patriotic. After Tự Đức's death, Nguyễn Thị Nhược Bích was responsible for drafting the imperial edicts of the two empresses, the mother and primary wife of the late emperor. In 1892, during the reign of Emperor Thành Thái, she was promoted to the position of Tam Phi Lễ Tần. She passed away in 1909 at the age of 79.

On March 31, 2016, Vietnam witnessed a significant turning point in its reform and political landscape as Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân made history by being elected as the first female Chairperson of the National Assembly. She succeeded Nguyễn Sinh Hùng, marking a milestone in Vietnamese politics and becoming the first person to take the official oath of office.

During her swearing-in ceremony under the national flag, in front of the National Assembly and the people, she expressed gratitude for the trust placed in her by the delegates. She pledged her loyalty to the country, the people, and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and vowed to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to her by the Party, the State, and the people.

Born in 1954 in Bến Tre, Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân holds a Master's degree in Economics. She has been a continuous member of the Party Central Committee from the 9th to the 12th term, a member of the Politburo in the 11th and 12th terms, and a representative in the 12th and 13th National Assemblies. Before becoming National Assembly Chairperson, she held various roles, including Director of the Department of Finance of Bến Tre Province and Deputy Minister of Finance, among others.

Under her leadership, the National Assembly drafted two significant laws: the Economic Zone Law and the Cybersecurity Law in 2018. However, amid widespread protests against the Special Economic Zones Law, she called for calm and trust in the government's decisions. On June 11, 2018, the National Assembly voted to delay the passage of the Special Economic Zones Law, while the Cybersecurity Law was approved. At the 13th National Congress of the Party, she did not seek re-election to the Party Central Committee. On March 30, 2022, at 3:50 PM, the National Assembly officially approved her resignation as Chairperson, and she retired according to the regulations.

This title refers to the two sisters, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, who became the first female monarchs to rule over a nation and its people after the country’s liberation at the beginning of the 1st century AD. Historical records state that the sisters were descendants of the Lạc tướng (tribal leaders) of Mê Linh, a region located between Ba Vì and Tam Đảo during the reign of the Hùng Kings. According to legend, the two sisters were the daughters of Man Thiện, a capable woman from Ba Vì. Sacred texts in the villages of Hạ Lôi and Hát Môn, where the main temples for the sisters are located, indicate that the sisters were twins, born on the first day of the eighth month in the year Giáp Tuất (14 AD).

Records also mention that Trưng Trắc was married to Thi Sách, who was from the influential Lạc tướng family of Chu Diên along the Đáy River. This marriage was seen as a 'political alliance' that united two significant regions of the time, forming the backbone of a large, powerful uprising in the spring of 40 AD after the Chinese governor of Giao Chỉ, Tô Định, killed Thi Sách.

In a short period, the Trưng Sisters led their forces to drive out the invaders, and they were crowned as queens, ruling over an independent nation for three years. Eventually, the Han Empire sent the seasoned general Mã Viện to invade again. The Trưng Sisters fiercely resisted the invasion, leading large-scale battles from Tây Vu to Lãng Bạc and Cấm Khê. They ultimately sacrificed their lives in the summer of 43 AD, leaving a legacy of bravery and heroism that still resonates in history. Today, temples dedicated to the Trưng Sisters and their generals can be found across Vietnam.

Lý Chiêu Hoàng, also known as Lý Phế Hậu or Chiêu Thánh Hoàng Hậu, was the 9th and final emperor of the Lý Dynasty, reigning from 1224 to 1225. She remains the only female emperor in Vietnam’s history, though she was not the first female ruler—Trưng Trắc holds that distinction. What makes her reign particularly remarkable is that she ascended the throne by the direct command of her father, Lý Huệ Tông. However, it is widely believed that the real power behind her appointment was Trần Thủ Độ, the military leader who held significant sway in the court and was her maternal uncle.

In 1226, Chiêu Hoàng was forced to abdicate in favor of Trần Cảnh (who later became Trần Thái Tông), marking the end of the Lý Dynasty after over 200 years. Following her abdication, she became the Empress Consort of Thái Tông but was later removed from her position in 1237 at the age of 19 due to her inability to bear an heir. Her sister, Hiển Từ Thuận Thiên, succeeded her as Empress.

After her dethronement, Chiêu Hoàng remarried at the age of 40 to Lê Phụ Trần, a general who had played a significant role in aiding Thái Tông. They had two children: a son, Lê Tông, who was later made a noble, and a daughter, Princess Ngọc Khuê. She passed away a year after the death of her former husband, Thái Tông. Her life, filled with political intrigue and tragedy, has been the subject of numerous artistic works in literature, music, and painting.

Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822) was born to Hồ Phi Diễn in the village of Quỳnh Đôi, Quỳnh Lưu, Nghệ An. Some historical records mention her ancestry: Hồ Sĩ Anh of the Lê Dynasty had four sons—Hồ Thế Viêm, Hồ Phi Quyền, Hồ Phi Cơ, and Hồ Phi Tích (1665–1734), who passed the imperial examination in 1700. Hồ Thế Viêm, the ancestor of the Tây Sơn brothers, changed their surname from Hồ to Nguyễn. Hồ Phi Cơ, in turn, was the ancestor of Hồ Xuân Hương. Thus, Hồ Xuân Hương, Nguyễn Nhạc, and Nguyễn Huệ were distant relatives on their father’s side.

Hồ Xuân Hương is celebrated as the most talented, distinctive, and witty female poet of Vietnam. Living during the late Lê Dynasty, she authored over 50 poems filled with both lyricism and sharp wit, full of double meanings, humor, and satire. Notable works include “Bánh trôi nước,” “Tự tình,” and “Lấy chồng chung.” She earned the title “Queen of Nôm Poetry.”

Her style was unique, embodying a natural and affectionate tone, with poems that were simple, elegant, and full of vivid imagery. She skillfully used repetition, rhythm, and melody to match the tone and context of her poems. Whether humorous or critical, Hồ Xuân Hương’s poetry always evoked a joyful yet profound experience. Her contributions to literature are unparalleled, and she remains one of Vietnam’s most exceptional literary figures.