One character who resonated with me was Marfa Boretskaya, posadnitsa of Novgorod (now an important part of Russia) during the mid-1400s.

She's a particularly interesting figure because she appears as a female leader at a time and place where women did not hold such titles. She effectively held power while her husband (the nominal posadnik/mayor) was alive, and led the rebellion against the Muscovy attempts at annexing the Republic of Novgorod.

Contemporaneous accounts occasionally place her in a position of poruka, or shared responsibility; however, this accounts for neither her influence during the life or her husband Isaac Boretsky nor her ultimate power following his death.

The Novgorod Republic was a state in its own right and has an extensive independent cultural background before its eventual annexation and assimilation into Muscovy (and present-day Russia). The attempts at annexation by Muscovy were likely focused at capturing Novgorod's trading routes, as it was an important stop along Byzantine trade lines, and presented an appealing target both economically and geographically (as established in the First Chronicle of Novgorod).

Little was written directly about Marfa Boretskaya's personal life; whether this is because she's a forgotten figure or because she was a woman leading a rebellion at a time when women didn't do such things. Understand that the Novgorod Republic was an independent and powerful entity, and for a woman to lead an armed rebellion was a monumental task.

Some 15 years ago I did moderately extensive research into this topic. I'll go back through my notes and see if I can find my sources, though at this point I may have lost that documentation. In any case, Marfa Boretskaya is a fascinating figure on which to base your own research as well.

Check out A Mighty Girl and specifically the characters section. They have a huge database of historical (as well as fictional) women of note. http://www.amightygirl.com/character-collection

How about Rosa Bonheur, a nineteenth century French painter who specialized in animals, particularly horses? She is well known for defying tradition and wearing men's clothing, which she attributed to her need to work closely with horses and other livestock. During the 1889 Exposition Universelle (the same one for which the Eiffel Tower was built) she befriended William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and many of the members of his Wild West troupe, which was exhibiting at the fair to great acclaim. This resulted in some cool paintings of Cody and his employees.

Marie Curie, I think she's the only person in history to have won the Nobel prize twice, possibly in different sciences as well. To top it of her own research gradually killed her but it led to advances in medical science.

Eleanor of Acquitaine, 1122-1204, one of the most wealthiest and powerful woman in western Europe in medieval times. She was queen of France and then of England. Also a patron of the arts, she went on the Second Crusade and later in life was imprisoned by her second husband, King Henry II of England, for revolting against him.

Artemisia Gentileschi, a 16th century Italian painter, and a damn good one. Her female perspective is seen in her paintings - the same subjects were painted by other, male painters - and she really changes the way the subjects are approached.

She has an interesting and sad story, given that she was subject to the unpleasant attitudes society had towards women. She took her rapist to court, and was defiant in her accusation even when she was tortured to test her convictions.

For contemporary figures, Rosa Luxemburg is pretty interesting. She was one of the co-founders of the Spartacus League in Germany (later the German Communist Party), was radically anti-war, and had a really interesting shifting relationship with the Socialist and Communist groups in Germany. During World War I she wrote pamphlets and gave speeches calling for a general strike of the workers, saying that it is not nationally boundaries that make one people, the workers of each nation are closer to one another than the various classes of a single nation. She was jailed for these writings.

She was later murdered by the Freikorps in 1919 as part of their raids on left-wing groups, and her body was tossed into a river.

Fun quotes:

Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.

A more classic figure to look at is Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire. She was married to Emperor Justinian I, but is celebrated as a ruler in her own right. She rose up from a broken family, spinning wool and working as an actress (a not highly regarded profession at the time), and through her charm, beauty, and intelligence, won the affection of Justinian, and eventually married him after he had his uncle, Emperor Justin I, repeal the law that kept him from marrying an actress.

As Empress, it's generally regarded that she was almost a co-ruler with Justinian, advising him and his council. She helped solidify his rule and end the Nika revolts, worked her whole life to repair the religious tensions in the empire, and was loved by basically everybody for her aforementioned charm and badassery. She died somewhat young, at 48, to what some believe was a form of cancer, and is now a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Ida B Wells and Alice Paul are both excellent women to study. Alice Paul was A major leader to the more radical American Suffragists and it can be argued she made other suffragists more respectable in comparison. Ida B Wells had an amazingly long and rich career fighting for both black rights and women's rights.

Not anyone in particular but the book In the Shadow of Revolution follows the Russian revolution through short excerpts by women about what they experienced and how it affected them and what they did during various stages of revolution.

Another good one would be Wu Zetian the only woman emperor of China. She is interesting in how she subverted gender roles, but she was also insanely adept and powerful