LAST year was undoubtedly a year of real cultural change. The Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo campaign made everyone stop and think about the shameful way our society treats women. While we still have a long way to go, it is no longer acceptable to sexually abuse women as we have done in the past.

It is timely then as we enter a new year that we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in the UK. Since then women have risen to the top in politics, entertainment and the arts. If they haven't quite shattered the glass ceiling, they have certainly cracked it. Here, the Sunday Herald selects our top 20 iconic women of the last century and details how they blazed a trail for society to follow.

1. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928)

Manchester-born Pankhurst led the British suffragettes, paving the way for the right to vote. She was routinely arrested, jailed, and went on hunger strikes during her campaign for women's suffrage. She found the Women’s Franchise League and raised both her daughters, who also went to jail, to fight the cause.

2. Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Keller was the first deaf-blind person to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Two years after women gained the right to vote she became one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union. Keller was also a suffragette, in favour of birth control and a disability rights activist.

3. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

A Room of One’s Own, published 11 years after women won the vote, was a revolutionary feminist piece of its time. Woolf expressed the need for women to have financial freedom, access to education and the concept of gender fluidity. She inspired an entire generation of women across the world to become feminists.

4. Coco Chanel (1883-1971)

Chanel was born in an orphanage and, through her own hard work, became part of the French elite. She changed how women think and dress. Her designs freed women from the constraints of tight corsets and encouraged them to be individuals. Her mantra? “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”

5. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Roosevelt was an activist for human rights and the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. She worked with the Women’s Trade Union League to help create a minimum wage and eradicate child labour in the US. She was outspoken and wrote a newspaper column discussing equality.

6. Jane Haining (1897-1944)

Haining was a Church of Scotland missionary in a school in Budapest. She was born near Dumfries and was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and died in Auschwitz concentration camp later that year after refusing to abandon her pupils and leave Hungary. She is the only Scot to be honoured officially for having helped Jews during the Holocaust.

7. Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Described as the "Mother of The Environmental Movement", Carson released the novel Silent Spring in 1962. This book discussed the implications to the environment of pesticide usage and led to the complete ban of DDT in the US. She was a conservationist, marine biologist and won the Presidential Medal of Freedom following her death.

8. Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

In 1949 Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex – a novel criticising patriarchal society. She was an existentialist philosopher, feminist and political activist, noted as the first person to discuss the difference between sex and gender. Beauvoir had a fundamental role in the establishment of modern feminism and won France's highest literary prize, the Prix Goncourt.

9. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Kahlo had severe injuries as a result of being involved in a bus crash at 18 and having polio as a child. Despite her suffering and having her leg amputated she was fiercely independent and channelled all her energy into her art. Kahlo often painted herself and created new perspectives of self-image. She refused to conform to feminine norms and was very politically active – as well as being an LGBT icon.

10. Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958)

Franklin was one of the pioneering scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, at King’s College London. Her male colleagues won the Nobel Prize after she died of ovarian cancer in 1958. Franklin is often considered as one of the most under-acknowledged women in science and an example of the patriarchal nature of the science industry.

11. Coretta Scott King (1927-2006)

King is an important feminist icon – she helped found the National Organisation for Women, lobbied for LGBT rights and promoted gun reform in the US. She also played a role in protesting for the release of Nelson Mandela during apartheid. Despite her activism, she is most often remembered as the wife of Martin Luther King.

12. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

In 1963 Plath released The Bell Jar. The book was an important account of mental illness in women and helped eradicate the concept of female hysteria. Plath was a hugely successful author – many of her poems discussing patriarchal society. Having allegedly been abused by her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, she brought domestic violence into the public eye. Plath took her own life at age 30.

13. Gloria Steinem (1934)

Often referred to as the Mother of Feminism, Steinem once said: “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." She co-founded feminist magazine, Ms., and was the leader of many women’s liberation movements. She also co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance, National Women’s Political Caucus and Women’s Media Center. In 2013 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

14. Margaret Attwood (1939)

Attwood is a novelist, poet and environmental activist. Her 1985 book, The Handmaid’s Tale, has recently resurfaced on the bestseller list after being made into a popular TV series. It depicts a dystopian future where mankind has destroyed the planet through pollution and women are raped and tortured.

15. Alice Walker (1944)

Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, The Color Purple. The book discusses the plight of African American women during the 1930s in the US. Walker was actively involved in civil rights movements during the 60s and 70s. “Activism is my rent for living on the planet,” is how she put it.

16. Oprah Winfrey (1954)

Winfrey lived in poverty as a child in Mississippi and is now one of the richest self-made women in the world. She has been named the Queen of All Media, after launching her own production empire. Winfrey is one of the most philanthropic celebrities in the world and is the first black person in North America to become a multi-billionaire.

17. Madonna (1958)

With a career spanning five decades, she is one of the most successful musicians of all time. She taught women to embrace their sexuality and pushed the boundaries of gender stereotypes. Madonna has also been an advocate against ageism and fought the cause of gender inequality.

18. Angelina Jolie (1975)

Jolie is the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, and is a UN diplomat and humanitarian. In 2013 she had a double mastectomy to prevent the development of breast cancer. Her decision to discuss the procedure helped promote breast cancer awareness. One of the causes she promotes most strongly is for young women to have access to free education.

19. Pussy Riot (1989)

Formed in 2011, Pussy Riot are a Russian Punk Rock band promoting feminism and LGBT rights. In 2012 they protested at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour church by performing an anti-Putin song in balaclavas. Members were arrested and served 21 months before being released in 2013.

20. Emma Watson (1990)

Watson grew up in the lime light whilst playing Hermione Granger, in the Harry Potter film franchise. Since then, she has become a UN Women Goodwill ambassador and launched the HeForShe campaign. Watson has revolutionised the modern day feminist movement.