20 Most Influential Women of the 80s

Big hair, neon colors, pop and rock ’n’ roll music, the Royal Wedding, saying “No” to drugs and much more. It certainly wasn’t only men that made big decisions and influenced pop culture.

There was more inequality in the 80s compared to today, however, women still played a big role during this era, influencing everything including politics, pop culture, drug abuse, the work force and so much more. I give these women so much credit for their leadership, independence and beauty as those are certainly what it takes and more to thrive during this hectic time.

Here are the most influential women of the 80s.

1. Whitney Houston

One of my personal favorite singer and songwriters, Whitney Houston has sold over 200 million combined singles, albums and videos around the world during her career, making her one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.

She first started singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist in high school. At the age of 19, she signed her first label and came out with her first two and best-selling albums of all time, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987). Right away, they both peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. Her biggest hits are:

• “Saving All My Love For You”
• “How Will I Know”
• “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
• “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”
• “So Emotional”
• “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”

In addition to her top hit, she still holds the record for being the most awarded female artist of all time, according to Guinness World Records. Here’s a full list of her awards:

• 22 American Music Awards
• 16 Billboard Music Awards
• 2 BRIT Awards
• 2 Primetime Emmy Awards
• 8 Grammy Awards
• 15 Guinness World Records
• 19 NAACP Image Awards
• 6 People’s Choice Awards
• 7 Soul Train Music Awards
• 14 World Music Awards

As if these aren’t enough, she’s won some other small awards throughout her career, totaling over 600 awards! So she’s kind of a big deal…

She also got into acting, with her first role being the main character in The Bodyguard (1992). The soundtrack for the film is one of the top 5 biggest-selling albums of all time.

She also established the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children Inc. in 1989, a non-profit that helped children with cancer, homelessness, AIDS and self-empowerment.

2. Madonna

Officially known as the “Queen of Pop” Madonna is viewed as one of the most significant figures in pop culture. She is a singer, songwriter and actor, known for her versatility in music production, visual representation and songwriting. She’s also been one to go the extra mile to express herself artistically through her choice of clothing. Her music and image includes political, sexual, social and religious themes, all of which have generated controversy over the years. But to this day, she is an inspiration to many music artists.

Madonna’s most successful albums came out in the 80s and 90s, including Madonna (1983), Like a Virgin (1984), and True Blue (1986). Later in 1998 and 2005, her albums Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dance Floor won two Grammy Awards. She also has a ton of singles that hit number-one throughout her career, like “Like a Virgin”, “La Isla Bonita”, “Like a Prayer”, “Vogue”, “Take a Bow”, “Frozen”, “Music”, “Hung Up” and “4 Minutes”.

She’s also played a few roles in various films, one of which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, including:

• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
• Dick Tracy (1990)
• A League of Their Own (1992)
• Evita (1996) (Golden Globe Award Winner)

Despite winning a Golden Globe Award, the rest of her films received poor reviews. But she didn’t stop at just movies and music. She founded the company Maverick in 1992, which included Maverick Records, one of the most successful artist-run labels in history. She’s also gotten into fashion brands, children’s books, health clubs and filmmaking. She contributes to numerous charities as well as had founded the Ray of Light Foundation in 19988 and Raising Malawi in 2006.

Worldwide, Madonna has sold over 300 million records worldwide and is certified as the best-selling email recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records. The U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart considers her to be the most successful solo artist in its history and holds the record for the most number-one singles by a female artist in Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Here are some of her other accomplishments:

• She remains the highest grossing solo touring artist of all time, with a revenue of $1.5 billion from her concert tickets
• She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, during her first year of being eligible
• She ranked as the greatest woman in music by VH1 in 2012
• She was the greatest music video artist of all time by Billboard in 2020
• She is listed by Rolling Stone as one of the 200 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time

How about that for an inspiration!

3. Oprah Winfrey

With a net worth of over $2.7 billion, Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, TV producer, actress, author and philanthropist. You might know her best through her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is the highest-rated TV program of its kind, running for 25 years from 1986 to 2011. She’s been dubbed “Queen of All Media”, was the richest African American of the 20th century and North America’s first black multi-billionaire. To top it off, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world by 2007.

Here’s a list of all her well-deserved awards:

• 1 Academy Award
• 18 Daytime Emmy Awards
• 1 Golden Globe Award
• 1 Jefferson Award
• 12 NAACP Image Awards
• 4 People’s Choice Awards
• 2 Primetime Emmy Awards
• 1 PGA Award
• 1 Tony Award
• 1 Peabody Award

She also provided Barack Obama with an endorsement, helping him to win about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries. In 2013, President Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Shortly afterwards, she received her honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard.

Her most recent accomplishment is being elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

4. Cyndi Lauper

As an American singer, songwriter, actress and activist, Cyndi Lauper is one of the most influential women in the world. She was certainly a pop culture icon with her colorful makeup, clothing and personality. Best known for her four best songs, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, “Time After Time”, “She Bop”, and “All Through the Night”, she is also a big supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. While not a “member of the club” herself, her sister Ellen is a lesbian and was her inspiration to be a proud supporter. She co-founded the True Colors tour for Human Rights throughout the United States and Canada in June 2007, and one dollar from each ticket went to support the Human Rights Campaign that advocates for the LGBTQ community.

Throughout her career, she’s won a total of 5 major awards, including:

• 2 Grammy Awards
• 1 Tony Award
• 1 Emmy Award
• 1 MTV Music Award

Despite her fame and fortune after making it in Hollywood, she didn’t exactly come from a loving and supportive family. Being harassed at school for her choice of eccentric clothing and being violated from her step father, she ran away from home with her dog and traveled to Canada to find herself. She took odd jobs waitressing and performing in cover bands. At one point, she even damaged her vocal cords and was told by doctors that she would never be able to sing again.

But with a little persistence and the help of her vocal coach Katie Agresta, she pushed forward until she met David Wolff who became her manager and had her sign a recording contract with Portrait Records (subsidiary of Epic Records). After the release of her first solo album, She’s So Unusual, she instantly became popular. Her videos were shown on MTV and her touring started.

5. Cher

While there is a “Queen of Pop” (Madonna), there is also the “Goddess of Pop” and that’s Cher. As a singer, actress, and TV personality, Cher has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. She’s also been known for her distinctive contralto voice, having worked in various areas of entertainment and adopting various styles and appearances throughout her 60-year career.

Cher first rose to fame in 1965 as half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song “I Got You Babe” charted No. 1 on the US and UK charts. In just two years, they sold over 40 million records worldwide and became rock’s “it” couple, according to Time magazine.

She also became a TV personality in the 1970s with her her CBS shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which had over 30 million weekly viewers during its three years on air. She also became a fashion trend-setter through her choice of eccentric clothing when starring on TV.

While she also had incredible success in the 70s, she made her Broadway debut in the play Come back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean as well as starred in the film adaptation.

She starred in numerous movies in the 80s, including:

• Silkwood (1983)
• Mask (1985)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
• Moonstruck (1987)

She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Moonstruck.

While working in the film industries, she was also working on her music. It makes me wonder how she had any time for a personal life, but being that it’s Cher, she found a way to make it work!

In the 80s, she released her albums Cher (1987) and Heart of Stone (1989) as well as Love Hurts in 1991. These included various successful songs like “I Found Someone”, “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Love and Understanding”.

Even beyond the 80s, her success in the film, TV and music industry have earned her each of the following awards:

• 1 Grammy Award
• 1 Emmy Award
• 1 Academy Award
• 3 Golden Globe Awards
• 1 Cannes Film Festival Award
• The Billboard Icon Award
• Awards from the Kennedy Center Honors and the Council of Fashion Designers of America

She is also one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with over 100 million records sold worldwide. She’s also the only artist to have a No. 1 single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. To top it all off, she is heavily involved in:

• Political views
• Social media
• Philanthropic endeavors
• Social activism, including HIV/AIDS prevention and LGBTQ rights

When it comes to the entertainment industry, Cher certainly does it all!

6. Jane Fonda

Even in her golden years, Jane Fonda is looking amazing! As an actress, environmentalist, former fashion model and political activist, she’s earned various awards and nominations, including:

• 2 Academy Awards
• 2 BAFTA Awards
• 7 Golden Globe Awards
• 1 Primetime Emmy Award
• AFI Life Achievement Award
• The Honorary Golden Lion
• The Cecil B. DeMille Award

Jane made her acting debut in 1960 with the Broadway play There Was a Little Girl, receiving a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She would later make her screen debut the very same year with the rom-com Tall Story. From then on, she was in the fame club.

But I personally most enjoyed her first exercise video, Jane Fonda’s Workout, which was understandably the highest-selling VHS of all time. It was the first of 22 videos over the following 13 years, which would sell over 17 million copies. The idea of being able to work out at home was simply brilliant, especially with the exploding growth of TV. There was nothing yet on staying fit or exercise, but she was the first to capitalize on the idea!

From the 90s and onward, she starred in a ton of award-winning movies as well as co-founded the Women’s Media Center, an organization that focuses on amplifying women’s voices in the media through advocacy, leadership training, media and the creation of original content. She still serves on the organization’s board today.

7. Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald is probably my favorite actress from the 80s. She’s played in so many, including:

• Sixteen Candles (1984)
• Breakfast Club (1985)
• Pretty in Pink (1986)
• The Pick-Up Artists (1987)
• Fresh Horses (1988)
• For Keeps (1988)

It’s not hard to see how she quickly became a teen icon after Sixteen Candles, playing that high school, shy, quiet girl with a crush on the most popular guy in school.

Molly’s also considered to be part of the “Brat Pack”, along with Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Estevez, a group of young Gen Xers who frequently appeared in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 80s. Molly was also ranked as number one on VH1’s 100 Greatest Teen Stars.

Ever since she was 5, Molly has acted in various plays, including Alice in Wonderland and Annie, as well as TV series like Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life and even played as a lead vocalist on two Disney albums, singing “This is My Country”, “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America”.

Molly got her first chance at fame through the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life, which aired from 1979-80 after the casting director saw her performance during the stage production of the musical Annie. But while she was let go after the network wanted to rework the show, she landed her first role in a motion picture film, Tempest (1982), from which she earned a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year.

Her next film would be Sixteen Candles, which solidified her spot as a teen icon while working with legendary filmmaker John Hughes.

8. Tina Turner

Just as Madonna is the “Queen of Pop”, Tina Turner is the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll”, rising to fame as the lead singer of Ike & Tina Turner before starring as a solo performer.

Tina started her career in 1957 with Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. She appeared on her first record as Little Ann in “Boxtop” in 1958.  By 1960, her hit single “A Fool in Love” made the pair “one of the most formidable live acts in history”. But before they agreed to go their separate ways, they released other big hits including “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, “Proud Mary” (Grammy Award Winner), and “Nutbush City Limits”.

Fast forward to the 80s, Tina starred as “one of the greatest comebacks in music history. In 1984, her multi-platinum album, Private Dancer, included her hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It” which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her first and only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the age of 44, she was the oldest female color artist to top the Top 100. Her other hit songs included:

• “Better Be Good to Me”
• “Private Dancer”
• “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)”
• “Typical Male”
• “The Best”
• “I Don’t Wanna Fight”
• “GoldenEye”

During her Break Every Rule World Tour in 1988, she set a new Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience (180,000) for a solo performer.

In addition to her inspirational music, Tina has starred in a few movies, including:

• Tommy (1975)
• Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
• Last Action Hero (1993)

After a long and successful career, she decided to retire after her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour in 2009. To this day, it’s one of the highest-grossing tours of all time.

Here are some main facts on Tina Turner:

• With over 100 million records sold worldwide, she is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time
• She received 12 Grammy Awards, including:
  • 3 Grammy Hall of Fame awards
  • 1 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• She was the first black artist and first female to be on the cover of Rolling Stone
• Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
• She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame
• She was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once with Ice Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021
• She is a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award
• She is a resident of Küsnacht since 1994 after relinquishing her American citizenship and before obtaining Swiss citizenship in 2013

How about that for a lifetime of achievements! Tina Turner rocks!

9. Stevie Nicks

Best known for her role in Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac is an American singer and songwriter. She’s also a solo artist with a very distinct, beautiful voice as well as writes poetic, symbolic lyrics.

She joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975 with her boyfriend at the time, Lindsey Buckingham, and helped record the album Rumours, the band’s second and best-selling album of the year it was released. With over 45 million copies sold around the world, it is considered one of the best selling albums of all time.

Rumours also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978 and produced four of the U.S. Billboard hot 100 top-ten singles, with her song “Dreams” being the number one hit.

Rolling Stone named Stevie Nicks one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of all time as she is one of the only women to have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and as a solo artist later in 2019. While she hasn’t won any Grammy Awards as a solo artist, she was nominated for 8 and still holds the record for most nominations as Best Female Rock Vocal Performance without a win. But with Fleetwood Mac, she won the 1978 Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Rumours and received the 2003 Hall of Fame Award.

10. Olivia Newton-John

Best known for playing Sandy in the 1978 musical film Grease, whose soundtrack still remains one of the most successful in history, Dame Olivia Newton-John is a British-Australian singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and activist. She’s won four Grammy Awards and her career includes five US number ones and other Top Tens on Billboard’s Hot 100, and two Billboard 200 number-one albums: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975).

Exactly 11 of her her singles – two of which are Platinum – and 14 of her albums – including two Platinum and four 2x Platinum – have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making her another one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

While she was still widely known beforehand, what really solidified her career was Grease, with two major hit duets with John Travolta: “You’re the One That I Want”, one of the best-selling singles of all time – and “Summer Nights”. Her other top songs include:

• “I Honestly Love You” (1974)
• “Physical” (1981) (Billboard’s top 100 single of the 1980s)
• “If Not for You” (1971)
• “Let Me Be There” (1973)
• “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” (1974)
• “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975)
• “Sam” (1977)
• “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (1978 – from Grease)
• “A Little More Love” (1978)
• “Heart Attack” (1982)
• “Magic” (1980)
• “Xanadu” (1980)

Both “Xanadu” and “Magic” were from the 1980 film Xanadu.

In addition to her success in the film and music industry, she’s committed to advocating for animal rights and environmental issues. She’s also actively involved in charities, health products, fundraising efforts and health awareness. Some of her business interests have been focused on various product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gala Retreat & Spa in Australia.

Most recently, Olivia released a new single with the concentration on unity, called Window in the Wall which she recorded with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. Its music video for the song peaked at #1 on the iTunes pop music video chart during the week of its release.

11. Janet Jackson

Arguably one of the hottest women of the 80s, she didn’t become famous through her brother, Michael Jackson. She played a major role in the TV series The Jacksons in 1976 and appeared in various other TV shows during the 1970s and 1980s, including Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes and Fame.

But what really launched her into fame was her third and fourth studio albums Control (1986) and Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). With the help of the record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, these albums incorporated a mix of music, including funk, disco, rap, industrial beats and rhythm and blues.

She then signed the first of two record-breaking multimillion-dollar contracts with Virgin Records, which made her one of the highest paid artists in the industry. But thanks to her fifth album Janet (1993), her public image changed into a sex symbol as she explored sexuality in her music. Throughout the 90s, she continued to act in movies and release more albums.

Again, similar to Cyndi, she wasn’t born into money; she spent the first three years of her life living in the Chicago-Gary area before moving to Encino, Los Angeles where she became interested and pursued her career in the entertainment industry. At just 7 years old, she was performing at the MGM Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. A lot of pressure and stress for a child that young if you ask me, but this woman was strong.

12. Sally Ride

If you’ve seen Challenger: The Final Flight documentary on Netflix, you’ll recognize the name Sally Ride. But she was an incredibly talented astronaut and physicist. In fact, she became the first American woman and woman recognized as LGBT to enter space in 1983, after joining NASA in 1978.

While Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982) were the first two before her, Ride was still the youngest to have traveled to space and still remains the youngest to this day at the age of 32.

But after two trips on the Orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987, working for two years at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control, followed by the University of California, San Diego, researching nonlinear optics and Thomson scattering.

She was then fortunate enough to serve on committees that researched the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, being the only person who participated in both.

Sadly, she died of pancreatic cancer on July 23rd, 2012 at the age of 61.

13. Florence Griffith Joyner

If you don’t recognize the name Florence Griffith Joyner, you might know her as Flo-Jo, the fastest woman of all time, holding the world records set in 1988 for both the 100 m and 200 m run. Throughout the late 80s, she became popular in international track and field due to her record-setting performances as well as flashy personality.

How did she become the fastest woman in the world? Well, she was athletic from a young age and ran at track meets as a kid. She also competed at California State University, North Ridge (CSUN) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she qualified to compete at the 100 m 1980 Olympics, although she never did because of the U.S. boycott.

Fast forward four years, she won a silver medal in 200 m at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. But it was in the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials where she set a new world record in the 100 m sprint. Then at the 1988 Olympics, she won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.

Surprisingly, she stopped competing the following year but remained a pop culture icon through her acting, designing and endorsement deals. Sadly, she died at the age of 38 from an epileptic seizure.

But this woman is a true inspiration, one who wasn’t afraid to pursue her passion, regardless of what it was.

14. Meryl Streep

While Meryl Streep was both an actress and singer, she has often been described as the best actress of her generation, known for her accents and versatility. She’s received numerous accolades, including 21 Academy Award nominations, 3 of which she’s won and 32 Golden Globe nominations, 9 of which she’s won.

Meryl Streep came to fame during the stage debut in Trelawny of the Wells and received a Tony Award nomination for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays in 1976. The following year, she made her film debut in Julia.

Her biggest accomplishments during the 80s were her roles in Sophie’s Choice (1982), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress as a Holocaust survivor. She’s also had major success with the film in Out of Africa (1985). Even during the late 80s and 90s, she starred in the popular comedy Death Becomes Her (1992) and drama film The Bridges of Madison County (1995).

But it wasn’t all sunshine and flowers throughout her career. During the 80s, Meryl Streep was initially crushed during the filming of Out of Africa, when the director Sydney Pollack didn’t think she was sexy enough to play the lead character Karen Blixen. But she didn’t let this hold her back as Pollack later noted, “She was so direct, so honest, so without bullshit. There was no shielding between her and me.” After a few other clashes during the shoot in Kenya, the success of the film made it all worth it. She earned a nomination for another Academy Award for Best Actress and the film won a Golden Globe Award for Best Picture.

If her character doesn’t show a perfect example of why you shouldn’t let anything or anyone hold you back from doing what you love, I don’t know what does.

15. Sandra Day O’Connor

Known for her role as the first woman Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006, Sandra Day O’Connor is a retired attorney and politician. She was nominated by President Ronald Reagan himself and considered the swing vote for the Rehnquist Court and the beginning of the Roberts Court.

Before taking on this huge role, she was a judge and elected official in Arizona and the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona State Senate.

During her time in office, she most frequently favored the Court’s conservative side, writing concurring opinions that limited the reach of the majority holding. She largely influenced the landmarks cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. She also wrote in part the per curiam majority opinion in Bush v. Gore as well as was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

She was also ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world, according to some publications. On August 12, 2009, O’Connor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

One of the most powerful women in the world…I bet that has to feel pretty amazing and scary at the same time!

16. Benazir Bhutto

Just as this list doesn’t always include everyone from the United States and United Kingdom, Benazir Bhutto was an incredible Pakistani politician who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority country, which is a huge accomplishment! She is considered to be a liberal and secularist, chairing or co-chairing the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from the early 1980s until her death in 2007.

Benazir Bhutto was born in Karachi to a wealthy aristocratic, politically important family. Studying at Harvard University and the University of Oxford, she became President of the Oxford Union. Her father, Zulfikar Bhutto, was the PPP leader and elected Prime Minister in 1973. But just after Benazir returned in 1977, her father was ousted in a military coup and killed.

She and her mother then took control of the PPP and led the country’s Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, but only before being arrested repeatedly by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s military government and exiled to Britain in 1984. She was brave enough to return in 1986, largely influenced by Thatcherite economics, and transformed the PPP’s platform from socialist to liberalism, leading it to victory in the 1988 election.

During her role as Prime Minister, her attempts to make reforms were fought by conservative and Islamist ideals, including President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and the powerful military. She and her admin were also accused of nepotism and corruption before being dismissed by Khan in 1990. But the intelligence services compromised the election to ensure a victory for the conservation Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI), and Bhutto became Leader of the Opposition.

Her second win in the 1993 elections was due to the IJI government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif being dismissed for corruption charges. This time, she focused on economic government privatization and advancing women’s rights.

Sadly, she was assassinated after a political rally in Rawalpindi by the Salafi jihadi group al-Qaeda, despite suspicions of the Pakistani Taliban and rogue areas of the intelligence services. She was buried at her family mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Baksh.

As a female leader in a Muslim country and being banished to Britain due to political opposition, I have to give Benazir so much credit for her bravery and resilience. She definitely deserved every second of her position in power, fighting for what she believed in.

17. Margaret Thatcher

Not everyone liked Margaret Thatcher, but she definitely had a major influence in the 80s as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She also holds the title for the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office.

Some knew her as the “Iron Lady” because of her association with uncompromising politics and leadership style. She also implemented policies that would go down in history under own name, Thatcherism.

During her role as Prime Minister, she introduced numerous economic policies designed to reverse high inflation as well as Britain’s struggles during the Winter of Discontent and decade-long recession. She focused on deregulation (specifically in the financial sector), reducing the power and influence of trade unions and the privatization of state-owned companies.

But despite her efforts, the country fell into a recession and rising unemployment, which took a toll on her popularity until the victory of the Falklands War in 1982. This victory and economic support led to her landslide victory in being re-elected in 1983, despite surviving an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing. She also gained a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

Finally, Margaret Thatcher was re-elected for her third and final term in 1987 after a landslide victory. But again, this is why I say not everyone liked her: her support for the Community Charge (“poll tax”) didn’t go over well with her audience, nor did those in her cabinet appreciate her Eurosceptic views on the European Community.

After a challenge was launched to her leadership, she resigned as a prime minister and party leader in 1990. She also retired from the Commons in 1992, but was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords.

Sadly, she died of a stroke at the age of 87 at the Ritz Hotel, London.

Overall, Margaret’s intentions were pure, but her views were a little skewed as not everyone agreed with her decisions while she was in office. But I still have to say, with that much pressure, she did the best she could with the power she had.

18. Princess Diana

Most popular as the bride in the Royal Wedding, Diana, Princess of Wales, was also a member of the British royal family and the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales – the heir apparent to the British throne. She was also known for her activism and glamour, known as an international icon and was even heavily criticized for her decisions in her private life.

Diana was born into fame and fortune, growing up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. While she wasn’t talented academically, she excelled in dance, music and sports. In 1978, she moved to London and stayed afloat by working various low-paying jobs and living with roommates.

What made Princess Diana popular was her wedding with Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. It took place at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981, making her Princess of Wales, much to the public’s excitement. She had two sons, Princes William and Harry, who were second and third in line of succession to the British throne.

But due to their incompatibility and extramarital affairs, Princess Diana and Prince Charles separated in 1992, followed by a divorce in 1996. She was still Princess of Wales, performing duties on behalf of the Queen as well as representing her at functions. She was also popular with the media for her role in charity work, focusing on children and youth as well as AIDS patients and the campaign to remove landmines. You might want to check out my other blog on England in the 80s for more info about what happened in England during the 80s.

Being a princess, Diana was a little shy, but her friendliness and charisma prevailed, helping her reputation to survive through the collapse of her marriage. She was also a big leader in fashion during the 1980s and 1990s. Sadly, Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, which led to an explosion in the media and public mourning. But her legacy lives on within the royal family and British society.

19. Nancy Reagan

Best known as the First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, Nancy Reagan was also a film actress and second wife to Ronald Reagan.

Nancy was first known as Nancy Davis and starred in various 1940s and 50s Hollywood movies, including The Next Voice You Hear…, Night into Morning and Donovan’s Brain.

She then married Ronald Reagan in 1952, had two children and became the First Lady of California while her husband was governor from 1967 to 1975 and started to work with the Foster Grandparents Program.

In her first term as first lady, Nancy Reagan was harshly criticized because of her decision to replace the White House china, which was paid for by private donations and for accepting free clothing from fashion designers.

Her biggest achievement as First Lady was her leadership in the recreational drug prevention campaign “Just Say No”. She also played a big role in her husband’s personnel and diplomatic decision, even planning his schedule after his attempted assassination in 1981.

After Reagan’s second term ended, she returned home with him in Bel Air, Los Angeles. In 1994, most of her time was spent taking care of him after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s until his death on June 5th, 2004.

But despite her husband’s death, Nancy remained active within the Reagan Library and in politics, especially in the support of embryonic stem cell research. She died from congestive heart failure at the age of 94 on March 6th, 2016.

20. Paula Abdul

You may remember her as one of American Idol’s first judges, but Paula Abdul’s fame extends way beyond her role as a music critic. First, she is a singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality. She first started out as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18, leading to her success as head choreographer for the Laker Girls, which is how she was found by The Jacksons.

In the 80s, Paula was choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, and also during the peak of music videos’ popularity. She then signed with Virgin Records and made her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988), which became one of the most successful debut albums at that time. It sold over 7 million copies in the United States alone and set a record for the most number one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including: “Straight Up”, “Forever Your Girl”, “Cold Hearted”, and “Opposites Attract”.

Her second album, Spellbound (1991), gave her another two songs that topped the Billboard Hot 100: “Rush Rush” and “The Promise of a New Day”. Together, these number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 have her tied with Ariana Grande and Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers topping the chart.

In addition to her music, she’s gotten a lot of credit from her choreography skills, which were used in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), The Running Man (1987), Coming to America (1988), Action Jackson (1988), The Doors (1991), Jerry Maguire (1996) and American Beauty (1999).

Here are some of her hard-earned accolades:

• 17 MTV Video Music Award nominations, 5 of which were won
• Grammy Award for Best Music Video for “Opposites Attract” in 1991
• Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show
• Performance at the American Music Awards in 1990
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• First entertainer to be honored with the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award Hall of Fame Award

While her career blossomed in the late 80s, she is still an inspiration to those who aspire to make it in the dance and music industry!

Who is Your 80s Female Role Model?

This list doesn’t even scratch the surface on all the outstanding accomplishments achieved by these women in the 80s. So much more than just role models, they are successful in their unique ways, but their ability to persevere, even when faced with challenges that could destroy their careers, allow them to push through. Each woman on this list is an inspiration to many as they go down in history for their talents, skills, charisma and persistence.

Is there anyone on this list, or even another woman, with whom you connected and consider a role model? Anyone on this list still a role model to this day? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!