Famous Hispanic Women Who Influenced the World

Hispanic people are ones originating from Spain and the Spanish speaking countries of the Americas. Although originally used to designate the people originating from Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar and Spain, the term 'Hispanic' has now come to denote anyone who is of mixed race and has a Spanish surname.

The term is also loosely held to denote Latin Americans. Here is an account of some of the most famous and inspirational Hispanic women of all time. Their work and achievements are indeed commendable.

Born: December 18, 1971 in Barcelona, Spain
Profession: Tennis Player

Aranxta is a famous woman tennis player hailing from Spain. Arantxa's brothers Javier Sanchez and Emilio Sanchez were professional tennis players too. Sanchez won the French Open tennis tournament at the age of 17 in 1989. In 1994, she won both the French Open and the US open.

In 1995, Sanchez became the first Spanish player to be the number one tennis player in the world. Her biggest competitors were Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. She participated in a total of twelve Grand Slam finals.

She won a total 759 WTA (Women's Tennis Association) matches in her career. She led Spain to victory in five Federation Cup championships. Vicario also bagged four medals at the Olympics in tennis. Arantxa was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007.

Born: August 5, 1947 in Paris, France
Profession: Astrophysicist

Anne obtained a B.A. degree in English from Stanford University. Cordova did her Ph.D in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1979. She has published over 100 scientific papers.

She was the youngest and first woman to serve as Chief Scientist at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was awarded NASA's highest honor 'The NASA Distinguished Service Medal'. Hispanic Business Magazine named Anne as one of the '100 most influential Hispanics'.

Cordova is the 11th President of Purdue University. She is a leading authority on space instrumentation and multiwavelength observational astronomy. She was recently involved with Europe's X-ray Multi-Mirror mission. Anne is married to Christian J. Foster, a science educator. She is the mother of two children, Stephen and Anne-Catherine.

Born: April 10, 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico
Profession: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist

Huerta grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1955, she lobbied for improved conditions for farm workers. She formed the UFW (United Farm Workers of America) in 1962. In 1972, Dolores co-chaired the California delegation to the Democratic Convention.

In 1988, she was seriously injured while protesting against the policies of the US Presidential candidate George Bush. She was compensated handsomely from it by the police. She received the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award in 1993. She was given the Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 1999. She is still working for the farm workers' union.

She continues to campaign to improve the lives of women, immigrants and workers. Dolores is a board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation which lobbies for gender balance. Dolores has eleven children, fourteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Born: May 14, 1943 in Havana, Cuba
Profession: Composer and Conductor

Tania's parents are father Oscar Leon Mederos and mother Dora Ferran. Tania is an internationally acclaimed musician. She is a music director, composer and conductor. She has received many prizes for her musical accomplishments. She was one of the first women to ever conduct an orchestra.

She also performed in the opera Scourge of Hyacinths. Along with being a composer, her other accomplishments include vocal works, orchestral work, chamber works as well as the aforementioned opera.

León was Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University as well as Visiting Professor at Yale University and the Musikschule in Hamburg. She has been honored with the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award too.

Born: July 24, 1969 in Bronx, New York, U.S.
Profession: Singer, Actress, Dancer

Her parents are father David Lopez and mother Guadalupe (née Rodríguez). She has two siblings, Lynda and Leslie. She rose to fame and recognition post Selena, a biopic on the famous Tejano singer Selena and Out Of Sight, a crime film starring George Clooney.

She made her singing debut with the studio album On the 6. Her greatest hits include If You Had My Love and Waiting For Tonight. She has her own fashion label, perfume label, and several endorsements. Her comeback in 2011 was named as the world's greatest comeback act.

Jennifer Has won 3 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Grammy Nominations, among several other accolades. People en Español (the Spanish edition of the American magazine) recognized Lopez as one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" in the February 2007 issue.

Born: August 2, 1942 in Lima, Peru
Profession: Writer

Raised by her divorced mother and grandparents, Llona is a most famous for her novels The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts. Her style of writing is surreal, often blending magical elements with the real world to create fiction of the magic realist genre.

Her novels have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold over 55 million copies worldwide. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 (after being granted American citizenship the previous year), and was honored with Chile's National Literature Prize in the year 2010. Now, she lives in San Rafael, California.

Born: January 9 in Staten Island, New York
Profession: Folk Singer, Songwriter, Civil rights activist

In the year 2008, Joan Baez completed 50 years of residence at Club 47, a folk music club in Cambridge. If it wasn't for Baez, we would not have heard of Bob Dylan, - or Phil Collins, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen - for she paired with and performed the songs written by these and many other contemporary songwriters.

House Of The Rising Sun, John Riley, What Have They Done To the Rain are some of her all time hit songs that have been covered by many artists. Joan was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) at the 2007 Grammy Awards.

Now you have an idea of some of the most famous Hispanic women ver. Their lives are worth taking inspiration from, for their accomplishments are far and beyond the ordinary. Hope their stories inspire you.