These historic photos didn’t just capture a key moment in women’s history – they were photographed by women too

The camera frames history from the photographer’s perspective – which is why it’s important for diversity both in front of the lens and behind it. I was taking a deep dive through photo archives for women’s history when I realized many of the images that make me pause didn’t just have women in front of the lens but women framing the shot.

As a photographer, I believe that understanding what is in front of my lens is essential to creating the best possible photographs. Recognizing women in photography isn’t just about representation in an art genre; it’s about giving women the power to shape the way women’s history is told.

These ten photographs freeze a key moment in women’s history, but they were also framed by iconic female photographers themselves.

Christina Boom: Suffrage Movement, 1909

Recognized as the first female press photographer in the UK, Christina Boom photographed the suffragette movement, along with life during World War II, and the royal family. In this image, Book photographed suffragettes in a procession for the Women’s Exhibition in London.

Jessie Tarbox Beals: Nighttime Suffrage parade, 1913-1917

Low-light photography is challenging even with modern cameras, but Jessie Tarbox Beals captured this nighttime shot in the early 1910s. Beals is considered both one of the first published female photojournalists and the first female night photographer. She captured this image of a suffrage parade in the park in the early 1910s.

Olive Edis: Women at Work During the First World War, 1916

Considered one of the first female freelance photographers in Britain, Olive Edis was commissioned by The Imperial War Museum’s Women’s Work committee to document women working during the first World War. This photograph captures the inside of a British Red Cross Society and OSJJ Recreation hut.

Dorthea Lange: Migrant Mother, 1936

Dorthea Lange’s photograph Migrant Mother has become an iconic representation of the Great Depression, but it frames the struggles from the families Living in the Dust Bowl by portraying a mother and her children.

Lange used a 4x5 Graflex camera and took six photos of the family.

Doreen Spooner: Unmarried Mothers, 1963

Considered the first female staff photographer at a British national newspaper, Doreen Spooner’s photography career would eventually make her something of a feminist icon. Her career spanned a number of historic events, while her work helped reimagine how women in fashion were photographed. This photograph captures a mother feeding her baby in a section of a hostel reserved for single mothers.

Bev Grant: Protesting the Miss America Pageant, 1968

Bev Grant was already an activist and musician, but began her photography career while photographing feminist and political rallies. The No More Miss America protest in 1968, was one of her earliest protests.

Francoise De Mulder: Burning Beirut, 1976

Francoise De Mulder became the first woman to win a World Press Photo with this image, titled Burning Beirut, in 1979. The image shows a Palestinian woman asking Christian milita for help during the Lebanese civil war.

Barbara Alper: Women Against Pornography, 1979

Barbara Alper is a New York-based photojournalist whose work ranges from images of Rockaway Beach to her Sex-Play series documenting the underground world of adult entertainment. This photograph captures protesters in the Women Against Pornography March in 1979, which saw 5,000 march, arguing that pornography degrades women.

Carol Guzy: Maternal, 2008

Carol Guzy is a Pulitzer-winning photojournalist – in fact, she was the first journalist to receive four Pulitzers. In this image, a midwife tends to a woman who later died from pre-eclampsia in Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world.

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For more inspiration from historic female photographers, take a look at these 30 influential female photographers.