Regardless of how you feel about Hillary Clinton, this is a revolutionary moment. For the first time in U.S. history, a woman was voted to be a major political party’s presidential candidate. That’s pretty big news, and no matter who you or I vote for, Hillary’s campaign is paving the way for future female candidates.

Looking back on history, simply voting has been an upward struggle, but thanks to women making strides, we have come a long way.

We can thank Kate Sheppard (pictured below) for securing women the right to vote, in the first country ever, in 1893 in New Zealand, 27 years before the United States.

And we can thank Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka in 1960 for becoming the world’s first female leader of a country.