The concept of Women Without Limits began with a single woman and developed into an obsession. It started when I picked up a book about Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the earth. What a brave woman! I thought about her having to live in hiding for three years, from 1766 to 1769, the only woman in a company of men who believed women should not be on sailing ships.
So began my obsession. I’ve found more than 160 women who survived physical and psychological danger to live the lives they wanted.
The more I read, the more I researched, the more I traced historical records, the more I saw the same truth repeated across centuries: women were always there — in dangerous places, in difficult journeys, in forbidden spaces.
They crossed borders. They crossed oceans. They crossed social lines. They crossed legal boundaries. They crossed expectations. They crossed limits.
The stories of these brave women have been written about in scholarly publications and in books, but almost none would be recognized by the average reader. You won’t find stories here about well-known women like Amelia Earhart, Mata Hari, or Sacajawea. These stories are a record of women who were unknown but who influenced history in some way, some changing perceptions of women, and others fighting for a cause.
All of the women in WWOL have gone through dangerous situations and journeys. Some, like mountain climber Annie Peck and spy Joey Guerrara, chose to put themselves in danger. Others, like Olive Oatman, who was captured by a native tribe, and Ada Blackjack, who was stranded on an Arctic island, lived in dangerous situations. And some, like world travelers Christine Dodwell and Isabella Bird, lived their lives for danger.
Their stories deserve a wider audience.
This publication is part of a larger book project, but it also stands on its own as a living archive.
If you’re drawn to stories of women who were brave, adventurous, and determined, you’ve come to the right place.