Cleopatra
Cleopatra (69-30 BC) has been renowned since antiquity for her intelligence, involved in improving her country’s economy. Cleopatra ruled over Egypt as the rightful monarch, heir to the throne, managing to fight hunger in the country, even making available to the people the royal barns.
She is also famous in popular culture for her love affairs with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony.
If we don’t want to reduce the number to 10, I’d also include Harriet Tubman.
I’d replace Diana with Elizabeth I.
On the basis of Lincoln calling her “the little lady who started the big war” and because “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was a worldwide bestseller that sold more copies world wide in English and in translations, I would also include Harriet Beecher Stowe. And because Hanna Arendt included her in her book “Men in Dark Times,” I would also include Rosa Luxemberg. And what about Florence Nightingale and Margaret Sanger?