21. Coco Chanel
2. Florence Nightingale
3. Margaret Thatcher 22. Benazir Bhutto
4. Emmeline Pankhurst 23. Enid Blyton
5. Mother Teresa 24. Marie Antoinette
6. Princess Diana 25. Helen Keller
7. Queen Victoria 26. Oprah Winfrey
8. Anne Frank 27. Germaine Greer
9. Joan of Arc 28. Eva Peron
10. Queen Elizabeth I 29. Hilary Clinton
11. Rosa Parks 30. Malala Yousafzai
12. Queen Elizabeth II 31. Linda McCartney
13. Indira Gandhi 32. Audrey Hepburn
14. Amelia Earhart 33. Eleanor Roosevelt
15. Amy Johnson 34. Maya Angelou
16. J.K. Rowling 35. Michelle Obama
17. Marilyn Monroe 36. Kate Middleton Duchess of Cambridge
18. Jane Austen 37. Billie Jean King
19. Mary, Queen of Scots 38. Katharine Hepburn
20. Queen Mother 39. Ingrid Bergman
40. Simone de Beauvoir
If you cited the world's most influential women, you'd be right according to a poll taken amongst 2,000 British women. The listed icons came top as women who were not afraid to challenge the beliefs of their time.
Take the top role model for women. Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist, conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. As part of the Curie family's legacy of 5 Nobel prizes, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, which she won twice. Leading the way for women, she became a professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 was the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.
Close behind comes the lady of the lamp, Florence Nightingale, a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing.
Who could forget Audrey Hepburn's roles in Gigi (1951), Roman Holiday, Sabrina, The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, My Fair Lady and Wait Until Dark (1967)?
Hepburn remains one of few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role.
She devoted much of her later life to UNICEF and died of cancer at the age of 63.
In my youth, I learned from her example how to combine grace and charm with compassion and respect for others. This to me is the ideal of feminine power.
But two thirds of those polled said young women today lack inspirational figures and eight in ten felt youngsters took too much notice of modern celebrities.
The poll was conducted to coincide with the launch of the second series of Sky Arts' Psychobitches, a sketch show with an all-star cast where women including Florence Nightingale will be examined on the psychologist's couch. Read more from the Daily Mail.
Who would you name as your most influential woman of all time?