Josefa "Gigi" Francisco (1954 - 2015) was a Filipino women's rights activist. She was a thought leader and advocate for gender equality, social justice, and women's rights from the Philippines. An alumna of Miriam College (formerly Maryknoll), Gigi Francisco is known to have strengthened the college’s international studies curriculum as member and former head of its International Studies Department. A reputable feminist hailing from the global south, she was co-founder of Miriam College’s Women and Gender Institute (WAGI), the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN), and was Coordinator of the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). Gigi served as board member in numerous development organisations and networks, and was an adviser/consultant to the United Nations on various developmental issues, using a gender equality and social inclusion lens.
Josefa de Óbidos (c. 1630 – 1684) was a Spanish-born Portuguese painter. Her birth name was Josefa de Ayala Figueira, but she signed her work as "Josefa em Óbidos" or "Josefa de Ayalla". All of her work was made in Portugal, her father's native country, where she lived from the age of four. Approximately 150 works of art have been attributed to Josefa de Óbidos, making her one of the most prolific Baroque artists in Portugal.
María Josefa Acevedo Sánchez de Gómez (1803–1861), generally published under the name Josefa Acevedo or Josefa Acevedo de Gómez, was a Colombian poet and prose writer. Acevedo wrote formal verse, essays, and biographies of famous contemporaries and notable members of her family by blood or by marriage that were published and widely circulated during her lifetime. The first of Acevedo's books to be published was a cross between a long-form essay and instruction manual on married life titled Ensayo sobre los deberes de los casados. Due to Acevedo's misgivings about the quality of her writing and her resulting fear that the book would be harshly judged, the earliest editions of the work were published anonymously. The book proved very popular, however, and years later, a fifth edition was released with authorial attribution.Cuadros de la vida privada de algunos granadinos, a book collecting short stories by Acevedo with plots drawn from the author's own life and notorious contemporary events, was published posthumously.Acevedo also wrote a stage play in two acts titled La coqueta burlada, a novel, an autobiography, and other papers that were never published, some of which were purportedly lost to fire. Poems by Acevedo were included in Poetisas Americanas, an 1896 anthology of verse by noted female poets of the Americas.
Josefa Idem (b. 1964) is a German-born Italian sprint canoer turned politician. Competing in eight Summer Olympics, she has five medals. Winning 35 international medals during her career, Idem was the first Italian woman to win World Championships (22 total, five gold) and Olympic medals in canoe sprint. At the 2009 world championships, she became the oldest medalist in the history of the world championships.