Women have always played crucial roles in moving the United States forward, but their names have often been obscured by history, their key contributions not lifted up. There are too many women — just in the Bay Area — who stood up for equitable housing and transit to name them all here. We include four sheroes below. See Transform’s social feeds for even more.

Minnie Straub Baxter

Herminia “Minnie” Straub Baxter (1895–1991) was a 64-year-old grandmother who sparked the San Francisco Freeway Revolt. In 1958, when plans emerged to run a freeway through her Glen Park neighborhood — threatening homes and the beloved Glen Canyon Park — Baxter printed cards reading “Come learn how Glen Park will be destroyed” and rallied 500 neighbors to a meeting. Minnie’s leadership, along with two other women dubbed the “Gum Tree Girls,” galvanized public opposition citywide. Their grassroots activism ultimately halted the proposed freeways, protecting many San Francisco communities. Her fight preserved green space and homes in working-class areas, showing that even a “housewife” from a marginalized outer neighborhood could influence urban policy. Her courage empowered other citizen activists, many of them women, to speak up for environmental justice and community rights in the city planning process.

Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams (1935–1995) was a multi-talented activist: a producer, playwright, educator, and a leader in the civil rights era. As part of the “Big Five of Bayview,” she co-founded one of the city’s first subsidized housing cooperatives, helping create over 2,000 affordable housing units with on-site childcare. Williams also chaired the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s Employment Committee, fighting job discrimination. She saved the historic Bayview Opera House from demolition after riots in 1966, later establishing the Bayview Repertory Theater to uplift Black art and youth. Impact: Ruth’s holistic activism — housing, jobs, health (she led heart disease awareness after losing her husband) — transformed Bayview-Hunters Point. She empowered Black residents to build economic self-sufficiency and preserved community identity through arts and education. The Bayview Opera House now bears her name, a testament to her enduring impact on a marginalized community’s resilience and pride.

Judith Huemann

Judy Heumann (1947–2023) was a pioneering disability rights activist whose Bay Area advocacy revolutionized public transit accessibility. After a bout with polio as an infant, Huemann used a wheelchair for mobility. She and her parents had to fight for access to education and other opportunities, which were largely closed to people in wheelchairs at the time. As an adult, she became a fierce advocate for disability rights, moving to the Bay Area in 1975 to become deputy director of the Center for Independent Living. In April 1977, Heumann was one of the leaders of the historic Section 504 sit-in at San Francisco’s Federal Building — a 28-day occupation by people with disabilities that resulted in concessions from the state and better educational access for children with disabilities. You can learn more about Huemann’s groundbreaking activism in the movie Crip Camp.

Jean Quan

Jean Quan (born 1949) made history as Oakland’s first woman and first Asian-American mayor (2011–2015). But her advocacy for equitable housing and transit began long before. In the 1970s, Quan was a young activist at UC Berkeley pushing for ethnic studies and community control of development. As a city councilmember, she helped secure funding for the Fruitvale Transit Village, a nationally acclaimed mixed-use affordable housing project at a BART station that improved transit and housing access in a predominantly Latino community. As mayor, Quan launched her version of the 10K Housing Plan championed by her predecessors: a plan to bring 10,000 new residents with 7,500 new units (many affordable) in Oakland. Though ultimately derailed by the financial crisis of 2008, the plan resulted in 6,000 new units. Quan also championed the free “B” Broadway Shuttle connecting downtown to Jack London Square. She also opened Oakland’s City Hall to non-English speaking communities, empowering historically marginalized Asian and immigrant residents to engage in civic planning and demand better transit and housing services.

There are many, many more women who championed affordable housing and transit, including many alive today and still doing fantastic work. We honor all of them in March — and every month.