Who was the first woman to climb Mount Everest?

Junko Tabei was the first woman to climb Mount Everest.

The Japanese mountaineer reached Everest’s summit on 16 May 1975. She was part of the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition, which faced an avalanche at Camp 2 before continuing toward the summit.

Tabei’s achievement was especially notable because organised high-altitude mountaineering remained strongly male-dominated at the time. She later became the first woman to climb the highest mountain on every continent, completing the Seven Summits in 1992.

Tabei is sometimes confused with Bachendri Pal, who in 1984 became the first Indian woman to summit Everest. Wanda Rutkiewicz was another pioneering climber, but she reached Everest after Tabei.