* Ruth Anderson

..... in 1998 she became the FIRST woman to be appointed to the UK board of the accountancy firm KPMG in its 131 year history. She had worked for the company for 21 years and was one of the leading tax specialists in the firm's London office

* Ruth Ann Baldwin

 ..... FIRST woman to direct a Western - Universal Production ' 49'

* Ruth Beech or Deech

 ..... FIRST woman head of a mixed Oxford college

* Ruth and Lisa Bendle

 ..... sisters from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire who made medical history in 2007 when they became the FIRST to have their stomachs removed on the same day in the same hospital due to doctors finding a gene that put them at greater risk of stomach cancer, a disease which runs in their family

* Ruth First

..... FIRST white woman to be jailed in South Africa under the 90-day Detention Act

* Ruth Bader Ginsburg

..... FIRST tenured woman Professor at Harvard Law School in 1971 and the FIRST Jewish Justice to sit on the Supreme Court in 1993 since 1969 when she was confirmed by a vote of ninety-six to three.  She also organized and led the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights project and in 1980 was appointed by President Carter to the U.S Court of appeals for the District of Columbia

* Ruth Gipps

born February 20th 1921 died 1999

..... composer and conductor, promoter of modern British music and musicians she was the FIRST woman to appear as a conductor at the Royal Festival Hall (1957) and in 1969 was the FIRST woman to conduct one of her own symphonies, the Third, on radio. She founded two orchestras, wrote five symphonies, six concertos, two large-scale works for horn and many other works. In 1967 she was appointed chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain, only the second woman to hold the post ( see Elizabeth Maconchy). In 1988 she conducted a programme which represented 300 years of music by women composers

* Ruth, Countess of Halifax

neé Ruth Alice Hannah Mary Primrose

born April 18th 1916 died 1989

..... well known figure on the racing turf and one of the FIRST three women members of the Jockey Club when elected in 1977, after 225 years of male rule, with her half-sister Mrs Hastings and Mrs Johnson-Houghton. She was long regarded as one of the most brilliant judges of a racehorse in Britain and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of form and pedigrees

* Ruth Handler

 neé Mosko

 born 4th November 1916 died 2002

..... co-founder of the Mattel toy company and creator of "Barbie" the most popular doll in the world. Her company Mattel was the FIRST in the toy industry to hit on the idea of television advertising when they bought 52 weeks of advertising on an American television show called the Mickey Mouse Club in order to advertise their Mouse-guitar in 1955.  In the first year of sales of "Barbie" a new sales record was set for the company of 351,000 dolls  and the doll went on to become the most successful product in the history of the toy industry. More than one billion have been sold in 150 countries

* Ruth Harris

..... FIRST black television presenter in Britain

* Ruth Bryan Owens

..... FIRST woman Minister to Denmark from America

* Ruth Patrick

 born 1907

..... FIRST woman research director at DuPont and FIRST woman to chair the board of the Academy of Natural Science's. She was a marine biologist and in 1975 the £150,000 John and Alice Tyler Ecology Award (the richest scientific prize in the world) was awarded to her. She invented the diatometer which determines the presence of pollution in fresh water

* Ruth Pitter

 born 1897 died 1992

..... FIRST woman to receive the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry in 1955

* Ruth Richardson

 ..... FIRST woman Finance Minister in New Zealand in 1990 when the National party won in the general elections

* Ruth Rohde

 born 1885 died 1954

..... American Congresswoman from Jacksonville, in 1928 , the FIRST one from the deep south and  FIRST US woman to hold a diplomatic post in 1933 as US Minister to Denmark

* Ruth Rojas de Villasis

 .....  Peruvian who was the FIRST woman Vice Minister of the Interior

* Ruth Stapleton

neé Carter

born 1929 died 1983

..... American evangelist and faith healer, she was the sister of former U.S President Carter. In the 1976 presidential campaign she addressed the National Press Club in Washington D.C, largely on her brother's behalf and reportedly it was the FIRST time that the club had listened to a woman preacher

* Ruth Wintle