14 Reasons Why Everyone Loves a Kansas Girl

Women currently make up close to half of the fall semester 2015 enrollment at major Kansas universities, with K-State coming in at 9,511 (48%); University of Kansas at 9,660 (50%); Washburn University at 3,479 (59%); and Wichita State University at 6,215 (52%).

Amelia Earhart, who hailed from Atchison, was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Olive Ann Beech was the cofounder, president and chairwoman of the Beech Aircraft Company and is known to this day as the "First Lady of Aviation." Beech was born in Waverly in 1903 and died in Wichita in 1993.

Georgia Neese Clark, a politician from Richland, served as the the first woman Treasurer of the United States.

Lawrence native Erin Brockovich built a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993 without any previous experience or education.

Pictured is 2013 Miss Kansas Theresa Vail.