Thanks for joining me for another episode of Today in History. I’m Sen, your host.

Today, we will hear about some exciting female firsts, and an untimely end for a man committed to human rights.

As usual, I’d recommend listening to today's historical events twice. Remember, don’t worry too much about focusing on the meaning the first time round. That’s what the second listen is for. Let's begin.

So, what happened today in history?

On July 25, 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a spacewalk. Two years earlier, in 1982, she also became the second woman to enter space. Since then, 63 more women have followed suit.

On the same day in 2007, Pratibha Patil was inaugurated as India’s first female president. Her term lasted 5 years. During this time, she gave speeches on the importance of women’s rights in India and focused her attention on the country’s agricultural crisis. However, she also received criticism for taking her family on presidential foreign trips.

On July 25, 2020, Uzbek activist Azimzhan Askarov died in prison in Kyrgyzstan. After 15 years as a painter, he began working on human rights issues in the mid 1990s. He founded Vozduh, an organization which investigated police brutality and prison conditions in southern Kyrgyzstan. He was arrested while documenting the country’s 2010 ethnic clashes and sentenced to life in prison, despite outrage from numerous human rights groups. He claimed his innocence until his death, and in 2016, a UN investigation concluded that he had been denied a fair trial.

Now rewind, and have a second listen. This time, focus more on the meaning.

That’s it for today. But, I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of Today in History.