The First Minister, the nation's Makar and the former Lord Advocate have been inducted into an inaugural 'Outstanding Women of Scotland' list run by one of the nation's leading cultural bodies.
Nicola Sturgeon was alongside authors, singers, and figures in science and law on the list established by the Saltire Society.
Other women recognised include the poet and novelist Jackie Kay, Makar Liz Lochhead, the songwriter Karine Polwart, and the singer and writer Anne Lorne Gillies.
They are joined by Edinburgh Napier Professor of Creative Writing Bashabi Fraser, the former MP, MEP and MSP Winifred Ewing, the former President of Industrial Tribunals (Scotland), Dr. Doris Littlejohn, the former Lord Advocate of Scotland, Elish Angiolini and Strathclyde University Engineering Professor Rebecca Lunn.
They were honoured at a ceremony in Glasgow held yesterday to mark International Women's Day.
Ms Sturgeon said: "I am very honoured to have been nominated.
"I hope that the achievements of all those featured on this list will inspire many more Scottish women, from across all walks of life, to fulfil their ambitions.
"Being First Minister is a big responsibility and I'm determined to use that position to help further the ability of other women to get on and make a difference."
Lochhead said she was surprised and honoured to be nominated and added: "I am very glad that the Saltire Society wants to acknowledge the huge contribution to arts, culture and life in Scotland made by those people amongst whom I am Out and Loud and Proud and self- identify myself with as 'similarly gendered'!
"I look forward to a time when it will go without saying that both men and women have equal prominence in all areas and such special recognitions will be unnecessary."
Professor Lunn said: "I am extremely flattered to be part of such an incredible list.
"Historically, Scotland's engineers have had a major impact on the global economy and have helped to shape Scotland's cultural heritage.
"I encounter young, talented engineering students on a daily basis at the University of Strathclyde who give every indication that this level of international influence is set to continue.
"A growing number of Scotland's inspirational young engineers are women - inducting a woman engineer into the list of 'Outstanding Women in Scotland' recognises the fact that women have a vitally important role to play in the science and engineering future of the nation."
Members of the public were invited to submit nominations for inclusion in the list during 2014 leading up to St Andrews Day on November 30.
The ceremony took place on the afternoon of International Women's Day at the Glasgow Women's Library.
It is intended that the ceremony should become an annual event, "celebrating the achievements of Scottish women from all walks of life based on nominations from the general public".
Each of the inductees was presented with a print from printmaker Jessica Copsey.
The late Professor Ailsa McKay, a leading feminist economist who died in 2014, also received a special mention at the event.
Professor McKay was the overwhelming winner of a special Twitter poll seeking nominations to the Outstanding Women of Scotland list organised by the Saltire Society last year.
Saltire Society Council member Susan Garnsworthy said: "The Saltire Society exists to promote and celebrate Scottish culture and heritage and over the centuries, the contribution of Scotland's women to the cultural life of this country has been truly remarkable.
"In so many walks of life, it is as often the women of this country who have carried the torch for Scotland on a global stage as their male counterparts.
"It is incredibly fitting that we include the First Minister as one of the inaugural inductees as she is a shining example not only of an outstanding woman of Scotland, but also a woman who 'made it happen' by becoming the first female First Minister for Scotland."
Founded in 1936 the Saltire Society is a non-political independent charity with membership branches throughout Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article