Meet 8 of the richest women in history Part 2

Last time we brought you 8 of the richest women in history. Today we will be bringing you the concluding part.  Many aspects of life are often viewed as a man's domain, but powerful women have refused to accept the status quo for centuries. Here we bring you eight of the richest women in history and their outstanding achievements.

Melinda Gates

© JStone / Shutterstock.com Married to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates since 1994, Melinda Gates is a philanthropist intent on changing the world for the better. Named the fourth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2016, Gates shares her husband's $85.6 billion net worth, making them the richest people in the world.

A graduate of Duke University, she co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 and currently serves as co-chair. Created to help people around the globe enjoy healthy, productive lives, the foundation trust endowment totaled $39.6 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015.

Also intent on inspiring other billionaires to give back, she established the Giving Pledge along with her husband and fellow entrepreneur Warren Buffett. The pledge encourages the wealthiest people in the world to give more than half of their fortune to charity during their lifetime or to set the funds aside in their will.

Liliane Bettencourt

© Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-2.0 / Aneo With a fortune of $39.1 billion, Liliane Bettencourt is the richest woman in the world. Her father, Eugene Schueller, founded L'Oreal in 1907. 

A company valued at $102.9 billion as of May 2016, according to Forbes, Bettencourt and her children own 33 percent of L'Oréal. Sadly, Bettencourt suffers from dementia and in 2012, her grandson took over her seat on the L'Oreal board.

Bettencourt shied away from the public eye for most of her life but was thrust into the spotlight in 2015 when eight men were found guilty of scamming her. One of the convicted, photographer Francois-Marie Banier, swindled more than $1 billion in gifts from the ailing Bettencourt over a 10-year period.

Sara Blakely

© Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA-4.0 / Gillian Zoe Segal In 1998, Sara Blakely didn't have the right undergarments to wear under white pants to a party, so she made her own. This inspired her to found Spanx in 2000 and the rest is history.

Now a fashion mogul with a net worth of $1 billion, Blakely retains 100 percent ownership of the company she created with $5,000 saved from working as a door-to-door fax salesperson. Along with her husband, Jesse Itzler, she is also part owner of the Atlanta Hawks.

Despite her astronomical success, Blakely remains grounded. She was the first female billionaire to join the Gates-Buffett Giving pledge. The Spanx founder also runs a Leg Up program that supports female entrepreneurs, and her Sara Blakely Foundation has donated millions to charitable organizations globally.

Zhou Qunfei

© Anna Hoychuk / Shutterstock.com Named the richest self-made woman in the world by Forbes in 2016, Zhou Qunfei is a true rags-to-riches story. The founder and CEO of Lens Technology, her net worth is currently estimated at $7.4 billion.

Remarkably, Qunfei dropped out of school at age 16 to work in a factory making watch lenses. She went on to found Lens Technology, a company that makes glass screens for mobile phones and tablets for clients including Apple and Samsung. The company reportedly supplied 21 percent of the world's mobile phones as of 2015.

In 2015, the Chinese-based company listed an IPO on the ShenzhenStock Exchange. Still the majority shareholder, Qunfei retains an 81 percent ownership stake in the company.