My Nan, who was treated as less by her family just because she was female (she had to move out when her older brother came home from war because there wasn't enough room in the house), came from nothing and worked very hard her whole life to earn as much as she did.
Jane Eyre because although she's just a plain, simple young woman, she's headstrong, opinionated, with good morals and refuses to forgive Rochester for what he did (at least at first) whereas most women in her time would have just settled for him as their main goal was to marry.