To continue from below, it sounds like you're American, and, as such, I'm betting you never actually learnt any history in school, except for American history. You probably wouldn't know about a character like Catherine, the Great, of Russia (who was a woman), and you probably wouldn't know about the history of China or Japan or anything else. That's why you think history is about people - it's not. It's about events.

The more I reread your comment, the more I realize you think history is about people - not events. History is about events - people are incidental to it.