| 1872 |
Victoria Woodhull,
a stockbroker, publisher, and protégé of
Cornelius Vanderbilt, ran for president of the United States on the Equal
Rights Party ticket. |
| 1884 |
Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to practice law
before the U.S Supreme Court, ran for president on the Equal Rights Party
Ticket; she did so again in 1888. |
| 1887 |
Susanna Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas B the
first woman mayor in the country. |
| 1894 |
Three women were elected to the Colorado House of Representatives,
the first women elected to any state legislature. They were Clara Cressingham,
Carrie C. Holly, and Frances Klock. |
| 1896 |
Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the Utah State Senate,
becoming the first woman state senator. |
| 1900 |
Frances Warren of Wyoming became the first woman delegate
to a Republican National Convention. In the same year, Elizabeth Cohen
of Utah was chosen as an alternate to the Democratic National Convention.
When another delegate became ill, Cohen became the first woman delegate
to a Democratic National Convention. |
| 1917 |
Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, entered the
U.S. House of Representatives, the first woman ever elected to Congress.
She served from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1941 to 1942; a pacifist, she
was the only lawmaker to vote against U.S. entry into both world wars. |
| 1920 |
After 72 years of struggle, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution
was ratified, giving women the right to vote. |
| 1920 |
The League of Women Voters was founded by members of the
National American Woman Suffrage Association as a means of encouraging
informed participation by the new female electorate. |
| 1922 |
Rebecca Latimer Felton, a Georgia Democrat, became the first
woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. She was appointed to fill a vacant seat
temporarily; she served for only two days before giving up her seat to
the man who had been elected to it. |
| 1924 |
Bertha K. Landes, Republican city council president at the
time, became acting mayor of Seattle, the first woman to lead a major American
city. Two years later she was elected mayor in her own right in a campaign
run by women. She lost in her bid for a second full term. |
| 1924 |
Lena Springs of South Carolina chaired the credentials committee
at the Democratic National Convention and received several votes for the
Vice Presidential nomination. |
| 1925 |
Nellie Tayloe Ross, a Wyoming Democrat, became the nation's
first woman governor, elected to replace her deceased husband. She served
for two years. Later, she became vice chair of the Democratic National
Committee and director of the U.S. Mint. At the 1928 Democratic National
Convention, she received 31 votes on the first ballot for Vice President. |
| 1925 |
Representative Mae Ella Nolan (R-CA) became the first woman
chair a congressional committee when, during the 68th Congress, she chaired
the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department. |
| 1931 |
Hattie Wyatt Caraway (D-AR), was appointed to the U.S Senate
to succeed her late husband; she was the first of many women to reach the
Senate in this way. She subsequently became the first woman ever elected
to the Senate, where she served two full terms. She was the first woman
to chair a Senate committee - the Committee on Enrolled Bills, a minor
post. |
| 1933 |
With her appointment by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as
Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins became the first woman ever to serve
in a presidential cabinet. She served until 1945. |
| 1933 |
Ruth Bryan Owen, a former congresswoman, became the first
woman to hold a major diplomatic post when she was appointed by President
Roosevelt as minister to Denmark. She held that post until 1936, when her
marriage to a Dane and resulting dual citizenship made her ineligible to
serve. |
| 1933 |
Minnie Davenport Craig (R-ND) became the first woman to hold
the position of speaker of the House in a state legislature. |
| 1945 |
Representative Chase G. Woodhouse (D-CT) was the first woman
to hold the position of secretary in the House Democratic Caucus. |
| 1952 |
Two women -- India Edwards and Judge Sarah Hughes B were
proposed as Democratic Vice Presidential candidates. Both withdrew their
names before the balloting so the choice of presidential nominee Adlai
Stevenson, Senator Estes Kefauver, could be nominated by acclamation. |
| 1955 |
Consuelo Bailey, a Vermont Republican, became the first woman
ever elected lieutenant governor of a state. In that role, she served as
president of the state Senate. Since, she had previously served as speaker
of the state House of Representatives, she thus became the only woman in
the country ever to preside over both chambers of a state legislature. |
| 1964 |
Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, was nominated
for the presidency by Vermont Senator George Aiken at the Republican national
convention. Smith had campaigned briefly for the post, limiting herself
to periods when the Senate was not in session. Elected to the House of
Representatives in 1940 (to replace her dying husband) and the Senate in
1948, Smith had already made history by becoming the first woman to serve
in both houses of Congress. |
| 1965 |
Patsy Takemoto Mink, a Democrat from Hawaii, became the first
woman of color and the first woman of Asian-Pacific Islander descent in
the House of Representatives. She served until 1977 and was re-elected
in 1990. |
| 1966 |
The National Organization
for Women was established to combat discrimination against women in every
sphere. Its aim was to "bring women
into full participation in the main- stream of American Society now." |
| 1968 |
Shirley Chisholm, a New York Democrat, became the first Black
woman to serve in Congress. She remained in the House of Representatives
until 1982. |
| 1971 |
Center for the American Woman and Politics founded at the
Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey. |
| 1971 |
The National Women's Political Caucus was formed at a Washington,
D.C. meeting of more than 300 feminists. Its aims were to increase women's
access to political power in the major parties and to encourage and support
women committed to women's rights who seek elective and appointive office. |
| 1972 |
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm ran for president in the Democratic
primaries. At the party's national convention, she garnered 151.25 delegate
votes before Senator George McGovern clinched the nomination. At the same
convention, Frances (Sissy) Farenthold, a former Texas state legislator
who twice ran for governor of that state, finished second in the balloting
for the Vice Presidential nomination, receiving more than 400 votes. |
| 1972 |
Jean Westwood was named by presidential nominee George McGovern
to chair the Democratic National Committee. The first woman to hold that
position, she served until just after the election, when she was replaced
by Robert Strauss. |
| 1974 |
The Women's Campaign
Fund was formed for the purpose of "electing
qualified progressive women of both parties to public office at every level." It
was the first national political action committee with the specific goal
of funding women's campaigns. |
| 1977 |
Patricia Roberts Harris was appointed by President Jimmy
Carter to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during 1977-1979.
From 1979-1981, she served as Secretary of Health and Human Services. She
was the first Black woman to serve in a presidential cabinet and the first
woman to hold two different cabinet positions. |
| 1978 |
Nancy Landon Kassebaum, a Kansas Republican, was elected
to the United States Senate. Prior to her election, all of the women who
served in the Senate had succeeded their husbands in Congress or had first
been appointed to fill out unexpired terms. |
| 1980 |
For the first time, a national party's nominating convention
delegates included equal numbers of men and women. At its convention in
New York, the Democratic party also added to its charter a requirement
that future conventions have equal numbers of female and male delegates. |
| 1981 |
Sandra Day O'Connor, a former Republican state legislator
from Arizona who had served on a state appeals court, was appointed by
President Ronald Reagan as the first woman ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme
Court. |
| 1984 |
Congresswoman Lynn Morley Martin (R-IL) is elected to the
first of two terms as vice chair of the Republican Conference in the House,
the first time a woman held an elected position in the congressional party's
hierarchy. |
| 1984 |
Third-term Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-NY), secretary
of the House Democratic Caucus, became the first woman ever to run on a
major party's national ticket when she was selected by Walter F. Mondale
as his Vice Presidential running mate. The ticket was decisively defeated,
capturing only 13 electoral votes, and few analysts felt that Ferraro's
presence had a strong impact - positive or negative -- on the outcome. |
| 1985 |
Madeline Kunin, a Democrat, was elected governor of Vermont.
She became the first woman to serve three terms as governor (1985-1991). |
| 1986 |
Barbara Ann Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, became the first
Democratic woman elected to the Senate without previously filling an unexpired
Congressional term. She was re-elected in 1992 and 1998. |
| 1987 |
Kay Orr, a Republican from Nebraska, was the first Republican
woman elected governor of a state, as well as the first woman to defeat
another woman in a gubernatorial race. |
| 1987 |
Jan Faiks, a Republican from Alaska, became the first woman
to hold the position of president of a state senate (1987-1988). |
| 1989 |
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, became the first
Hispanic woman and first Cuban American to be elected to Congress. She
was elected in August 1989 in a special election and continues to serve. |
| 1990 |
Joan Finney, a Kansas Democrat, became the first woman to
defeat an incumbent governor. She served as governor from 1991-1995. |
| 1991 |
Representative Barbara Kennelly (D-CT) became the first woman
to hold the position of House Democratic chief deputy whip. |
| 1992 |
Nydia Velasquez, a New York Democrat, was elected in 1992,
becoming the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress. She continues
to serve. |
| 1992 |
Carol Moseley Braun, an Illinois Democrat, became the first
African- American woman and the first women of color to be elected to the
U.S. Senate. She had also been the first African-American woman to win
a major party Senate nomination. She defeated the incumbent in the primary
and won the resulting open seat in the general election. Her term ended
in 1999 when she lost her re-election bid. |
| 1993 |
Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney
General. She servedin President Bill Clinton's cabinet from 1993-2001.
She ran unsuccessfully for governor in the 2002 Florida Democratic primary. |
| 1993 |
Representative Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT) became the first woman
to hold the position of secretary in the House Republican Conference during
the 103rd Congress (1993-1995). |
| 1993 |
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) became the first woman
to hold the position of secretary to the House Democratic Conference in
the 103rd Congress (1993-1995). She later served as assistant to the House
Democratic Leader in the 107th Congress. |
| 1995 |
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) became the first woman to
hold the position of secretary to the Senate Democratic Conference in the
104th Congress (1995-1997). |
| 1995 |
Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-KS) became the first woman
to chair a major Senate committee, the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. |
| 1997 |
Madeleine K. Albright, became the first woman to serve as
U.S. Secretary of State, serving from 1997-2001. She became the highest-ranking
woman in the U.S. government but, as a naturalized citizen, she would not
have been eligible to become President. She had previously served as U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations from 1993-1997. |
| 1997 |
Aida Alvarez became the first Hispanic women, as well as
the first person of Puerto Rican heritage, to hold a cabinet-level position
when she was appointed administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration
in the Clinton administration. |
| 1998 |
Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, became the first
openly gay or lesbian person elected to Congress as a non-incumbent. She
was also Wisconsin's first woman in Congress. |
| 2001 |
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman elected to
the U.S. Senate from New York, the only First Lady ever elected to public
office. She won an open seat in a general election. |
| 2001 |
Condoleezza Rice became the first woman to hold the post
of National Security Advisory (formally known as Assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs) when she was appointed by President George
W. Bush. |
| 2001 |
Elaine Chao became the first Asian-American woman to serve
in a presidential cabinet when she was appointed Secretary of Labor by
President George W.Bush. |
| 2001 |
Gale Norton became the first woman to serve as Secretary
of the Interior, appointed by President George W. Bush. Norton was the
first woman elected as Colorado's Attorney General and served that position
for two terms. |
| 2001 |
Ann Veneman was appointed by President George W. Bush to
be the first female Secretary of Agriculture. She had previously been the
first woman to serve as Secretary of the California Department of Food
and Agriculture. |
| 2001 |
Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey became the first female
former governor to serve in a presidential cabinet-level position when
she was appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
by President Bush. She had been the first woman elected governor in New
Jersey and served two terms in that position. |
| 2001 |
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) became the first woman to hold the
position of vice-chair of the Senate Republican Conference during the 107th Congress
(2001-2003). |
|
| 2001 |
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) became the first woman to serve
as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. |
| 2001 |
Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected by her colleagues
as House Democratic Whip, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the
U.S. Congress. |
| 2001 |
Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) became the first woman to
chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She also served
as House Minority Whip-at-Large. |
| 2001 |
Sila Calderon (Popular Democratic Party), former mayor of
San Juan, became the first woman governor of Puerto Rico. |
| 2002 |
Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became the first woman
to head her party in Congress when she was elected by her colleagues as
House Democratic Leader. |
| 2002 |
The election to Congress of Linda Sanchez (D-CA) meant that
for the first time, two sisters served together in the House. Representative
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) was first elected to the House in 1996. |
| 2003 |
Arizona became the first state where a woman governor succeeded another woman
governor. Jane Dee Hull (R) was succeeded by Janet Napolitano (D). |
| 2005 |
Washington
state became the first state to have both a woman governor (Christine
Gregoire, D) and two women serving in the U.S. Senate (Patty Murray,
D and Maria Cantwell, D). |
