PATHWAYS TO
POLITICS
Women Making a
Difference!
From the Garden State to D.C., forty-one girls explored the powerful roles of women in politics, leadership, and community activism—past and present.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The first woman elected to the US House of Representatives was Jeannette Rankin (R-MT) who served from 1917-1919, and again from 1941-1942. A pacifist, she was the only person to vote against US entry into both World Wars.
- Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader (D-CA), is the first woman to hold the top leadership spot in her party in Congress.
- Dr. Condoleezza Rice is National Security Advisor to President Bush.
(SOURCE: STUDIO 2B: ESCAPE - destinations - Pathways to Politics)
WOMEN LEADERS
- Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was the only woman to represent Montana in Congress and was the first female member of the House of Representatives
- Nellie Tayloe Ross, governor of Wyoming, was the first woman governor of a state. Ross was also one of the first women to head a federal Agency when she became Director of the U.S. Mint.
- Dr. Mae Jemison is the first woman of color to go into space.
- Patsy Mink, the first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, knew the importance of challenging stereotypes. She played a key role in the enactment of Title IX, which is dramatically expanding the opportunities for women in education. Congresswoman Mink sadly passed away on September 2003.
- Madeleine Korbel Albright was the first and only female Secretary of State. By holding this position, Albright became the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government.
- Wilma Mankiller was the first female to lead a major Native American tribe, the Cherokee.
- Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an influential leader in the Women's Rights Movement.
- Indira Ghandhi, the former prime minister of India, was the first woman ever elected to lead a democracy.
- In 1988, Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan, making her the first woman to head the government of an Islamic State.
- In 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected Senator from New York. Clinton is the first First Lady elected to the United States Senate and the first woman elected statewide in New York.
(SOURCE: The White House Project: GirlZone - Women Leaders)
WOMEN'S FIRSTS FROM 1847-PRESENT
- 1847 - During the Mexican-American War, Elizabeth C. Newcume, in male attire, joined the military. She served ten months and spent time fighting Native Americans at Dodge City, Kansas, until her sex was discovered and she was discharged. It took an act of Congress for her to receive payment for her service.
- 1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman doctor.
- 1870 - Ada Kepley was the first woman to graduate from an accredited U.S. law school (Union College of Law in Chicago).
- 1871 - Frances Elizabeth Willard was the first woman college president (Evanston College).
- 1872 - Victoria Chaflin Woodhull was the first female presidential candidate.
- 1876 - Sara Spencer was the first woman to address a U.S. presidential convention (Republican).
- 1877 - Helen Magill White became the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S. (Boston University)
- 1879 - Belva Ann Lockwood was the first female attorney to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 1880 - Anna Howard Shaw was the first woman minister ordained in the Methodist Church.
- 1881 - Louise Bethune became the first American woman architect.
- 1887 - Susanna Madora Salter of Argonia, Kansas, became the first woman mayor.
- 1892 - Laura J. Eisenhuth was the first woman elected to a state office -- Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Dakota
- 1912 - Juliette Low was the founder and first president of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
- 1916 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
- 1917- Kate Gleason became the first woman president of a national bank, First National Bank of East Rochester.
- 1917- Loretta Walsh became the first female Yeoman in the Navy.
- 1918 - Anne Martin was the first woman to run for U.S. Senate.
- 1920 - Florence E. Allen became the first female judge.
- 1922 - 87 year-old Rebecca Felton became the first woman U.S. Senator, appointed by the governor of Georgia to fill a vacancy.
- 1924 - Nellie Tayloe Ross (Wyoming) and Miriam Ferguson (Texas) become the first and second women governors. Both replaced their husbands.
- 1926 - 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first U.S. woman to swim the English Channel.
- 1931 - Jane Addams was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Jackie Mitchell signed on as a pitcher for the Chattanooga Baseball Club - the first woman in organized baseball.
- 1932 - Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
- 1932 - Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman to win election in her own right to the U.S. Senate.
- 1933 - Ruth Bran Owen was the first woman foreign diplomat for the U.S.
- 1933 - Frances Perkins became the first woman appointed to a cabinet position, serving as Secretary of Labor under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
- 1941 - Annie G. Fox was the first woman to receive the Purple Heart. She died during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- 1944 - Dorothy McElroy Vredenburgh of Alabama was the first woman appointed secretary of a national political party - the Democratic National Committee.
- 1947 - Barbara Washburn became the first woman to climb Mt. McKinley.
- 1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize.
- 1960 - Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike of Ceylon became the world's first woman prime minister.
- 1967 - Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
- 1969 - Shirley Chisolm became the first African-American congresswoman.
- 1972 - Anne L. Armstrong became the first U.S. woman to hold a Cabinet-level post of counselor to the President (Nixon and Ford).
- 1972 - Susan Lynn Roley and Joanne E. Pierce become the first female FBI agents.
- 1974 - Ella Grasso was the first woman elected Governor in her own right (Connecticut).
- 1974 - Eleven women priests were ordained in the Episcopal Church.
- 1976 - Anne L. Armstrong became the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.
- 1976 - Barbara Walters becomes the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast.
- 1980 - Captain Roberta Hazard became the first woman to command naval training.
- 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 1983 - Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
- 1984 - Geraldine Ferraro was the first female major party vice-presidential candidate (Democratic).
- 1985 - Penny Harrington became the first woman police chief of a major city -- Portland, Oregon.
- 1985 - Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod.
- 1987 - Wilma Mankiller became the first woman chief of the Oklahoma Cherokee Indian nation.
- 1988- Susan Estrich became the first woman to head a national presidential campaign (Democratic).
- 1990 - Captain Marsha Evans became the first woman to command a Naval Station. Commander Rosemary Mariner was the first woman to assume command of an aviation squadron. Commander Darlene Waskra became the first woman to command a U.S. Navy ship - the U.S.S. Opportune.
- 1993 - Janet Reno became the first female U.S. Attorney General (appointed by President Clinton)
- 1994 - Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend the all-male Citadel, a military training institute.
- 1997 - Madeleine K. Albright became the first woman Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government.
- 2001 - Condoleezza Rice became the first woman National Security Advisor to the President of the United States.
(SOURCE: The White House Project: Know the Facts - Women's Firsts)
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