2012 - 1,744 women legislators are servin in 50 states

1766: Mary Katherine Goddard

Dec 7, 1766

Mary Katherine and her mother who was widowed became publishers of the Providence Gazette newspaper and the annual West's Almanack, making her the first woman punlisher in America. She became the first woman postmaster in 1775 and in 1777 the first printer to offer copies of the Declaration of Independence that included the signer's names. 1789 she opened a bookstore in Baltimoore, probably the first in America to do so.

1848- Seneca Falls, New York

Dec 7, 1848

First petition for women to fove is signed

Arabella Mansfield : 1869- Iowa

Dec 7, 1869

Granted admission to practice law making her the first woman lawyer.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull: 1872- First woman presidential candidate

Dec 8, 1872

She was nominated by the National Radical Reformers to be president

Belva Ann Lockwood: 1879 -

Dec 8, 1879

First woman to admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court

Carrie C. Holly; Frances Klock, & Clara Cressingham: Colorado

Dec 8, 1894

Frances Klock, Clara Cressingham and Carrie C. Holly become first women elected as state representatives in Colorado

Jeannette Rankin: Montana

Dec 1, 1916

The first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

1920 -

Dec 8, 1920

Congress passes 20th Amendment giving women the right to vote

Rebecca Felton: Georgia

Dec 8, 1922

Appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill a temporary vacancy. The first woman senator, she serves for only two days.

Nellie Tayloe Ross: Wyoming

Dec 8, 1925

First woman to serve as govenor of a state. She was elected to succeed her deceased husband, William Bradford Ross. (Miriam ("Ma" Ferguson is inaugurated days later in TX).

Hattie Wyatt Caraway: Arkansas

Dec 8, 1932

First woman elected to the U.S. Senate

Frances Perkins 1933 -

Dec 8, 1933

Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Secreary of Labor making her the first woman member of a presidential cabinet

Crystal Byrd Faucet:

Dec 8, 1938

Women in GovernmentFirst black woman elected to state legislature in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Jerrie Cobb:

Dec 8, 1953

First woman in the U.S. to undergo astronaut testing. NASA, however, cancels the women's program in 1963. It is not until 1983 that an American woman gets sent into space.

Oveta Culp Hobby

Dec 8, 1960

First woman to serve as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Also first director of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and first woman to receive the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal.

Sandra Day O'Connor

Dec 8, 1981

Appointed by Prisident Reagan to the Supreme Court, making her the first woman justice.

Dr Kelly K Ride:

Dec 8, 1983

First American woman to be sent into space.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Florida

Dec 8, 1989

First Hispanic woman elected to congress. She serves n the U.S. House of Representatives.

Carol Moseley-Braun: Illinois

Dec 8, 1992

First African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate; Mae Jennison becomes the first African-American female astronaut.

Shiela Widnall:

Dec 8, 1993

First secretary of a branch of the U.S. military when she is appointed to head of the Air Force. Janet Reno becomes the first woman U.S. attorney general.

Madeleine Albright:

Dec 8, 1997

Sworn in as U.S. secretary of state. She is the first woman in this position as well as the highest ranking woman in the United States government.

Condoleezza Rice

Dec 8, 2005

First African-American female Secretary of State