Breakthrough Women Fast Facts: US Government, Education and Business
(CNN)Here
is a look at women in government, education and business who have
broken through the glass ceiling and become the first in their
respective positions in the United States.
Government
1872 -
Victoria Claflin Woodhull becomes the first woman presidential
candidate in the United States when she is nominated for the Equal
Rights Party.
April 4, 1887 - Susanna Madora Salter is the first woman elected mayor of a US town, Argonia, Kansas.
1916 - Jeannette
Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to Congress. She serves
just one term and then is elected again in 1940 for one term. During
this time, she votes against participation in both World War I and World War II.
November 21, 1922 -
Rebecca Felton is the first woman to serve in the US Senate. She is
appointed by Georgia's governor who wanted to win over female voters
after his initial opposition to the Nineteenth Amendment giving women
the right to vote. She serves 24 hours in this temporary vacancy during
the session break.
January 5, 1925 -
Nellie Tayloe Ross is the first woman to serve as a governor of a
state, Wyoming. In May 1933, she also becomes the first woman to serve
as director of the US Mint.
1928 - Genevieve
R. Cline is the first woman appointed as a US federal judge. She is
nominated to the US Customs Court by President Calvin Coolidge.
1932 -
Hattie Wyatt Caraway is the first woman elected to the US Senate. She
wins a special election after taking her late husband's seat by
appointment. She serves Arkansas in the Senate for nearly 14 years.
1933 -
Frances Perkins is the first woman to be appointed US secretary of
labor, making her the first woman to serve on a presidential cabinet.
She is largely responsible for crafting much of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt's "New Deal" labor and Social Security legislation.
1948 - Margaret Chase Smith
of Maine is the first woman to win election to both houses of Congress.
(She was elected to the House in 1940.) Her landmark legislation is the
Armed Services Integration Act (giving women in the military full
status).
June 21, 1949 -
Georgia Neese Clark is the first woman to be named Treasurer of the
United States. She is appointed by President Harry S. Truman.
1949 - Helen "Eugenie"
Anderson is the first woman to serve as a United States ambassador.
Under President Truman, Anderson serves as the ambassador to Denmark.
Later, she also becomes the first woman to sign a diplomatic treaty, and
the first woman to sit on the United Nations Security Council.
1960 - Oveta
Culp Hobby becomes the first secretary of health, education, and
welfare. Later, she is also the first director of the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the first woman to receive the US Army
Distinguished Service Medal.
1964 -
Margaret Chase Smith is the first woman placed in nomination for
president of the United States by a major political party. At the
Republican National Convention, she loses the nomination to Barry
Goldwater.
1977 - Juanita
Kreps is the first woman appointed secretary of commerce. In 1972, she
was the first woman to serve as a director of the New York Stock
Exchange.
December 6, 1979 - Shirley Hufstedler is sworn in as the first Secretary of Education.
September 25, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first woman on the US Supreme Court. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
1983 - Elizabeth Dole becomes the first woman to serve as Secretary of Transportation.
1984 - Geraldine Ferraro
is the first woman nominated for vice president of the United States by
a major party, at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello is the first woman (and the first Hispanic person) to be appointed as US surgeon general.
January 21, 1993 -
Hazel R. O'Leary is confirmed as the first woman to serve as US
secretary of energy. She's also the first African American to serve in
that role.
March 11, 1993 - Janet Reno is confirmed as the first woman to serve as US attorney general.
August 5, 1993 -
Sheila Widnall is confirmed by the Senate to serve as secretary of the
Air Force, the first woman to serve as secretary of a branch of the US
military.
January 23, 1997 - Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the first woman to serve as US secretary of state. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton.
December 17, 2000-2005 - Condoleezza Rice is the first woman to serve as national security adviser, to President George W. Bush.
January 2001 - Gale Norton becomes the first woman to serve as US secretary of the interior, and Ann Veneman is the first woman to serve as US secretary of agriculture. Both were nominated by President George W. Bush.
2001 - Fran Mainella is the first woman to be appointed director of the US National Park Service.
2007 - Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) becomes the first woman to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives.
2008 - Sarah Palin is the first woman to run for vice president as a Republican.
2008 - Ann Dunwoody is the first woman to receive a rank of four-star general in the US Army.
2009 - Janet Napolitano becomes the first woman to serve as US secretary of homeland security.
Previously, Napolitano had been the first female chair of the National
Governors Association and the first woman to serve as the attorney
general of Arizona.
February 2014 - Janet Yellen becomes the first woman to chair the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
September 2014 - Megan Smith is the first woman to be appointed as US chief technology officer.
February 2015 - Megan Brennan becomes the first woman to serve as US postmaster general.
May 13, 2016 - Air Force General Lori Robinson is appointed to lead US Northern Command, becoming the nation's first female combatant commander.
July 26, 2016 - Hillary Clinton
is the first US woman to lead the ticket of a major party. She secures
the Democratic nomination at the national convention in Philadelphia.
September 14, 2016 - Carla Hayden is sworn in as the first female librarian of Congress.
May 22, 2018 - Stacey Abrams wins the Georgia Democratic primary election for governor. She is the first black woman in the US to win a major party's nomination for the office.
December 7, 2018 - Beth Kimber becomes the first woman to lead the CIA's Directorate of Operations.
April 2, 2019 - Lori Lightfoot becomes the first African-American, gay female mayor in Chicago history.
Education
1648 - Margaret
Brent of Maryland appears before a court to request the right to vote.
She is considered the first woman to practice law.
July 16, 1840 - Catherine
Brewer is the first in a group of 11 women to earn bachelor's degrees,
graduating from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.
1849 -
Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to receive a medical degree. She
earns a M.D. from the Geneva Medical College in New York.
1866 - Lucy Hobbs is the first woman to receive a doctorate in dental surgery, graduating from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery.
1869 - Arabella Mansfield is admitted to the Iowa State Bar, becoming the first woman admitted to a state bar.
1870 - Ada Kepley graduates from Union College of Law in Chicago and is the first woman to earn a law degree.
1873 - Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earns a degree in chemistry.
1877 - Helen Magill becomes the first woman to earn a Ph.D., when she graduates from Boston University.
Business
1739 - Elizabeth Timothy is the first woman newspaper publisher, of the South Carolina Gazette.
1867-1919 -
Madam C.J. Walker is the first woman to become a self-made millionaire.
Her business develops and sells hair care products for black women.
1934 - Lettie Pate Whitehead is the first woman to serve as a director of a major corporation, the Coca-Cola Company.
1967 - Isabel Benham is the first female partner at a Wall Street bond house, R.W. Pressprich & Co.
1972 -
Juanita Kreps becomes the first woman to serve as a director of the New
York Stock Exchange. In 1977, she is the first woman appointed
Secretary of Commerce.
1972 - Katharine Graham is the first woman to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company, the Washington Post.
July 1999 - Carly Fiorina is the first woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 20 company, Hewlett-Packard.
October 1999 - Martha Stewart is the first woman to become a self-made billionaire. Her creative home brand includes books, a magazine, home furnishings and entertaining and gardening TV shows.
2011 - Beth Mooney is the first woman to serve as CEO of a top 20 US bank, KeyCorp.
2013 - Mary Barra is the first woman to serve as CEO of a major automaker, General Motors.
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