Celebrate Women's History Month

With March being Women's History Month, here is some interesting historical information about women in politics. The following was first posted at the merchandising blog for Baltimore County Public Library, Grooming tips from Sneaks:

The theme of National and Maryland Women’s History Month, 2007, is Generations of Women Moving History Forward, focusing on the legacy of the 30th anniversary of the groundbreaking 1977 Women’s Conference in Houston. With politics so much in the news, below is information about women in politics nationally and statewide.

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

NATIONALLY

· The first woman to run for president of the United States was Victoria Woodhull, a stockbroker and publisher, who ran as the candidate of the Equal Rights Party in 1872.

· In 1884 and 1888, Belva Lockwood (a lawyer who lived in Maryland) also ran for President as a candidate of the Equal Rights Party. Her candidacy for the Presidency was controversial, and she won only 4,149 votes, losing the election to Grover Cleveland. She had been denied permission to practice law in Maryland in 1873, and was told by the judge that “Women are not needed in the courts. Their place is in the home to wait upon their husbands, to bring up their children, to cook the meals, make beds, polish pans, and dust furniture.” Belva Lockwood drafted a bill to permit women to practice before the United States Supreme Court, and in 1879 became the first woman to win that right.

· In 1964 Senator Margaret Chase Smith, Republican from Maine, became the first woman to have her named placed in nomination for President at a major political party convention. In 1972 Representative Shirley Chisholm, Democrat from New York, ran for President in the Democratic primaries.

· In 1984 Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro (Democrat from New York) became the first woman ever to run on a major party’s national ticket as a Vice Presidential candidate.

· In 2007, 87 women serve in the U. S. Congress (out of 535 seats – 16.3%) . Sixteen serve in the 100-member Senate, and 71 in the 435-member House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as non-voting Delegates to the House of Representatives from Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C. Twenty-one of the women are women of color.

· To date, a total of 35 women have served in the Senate in the history of the United States.

· The first woman elected to the U. S. House of Representatives was Jeanette Rankin of Montana, who served from 1917-1919 and 1941-42.

· Representative Patsy Mink from Hawaii was the first woman of color elected to Congress (1965) and

Representative Chisholm was the first African American woman to serve in Congress, elected in 1969.
· In 2007, Nancy Pelosi, a Baltimore native, became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in the U. S. Congress

· A total of 32 women have held U. S. Cabinet positions in the history of the United States, the first being Frances Perkins, appointed to head the Department of Labor by President Franklin Roosevelt

STATEWIDE

· There are currently 9 women Governors and 11 women Lieutenant Governors. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was the first and only woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland.

· In 2007, 23.5% of the 7,382 state legislators across the nation are women. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has increased more than fivefold.

· Maryland ranks 6th in the nation in the percentage of women in the state legislature(33.3%), with 11 out of 47 Senators and 51 out of 141 Delegates. Maryland was the first state in the nation to establish a State Women’s Legislative Caucus.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Teaching Tolerance (http://www.tolerance.org/teach) –the ABC’s of Women’s History Month/The Political Gender Gap

Center for American Women and Politics www.cawp.rutgers.edu

National Women’s History Project www.nwhp.org