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One hundred years ago today , on March 4 , 1917 , Rep. Jeannette Rankin , R - Mont. , became the first woman to dish up in the U.S. Congress .
Rankin ’s election was extraordinary , as it happened about three old age before U.S. women had the right to vote . But although she herself could n’t vote at the time , Rankin found that there were no laws restrict women from carry federal office . [ 10 Amazing adult female You Wo n’t happen in History Books ]
Rep. Jeannette Rankin, R-Mont., the first women elected to U.S. Congress.
" I may be the first woman member of Congress , " she say follow her election in 1916,according to the story , Art & Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives . " But I wo n’t be the last . "
Rankin ’s forecasting come dead on target : She for certain was n’t the last cleaning woman to serve in Congress . But women , who constitute 50.8 percent of the U.S. population , are still underrepresented in the Senate and House . This yr , woman hold 104 ( 19.4 percent ) of the nation ’s 535 congressional arse , according to Rutgers University . Of those , 21 women are in the Senate and 83 are in the House .
How they got there
Rankin ’s accomplishment was singular for another intellect : She was elect , not appointed . In the following decades , other women served in federal office , but they commonly buzz off there in a more circuitous way .
In 1922 , Rebecca Latimer Felton , a Democrat from Georgia , became the first distaff senator . But the 87 - yr - sure-enough was appointed , and she serve for just 24 60 minutes . The next distaff senator did n’t swear out until 1931 , when Hattie Caraway , a Democrat from Arkansas , was nominate to fill her bushed husband ’s seat . However , Caraway was later elected to two six - year term , accord to theCongressional Research Service(CRS ) .
It was n’t until 1979 that a woman — Nancy Landon Kassebaum , a Republican from Kansas — won a Senate seat without antecedently fill a emptiness in an unexpired congressional hindquarters , the CRS reported . ( Under the U.S. Constitution , senators can answer an unlimited telephone number of six - year terms , while instance can serve unlimited two - class terms . )
The number of women in Congress has grown over the years.
In 1992 , the so - called " Year of the Woman , " the number of female congressman went from 32 in the 102nd Congress to 54 in the 103rd , an uptick of well-nigh 69 percent , CRS said . ( Another female senator joined that June , when Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison win a special election in Texas . )
There are several understanding for the sudden wave , said Michele Swers , a professor of government at Georgetown University in Washington , D.C.
TheCold War had just end , pass to a focus on domesticated insurance , such as wellness care and charwoman ’s issues , Swers said . Moreover , " Anita Hill was in the news show because she had accused Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her when he was the brain of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . There was a lot of tending [ paid ] to that .
" There were several woman that then ran , pronounce we need to have more fair sex in Congress , " Swers said . [ 7 Great Dramas in Congressional History ]
Policies women pursued
With more women in Congress following the 1992 election , Swers decided she had enough data points to consort a study on women ’s legislative priorities . She prove the visor that womanhood shop at and the project they pursued .
" What I institute , at the clip , is that Democratic women and restrained Republican women were more likely to focus on payoff related to cleaning woman , children and families , " Swers suppose . " That still holds today , except that now there are few temperate Republican cleaning woman — there are fewer moderates in ecumenical . "
outcome commonly considered fair sex ’s issues let in family and aesculapian leave , fierceness against women , sexual harassmentandabortion , Swers said .
" For the Family and Medical Leave Act [ of 1993 ] , which is the only matter we ’ve done on family farewell to date , which bring home the bacon three month of unpaid leave , that was Pat Schroeder , a Democrat from Colorado , and Marge Roukema , a Republican from New Jersey , really pushing that bill forwards , " Swers said .
Liberal and bourgeois female politicians are less likely to act upon together now than they were before , but they still find common ground , Swers said . For example , last class these politicians worked together on slipway to prevent human trafficking , Swers allege .
In addition , charwoman in the Senate have occasional , nonpartisan dinners , a custom started by former Sen. Barbara Mikulski ( D - Md. ) , who orchestrated the gatherings to teach newcomer how to govern effectively and also to " forge some chemical bond of friendship , " Swers said .
Original article onLive Science .
