Women in the United States House of Representatives

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Sometimes called the "Lady of the House," Jeanette Rankin entered the House in 1917 as the first woman in Congress.

Throughout the history of the United States House of Representatives, there have been 217 women serving in that body. In 1917 Jeanette Rankin, a pacifist Republican from Montana, became the first woman in the United States Congress upon being elected to the House.

Jackie Speier is the most recently elected woman to the House, elected in 2008.

Nancy Pelosi is the current Speaker of the House; the first — and so far only — woman in that position.

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[edit] Widow's succession

Mae Ella Nolan was the first woman elected to her husband's seat in Congress, which is sometimes known as the "widow's succession". In the early years of women in Congress, the seat was held only until the next election and the women retired after that single Congress. She thereby became a placeholder merely finishing out her late husband's elected term.

As the years progressed, however, more and more of these widow successors sought re-election. These women began to win their own elections. Many of them also went on to successful Senate careers.

As of 2004, 36 widows have won their husbands' seats in the House, and 8 in the Senate. Current examples are Representatives Mary Bono (widow of Sonny Bono) and Lois Capps and Doris Matsui, all of California, and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri. The most successful example is Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who served a total of 32 years in both houses and became the first woman elected to both the House and the Senate. The third woman elected to Congress, Winnifred Huck, was similarly elected to her father's seat.

[edit] List of women members

This is a complete list of women who have served as members of the United States House of Representatives, ordered by seniority. This list includes women who served in the past and who continue to serve in the present.

• Some parties, states, and dates are not complete.
• The notation "w" indicates "Widow's succession."

1. Jeannette Rankin (R-MT 1917-1919, 1941-1943), first woman
2. Alice Mary Robertson (R-OK 1921-1923)
3. Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck (R-IL 1922-1923)
4. Mae Ella Nolan (R-CA 1923-1925, w)
5. Florence Prag Kahn (R-CA 1925-1937, w)
6. Mary Teresa Norton (D-NJ 1925-1951), first Democratic woman
7. Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA 1925-1960, w)
8. Katherine G. Langley (R-KY 1927-1931, w)
9. Pearl Peden Oldfield (D-AR 1929-1931, w)
10. Ruth Hanna McCormick (R-IL 1929-1931)
11. Ruth Bryan Owen (D-FL 1929-1933)
12. Ruth Baker Pratt (R-NY 1929-1933)
13. Effiegene Locke Wingo (D-AR 1930-1933, w)
14. Willa McCord Blake Eslick (D-TN 1932-1933, w)
15. Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy (D-KS 1933-1935)
16. Virginia E. Jenckes (D-IN 1933-1939)
17. Isabella Greenway (D-AZ 1933-1937)
18. Marian W. Clarke (R-NY 1933-1935, w)
19. Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day (D-NY 1935-1943)
20. Nan Wood Honeyman (D-OR 1937-1939)
21. Elizabeth Hawley Gasque (SC 1938-1939, w)
22. Jessie Sumner (R-IL 1939-1947)
23. Clara G. McMillan (D-SC 1939-1941, w)
24. Frances P. Bolton (R-OH 1940-1969, w)
25. Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME 1940-1949, w)
26. Florence Reville Gibbs (D-GA 1940-1941, w)
27. Katharine Byron (D-MD 1941-1943, w)
28. Veronica Grace Boland (D-PA 1942-1943, w)
29. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT 1943-1947)
30. Winifred C. Stanley (R-NY 1943-1945)
31. Willa L. Fulmer (D-SC 1944-1945, w)
32. Emily Taft Douglas (D-IL 1945-1947)
33. Helen Gahagan Douglas (D-CA 1945-1951)
34. Chase G. Woodhouse (D-CT 1945-1947, 1949-1951)
35. Helen Douglas Mankin (D-GA 1946-1947)
36. Eliza Jane Pratt (D-NC 1946-1947)
37. Georgia Lee Lusk (R-NM 1947-1949)
38. Katharine St. George (R-NY 1947-1965)
39. Reva Zilpha Beck Bosone (D-UT 1949-1953)
40. Cecil Murray Harden (R-IN 1949-1959)
41. Edna Flannery Kelly (D-NY 1949-1969)
42. Marguerite S. Church (R-IL 1951-1963, w)
43. Ruth Thompson (R-MI 1951-1957)
44. Maude Elizabeth Kee (D-WV 1951-1965)
45. Vera Daerr Buchanan (D-PA 1951-1955)
46. Gracie Bowers Pfost (D-ID 1953-1963)
47. Leonor Kretzer Sullivan (D-MO 1953-1977)
48. Mary Elizabeth Pruett Farrington ( HI 1954-1957)
49. Iris Blitch (D-GA 1955-1963)
50. Edith Starrett Green (D-OR 1955-1974)
51. Martha Griffiths (D-MI 1955-1974)
52. Coya Knutson (D-MN 1955-1959)
53. Kathryn E. Granahan (D-PA 1956-1963, w)
54. Florence P. Dwyer (R-NJ 1957-1973)
55. Catherine Dean May (R-WA 1959-1971)
56. Edna Oakes Simpson (R-IL 1959-1961)
57. Jessica M. Weis (R-NY 1959-1963)
58. Julia Butler Hansen (D-WA 1960-1974)
59. Catherine Dorris Norrell (D-AR 1961-1963, w)
60. Louise Goff Reece (R-TN 1961-1963, w)
61. Corinne Boyd Riley (D-SC 1962-1963, w)
62. Charlotte Thompson Reid (R-IL 1963-1971)
63. Irene Baker (R-TN 1964-1965, w)
64. Patsy Mink (D-HI 1965-1977, 1990-2002), first non-white woman, as well as the first Asian Pacific Islander
65. Lera Millard Thomas (D-TX 1966-1967, w)
66. Margaret M. Heckler (R-MA 1967-1983)
67. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY 1969-1983), first African-American woman
68. Bella Abzug
69. Ella Tambussi Grasso
70. Louise Day Hicks
71. Elizabeth Bullock Andrews
72. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
73. Marjorie Sewell Holt
74. Elizabeth Holtzman
75. Barbara Charline Jordan
76. Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder (CO)
77. Corinne Boggs (D-LA, 1973-1991, w)
78. Cardiss Collins
79. Millicent Fenwick (R-NJ 1975-1983)
80. Martha Elizabeth Keys
81. Marilyn Lloyd
82. Helen Stevenson Meyner
83. Virginia Dodd Smith
84. Gladys Noon Spellman (D-MD 1975-1981)
85. Shirley Neil Pettis
86. Barbara Ann Mikulski (D-MD 1977-1987)
87. Mary Rose Oakar
88. Beverly Byron
89. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY 1979-1985)
90. Olympia Snowe (R-ME 1979-1995)
91. Bobbi Fiedler
92. Lynn Morley Martin
93. Margaret Roukema
94. Claudine Schneider
95. Barbara Kennelly
96. Jean Ashbrook
97. Katie Beatrice Hall
98. Barbara Boxer (D-CA 1983-1993)
99. Nancy Lee Johnson
100. Marcia Kaptur
101. Barbara Farrell Vucanovich
102. Sala Burton (D-CA 1983-1987)
103. Helen Delich Bentley
104. Jan Meyers
105. Catherine S. Long
106. Constance A. Morella (R-MD 1987-2003)
107. Elizabeth J. Patterson
108. Patricia Fukuda Saiki
109. Louise M. Slaughter
110. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 1987-present), currently Speaker of the House, the first woman Speaker
111. Nita M. Lowey
112. Jolene Unsoeld
113. Jill Long
114. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL 1989- present), first Cuban American woman
115. Susan Molinari
116. Barbara-Rose Collins
117. Rosa L. DeLauro
118. Joan Kelly Horn
119. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC delegate 1991-present)
120. Maxine Waters
121. Eva Clayton
122. Corinne Brown
123. Leslie Byrne
124. Maria Cantwell
125. Pat Danner
126. Jennifer Dunn
127. Karan English
128. Anna G. Eshoo
129. Tillie Fowler
130. Elizabeth Furse
131. Jane Harman
132. Eddie Bernice Johnson
133. Blanche Lincoln (AR)
134. Carolyn B. Maloney
135. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-PA 1993-1995)
136. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA 1993-2003, 2005-2007)
137. Carrie P. Meek
138. Deborah Pryce
139. Lucille Roybal-Allard
140. Lynn Schenk
141. Karen Shepherd
142. Karen Thurman
143. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY 1993-present)
144. Lynn Woolsey
145. Helen Chenoweth-Hage
146. Barbara Cubin
147. Sheila Jackson-Lee
148. Sue Kelly
149. Zoe Lofgren
150. Karen McCarthy
151. Sue Myrick
152. Lynn Rivers
153. Andrea Seastrand
154. Linda Smith
155. Enid Greene Waldholtz
156. Juanita Millender-McDonald
157. Jo Ann Emerson
158. Julia Carson
159. Donna M.C. Christensen
160. Diana DeGette
161. Kay Granger
162. Darlene Hooley
163. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
164. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY 1997-present)
165. Anne Northup
166. Loretta Sanchez
167. Debbie Stabenow
168. Ellen Tauscher
169. Mary Bono (R-CA 1998-present, w)
170. Lois Capps (D-CA 1998-present, w)
171. Barbara Lee
172. Heather Wilson
173. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI 1999-present), first openly gay person when initially elected
174. Shelley Berkley
175. Judith Borg Biggert
176. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
177. Grace Napolitano
178. Janice Schakowsky
179. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV 2001-present)
180. Jo Ann Davis
181. Susan A. Davis
182. Melissa Hart
183. Betty McCollum
184. Hilda Solis
185. Diane Watson
186. Marsha Blackburn
187. Madeleine Bordallo (GU delegate)
188. Ginny Brown-Waite
189. Katherine Harris (R-FL 2003-2007)
190. Denise Majette
191. Candice Miller
192. Marilyn Musgrave
193. Linda Sanchez
194. Stephanie Herseth
195. Melissa Bean
196. Thelma Drake
197. Virginia Foxx
198. Cathy McMorris
199. Gwen Moore
200. Allyson Schwartz
201. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
202. Doris Matsui (D-CA 2005-present, w)
203. Jean Schmidt (R-OH 2005-present)
204. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R-TX 2006-2007)
205. Michele Bachmann (R-MN 2007-present)
206. Nancy Boyda (D-KS 2007-present)
207. Kathy Castor (D-FL 2007-present)
208. Yvette Clarke (D-NY 2007-present)
209. Mary Fallin (R-OK 2007-present)
210. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ 2007-present)
211. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY 2007-present)
212. Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI 2007-present)
213. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH 2007-present)
214. Betty Sutton (D-OH 2007-present)
215. Laura Richardson (D-CA 2007-present)
216. Niki Tsongas (D-MA 2007-present)
217. Jackie Speier (D-CA 2008-present)

[edit] External link

• Associated Press. "Husbands' deaths often propel widows to office". Columbia Daily Tribune, January 22, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2005. (alternate source, via journalstar.com)

[edit] See also

• Women in the United States Senate
• List of female state governors in the United States