There have been 52 total women in the United States Senate since its establishment in 1789. The first woman who served as a U.S. Senator, Rebecca Latimer Felton, represented Georgia for a single day in 1922. The first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway from Arkansas in 1932. Fifteen of the women who have served were appointed; seven of those were appointed to succeed their deceased husbands. Currently, since the swearing-in of Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi on April 9, 2018, the 115th United States Congress has 23 female Senators out of 100 (23%), three more than both the 113th and 114th Congresses, and an all-time high.
Video Women in the United States Senate
History
Throughout most of the Senate's history, that legislative chamber has been almost entirely male. Until 1920, few women ran for the Senate. Until the 1990s, very few were elected. This paucity of women was due to many factors, including the lack of women's suffrage in many states until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, women's limited access to higher education until the mid-1900s, public perceptions of gender roles, and barriers to women's advancement such as sex discrimination, which still plays a factor in their limited numbers today.
The first woman in the U.S. Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served representing Georgia for only one day in 1922. Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win election to the Senate (Arkansas), in 1932. Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate; she first served in the House, and began serving in the Senate in 1949. Margaret Chase Smith won her 1960 race for Senate in the nation's first ever race pitting two women (her and Lucia Cormier) against each other for a Senate seat. Muriel Humphrey Brown was the first and only Second Lady to serve in the United States Senate. After her husband, Hubert Humphrey, was defeated in the 1968 presidential election, he ran for his old Senate seat from Minnesota. Following his unexpected death, Brown was appointed by the Governor of Minnesota in 1978 to fill her late husband's Senate seat. She served for less than one year, and did not seek reelection.
In 1978, Nancy Kassebaum became the first woman ever elected to a full term in the Senate without her husband having previously served in Congress. Since 1978, there has always been at least one woman in the Senate. The first woman to be elected to the Senate without any family connections was Paula Hawkins (R-FL), elected in 1980. There were still few women in the Senate near the end of the 20th century, long after women began to make up a significant portion of the membership of the House. The trend of few women in the Senate began to change in the wake of the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the subsequent election of the 103rd United States Congress in 1992, which was dubbed the "Year of the Woman." In addition to Barbara Mikulski, who was reelected that year (1992), four women were elected to the Senate, all Democrats. They were Patty Murray of Washington, Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, and Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both of California. Carol Moseley Braun, who was African-American, was the first woman of color in the Senate. She was also the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator, having toppled Senator Alan Dixon in the Democratic primary in 1992. Later that year, Dianne Feinstein was the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator from a different party when she defeated appointed Senator John Seymour in a special election. Feinstein entered the Senate in 1992 as the first female Jewish senator.
Bathroom facilities for women in the Senate on the Senate Chamber level were first provided in 1992. Women were not allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor until 1993. In 1993, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun wore pants onto the floor in defiance of the rule, and female support staff followed soon after, with the rule being amended later that year by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to allow women to wear pants on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.
The first time two female senators from the same state served concurrently was beginning in 1993; Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (both D-CA) were both elected in 1992, with Feinstein taking office that same year (as the result of a special election) and Boxer taking office in 1993 until 2016 when Boxer retired and Feinstein was joined by Kamala Harris. In June 1993, Kay Bailey Hutchison won a special election in Texas, and joined Kassebaum as a fellow female Republican senator. These additions significantly diminished the popular perception of the Senate as an exclusive "boys' club." Since 1992, there has been at least one woman elected to the Senate every two years with one exception, the 2004 elections. Since 2004, at least two women have been elected to the Senate every two years, with the exception of 2010, when only one woman was elected.
Senator Olympia Snowe arrived in the Senate in 1995, having previously served in the House of Representatives and both houses of the Maine state legislature. She and later Debbie Stabenow of Michigan are the only women to have served in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the federal legislature. In 2000, Stabenow and Maria Cantwell became the first women to defeat incumbent elected senators in a general election, unseating Senators Spencer Abraham and Slade Gorton respectively. Hillary Clinton was the first and only First Lady to run for and/or to win a Senate seat; she joined the Senate in 2001. She is also the only female U.S. Senator (and only woman) to be the nominee of a major party for President of the United States, which occurred in 2016.
In 2008, Kay Hagan became the first woman to unseat a female incumbent, Elizabeth Dole. Upon the opening of the 112th Congress in 2011, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was joined by newly elected Republican Kelly Ayotte, making the first female tandem senators that do not belong to the same party. Barbara Mikulski became the longest-serving woman senator (and Congresswoman) in 2012; she retired in 2017 as still the longest-serving after serving for forty years.
In 2012, there was a second "Year of the Woman" with the election of five women and the reelection of six women. This beat the record of four new female Senators from 1992 and set the record of five new women and eleven female Senators in one Senate class. The five new women were Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Democrat Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The driving force behind the addition of four of the Senators elected was one of the original senators from 1992, Patty Murray, who led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which recruited Baldwin, Heitkamp, Hirono, and Warren, along with several other candidates who did not win. Hirono was the first Asian-American woman and first Buddhist person in the Senate, and Baldwin was the first openly gay person in the Senate. With 14 years of experience in the House of Representatives, Baldwin held the highest seniority of her entering class of senators in 2012.
Joni Ernst became the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate when she joined in 2015. In 2016, a record 15 women were their party's nominee for Senate, 12 of whom were truly competitive. Louisiana also had a female senatorial candidate, but she did not make the run-off. Catherine Cortez Masto was among those elected in 2016; she was the first Latina Senator. In 2016, Kamala Harris was the first woman to defeat another woman from the same party, U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez, in a general election. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire hold the distinction of being the first and second women elected both governor and senator of a state; both served as Governor of New Hampshire and served together in the Senate starting in 2017.
In 2017 Tammy Duckworth became the first female double amputee in the U.S. Senate. Duckworth became the first woman to give birth while holding a seat in the United States Senate in 2018. Duckworth gave birth to Maile Pearl on April 9, 2018. Shortly afterward, rules were changed so that a Senator has the right to bring a child under one year old on the Senate floor and breastfeed them during votes. The day after those rules were changed, Maile became the first baby on the Senate floor when Duckworth brought her. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) joined the Senate in April 2018.
Cumulatively, 34 female U.S. Senators have been Democrats, while 18 have been Republicans. As of 2018, no female U.S. Senator has ever died in office.
Maps Women in the United States Senate
Currently serving women U.S. Senators
In January 2017, the number of serving women Senators reached a record of 21, 16 of whom were Democrats, and the other 5 being Republicans. Democratic Senators Barbara Mikulski and Barbara Boxer did not seek reelection in 2016, while four new Democratic senators were elected: Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada), Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Kamala Harris (California), and Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire). Incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire) lost to Hassan. Both of the seats that changed hands from Republican to Democrat were won by women: Duckworth and Hassan.
In January 2018, after the appointment of Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Al Franken, and in April 2018 after the appointment of Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Thad Cochran, the number of female Senators increased to 23, with 17 being Democrats and 6 being Republicans.
For four states, California, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Washington, both senators are women. Seven female senators had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives - a distinction long held by only Margaret Chase Smith - Sens. Stabenow, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Baldwin, Hirono, Capito, and Duckworth.
Election, selection and family
Before 2001, numerically speaking, the most common way for a woman to ascend to the U.S. Senate was to have been appointed there following the death or resignation of a husband or father who previously held the seat. An example is Muriel Humphrey (D-MN), the widow of former senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey; she was appointed to fill his seat until a special election was held (in which she did not run). However, with the election of three women in 2000, the balance shifted: More women have now entered service as a senator by winning their seats outright than by being appointed to the body.
Recent examples of selection include Jean Carnahan and Lisa Murkowski. In 2000, Jean Carnahan (D-MO) was appointed to fill the Senate seat won by her recently deceased husband, Mel Carnahan. Carnahan--even though dead--defeated the incumbent senator, John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow was named to fill his seat by Missouri Governor Roger Wilson until a special election was held. However, she lost the subsequent 2002 election to fill out the rest of the six-year term. In 2002, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was appointed by her father Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski, who had resigned from the Senate to become governor, to serve the remaining two years of his term. Lisa Murkowski defeated former governor Tony Knowles in her reelection bid in 2004.
Two recent members of the Senate brought with them a combination of name recognition resulting from the political careers of their famous husbands and their own substantial experience in public affairs. The first, former Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), is married to former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole and served as Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan and Secretary of Labor under President George H. W. Bush; she later ran a losing bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. The other, former Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), wife of former President Bill Clinton, was First Lady of the United States and First Lady of Arkansas before taking her seat in 2000. She too ran an unsuccessful campaign for her party's presidential nomination in 2008; she resigned in 2009 to become the secretary of state for the eventual victor of that election, Barack Obama. In 2016, she ran a successful campaign for her party's presidential nomination, eventually losing in the general election to Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Another famous name is Nancy Landon Kassebaum, the daughter of former Kansas governor and one-time presidential candidate Alf Landon. After retiring from the Senate, she married former Senator Howard Baker (R-TN). Kassebaum has the distinction of being the first female elected senator who did not succeed her husband in Congress (Margaret Chase Smith was only elected to the Senate after succeeding her husband to his House seat). At the time of her retirement in 1997, Kassebaum was the second longest serving female senator, after Smith (though now that five other women senators have since served longer tenures, she is now seventh).
Firsts and onlies
The first woman in the Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton, who served representing Georgia for only one day in 1922.
Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win election to the Senate (Arkansas), in 1932. Senator Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate (she first served in the House, and began serving in the Senate in 1949), and she also won a 1960 race for Senate which was the nation's first ever race pitting two women (her and Lucia Cormier) against each other for a Senate seat.
In 1978, Nancy Kassebaum became the first woman ever elected to a full term in the Senate without her husband having previously served in Congress. Muriel Humphrey Brown was the first and only Second Lady to serve in the United States Senate. After her husband, Hubert Humphrey, was defeated in the 1968 presidential election, he ran for his old Senate seat from Minnesota. Following his unexpected death, Brown was appointed by the Governor of Minnesota in 1978 to fill her late husband's Senate seat. She served for less than one year, and did not seek reelection.
The first woman to be elected to the Senate without any family connections was Paula Hawkins, elected in 1980. In 1992, Dianne Feinstein was the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator from a different party when she defeated appointed Senator John Seymour in a special election. Feinstein entered the Senate in 1992 as the first female Jewish senator.
Women were not allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor until 1993. In 1993, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun wore pants onto the floor in defiance of the rule, and female support staff followed soon after, with the rule being amended later that year by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to allow women to wear pants on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.
The first time two female U.S. Senators from the same state served concurrently was beginning in 1993; Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (both D-CA) were both elected in 1992, with Feinstein taking office that same year (as the result of a special election) and Boxer taking office in 1993 until 2016 when Boxer retired and Feinstein was joined by Kamala Harris. In 1993 Carol Moseley Braun, who was African-American and had been elected the previous year, became the first woman of color in the Senate. She was also the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator, having toppled Senator Alan Dixon in the Democratic primary in 1992. Olympia Snowe arrived in the Senate in 1995, having previously served in the House of Representatives and both houses of the Maine state legislature. She and later Debbie Stabenow of Michigan are the only women to have served in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the federal legislature.
In 2000, Stabenow and Maria Cantwell became the first women to defeat incumbent elected senators in a general election, unseating Senators Spencer Abraham and Slade Gorton respectively. Hillary Clinton was the first and only First Lady to run and win for a United States Senate seat; she joined the Senate in 2001. She is also the only female U.S. Senator (and only woman) to be the nominee of a major party for President of the United States, which occurred in 2016.
In 2008, Kay Hagan became the first woman to unseat a female incumbent, Elizabeth Dole. Upon the opening of the 112th Congress in 2011, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was joined by newly elected Republican Kelly Ayotte, making the first female tandem senators that do not belong to the same party. Mazie Hirono, who joined the Senate in 2013, was the first Asian American woman and first Buddhist person in the Senate.
Tammy Baldwin, who joined the Senate in 2013, was the first and only openly gay person to serve in the United States Senate. Joni Ernst became the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate when she joined in 2015. In 2016, Kamala Harris was the first woman to defeat another woman from the same party, U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez, in a general election. In 2017 Tammy Duckworth became the first female double amputee in the Senate and Catherine Cortez Masto joined the Senate as its first Latina.
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire hold the distinction of being the first and second women elected both Governor and U.S. Senator of a state; both served as Governor of New Hampshire and served together in the Senate starting in 2017. Tammy Duckworth became the first woman to give birth while holding a senate seat in the United States in 2018. Duckworth gave birth to Maile Pearl on April 9th, 2018. Shortly afterward, rules were changed so that a Senator has the right to bring a child under one year old on the Senate floor and breastfeed them during votes. The day after those rules were changed, Maile became the first baby on the Senate floor when Duckworth brought her.
Houses served
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) arrived in the Senate in 1995, having previously served in the House of Representatives and both houses of the Maine state legislature. She and later Debbie Stabenow of Michigan are the only women to have served in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the federal legislature.
Defeated incumbents
In 1992, Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) became the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator when she toppled Senator Alan Dixon in the Democratic primary. Later that year, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator from a different party when she defeated appointed Senator John Seymour in a special election. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) duplicated Feinstein's feat in 1993, toppling appointed Senator Bob Krueger in a special election. In 2000, Stabenow (D-MI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) became the first women to defeat incumbent elected senators in a general election, unseating Senators Spencer Abraham and Slade Gorton respectively. In 2008, Kay Hagan became the first woman to unseat a female incumbent, Elizabeth Dole. In 2016, Maggie Hassan repeated Hagan's feat and unseated Kelly Ayotte. In 2016, Kamala Harris was the first woman to defeat another woman from the same party, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, in a General Election.
Senators from the same state
The first time two female senators from the same state served concurrently were Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (both D-CA), both elected in 1992, with Feinstein taking office that same year (as the result of a special election) and Boxer taking office in 1993 until 2016 when Boxer retired and Feinstein was joined by Kamala Harris. For a brief time, there were two female senators from Kansas serving concurrently, when Nancy Kassebaum and Sheila Frahm briefly served together after Frahm's appointment in 1996; Frahm did not win election to the seat and left office later the same year. Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins served concurrently from 1997, when Collins entered office, to 2013, when Snowe retired. Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have also served concurrently since 2001, when Cantwell entered office. Upon the opening of the 112th Congress, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was joined by newly elected Republican Kelly Ayotte, making the first female tandem senators that do not belong to the same party. In 2016, Democrat Maggie Hassan defeated Kelly Ayotte to make the sixth pair of female senators with Jeanne Shaheen in two pairs. Both Hassan and Shaheen served as Governor of New Hampshire prior to their election to the Senate. Upon Tina Smith being sworn in to the Senate on January 3, 2018 following her appointment to a vacant Minnesota seat, she commenced serving alongside Amy Klobuchar as the seventh pair of female senators.
List of states represented by women
30 states have been represented by female Senators, and 19 are currently represented. In 2009, North Carolina became the first state to have been represented by female Senators of both parties, and the first to have a female Senator succeeded by a female Senator from the other party. In 2011, New Hampshire became the second state to be represented by female Senators from both parties, and the first to have female Senators of both parties serving concurrently.
List of female U.S. Senators
Graphs
Histograph
Time series
Pregnancies
Only one female member of the Senate has been pregnant during her tenure: Senator Tammy Duckworth, who gave birth on April 9, 2018.
See also
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
- Widow's succession
Notes
References
External links
- U.S. Senate History: Women in the Senate
- "Women in the U.S. Senate 1922-2010" Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Steinhauer, Jennifer (March 21, 2013). "Once Few, Women Hold More Power in Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- Maurer, Elizabeth. "Legislating History: 100 Years of Women in Congress". National Women's History Museum. 2017.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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