Women’s History Month Timeline
Elizabeth Blackwell
Frances Perkins
Sandra Day O’Connor
Lt. Col. Eileen Collins
Carol Moseley Braun
1789 U.S. Constitution is ratified. The
terms “persons,” “people” and “
electors” allow for the interpretation
of those beings to include men and
women
1839 Mississippi becomes the first state to
grant women the right to hold property in their own names
1840 Catherine Brewer becomes the first
woman to receive a bachelor’s degree
1848 First Women’s Rights Convention is
held in Seneca Falls, N. Y., to sign in
the Declaration of Sentiments
1849 Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first
woman to receive a medical degree
1869 The first women’s suffrage law is
passed in Wyoming
1872 Susan B. Anthony is arrested for trying to vote
1872 Victoria Claflin Woodhull is the
first woman to run as a presidential
candidate
1890 Wyoming becomes the first state to
grant women the right to vote in all
elections
1913 5,000 suffragists march in
Washington, D.C.
1916 Jeannette Rankin of Montana
becomes the first woman elected to
Congress
1920 The 19th Amendment gives women
the right to vote
1932 Amelia Earhart becomes the first
woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Ocean
1933 Frances Perkins is appointed secretary of labor by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt, making her the first
woman member of a presidential
Cabinet
1934 Coca-Cola’s Lettie Pate Whitehead is
the first American woman to serve as
director of a major corporation
1938 The Fair Labor Standards Act establishes minimum wage without regard
to gender
1955 The first lesbian organization in the
United States, the Daughters of Bilitis,
is founded
1963 The Equal Pay Act is passed by
Congress
1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination
on the basis of race, color, religion,
national origin or sex
1965 Restrictive labor laws are repealed on
the hours and conditions of women’s
work, opening many previously menonly jobs to women
1966 The National Organization for
Women (NOW) is founded by Betty
Friedan
1967 Muriel Siebert is the first woman to
own a seat on the New York Stock
Exchange
1972 Title IX bans sex discrimination in
schools
1972 Katherine Graham of The Washington
Post becomes the first woman CEO of
a Fortune 500 company
1974 Congress prohibits housing discrimination against women
1976 The Supreme Court upholds women’s
right to unemployment benefits
during the last three months of
pregnancy
1977 Juanita Kreps is the first female secretary of commerce
1978 Kirchberg v. Feenstra overturns state
laws designating a husband “head and
master”
1979 More than half of all women 16 years
and older are in paid employment
1981 Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first
woman appointed to the Supreme
Court
1982 This is the first year more women
than men graduated with bachelor’s
degrees
1984 Sex discrimination in membership
policies is forbidden by the Supreme
Court
Sources: Catalyst, National
Women’s History Project
1984 Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first
female vice-presidential candidate
representing a major American political party
1987 Congress proclaims March as
National Women’s History Month
1990 Dr. Antonia Novello becomes the first
woman (and first Latino) U.S. surgeon
general
1992 Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois
becomes the first Black woman elected to the Senate
1993 The Family and Medical Leave Act
goes into effect
1993 Janet Reno becomes the first woman
U.S. attorney general
1994 Congress adopts the Gender Equity
in Education Act to train teachers in
gender equity
1997 Madeleine K. Albright becomes the
first woman U.S. secretary of state
1997 PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Marsha
Cohen is the first woman CFO at the
top accounting firms
1998 The Supreme Court rules that
employers are liable for sexual
harassment
1999 Lt. Col. Eileen Collins becomes the
first woman astronaut to command a
space-shuttle mission
1999 The first woman to graduate at the Citadel is Nancy
Ruth Mace
2005 Condoleezza Rice
becomes the first
Black female secretary
of state
2007 Nancy Pelosi becomes
the first woman speaker
of the House
2008 Hillary Clinton
is the only first
lady to run for
president
For more facts and figures, visit
www.DiversityInc.com/diversity-facts
