Female state legislators in the United States

Women have served in state legislatures in the United States since 1895. Their ranks have increased steadily with the advent of nationwide women's suffrage after 1920 but they remain underrepresented.

History[]

The first women to serve in any state legislature were Clara Cressingham, Carrie C. Holly and Frances S. Klock, who were all elected in 1894 to the Colorado State House of Representatives.^[1] All three were elected the year after women in Colorado obtained the right to vote through popular election in 1893.^[2] As Secretary of the House Republican Caucus, Cressingham was the first woman to fill a leadership position in an American legislature.^[3] In 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon became the first woman elected to an upper body of a state legislature when she defeated her own husband, Angus M. Cannon, for a seat in the Utah State Senate.^[4]^[5]

The 50th state to see the debut of female state legislators in their lower house was Hawaii in 1959, who elected Dorothy Devereux and Eureka Forbes to their House of Representatives upon admittance to statehood. Alabama's Senate was the 50th upper house to welcome women when Ann Bedsole and Frances Strong joined the Senate in 1983.^[6]

In 2016, the highest shares of female members of a state legislature - at least 35% per state legislature - were in Colorado (30/65 in the House, 12/35 in the Senate), Vermont (65/150 in the House, 9/30 in the Senate), and Arizona (19/60 in the House, 13/30 in the Senate).^[7] The shares in Colorado and Vermont decreased to below 40% in 2017, while Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Washington all saw their numbers increase up to between 35% and 39%. Altogether in 2017, women constitute 24.8% of all state legislators in the United States,^[8] a ratio that has increased by less than 4 percentage points since 1994.

Only four chambers have reached a near or absolute majority of women:

New Hampshire Senate (2009-2010, 13/24 women^[9])
Nevada Assembly (2019, 23/42 women)
Colorado House of Representatives(2019, 32/65 women)
Oregon House of Representatives (2020, 30/60 women^[10])

List of first women to serve in state and territorial legislatures[]

State	House		Senate
State	Year	Name	Year	Name
Alabama	1923	Hattie Hooker Wilkins	1983	Ann Bedsole Frances Strong
Alaska (territory)	1937	Nell Scott	1949	Anita Garnick
Alaska (state)	1959	Helen Fischer Dora Sweeney	1959	Irene Ryan
Arizona	1915	Rachel Emma Berry	1915	Frances Willard Munds
Arkansas	1922	Frances Hunt	1964	Dorathy Allen
California	1919	Esto Broughton Grace Dorris Elizabeth Hughes Anna Saylor	1977	Rose Ann Vuich
Colorado	1895	Clara Cressingham Carrie Clyde Holly Frances Klock	1913	Helen Robinson
Connecticut	1921	Emily Sophie Brown^[11] Rev. ^[12] ^[13] ^[14] Helen Jewett^[15]^[16]	1925	Alice Merritt^[17]^[18]
Delaware	1925	Florence Hanby	1947	Vera Davis
Florida	1929	Edna Giles Fuller	1963	Beth Johnson
Georgia	1923	Bessie Kempton Viola Ross Napier	1925	Margaret Johnson
Hawaii (territory)	1925	Rosalie Keliʻinoi	1933	Elsie Wilcox
Hawaii (state)	1959	Dorothy Devereux Eureka Forbes	1963	Patsy Mink
Idaho	1898	Clara Campbell Hattie Noble Mary Allen Wright	1935	Margaret Bognet Pike
Illinois	1923	Lottie Holman O’Neill	1925	Florence Fifer Bohrer
Indiana	1921	Julia D. Nelson	1943	Arcada Balz
Iowa	1929	Carolyn Campbell Pendray	1933	Carolyn Campbell Pendray
Kansas	1919	Minnie J. Grinstead	1929
Kentucky	1922	Mary Elliott Flanery	1950	Carolyn Moore
Louisiana	1940	Doris Lindsey Holland Beatrice Hawthorne Moore	1936	Doris Lindsey Holland
Maine	1923	Dora Pinkham	1927	Katharine Allen Claire Carter Dora Pinkham
Maryland	1922	Mary Risteau	1935	Mary Risteau
Massachusetts	1923	Sylvia Donaldson Susan Fitzgerald	1937	Sybil Holmes
Michigan	1925	Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson	1921	Eva McCall Hamilton
Minnesota	1923	Myrtle Cain Sue Metzger Dickey Hough Hannah Jensen Kempfer Mabeth Hurd Paige	1927	Laura Johnson Naplin
Mississippi	1924	Nellie Nugent Somerville	1924	Carrie Belle Kearney
Missouri	1923	Mellcene Smith Sarah Lucille Turner	1973	Mary Gant
Montana	1917	Margaret Smith Hathaway Emma Ingalls	1945	Ellenore Bridenstine
Nebraska	1925*	Mabel Gillespie Clara Humphrey Sarah Muir	1945	Nell Krause
Nevada	1919	Sadie Hurst	1935	Frances Friedhoff
New Hampshire	1921	Jessie Doe Dr. Mary Farnum	1931	Edgar Maude Ferguson
New Jersey	1921	Margaret Laird Jennie Van Ness	1966	Mildred Barry Hughes
New Mexico	1923	Bertha M. Paxton	1925	Louise Holland Coe
New York	1919	Mary Lilly Ida Sammis	1935	Rhoda Fox Graves
North Carolina	1921	Lillian Clement	1931	Gertrude Dills McKee
North Dakota	1923	Minnie Craig Nellie Doughterty	1951	Agnes Kjorlie Geelan
Ohio	1923	Nettie Clapp Lulu Gleason Adelaide Ott May Van Wye	1923	Nettie Loughead Maude Waitt
Oklahoma	1921	Bessie McColgin	1921	Lamar Looney
Oregon	1915	Marian Towne	1915	Kathryn Clarke
Pennsylvania	1923	Alice Bentley Rosa DeYoung Sarah McCune Gallaher Helen Grimes Sarah Gertrude MacKinney Lillie Pitts Martha Speiser Martha Thomas	1925	Flora Vare
Rhode Island	1923	Isabelle Ahearn O'Neill	1929	Lulu Mowry Schlesinger
South Carolina	1945	Harriet Johnson	1929	Mary Ellis
South Dakota	1923	Gladys Pyle	1937	Jessie Sanders
Tennessee	1923	Marian Scudder Griffin	1921	Anna Lee Worley
Texas	1923	Edith Wilmans	1927	Margie Neal
Utah	1897	Sarah E. Anderson Eurithe LaBarthe	1896	Martha Hughes Cannon
Vermont	1921	Edna Beard	1923	Edna Beard
Virginia	1924	Sarah Lee Fain Helen Henderson	1980	Eva Mae Scott
Washington	1913	Frances Axtell Nena Jolidon Croake	1923	Reba Hurn
West Virginia	1923	Anna Johnson Gates	1934	Hazel Edna Hyre
Wisconsin	1925	Mildred Barber Hellen Brooks Helen Thompson	1975	Kathryn Morrison
Wyoming	1911	Mary Bellamy	1931	Dora McGrath
Territories
American Samoa	1953	Zilpher Jennings Mabel Reid
Guam	1955	Cynthia Torres Lagrimas Untalan	–	Unicameral
Puerto Rico	1933	María Luisa Arcelay De La Rosa	1937	María Martinez De Pérez Almiroty
U.S. Virgin Islands	1953	Ann Christian Abramson	–	Unicameral

References[]

^ "First Women to Serve in State and Territorial Legislatures". National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
^ "House Bill 118". State of Colorado. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
^ Kopel, Jerry. "Colorado Women First to Reach Statehouse". The Colorado Statesman. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
^ "Education & Resources - National Women's History Museum - NWHM". www.nwhm.org. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
^ Katz, Elizabeth D. (2021-07-30). "Sex, Suffrage, and State Constitutional Law: Women's Legal Right to Hold Public Office". Rochester, NY. SSRN 3896499. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ Legislatures, National Conference of State. "First Women to Serve in State and Territorial Legislatures". Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^ Legislatures, National Conference of State. "Women in State Legislatures for 2016". Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^ Legislatures, National Conference of State. "Women in State Legislatures for 2017". Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^ Women Dominate New Hampshire State Senate, NPR, November 9, 2008, 4:00 PM ET
^ "With latest appointment, women represent 50% of Oregon House".
^ "Emily Sophie Brown".
^ Votes and More for Women: Suffrage and After in Connecticut, Carole Nichols https://books.google.com/books?id=aiKx3Q74lsEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
^ "MRS. Lillian Mae Frink". The New York Times. 16 March 1974.
^ "Who is Mary Hooker? | Mary Hooker Magnet School".
^ Votes and More for Women: Suffrage and After in Connecticut, Carole Nichols https://books.google.com/books?id=aiKx3Q74lsEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
^ Women in American Politics: History and Milestones By Doris Weatherford | https://books.google.com/books?id=wW5wumFHKSEC&pg=SL11-PA90&lpg=SL11-PA90
^ https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/image/p15019coll2/14/default.jpg?highlightTerms=Alice%20Merritt
^ Women in American Politics: History and Milestones, by Doris Weatherford | "New England's first female senator was Alice Virginia Merritt of Connecticut. A Republican, she lived in the capital city, Hartford, where her husband, Joseph Merritt, founded a still extant firm specializing in blueprints. She had served as a volunteer in the Red Cross Motor Corps during World War I, meaning she was independent enough to drive at a time when most women did not. Connecticut had two-year senate terms, and Merritt was reelected in 1926. She lived until 1950."

External links[]

Women's Legislative Network at National Conference of State Legislatures

[1] "First Women to Serve in State and Territorial Legislatures". National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 10 March 2013.

[2] "House Bill 118". State of Colorado. Retrieved 10 March 2013.

[3] Kopel, Jerry. "Colorado Women First to Reach Statehouse". The Colorado Statesman. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.

[4] "Education & Resources - National Women's History Museum - NWHM". www.nwhm.org. Retrieved 2017-08-11.

[5] Katz, Elizabeth D. (2021-07-30). "Sex, Suffrage, and State Constitutional Law: Women's Legal Right to Hold Public Office". Rochester, NY. SSRN 3896499. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[6] Legislatures, National Conference of State. "First Women to Serve in State and Territorial Legislatures". Retrieved 27 February 2017.

[7] Legislatures, National Conference of State. "Women in State Legislatures for 2016". Retrieved 27 February 2017.

[8] Legislatures, National Conference of State. "Women in State Legislatures for 2017". Retrieved 27 February 2017.

[9] Women Dominate New Hampshire State Senate, NPR, November 9, 2008, 4:00 PM ET

[10] "With latest appointment, women represent 50% of Oregon House".

[11] "Emily Sophie Brown".

[12] Votes and More for Women: Suffrage and After in Connecticut, Carole Nichols https://books.google.com/books?id=aiKx3Q74lsEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

[13] "MRS. Lillian Mae Frink". The New York Times. 16 March 1974.

[14] "Who is Mary Hooker? | Mary Hooker Magnet School".

[15] Votes and More for Women: Suffrage and After in Connecticut, Carole Nichols https://books.google.com/books?id=aiKx3Q74lsEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

[16] Women in American Politics: History and Milestones By Doris Weatherford | https://books.google.com/books?id=wW5wumFHKSEC&pg=SL11-PA90&lpg=SL11-PA90

[17] ttps://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/singleitem/image/p15019coll2/14/default.jpg?highlightTerms=Alice%20Merritt

[18] Women in American Politics: History and Milestones, by Doris Weatherford | "New England's first female senator was Alice Virginia Merritt of Connecticut. A Republican, she lived in the capital city, Hartford, where her husband, Joseph Merritt, founded a still extant firm specializing in blueprints. She had served as a volunteer in the Red Cross Motor Corps during World War I, meaning she was independent enough to drive at a time when most women did not. Connecticut had two-year senate terms, and Merritt was reelected in 1926. She lived until 1950."

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