Women in the United States Congress: 1917-2005

Abstract

A record 83 women serve in the 109th Congress: 69 in the House (46 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and 14 in the Senate (9 Democrats and 5 Republicans). Representative Jeanette Rankin (R-MT, 1917-1919, 1941-1943) was the first woman elected to Congress. Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-GA) was the first woman to serve in the Senate. She was appointed in 1922 and served for only one day. A total of 228 women have served in Congress, 144 Democrats and 84 Republicans. Of these women, 195 have served only in the House; 26 have served only in the Senate; and seven have served in both houses. The figures include one Delegate each from Guam, Hawaii, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of the 202 women who have served in the House, 36 were elected to fill vacancies caused by the death of their husbands. Fifteen of the 36 were subsequently elected to additional terms. Nineteen women have been elected to fill other vacancies.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 21, 2005
Accession Number
ADA465377

Entities

People

  • Mildred L. Amer

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • District Of Columbia
  • Finance
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • House Of Representatives
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Natural Resources
  • New Jersey
  • Small Business
  • United States

Readers

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