A Timeline of Women in State Legislatures
1848 The first petition for women to vote is signed in Seneca Falls, New York

Carrie C. Holly

1894 Frances Klock, Clara Cressingham and Carrie C. Holly become the first women elected as state representatives in Colorado
  1896 Martha Hughes Cannon becomes the first women elected as a state senator in Utah

 1920

Congress passes the 20th Amendment, giving women the right to vote

1936 All states in the nation have elected a woman to serve in the state legislature, when Louisiana elects Doris Lindsey Holland Rhodes to serve in the state Senate
1933 Minnie Davenport Craig becomes the first woman to become Speaker of the House in the North Dakota House of Representatives
1938 Crystal Byrd Faucet becomes the first black woman elected to a state legislature in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
2008 The New Hampshire State Senate becomes the first state legislative body to have more women than men serving
2012 Across the nation, 1,744 women legislators are serving in 50 states.

 

 

 
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