Women’s History |
TIMELINE Please Note: Although this is a comprehensive timeline produced from a number of different sources, it is not, and is not intended to be, an all inclusive list of every event involving every woman in American history. It is a presentation of important events in the Women’s Movement, and a very formidable group of outstanding women who represent all of the women who had a role in affecting positive change for women, and securing women’s rights. It is the express intent of The College World Reporter to pay tribute to all women and to celebrate their collective accomplishments during Women’s History Month. |
Dates | People and Events |
1777 | Women lose the right to vote in New York. |
1780 | Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts. |
1784 | Hannah Adams is the first American woman to support herself by writing |
1784 | Women lose the right to vote in New Hampshire. |
1804 | Sacagawea begins serving as a guide for the Lewis and Clarke Expedition |
1807 | Women Lose the right to vote in New Jersey. |
1819 | Emma Hart Willard writes her "Plan for Improving Female Education," which although unsuccessful, defines the issues of women’s education at that time. |
1826 | The first public high schools for girls open in New York and Boston. |
1828 | Former slave, abolitionist, and feminist Isabella van Wagener is freed and takes the name Sojourner Truth. She begins to preach against slavery throughout New York and New England. |
1833 | Oberlin College in Ohio, is the first co-educational college in the U.S. |
1837 | Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, the first of the Seven Sisters – the female equivalent of the once predominantly male Ivy League -- is established as the first college for women. |
1840 | Lucretia Mott is one of several women delegates to attend the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London. As a woman she is forced to sit in the gallery and cannot participate. |
1847 | Maria Mitchell, first American woman astronomer discovers a new comet. |
1848 | First women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, NY. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlines grievances and sets the agenda for the women’s rights movement. |
1849 | Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. In this same year, women doctors are permitted to legally practice medicine for the first time. |
1850 | Women are granted the right to own land in a state (Oregon). |
1850 | The Female Medical College (later known as the Women's Medical College) is founded in Pennsylvania. |
1850 | The first National Women’s Rights Convention takes place in Worcester, MA, attracting more than 1000 participants. National conventions are held yearly (except 1857) through 1860. |
1854 | Sojourner Truth visits President |
1866 | The American Equal Rights Association is founded by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, Martha Coffin Pelham Wright, and Ernestine Rose. |
1868 | The 14th Amendment denying women the right to vote is ratified. |
1868 | Women lawyers are licensed in the U.S. |
May 1869 | Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The primary goal of the organization is to achieve voting rights for women by means of a Congressional amendment to the Constitution. |
Nov 1869 | Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and others form the American Woman Suffrage Association. This group focuses exclusively on gaining voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. |
Dec 10, 1869 | The territory of Wyoming passes the first women's suffrage law. The following year, women begin serving on juries in the territory. |
1871 | Smith College, the largest member of the Seven Sisters, was founded in Northampton, MA. |
1872 | Susan B. Anthony is arrested for attempting to vote. |
1872 | Victoria Woodhull, first woman to run for President of the U.S., was selected by the Equal Rights Party to be its candidate in the 1872 Presidential election. |
1878 | For the first time, a Women's Suffrage Amendment is introduced to Congress. |
1881 | Clara Barton established the American Red Cross. |
1890 | The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). As the movement’s mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state-by-state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women. |
1890 | Wyoming is the first state to allow women to vote. |
1893 | Colorado is the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote. Utah and Idaho follow suit in 1896; Washington State in 1910; California in 1911; Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona in 1912; Alaska and Illinois in 1913; Montana and Nevada in 1914; New York in 1917; Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma in 1918. |
1894 | Johns Hopkins Medical School admits women. |
1896 | The National Association of Colored Women is formed, bringing together more than 100 black women's clubs. Leaders in the black women’s club movement include Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna Julia Cooper. |
1903 | The National Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) is established to advocate for improved wages and working conditions for women. |
1912 | Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) founded in America. |
1913 | Alice Paul and Lucy Burns form the Congressional Union to work toward the passage of a federal amendment to give women the vote. The group is later renamed the National Women’s Party. |
1913 | 5,000 suffragists march in Washington, D.C. for the women's rights movement. |
1915 | A petition with 500,000 signatures in support of women's suffrage amendment is given to President Woodrow Wilson. |
1916 | Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, during a period when most states don’t even grant women the right to vote. In 1916 she runs as a progressive Republican and wins, serving one term. She then unsuccessfully runs for the Senate, and after 20 years, returns and successfully runs for the House again in 1940 |
1919 | The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B. Anthony and introduced in Congress in 1878, is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is then sent to the states for ratification. |
1920 | The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor is formed to collect information about women in the workforce and safeguard good working conditions for women. |
Aug. 20, 1920 | The 19th amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. |
1921 | Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League, which evolves into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. |
1923 | Alice Paul and the National Women's Party first propose the Equal Rights Amendment to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex. |
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1932 | Frances Perkins is appointed Secretary of Labor becoming the first woman to be appointed to the Cabinet. |
1932 | Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate. |
1935 | Mary McLeod Bethune organizes the National Council of Negro Women, a coalition of black women's groups that lobbies against job discrimination, racism, and sexism. |
1936 | The federal law prohibiting the dissemination of contraceptive information through the mail is modified and birth control information is no longer classified as obscene. |
1940 | Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was elected to the Senate in 1948, becoming the first woman to be elected to serve in both houses. |
1941 - 1945 | To meet the demand for labor in the workforce to build war weapons during WWII, as a result of the loss of huge numbers of male workers called to duty to serve their country, the government created a campaign to actively recruit women into the workforce. After the war, many women returned to their domestic roles in the home, but many remained in the workforce. Although female numbers in the workforce dropped off after the war ended, they never returned to their lower pre-war levels. |
1941 | The military creates women's branches in each of the armed services. Close to 350, 000 women serve in the WAVES (Navy), WACS (Army), SPARS (Coast Guard), MCWR (Marines), and WASPS (Air Force). |
Dec. 1, 1955 | Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus and in doing so launches the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. She is arrested and taken to jail. Black community leaders pay her bail and then organize a boycott to challenge the Montgomery transportation segregation laws. |
1960 | The Food and Drug Administration approves birth control pills. |
1961 | President John Kennedy establishes the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appoints Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman. The report issued by the Commission in 1963 documents substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care. |
1963 | Betty Friedan publishes her highly influential book The Feminine Mystique, which describes the dissatisfaction felt by middle-class American housewives with the narrow role imposed on them by society. The book becomes a best seller and galvanizes the modern women’s rights movement. |
Jun. 10, 1963 | Congress passes the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man would receive for the same job. |
1964 | Margaret Chase Smith of Maine became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. Presidency at a major party’s convention. |
1964 | Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex. At the same time it establishes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate complaints and impose penalties. |
1965 | In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court strikes down the one remaining state law prohibiting the use of contraceptives by married couples. |
1966 | The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded by a group of feminists including Betty Friedan. The largest women’s rights group in the U.S., NOW seeks to end sexual discrimination, especially in the workplace, by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations. |
1967 | Executive Order 11375 expands President Lyndon Johnson's Affirmative Action policy of 1965 to cover discrimination based on gender. As a result, federal agencies and contractors must take active measures to ensure that women as well as minorities enjoy the same educational and employment opportunities as white males. |
1968 | Shirley Chisholm is first African American woman elected to Congress. |
1968 | The EEOC rules that sex-segregated help wanted ads in newspapers are illegal. This ruling is upheld in 1973 by the Supreme Court, opening the way for women to apply for higher paying jobs hitherto open only to men. |
1969 | National Women's Hall of Fame is created in Seneca Falls, NY. |
1969 | California becomes the first state to adopt a "no fault" divorce law, which allows couples to divorce by mutual consent. By 1965 every state has adopted a similar law. Laws are also passed regarding the equal division of common property. |
1970 | 50,000 people march in New York City for the first Women's Strike for Equality. |
1970 | In Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Company, a U.S. Court of Appeals rules that jobs held by men and women need to be “substantially equal” but not “identical” to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer cannot, for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men. |
1971 | U.S. Supreme Court rule ends sex discrimination in hiring. |
1971 | Ms. Magazine is first published as a sample insert in New York magazine; 300,000 copies are sold out in 8 days. The first regular issue is published in July 1972. The magazine becomes the major forum for feminist voices, and cofounder and editor Gloria Steinem is launched as an icon of the modern feminist movement. |
1972 | Shirley Chisholm became the first woman and the first African-American to seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. |
Mar. 22, 1972 | The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Originally drafted by Alice Paul in 1923, the amendment reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The amendment died in 1982 when it failed to achieve ratification by a minimum of 38 states. |
Mar. 22, 1972 | In Eisenstadt v. Baird the Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy includes an unmarried person's right to use contraceptives. |
Jun. 23, 1972 | Title IX of the Education Amendments bans sex discrimination in schools. It states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” As a result of Title IX, the enrollment of women in athletics programs and professional schools increases dramatically. |
1973 | Barbara Jordan becomes the first African-American woman from a southern state to serve in Congress. |
1973 | As a result of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court establishes a woman's right to safe and legal abortion, overriding the anti-abortion laws of many states. |
1974 | The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in consumer credit practices on the basis of sex, race, marital status, religion, national origin, age or receipt of public assistance. |
1974 | In Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages because that is what they traditionally received under the “going market rate.” A wage differential occurring “simply because men would not work at the low rates paid women” is unacceptable. |
1976 | The first marital rape law is enacted in Nebraska, making it illegal for a husband to rape his wife. |
1977 | 3,000 women march in Washington, D.C. on Women's Equality Day to support the E.R.A. |
1978 | The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans employment discrimination against pregnant women. Under the Act, a woman cannot be fired or denied a job or promotion because she is or may become pregnant, nor can she be forced to take a pregnancy leave if she is willing and able to work. |
1981 | Congress approves a resolution creating Women's History Week. |
1981 | Susan Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. |
1983 | Sally Ride becomes the first woman to fly in space. |
1984 | Geraldine Ferraro is nominated as the first female vice-presidential candidate for a major political party. |
1984 | EMILY's List (Early Money Is Like Yeast) is established as a financial network for pro-choice Democratic women running for national political office. The organization makes a significant impact on the increasing numbers of women elected to congress. |
Jan. 28, 1986 | Christa McAuliffe, teacher selected for the NASA Teacher in Space Project, killed along with the rest of the crew aboard the Orbiter Challenger when it exploded shortly after launch. |
1986 | Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Supreme Court finds that sexual harassment is a form of illegal job discrimination. |
1987 | Women's History Week is expanded when March becomes Women's History Month. |
1990 | Oprah Winfrey becomes the first woman to own and produce her own syndicated television show. |
1992 | In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirms the validity of a woman's right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. The case successfully challenges Pennsylvania’s 1989 Abortion Control Act, which sought to reinstate restrictions previously ruled unconstitutional. |
1993 | Ruth Bader Ginsburg is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. |
1994 | The Violence Against Women Act tightens federal penalties for sex offenders, funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, and provides for special training of police officers. |
1996 | Madeline Albright is appointed as the first woman Secretary of State. |
1996 | In United States v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that the all-male Virginia Military School has to admit women in order to continue to receive public funding. It holds that creating a separate, all-female school will not suffice. |
1999 | The Supreme Court rules in Kolstad v. American Dental Association that a woman can sue for punitive damages for sex discrimination if the anti-discrimination law was violated with malice or indifference to the law, even it that conduct was not especially severe. |
2000 | Hillary Clinton becomes the first former first lady elected Senator. |
2003 | In Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, the Supreme Court rules that states can be sued in federal court for violations of the Family Leave Medical Act. |
2004 | Sophia Coppola becomes the first American woman to be awarded an Academy Award for Best Director. |
2005 | In Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, the Supreme Court rules that Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, also inherently prohibits disciplining someone for complaining about sex-abuse discrimination. It further holds that this is the case even when the person complaining is not among those being discriminated against. |
2009 | President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which allows victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government against their employer within 180 days of their last paycheck. Previously, victims (most often women) were only allowed 180 days from the date of the first unfair paycheck. This act is named after a former employee of Goodyear who alleged that she was paid 15 – 40 percent less than her male counterparts, which was later found to be accurate. |