Time of First-Time Achievements for American Women

Throughout history, certain women have opened up the path for future generations by being the first to achieve certain milestones in politics, business, and social movements. Many women faced significant barriers in these male-dominated fields.

In the early 19th century, it was unheard of for women to be doctors or lawyers. That is until Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor in the U.S., and Arabella Mansfield was admitted to practice law in Iowa.

Women have continued to make history well into the 21st century. Unfortunately, this is indicative of the significant barriers women still face; gender-based discrimination still impacts about half of the world's population. (Not to mention the issues facing non-binary and trans individuals, whose entry into many professions and public-facing roles is contested and, sometimes violently.)

Key Takeaways

In the 19th century, women began to break into previously all-male professions, such as medicine and law, and made some early forays into politics.
Advances in the 20th century included House and Senate seats (some to women of color), a Cabinet appointment, and leading roles in the desegregation and labor movements.
In the first decades of the 21st century, women have assumed notable leadership roles in the federal government and financial sectors.

1809

In 1809, Mary Kies becomes the first woman to receive a patent, for a method of weaving straw with silk.

1849

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell graduates from Geneva Medical College in New York and becomes the first female doctor in the U.S. Dr. Blackwell went on to found the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, along with an affiliated medical college for women. The infirmary helped expand medical training to women and medical care to the poor.

1864

In 1864, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first Black woman to be a physician in the United States, graduating from the New England Female Medical College. Dr. Crumpler relocated to Richmond, Va., after the Civil War, where she worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau on the health needs of recently freed slaves. Dr. Crumpler later wrote the first medical text by a Black author.

1869

In 1869, Arabella Mansfield is the first woman admitted to practice of law in the U.S., in Iowa.

1870

Ada H. Kepley is the first woman in the United States to graduate from law school.

1872

The first female presidential candidate in the U.S., Victoria Claflin Woodhull, is nominated by the Equal Rights Party.

1887

Susanna Madora Salter is the first woman elected mayor of an American town, in Argonia, Kansas.

1889

Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte is the first Native American physician in the U.S., graduating from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania as valedictorian. Dr. Picotte later opened a hospital in the Omaha Reservation town of Walthill, Nebraska.

1916

The first woman is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives: Jeannette Rankin of Montana.

1928

Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1932

Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1933

The first female Cabinet member, Frances Perkins, is appointed as secretary of labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Perkins helped enact a minimum wage, unemployment compensation, and a limit on the employment of children. Perkins also played a role in drafting the Social Security Act.

1955

In March, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refuses to move to the back of a bus in Birmingham, Alabama. Colvin became one of the plaintiffs in the first federal court case to challenge bus segregation. Later that same year, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama. Her protest sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott that ended segregation on buses.

1962

Dolores Huerta co-founds the National Farm Workers Association with César Chávez, playing a key role in organizing the 1965 strike of 5,000 grape workers. Huerta championed women’s issues and worked to elect more Latinos and women to public office during the 1990s and 2000s.

1964

Patsy Mink becomes the first woman of color in Congress, representing Hawaii. Mink was one of the principal authors of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the landmark legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in education.

1967

Muriel Siebert is the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Siebert was later selected to become New York’s first female superintendent of banking in 1977.

1968

Shirley Chisholm is the first Black woman elected to Congress. Representing New York for 14 years, Chisholm advocated for early education and child welfare policies.

1972

Katharine Graham becomes the first woman to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company, the Washington Post Company. Graham had been president of the company, which was owned by her family, since the death of her husband in 1963 and ran it until 1991. She was in charge when The Washington Post published articles based on information from the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and when Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered the Watergate conspiracy in 1972.

1980

Paula Hawkins of Florida, a Republican, becomes the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate without following her husband or father into the job. Hawkins was the leading sponsor of the Missing Children’s Act of 1982 and fought for laws to make it easier for women to enter the job market.

1981

Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. The court overturned state laws designating a husband “head and master” with unilateral control of property owned jointly with his wife. It also ruled that excluding women from the draft is constitutional.

1984

U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-N.Y., becomes the first woman to be nominated as the vice presidential candidate on a major-party ticket.

1989

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida becomes the first Latina and Cuban American to serve in Congress. A moderate Republican, Ros-Lehtinen was the first female to chair a standing committee, the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In her 30-year political career, she was a member of the LGBT Equality Caucus and the Climate Solutions Caucus.

1997

Madeleine Albright, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, becomes the first female secretary of state.

2007

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., becomes the first female speaker of the House.

2009

Michelle Obama becomes the first Black first lady of the United States. Then-President Barack Obama appoints Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latina Supreme Court judge. Sotomayor has built a reputation as an advocate for criminal justice reform and women’s rights.

2014

Economist Janet Yellen became the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve System.

2016

Hillary Rodham Clinton secures the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first U.S. woman to lead the ticket of a major party. She loses to Republican Donald Trump in the election.

2018

Banker Stacey Cunningham becomes the first female president of the New York Stock Exchange.

2021

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first person of South Asian descent to be vice president of the United States, serving alongside President Joe Biden. Before her term in the U.S. Senate, she served as attorney general of California.

The Biden administration has appointed a historically diverse group of Americans to the Cabinet and other key posts, including:

Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary
Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence
Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Defense Secretary
Neera Tanden, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Deb Haaland, Interior Secretary and the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Cabinet

All but Tanden ( who withdrew her nomination) were approved by the Senate and took office. Jill Biden, an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, became the first first lady to keep her day job.

2022

President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court in 2022. She was approved by the Senate and took her seat on June 30, 2022, becoming the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.

Who Was the First American Woman to Become a Doctor?

Dr, Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in the U.S. to become a doctor, in 1949. After graduating from the Geneva Medical College in New York, Dr. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and an adjacent medical college for women. In 1864, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first Black American woman physician and the first Black American author of a medical text.

Who Was the First American Woman in Politics?

Victoria Claflin Woodhull was the first woman presidential candidate in 1872. Woodhull, who championed women's suffrage, was nominated by the Equal Rights Party. Prior to the nomination, Woodhull co-founded a women's rights magazine and founded a stock brokerage firm with her sister. The firm was backed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1887, Susanna Madora Salter became the first woman mayor in the U.S., in Argonia, Kansas. Later, the first woman in Congress was Jeannette Rankin, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Montana in 1913. The first woman in the Senate was Hattie Wyatt in 1932.

Who Was the First American Woman CEO of a Fortune 500 Company?

In 1972, Katherine Graham became the first woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company. As CEO of The Washington Post, Graham oversaw coverage of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. Graham ran the Post until 1991.

The Bottom Line

Without the trailblazing work of certain women in history, previously all-male professions—such as medicine, politics, and law—would not be as accessible to women today. While women still face barriers as a result of gender-based discrimination, and many professions—while accessible to women—still tend to be dominated by men, the milestone achievements of Shirley Chisholm, Katherine Graham, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Madeleine Albright (among others) are still notable.