Brain-Jockey

First Women: It’s Not The Party You Think

Written by Audrie Zettick on January 12, 2009

The mainstream media are full of headlines touting another “first” with the Obama Administration.  As proclaimed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Rev. Sharon Watkins will give the sermon at the National Prayer Service on January 21. 

 

I’m glad for her, really.  I just hope her theme–“To Believe In Something Bigger Than Ourselves“–isn’t an omen for the bigger and badder Federal Government we’re certain to have under the Obama Administration.  Call me an optimist.  NOT.

 

Speaking of firsts, which party had the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress?  And who was she? I’ll give you some clues. 

 

• She worked for women’s rights. 
• She was a strong advocate for veterans rights.
• Upon her death, she left funds intended to assist “mature, unemployed women workers.”     

 

The first female elected U.S. Congress was Jeannette Rankin.  First elected in 1916 in Montana, she was elected after women in that state were given the right to vote, but at a time when few women nationally held that right.  In fact, she was the first woman elected to a national legislature in any western democracy.  An effective advocate for women’s rights, Jeannette introduced the Susan B. Anthony Amendment in the House (which would later become the 19th Amendment). 

 

Elected in 1916, she was the first woman elected to a national legislature in any western democracy. 

 

Democrat?  No, Jeannette was elected as a Republican.  She served one term in the 65th Congress, then was  gerrymandered out of her congressional district.  She then ran unsuccessfully as an independent for U.S. Senate, but was later elected again to Congress, serving in the 77th Congress.  (As a side note, she served only one term each time, mostly likely due to the fact that she voted against U.S. entry into both WWI and WWII, proof that ardent pacifists can exist in either party–and that going against the will of the people is never healthy for one’s elected career).  

 

So all the women who had the right to vote for Obama can, in part, thank a Republican woman for that right.