The Suffrage Movement was born out of the Abolition Movement,  which was championed by the Republican Party. In 2010, we celebrated the 90th anniversary of the final ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

 

Democratic President Woodrow Wilson opposed the Amendment, as did most of the Democratic Party. In the final vote, it was a freshman Representative from Tennessee, Harry T. Burns – a Republican, who cast the tie breaking vote to finally give all women in the United States the right to vote. The movie Iron Jawed Angels depicted the last push to get this amendment passed and is well worth watching and passing on to young women everywhere.

 

It was the Republican Party who first advocated for equal pay for equal work.

 

By 1870, the Republican Party had already seated two women suffragists as delegates at the Massachusetts Convention.

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In 1872 at the National Republican Convention a resolution was passed to include more women.

 

In 1892 two women from Wyoming were sent to the National Republican Convention as alternate delegates, marking the first time women were seated at the National Convention.

 

The first FOUR women to serve in Congress were Republicans.

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First Woman In Congress In November, 1916, Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973) became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first female member of Congress. She was a Republican!

 

First Woman In The Senate In 1931, Republican Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas was the first woman elected to the Senate. She served until 1944.

 

First Hispanic Woman Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida became the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1989.

 

First Woman to Serve in both the House and Senate is Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine.  Married to Gov. John McKernan, Olympia Snowe was First Lady of Maine (1989-1995) while serving in Congress.  Elected to Congress at 31 in 1978, she is still serving as Maine's senior senator.

 

First Woman Veteran To Serve in the House of Representatives was Congresswoman Republican Heather Wilson of New Mexico. 

 

First Woman Supreme Court Justice President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, made the historic appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court. President Reagan continued to appoint many women to high level positions within his Administration, including Linda Chavez, our keynote speaker for the 2010 Ladies of Liberty Gala. Ms. Chavez was the highest ranking woman in the Reagan administration and is currently the CEO of the Center for Equal Opportunity.

 

First Hispanic Woman Governor New Mexico's own Susana Martinez, elected in 2010, is the first Hispanic woman to be elected the chief executive of a state. 

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