Women in the United States House of Representatives


Women have served in the United States House of Representatives since the 1917 entrance of Jeannette Rankin from Montana, a member of the Republican Party. Three hundred twenty-five women have since served as U.S. Representatives. As of November 2019, there are 101 women in the U.S. House of Representatives, making women 23.2% of the total of U.S. Representatives. Of the 325 women who have served in the US House, 222 have been Democrats, and 103 have been Republicans, one of whom was at first politically independent.
Women have been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from 46 of the 50 states. The states that have not elected a woman to the U.S. House of Representatives are Alaska, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Vermont—though Alaska, Mississippi, and North Dakota have elected women to the United States Senate. Women have also been sent to congress from 5 of the 6 territories of the United States; the only Territory that has not sent a woman to the U.S. House of Representatives is the Northern Mariana Islands. California has elected more women to Congress than any other state, with 41 U.S. Representatives elected since 1923. To date, no woman who has served in the House has ever been a former senator, been elected to represent more than one state in non-consecutive elections, switched parties, or served as a third party member in her career, though one was elected as an Independent.

Firsts

entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1917 as the first woman in either chamber of Congress.
Florence Prag Kahn entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1925 as the first Jewish and thus non-Christian woman in either chamber of Congress.
U.S. Representative Vera Buchanan died in 1955, making her the first woman in either chamber to die in office.
Patsy Mink, an Asian American, entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1965 as the first woman of color in either chamber of Congress.
In 1969, U.S. Representative Charlotte Reid became the first woman to wear pants in the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate.
Shirley Chisholm entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1969 as the first African American woman in either chamber of Congress.
In 1973, U.S. Representative Yvonne Brathwaite Burke became the first member of the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate to give birth while in office, and she was the first person to be granted maternity leave by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, with the birth of her daughter Autumn.
The gym of the U.S. House of Representatives first opened to women in 1985, the gym having previously been male-only. The swimming pool opened to women in 2009, the pool having previously been male-only.
Barbara Vucanovich entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1983 as the first Hispanic woman or Latina in either chamber of Congress.
In late 1990, Hawaii became the first state with a House delegation of all women of color, Patsy Mink and Pat Saiki.
Jo Ann Emerson re-entered the House of Representatives in 1997 as the first and, so far, only woman elected as neither a Democrat nor a Republican from any state to either chamber of Congress. Initially, she was specially elected as a Republican late in the 104th Congress before leaving the party for a while to run as a politically unaffiliated candidate in the 1996 election and rejoined the Republicans early in the 105th Congress.
Tammy Baldwin entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999 as the first openly gay woman in either chamber of Congress.
Nancy Pelosi became the first female House Minority Whip in 2002. She went on to become the first and only to date female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 2007.
Also in 2007, Mazie Hirono entered the U.S. House of Representatives as the first female Buddhist in either chamber of Congress.
In 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives got its first women's bathroom near the chamber.
Tulsi Gabbard entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 2013 as the first Hindu person in either chamber of Congress.
Also in 2013, Kyrsten Sinema entered the U.S. House of Representatives as the first openly bisexual woman in either chamber of Congress.
In the 2018 general elections, there was a wave of firsts elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 116th Congress. A record-breaking 103 women were elected or re-elected into the United States House of Representatives, causing many to call it the "Year of the Woman". Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim women ever elected to either house of Congress, with Tlaib the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress and Omar the first Somali American of either sex to be elected. Angie Craig became the first lesbian mother to be elected to Congress. Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland became the first Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Widow's succession

was the first woman elected to her husband's seat in Congress, which is sometimes known as the widow's succession. In the early years of women in Congress, the seat was held only until the next election, and the women retired after that single Congress. She thereby became a placeholder, merely finishing out her late husband's elected term. As the years progressed, however, more and more of these widow successors sought re-election. These women began to win their own elections.
38 widows have won their husbands' seats in the House, and eight have won their husbands' seats in the Senate. The only current example is Representative Doris Matsui of California. The most successful example is Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who served a total of 32 years in both houses and became the first woman elected to both the House and the Senate. She began the end of McCarthyism with a famous speech, "The Declaration of Conscience", became the first major-party female presidential candidate and the first woman to receive votes at a national nominating convention, and was the first woman to enter the Republican Party Senate leadership. The third woman elected to Congress, Winnifred Huck, was similarly elected to her father's seat.

Number of women

Number of women in the United States House of Representatives and Senate by Congress

Number of women in the United States Congress :
CongressYearsin Congress%
65th1917–191910.2%
66th1919–192100%
67th1921–192340.7%
68th1923–192510.2%
69th1925–192730.6%
70th1927–192950.9%
71st1929–193191.7%
72nd1931–193381.5%
73rd1933–193581.5%
74th1935–193781.5%
75th1937–193991.7%
76th1939–194191.7%
77th1941–1943101.9%
78th1943–194591.7%
79th1945–1947112.1%
80th1947–194981.5%
81st1949–1951101.9%
82nd1951–1953112.1%
83rd1953–1955152.8%
84th1955–1957183.4%
85th1957–1959163.0%
86th1959–1961193.5%
87th1961–1963203.7%
88th1963–1965142.6%
89th1965–1967132.4%
90th1967–1969122.2%
91st1969–1971112.1%
92nd1971–1973152.8%
93rd1973–1975163.0%
94th1975–1977193.6%
95th1977–1979203.7%
96th1979–1981173.2%
97th1981–1983234.3%
98th1983–1985244.5%
99th1985–1987254.7%
100th1987–1989264.9%
101st1989–1991315.8%
102nd1991–1993336.2%
103rd1993–19955510.3%
104th1995–19975911.0%
105th1997–19996612.3%
106th1999–20016712.5%
107th2001–20037514.0%
108th2003–20057714.4%
109th2005–20078515.9%
110th2007–20099417.6%
111th2009–20119617.9%
112th2011–20139617.9%
113th2013–201510119.1%
114th2015–201710419.4%
115th2017–201910419.4%
116th2019–202112723.7%

Number of women in the United States House of Representatives by party

Notes: "% of party" is taken from voting members at the beginning of the Congress, while numbers and "% of women" include all female House members of the given Congress
CongressYearsWomen totalRepublican% of women% of partyDemocratic% of women% of party
65th1917–191911100%0.5%00.0%0.0%
66th1919–1921000.0%0.0%00.0%0.0%
67th1921–192333100%0.3%00.0%0.0%
68th1923–192511100%0.4%00.0%0.0%
69th1925–19273266.7%0.4%133.3%0.5%
70th1927–19295360.0%1.3%240.0%0.5%
71st1929–19319555.6%1.9%444.4%1.8%
72nd1931–19337342.9%1.4%457.1%1.4%
73rd1933–19357342.9%1.7%457.1%1.0%
74th1935–19376233.3%1.9%466.7%1.2%
75th1937–19396116.7%1.1%583.3%1.2%
76th1939–19418450.0%1.2%450.0%0.8%
77th1941–19439555.6%3.1%444.4%0.7%
78th1943–19458675.0%2.9%225.0%0.5%
79th1945–194711545.5%2.6%654.5%1.7%
80th1947–19497571.4%2.0%228.6%1.1%
81st1949–19519444.4%2.3%555.6%1.5%
82nd1951–195310660.0%3.0%440.0%0.9%
83rd1953–195512758.3%2.7%541.7%2.3%
84th1955–195717741.2%3.0%1058.8%3.4%
85th1957–195915640.0%3.0%960.0%3.8%
86th1959–196117847.1%5.2%952.9%2.8%
87th1961–196318738.9%3.5%1161.1%3.4%
88th1963–196512650.0%2.8%650.0%2.3%
89th1965–196711436.4%2.9%763.6%2.0%
90th1967–196911545.5%2.7%654.5%2.4%
91st1969–197110440.0%2.1%660.0%2.5%
92nd1971–197313323.1%1.1%1076.9%3.5%
93rd1973–197516212.5%1.0%1487.5%5.0%
94th1975–197719526.3%2.8%1473.7%4.8%
95th1977–197918527.8%3.5%1372.2%4.5%
96th1979–198116531.3%3.2%1168.8%4.0%
97th1981–1983211047.6%4.7%1152.4%3.7%
98th1983–198522940.9%5.5%1359.1%4.4%
99th1985–1987231147.8%6.0%1252.2%4.3%
100th1987–1989231147.8%6.0%1252.2%4.3%
101st1989–1991291344.8%6.0%1655.2%5.6%
102nd1991–199330930.0%5.5%2170.0%7.0%
103rd1993–1995481225.0%6.8%3675.0%13.6%
104th1995–1997501836.0%7.4%3264.0%14.7%
105th1997–1999571831.6%6.6%3968.4%17.0%
106th1999–2001581729.3%7.6%4170.7%18.5%
107th2001–2003621829.0%8.1%4471.0%19.0%
108th2003–2005632133.3%9.2%4266.7%18.5%
109th2005–2007712535.2%9.9%4664.8%20.9%
110th2007–2009782126.9%9.9%5773.1%20.2%
111th2009–2011791721.5%9.6%6278.5%21.5%
112th2011–2013792430.4%9.9%5569.6%23.8%
113th2013–2015822024.4%8.2%6275.6%29.0%
114th2015–2017882326.2%8.9%6573.8%33.0%
115th2017–2019892525.3%8.7%6474.7%32.0%
116th2019–20211021312.7%6.5%8987.3%37.9%

Percentage of women by party and year

List of female members

This is a complete list of women who have served as U.S. Representatives or delegates of the United States House of Representatives, ordered by seniority. Members are grouped by the apportionment period during which such member commenced serving. This list includes women who served in the past and who continue to serve in the present.

Female members whose service began between 1917 and 1932

Female members whose service began between 1933 and 1942

Female members whose service began between 1943 and 1952

Female members whose service began between 1953 and 1962

Female members whose service began between 1963 and 1972

Female members whose service began between 1973 and 1982

Female members whose service began between 1983 and 1992

Female members whose service began between 1993 and 2002

Female members whose service began between 2003 and 2012

Female members whose service began between 2013 and present

Pregnancies

There have been ten female members of the House of Representatives who were pregnant and gave birth at least once during their tenure.