Women in Congress, 1917-2015: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information, and Listings by State and Congress
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Women in Congress, 1917-2015: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information, and Listings by State and Congress -name redacted- Information Research Specialist -name redacted- Specialist on the Congress April 27, 2015 Congressional Research Service 7-.... www.crs.gov RL30261 Women in Congress: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information Summary One hundred eight women currently serve in the 114th Congress: 88 in the House, including four Delegates (65 Democrats and 23 Republicans), and 20 in the Senate (14 Democrats and 6 Republicans). This is higher than the previous record from the 113th Congress (101 women initially sworn in, and 1 House Member subsequently resigned and 3 were elected) The first woman elected to Congress was Representative Jeannette Rankin (R-MT, 1917-1919, 1941-1943). The first woman to serve in the Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-GA). She was appointed in 1922 and served for one day. A total of 313 women have been elected or appointed to Congress, 202 Democrats and 111 Republicans. Of these women, 267 (173 Democrats, 94 Republicans) have been elected only to the House of Representatives; 35 (21 Democrats, 14 Republicans) have been elected or appointed only to the Senate; and 11 (8 Democrats, 3 Republicans) have served in both houses. These figures include six non-voting Delegates, one each from Guam, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, and two from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Of the 46 women who have been elected or appointed to the Senate, 14 were first appointed and 5 were first elected to fill unexpired terms. A total of 38 African American women have served in Congress (1 in the Senate, 37 in the House), including 20 serving in the 114th Congress. Eleven Hispanic women have been elected to the House; nine serve in the 114th Congress. Ten Asian Pacific American women have served in Congress (nine in the House, one in both the House and Senate), including seven in the 114th Congress. In the 114th Congress, one woman chairs a House committee, one woman chairs a Senate standing committee, and one woman chairs a Senate select committee. This report includes biographical information, including the names, committee assignments, dates of service, listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 313 women who have been elected or appointed to Congress. It will be updated when there are relevant changes in the makeup of Congress. For additional information, including a discussion of the impact of women in Congress as well as historical information, including the number and percentage of women in Congress over time, data on entry to Congress, comparisons to international and state legislatures, tenure, firsts for women in Congress, women in leadership, and African American, Asian Pacific American, and Hispanic women in Congress, see CRS Report R43244, Women in the United States Congress: Historical Overview, Tables, and Discussion, by (name redacted), (name redacted), and (nam e redacted). Congressional Research Service Women in Congress: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Tables and Data ................................................................................................................................ 2 Alphabetical Listing, Including Dates of Service and Committee Assignments ............................. 3 Tables Table 1. Women in Congress, 65th - 114th Congresses, by Congress ............................................. 83 Table 2. Women in Congress, 65th - 114th Congresses, by State or Territory ............................... 103 Table 3. Total Number of Women in Each Congress: 1917-2015 ................................................ 108 Contacts Author Contact Information......................................................................................................... 110 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... 110 Congressional Research Service Women in Congress: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information Introduction Three hundred thirteen women have been elected or appointed to Congress.1 Jeannette Rankin (R- MT) has the distinction of being the first woman elected to serve in Congress. On November 9, 1916, she was elected to the House of Representatives as Montana’s Representative-at-Large to the 65th Congress (1917-1919).2 Since Rankin’s election, 312 additional women have served in Congress. These 313 women3 include • 202 Democrats and 111 Republicans; • 267 (173 Democrats, 94 Republicans) women who have been elected only in the House of Representatives, including 6 (4 Democrats, 2 Republicans) women who have served as Delegates in the House;4 • 35 (21 Democrats, 14 Republicans) women who have been elected or appointed only in the Senate; • 11 (8 Democrats, 3 Republicans) women who have been elected or appointed in both houses. One hundred eight women serve in the 114th Congress: • 20 in the Senate (14 Democrats and 6 Republicans), and • 88 in the House (65 Democrats and 23 Republicans). Four of the women who serve in the House are Delegates, representing the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; three are Democrats, and one is Republican. • Not including Delegates, women currently hold 84 (19.3%) seats in the House of Representatives and 20 (20%) seats in the Senate, totaling 104 (19.4%) of the 535 voting seats in the 114th Congress. • Including Delegates, women currently hold 88 seats in the House of Representatives, increasing the total to 108 seats (20%) in the entire Congress. 1 For additional information on the women who have served in Congress, please refer to U.S. Congress, House, Office of History and Preservation, Women in Congress, 1917-2006 (Washington: GPO, 2006), http://womenincongress.house.gov. The web version of this publication, maintained by the House’s Office of the Historian and Office of Art and Archives, includes current information and is frequently updated. 2 Rep. Rankin served from 1917 to 1919 and from 1941 to 1943. Rep. Rankin was also the only Member of Congress to vote against America’s entry into both World Wars. 3 Throughout this report, House and Senate totals each include one woman elected but not sworn in or seated due to the House or Senate being out of session. Both women are included in various official congressional publications, including, for example, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (http://bioguide.congress.gov), Women in Congress, 1917-2006 (http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress) and “Senators of the United States 1789-present: a chronological list of senators since the First Congress in 1789,” maintained by the Senate Historical Office (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/chronlist.pdf). 4 The total number of female Members of the House includes one Delegate to the House of Representatives from Hawaii prior to statehood, one from the District of Columbia, one from Guam, two from the U.S. Virgin Islands, and one from American Samoa. Congressional Research Service 1 Women in Congress: Biographical and Committee Assignment Information This report includes biographical information, including the names, committee assignments, dates of service, listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 313 women who have been elected or appointed to Congress. It will be updated when there are relevant changes in the makeup of Congress. For additional information, including a discussion of the impact of women in Congress as well as historical information, including the number and percentage of women in Congress over time, data on entry to Congress, comparisons to international and state legislatures, tenure, firsts for women in Congress, women in leadership, and African American and Asian Pacific American women in Congress, see CRS Report R43244, Women in the United States Congress: Historical Overview, Tables, and Discussion, by (name redacted), (name redacted), and (name r edacted). Tables and Data The list and tables that follow provide information on women Members of Congress, including the dates they were first elected or appointed, the Congresses in which they served, the committees on which they served, and, where relevant, the committees they chaired or served on as ranking Member. Table 1 lists all the women who have served in each Congress, by Congress. Table 2 lists the women Members of Congress, by state. Table 3 provides the total number of women in each Congress. Most of the data presented are from the • Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present, available at http://bioguide.congress.gov; • various editions of the Congressional Directory; • a broad range of Congressional Quarterly and Leadership Directories Inc. publications; and • the Women in Congress website, at http://womenincongress.house.gov, maintained by the House of Representatives’ Office of the Historian and the Office of Art and Archives, Office of the Clerk. The 114th Congress committee assignments sources are • for the House, Official Alphabetical List of the Members with Committee Assignments in the 114th Congress, available from the Clerk of the House’s website at http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/olmbr.aspx; and • for the Senate, Committee