Women in Congress, 1917-2020: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and Lists by State and Congress
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Women in Congress, 1917-2020: Service Dates and Committee Assignments by Member, and Lists by State and Congress Updated December 4, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov RL30261 Women in Congress, 1917-2020 Summary In total 366 women have been elected or appointed to Congress, 247 Democrats and 119 Republicans. These figures include six nonvoting Delegates, one each from Guam, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, and two from the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as one Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. Of these 366 women, there have been 309 (211 Democrats, 98 Republicans) women elected only to the House of Representatives; 41 (25 Democrats, 16 Republicans) women elected or appointed only to the Senate; and 16 (11 Democrats, 5 Republicans) women who have served in both houses. A record 131 women were initially sworn in for the 116th Congress. One female House Member has since resigned, one female Senator was sworn in January 2020, and another female Senator was appointed in 2019 to a temporary term that ended in December 2020. Of 130 women currently in Congress, there are 25 in the Senate (17 Democrats and 8 Republicans); 101 Representatives in the House (88 Democrats and 13 Republicans); and 4 women in the House (2 Democrats and 2 Republicans) who serve as Delegates or Resident Commissioner, representing the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. This report includes brief biographical information, committee assignments, dates of service, district information, and listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 366 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 Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview, by Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick. Congressional Research Service Women in Congress, 1917-2020 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Tables and Data ......................................................................................................... 2 Alphabetical Listing, Including Dates of Service and Committee Assignments ......................... 3 Tables Table 1. Women in Congress, 65th-116th Congresses, by Congress......................................... 86 Table 2. Women in Congress, 65th-116th Congresses, by State or Territory ............................ 104 Table 3. Total Number of Women in Each Congress: 1917-2020......................................... 108 Contacts Author Information ...................................................................................................... 111 Congressional Research Service Women in Congress, 1917-2020 Introduction On November 9, 1916, Jeannette Rankin (R-MT) was elected to the House of Representatives as Montana’s Representative-at-Large to the 65th Congress (March 4, 1917-March 4, 1919). This election win gave Representative Rankin the distinction of being the first woman elected to serve in Congress.1 The first woman to serve in the Senate was Rebecca Latimer Felton (D-GA). She was appointed in 1922 and served for one day. Three hundred sixty six women have been elected or appointed to Congress.2 These figures include six nonvoting Delegates, one each from Guam, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, and two from the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as one Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. Of these 366 women, there have been3 247 Democrats and 119 Republicans; 309 (211 Democrats, 98 Republicans) women elected only in the House of Representatives, including 7 (4 Democrats, 3 Republicans) women who have served as Delegates or Resident Commissioners in the House;4 41 (25 Democrats, 16 Republicans) women elected or appointed only in the Senate; and 16 (11 Democrats, 5 Republicans) women elected or appointed in both houses. A record 131 women were initially sworn in for the 116th Congress. One has since resigned, one was sworn in in January 2020, and one was appointed in 2019 to a temporary term that ended in December 2020.5 This is higher than the previous record from the 115th Congress (109 women initially sworn in, 5 House Members subsequently elected, and 2 Senators subsequently appointed). Of the 130 women currently in Congress, there are 25 in the Senate (17 Democrats and 8 Republicans); 105 in the House (90 Democrats and 15 Republicans); including 4 women in the House who serve as Delegates or Resident Commissioner (2 Democrats and 2 Republicans), representing the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The total also includes 1 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. 2 Information in this report is current through December 4, 2020. 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” (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). 3 For additional information on the women who have served in Congress, please refer to “Women in Congress,” http://history.house.gov/Exhibition-and-Publications/WIC/Women-in-Congress/. This website is maintained by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Office of the Historian and Office of Art and Archives and is frequently updated. 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, one from American Samoa, and one Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. 5 One woman House Member resigned in November 2019, one woman Senator was appointed in January 2 019 to a temporary term that ended in December 2020, and another female Senator was appointed in January 2020. Congressional Research Service 1 Women in Congress, 1917-2020 25 African American women, 10 Asian Pacific American women, 15 Hispanic women, and 2 Native American women; and 6 women who chair House committees, 1 woman who chairs a Senate standing committee, 1 woman who chairs a House select committee, and 1 woman who chairs a Senate select committee. One of the House committee chairs also chairs a Joint Committee. Other notable facts about women in the 116th Congress include the following: Not including Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, women currently hold 101 (23.2%) seats in the House of Representatives and 25 (25%) seats in the Senate, totaling 126(23.6%) of the 535 voting seats in the 116th Congress. Including Delegates and the Resident Commissioner, women currently hold 105 seats in the House of Representatives, increasing the total to 130 seats (24.0%) in the entire Congress. This report includes brief biographical information, committee assignments, dates of service, listings by Congress and state, and (for Representatives) congressional districts of the 365 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, Hispanic, and Native American women in Congress, see CRS Report R43244, Women in Congress: Statistics and Brief Overview, by Jennifer E. Manning and Ida A. Brudnick. Tables and Data The lists 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; Congressional Quarterly and Leadership Directories Inc. publications; and Women in Congress website, at http://womenincongress.house.gov, maintained by the House of Representatives’