Women Holding Elective Office in the U.S.

The United States Constitution contains no prohibition against the right of women to hold elective office. However, many individual state constitutions quickly rushed in to correct this oversight, limiting office seekers in those states to individuals eligible to vote (Nelson, 1994, p. 542). States in the west were more likely to grant women some political voice; the first woman in America to serve as a member of the state legislature was Martha Hughes Cannon, who was a state senator in Utah in 1896 (Weiser, 1981. P, 365).

Yet the majority of women who held office in the United States, even long after women were finally granted to right to vote in 1920, achieved their positions by filling the remainder of their husbandsÆ terms, after the death of their spouses. Hattie Wyatt Caraway was the first woman elected to the Senate, voted into office in 1932 in Arkansas on the strength of her

. . .
rity Task Force. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland became the first Democratic woman to win a Senate seat not previously held by her husband when she was elected in 1986. She was the first Democratic woman to serve in both houses of Congress and the first to win statewide election in Maryland. She is a member of two committees, appropriations, and Labor and Human Resources. Other senators include Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, and Patty Murry of Washington. This handful of talented politicians still represents less than 12 percent of the Senate, while women make up more than half of the population represented by that body. In 1998, Jeanne Shaheen became the first female governor of New Hampshire. She is one of many candidates helped by efforts of NOWÆs Political Action Committee. Diane Minor details one such effort: ôWhen the Secretary of State sent a letter to voter registrar offices in 10 campus towns warning that students from out of state who tried to vote could lose their financial aid, NOW worked with allies to develop a one-page response and to organize monitors at the pollsö (p. 2). NOW and other political analysts emphasize the power and importan
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Elizabeth Dole, Diane Minor, Barney Frank, , Todd Whitman, United Constitution, Shirley Chisholm, Latimer Felton, Eleanor Amico, Parris Glendening, public office, woman elected, female candidates, elective office, lieutenant governor, female senator, women serve, women half population, lieutenant governors, women serving, national politics, serves senate committees, seeking public office, woman elected senate, women seeking public,
Approximate Word count = 1859
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Women Holding Elective Office in the U.S.