A Brief History
On September 15, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to become the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America (U.S.). Today, we list five spectacular firsts accomplished by women. By the way, in this list, the alma mater of each of these accomplished women is mentioned (the author, for example, is a Cleveland State University graduate).
Digging Deeper
5. Dr. Rachel Maddow, First Openly Lesbian Rhodes Scholar, 1995 / First Openly Lesbian US News Anchor, 2008
Educated at Stanford University, Maddow earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford and became the first openly homosexual recipient of such a scholarship. After earning her Doctor of Philosophy degree at Oxford in 2001, she embarked on a radio career until the opportunity to work as the first openly homosexual prime time television news anchor presented itself when MSNBC offered her a job. The admittedly liberal newscaster is often disparaged by conservatives, but laughs off the insults. Her undergraduate study took place at Stanford.
4. Dr. Angela Dorothea Merkel, First Female Chancellor of Germany, 2005.
Still serving as Chancellor of Germany as of August 2020, “Angie,” as she is affectionately called by her countrymen, is the first woman to hold that office and is arguably the most powerful woman in the world. Before delving into politics, this brilliant woman studied physics at Leipzig University, eventually earned a doctorate, and worked as a researcher.
3. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, First Female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979.
The first woman to hold the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the “Iron Lady” was a tough politician and inspirational leader. In fact, Thatcher was in office longer than any other British prime minister during the 20th century (1979-1990) and saw the UK through the war with Argentina. Like Merkel, she also studied science; her degree being in chemistry which she received from the University of Oxford. She proudly noted that she was the first British prime minister with a science degree, ever! Thatcher also studied for the bar, and became a barrister (or lawyer in American talk) in 1953. She died in 2013.
2. Sandra Day O’Connor, First Female Supreme Court Justice, 1981.
Appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, Justice O’Connor also retired under a Republican president when she left the bench in 2006. Since O’Connor’s groundbreaking appointment, 3 other women have been appointed to the Supreme Court and are still serving (Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan). O’Connor received her law degree from Stanford University.
1. Nancy Pelosi, First Female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 2007.
With her appointment as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Pelosi, a graduate of Trinity Washington University, became the highest-ranking female in American political history and second in line for the presidency (after the vice president) should the president become disabled or die. Pelosi served as Speaker from 2007 to 2011, and in January of 2019 once again was elected by her peers in the House of Representatives as Speaker of the House, currently serving in that role (as of August 2020).
BONUS
The current First Lady of the U.S., Melania Trump, who was born in Slovenia and studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana, is the first First Lady of the U.S. to be a naturalized citizen and the first whose native language is not English. She is also only the second Catholic first lady of the U.S. and the second first lady born outside the country (not counting those born in what became U.S. territory before the country existed). She is known for starting the Be Best public awareness campaign, which focuses on well-being for youth and advocates against cyberbullying and drug use.
In addition to the famous females listed above, many other positions of great responsibility have been held by other women throughout history. While we sometimes may seem America-centric, seeing as how we are Americans as are most of our readers, we do also appreciate the incredible contributions of women and girls from other countries beyond the U.S. So, our apologies to the many great females not mentioned here in the interest of limiting our list to only five, including Golda Meir (Israel’s first and only woman to hold the office of Prime Minister), Indira Ghandi (the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India), and so many others that could be listed. Many of these esteemed ladies appear in or will appear in other articles on our site. Question for students (and subscribers): Who else do you think belongs on a list of fabulous firsts for females? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information about famous women, please see some of our many articles about notable women, including articles about women of science, politics, sports, aviation, Black women, Female Outlaws, “Badass” Women, Beautiful Women that Died Young, articles about individual women, various women’s rights subjects and so forth. Our list of “10 Political Firsts for Women” includes four non-American women. You may also find the following book helpful for learning more about the subject matter of this article:
Kunin, Madeleine. Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice by Chief Justice Warren Burger, while her husband John O’Connor looks on, 09/25/1981, is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 1696015. This image was taken from Flickr‘s The Commons. The uploading organization may have various reasons for determining that no known copyright restrictions exist, such as:
- The copyright is in the public domain because it has expired;
- The copyright was injected into the public domain for other reasons, such as failure to adhere to required formalities or conditions;
- The institution owns the copyright but is not interested in exercising control; or
- The institution has legal rights sufficient to authorize others to use the work without restrictions.
More information can be found at https://flickr.com/commons/usage/. This image was originally posted to Flickr by The U.S. National Archives at https://www.flickr.com/photos/35740357@N03/5553386728. It was reviewed on 07:15, 31 March 2011 (UTC) by FlickreviewR, who found it to be licensed under the terms of the No known copyright restrictions, which is compatible with the Commons.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="4902 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=4902">81 Comments
1-3 are all women I have heard of in the past, but I never knew anything about Dr. Merkel or Dr. Maddow. I guess as a man of science, I am particularly interested in Dr. Merkel because of her degree in Quantum Chemistry (which is insanely difficult). She must be an insanely brilliant person so it should come as no surprise that the Germans opted to make her Chancellor!
It seems like it has been harder for American women to climb the ladder than in countries like Germany and the UK. I’m not sure why.
how ironic is it that Hillary isn’t on this list….?
I remember a high school history teacher telling our class that O’Connor’s appointment was a huge thing at the time.
These are some wonderful steps toward women’s equality, but we still have a ways to go.
These are some very amazing accomplishments by women. I agree with Amber that it seems like women can more easily assume powerful roles than they can in the United States.
Its nice to see women taking leadership all over the world.
I think we have come such a long way with women equality!
I didn’t know that Nancy Pelosi was the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of representatives.
It’s nice to see women in leadership roles, but it does seem to be easier for women to get leadership roles in other countries. Other countries seem to be quicker to obtain equality for the races as well as the sexes than we are.
Its awesome to see that women are getting more and more opportunities. Though not equal yet, it is getting better!
It was a good start to something that still needs a lot of work. We are not yet equal, but we are getting there.
I really hadn’t heard of most of these women
it is such a good thing to have these women for as leaders . We have come a long way for Women equality
I love reading about successful women.
I think the first three topics are the best ones
These women were very preserving. It’s crazy to think that just in 1995 a scholarship was given to an ‘open lesbian’ when now, in 2016, we are so open about this topic. In fact, it almost seems wrong to turn these people down because of their sexuality. It’s amazing to think now we had a women run for president. We have come so far.
The only woman I have heard of before in this article was Nancy Pelosi. It was interesting learning about how the other woman have contributed.
It is great to know that women are getting more opportunities.
As a woman, I love to see female accomplishments through history,
I question why the women outside of the United States hold more prominent positions. Is it a reflection of our culture or is it due to personal drive?
Germany has had a female Chancellor and considered her possibly the most powerful woman in the world. The United Kingdom has had a female Prime Minister. When will America have its first female President?
Margaret Thatcher, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Chancellor Merkel all great women.
I was very inspired to read about Nancy Pelosi and how much power she has as the first female for the U.S house of representatives. If something shall happen to the president, she would take over which would be a huge moment for women of the United States.
I’ve always admired Margaret Thatcher. She presented herself in such a dignified manner and, although tough, always appeared to be well respected.
It’s inspiring to know that there are strong women who are willing to take a stand for what they believe in and change history so other women can have the opportunities to do great things like this.
This truly was such a growing time for all nations of the world.
A great article about all these women changed the mold of society.
This was a good article about the women of the world and how things were changing and being inspired by women.
It is fascinating that the “first” women in these positions have been recent. We should no longer be shocked about women being first at things. It should be normal.
The first female Speaker of the House of Representatives in the U.S. was only in 2007, which goes to show that it’s taken America a long time to start electing women in higher political positions.
It is awesome to see women in positions of power. It shows young children that they can do anything when they grow up.
I was surprised that many of these firsts happened in the 21st century. It is crazy to think that there were very few women in powerful roles until very recently.
I’m surprised there were not more women from previous eras.
Overall, women have definitely arose throughout American history. I will not be surprised if more lesbians hold important positions throughout the next decade.
It is so surprising to me to look at the years in which these happened. I feel as though women have made such strides, and things such as being a lesbian and a woman of power is not something surprising in our culture anymore.
I have not heard of these women in specific, but it is good to see that women are continuing to grow and gain the respect of everyone. It should never come to the sex of a person to determine a job or status.
It is great to see that so many women are continuing to gain power. I did not realize there was so many powerful women during this time.
Women can do great things! It is awesome to have them chipping away at the ‘glass ceiling.’
Margaret Thatcher was an amazing woman along with these others! She was a great inspiration for woman wanting to be in leadership!
Im surprised Hillary Clinton is not on this list
I love seeing women still taking so much power and pride in what advancements that they are making in the world. Margaret Thatcher is always one of my favorite women to read about.
These are amazing women. They are the symbol to prove that women’s status is increasing continually.
Girl Power! I loved reading this article and learning more about the achievements women have made in this world.
These are great firsts.
This was interesting to read about.
Women have deserved to be in these positions long before these dates, but I look up to them for striving to fulfill positions that no woman has ever been in before.
This was a very interesting read! The only name that I had been familiar with beforehand was Sandra Day O’Connor.
this is interesting to red about it.
I love women with a love of science. I really enjoy seeing how influential President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka is to his current presidency, who knows maybe she will make the list some day.
Many of these I was already aware of but I didn’t know of Merkel.
All great women of their time. All in their own way tore down barriers to get to where they were.
Great article for the most part, although there is a strong argument to made that Merkel is one of the worst chancellor’s that Germany has ever seen. I personally find Pelosi to be an opportunistic political chameleon. Even though Thatcher’s politics were a bit liberal for my tastes, she was a class act and should have been number one on this list. A truly great leader.
Women have a great force in this country and around the world. I do believe at some time there will be a woman president.
These women are paving the way for generations of young women. Great to see how accomplished they are.
All of these women did amazing things. It is nice to have strong powerful women to look up to.
those woman were amazing but for one to come out and say she is a lesbian was a big accomplishment in that era.
What a great read on some model women that have accomplished milestones. It is amazing to see how far we have come to acknowledge women for their work.
Such great and empowering women. Loved reading about them.
Initially well deserved but women such as Pelosi have ruined her reputation and led a poor example as a woman leader.
America has come a long way, in regards to women’s rights. We need to keeping moving in that direction, as women can do anything that men can do.
All of the women in this article are amazing and have open doors for other women to continue to move forward in our society. Women’s rights is moving forward, but it still need some help.
I do like how woman from all over the world were mentioned in this article. Women from Germany, two from the UK, and two from America. It shows that women’s rights did not only improve in America, but also in other countries of the world.
These women have made a path for future female politicians and are a great example.
It is disappointing that it took so long for women to make their mark in history. All the previous discussed women have shown their drive and ambition.
These women are paving the way for the future generations. They set a great example to young women.
High fives to these women and their accomplishments! I am looking forward to how much more women can accomplish in government positions! I really hope I am able to see the first women president, we came close with the 2016 election.
What great examples!!!
Great article. The white house for years was such a “boys club”. IT is amazing that these women pushed through and began to make a change in government. It set an example for women all over.
So many amazing firsts for women! I admire their strength and determination.
I am not sure why a woman’s sexual preference is what can boost her and keep her down. These woman are all strong, smart, and educated women that persevered in a male dominant world.
Interesting article, this is the most I have heard about all of these great things women have accomplished.
For all of the progressivism that people claim that the United States has, we are still one of the last free countries to elect a woman to the highest political office in the world.
I think it’s wonderful that all these brilliant women have held such positions of authority. I however did not vote for Hillary Clinton. I think a woman could be president of the US someday, but we need the right one.
She is a woman’s pride, which had high education background. Their practices and ideas are respected by everyone
It is a great article by showing women were knowledgeable and having enough ability to lead the country more advance and having a effective developing.
These women are great role models for young women everywhere. This goes to show you that when you put your mind to something great things can be achieved. More and more women are proving that they can be great and powerful leaders.
I enjoy reading articles of strong intelligent woman that were able to show their worth and take a place among men. Woman have always had the capacity to be in high ranking positions they just have to work twice as hard to prove it.
This is an amazing article to read. Most of these women , if not all, were able to get the positions they had while women’s rights weren’t very good. For them to overcome the obstacles they faced is something to be reckoned with!
I have heard nothing but good about all the ladys in the article except Pelosi.
These women are great roll models to any aged women. I was always told if you put your mind to it then its all yours and this article is a perfect example.