This reference section contains tables of historical data on the following topics:
Through the opening of the 110th Congress, 21 women have chaired congressional committees, including standing, joint, and select panels. This chronological list includes 15 Representatives and six Senators. Of them, only Representative Mary T. Norton (D-NJ, 1925–1951) chaired more than one standing committee (she chaired a total of four). Congresswoman Corinne “Lindy” Boggs (D-LA, 1973–1991) chaired two select House committees.
Twenty-three women in congressional history have been elected by their peers into the Democratic and Republican Party leadership—17 in the House and six in the Senate. The first was Connecticut Representative Chase Going Woodhouse, who served a single term as Secretary of the Democratic Caucus in the 81st Congress (1949–1951). Illinois Representative Lynn Martin became the first Republican woman elected to a House leadership position when she won the vice chair post in the Republican Conference in the 99th–100th Congresses (1985–1989). The first woman elected to a Senate leadership position was Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, who chaired the Senate Republican Conference in the 90th—92nd Congresses (1967–1973). California Representative Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking woman in congressional history—having served as House Democratic Whip and House Democratic Leader, prior to being elected Speaker of the House in 2007.
Since Representative Patsy Mink of Hawaii won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964, a total of 39 women of color have served in the U.S. Congress. Roughly three-quarters (31) of these women were elected after 1990. A total of 37 have served in the House; Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois served in the U.S. Senate (1993–1999). The first African-American woman to serve in Congress, Shirley Chisholm of New York, won election in 1968; 25 African-American women have followed her. The first Hispanic-American woman elected to Congress, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, entered the House in 1989; six other Hispanic-American women have followed her. In addition to Congresswoman Mink, three other Asian-Pacific-American women have served in Congress.
Through the start of the 110th Congress in 2007, 46 women have directly succeeded their late husbands in Congress (38 in the House and eight in the Senate). Seven widows have represented California—more than any other state—including the first two in the House, Mae Ella Nolan (1923–1925) and Florence Prag Kahn (1925–1937). In 1931, Hattie Caraway of Arkansas became the first widow to succeed her late husband in the Senate. Seven other women have come to Congress with marriage connections, including two who were appointed to the Senate by their husbands. Seven women married Members with whom they served in the same Congress (Ruth McCormick of Illinois, Martha Keys of Kansas, Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Molinari of New York, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota, and Mary Bono Mack of California). One woman (Emily Douglas of Illinois) preceded her husband in Congress. Another (Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky) was elected from Pennsylvania after having married an Iowa Representative two decades earlier. Representatives Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sánchez of California are the first sisters to serve in Congress. Other familial relationships include 12 women who followed their fathers into Congress, four of them directly succeeding their fathers. In addition, seven women have had sons who served in Congress; Francis Bolton of Ohio was the only one to serve concurrently with her son, Oliver, and Maude Kee of West Virginia was the first to be succeeded directly by her son, John.