Highlights of the role women in the Republican Party and examples of the unique and vital contributions women have made to our party between 1872 to 1986.

1872   The first official recognition of women in a major party platform appeared in the Republican  Party platform

1876    Sarah J. Spencer of Massachusetts became the first woman to address a committee at the Republican National Convention when she spoke on "Women's Suffrage" to the Resolutions Committee

1892   Therese A. Jenkins and Cora Carleton, alternates from Wyoming, were the first women to be officially seated at a Republican National Convention

The first woman to address the Republican National Convention, J. Ellen Foster, declared in her  speech, "We are here to help you and we are here to stay."

1896  The first equal rights of women plank carried in any major party platform was contained in the Republican Party platform

1900  The first  women delegate seated at a Republican National Convention was Frances Warren of Wyoming

1916  The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican - Jeanette Rankin was elected Member-at-large from Montana

                The first major party to favor federal women's suffrage was the Republican Party

1919       The first act after regaining Republican control of Congress was the passage of the Equal Suffrage Amendment

                The same year, the Women's Division of the Republican National Committee was established

1920       Lenna Lowe Yost became the first woman tally clerk at a Republican National Convention. She  later became Republican National Committeewoman from West Virginia, vice chair of the  Republican Executive Committee, and Director of the Republican National Committee's Women's Division

1924       The first women were given equal representation on the Republican National Committee with a rule change providing for a national committeewoman and committeeman from each state

1928       The first woman to serve as a chairman of a convention committee was Mable Walker   Willenbrandt, Assistant Attorney General of the United States - a Republican

1937       The first woman to hold the title of Assistant Chairman of the Republican National Committee was Marion E. Martin - founder of the National Federation of Republican Women

1940       The first endorsement of an equal rights amendment for women in the platform of a major political party was from the Republican Party

                The first equal representation of women on all committees of the Republican National Committee came through passage of Rule 29

                Gladys Pyle of South Dakota was the first woman to nominate a Republican presidential candidate  at a national convention

1944       The first women were given equal representation with men on the Resolutions Committee of the Republican Party

1945       Mrs. Dudley C. Hay of Michigan became the first woman to be elected secretary of the Republican  National Committee

1948       Judy Weis of New York - second NFRW President - became the first woman to run a Republican  nominee's headquarters.  She subsequently became the first woman to hold a high office in a presidential election campaign, serving as Associate National Director of the Thomas E. Dewey campaign

1952       The first time there was an organized effort to mobilize the American woman's vote - for Republican presidential candidate Dwight E . Eisenhower. The drive was led by Ivy Baker Priest,   later Treasurer of the United States.

1953       The first woman ever appointed Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was Oveta Culp Hobby, appointed by President Eisenhower

                The first woman appointed as a U.S. ambassador to a major power - Italy - was Republican Clare Booth Luce, also appointed by President Eisenhower

1960       Consuelo Northrop Bailey of Vermont was the first woman to serve as chairman of one of the main four convention committees when she chaired the Committee on Call

                The first time a campaign was launched featuring a presidential candidate's wife as a vote-getter in her own right. The "Pat (Nixon) for First Lady" campaign was directed by Clare B. Williams Shank, then Assistant Chairman of the Republican National Committee

                The first time in the history of any political convention that a woman served as executive director  of the Convention she was a Republican - Josephine Good

1964       The first woman ever nominated for president by a major American political party was a  Republican woman - Margaret Chase Smith of Maine

1965       The first woman chairman of a state committee of any major political party was a Republican -  Elly Peterson of Michigan

1971       The first woman in political history to be elected to the national co-chairmanship of either party  was a Republican - Anne Armstrong of Texas 

1972       The first woman to be the keynote speaker at a national convention of any major political party  was a Republican - Anne Armstrong of Texas 

1974       Mary Louise Smith of Iowa became the first woman of the Republican National Committee

1975       The first woman to be appointed Secretary of Department of Housing and Urban Development  was a Republican - Carla Hills - appointed by President Gerald Ford

1978       The first woman elected to the U.S . Senate on her own right (without first having been preceded by her husband in Congress or first being appointed to fill an unexpired term) was a Republican  -   Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas

1981       The first time in history that two women members of the U.S . Senate served concurrently in their positions without first being appointed to fill an unexpired term, they were both Republicans -  Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, and Paula Hawkins of Florida

                The first woman Justice of the Supreme Court - Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican - was appointed by President Reagan

                The first woman appointed U. S. Representative to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, was appointed by President Reagan

1983       The first woman appointed as Secretary of the Department of Transportation was a Republican -  Elizabeth Dole of Kansas - appointed by President Reagan

                The first time in history three women served concurrently in a president's cabinet - Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Transportation, Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services; and  Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S . Representative to the United Nations - they served in a Republican        administration

1986       The first woman and the first Republican ever to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives  from Hawaii, and the first Asian-American woman ever elected to Congress was Pat Saiki

                The first time in history that five Republican women received the party nomination for governor -   Kay Orr of Nebraska, Julie Belaga of Connecticut, Norma Paulus of Orgeon, Arliss Sturgelewski of Alaska, and Patty Cafferata of Nevada