Ten Female Firsts in History

December 31, 2021

}

By: Kaysey A. Richardson

On January 3, 1933 Minnie D. Craig, a North Dakota Representative, became the first female Speaker of a House of Representatives in the nation.  Total, Craig served six consecutive sessions in the North Dakota state legislature from 1923 until the end of her term as Speaker in 1935.  Craig continued to work in politics following her time in the House by serving as an area administrator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.  Minnie D. Craig is but one of many pioneers of women’s history.  Here are ten other female firsts that have taken place throughout history:

• Edith Wharton: In 1921, Edith Wharton became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her 1920 novel The Age of Innocence.  The novel was a critique of the narrowness and hypocrisy of the upper class in turn-of-the-century New York and went on to inspire multiple stage and screen adaptations as well as Cecily von Ziegesar’s popular Gossip Girl book series.
• Amelia Earhart: Not only was Amelia Earhart the first female to fly across the Atlantic in 1928, but she was the first person, male or female, to ever fly from Hawaii to the United States mainland in 1935.  In addition to her personal flights, Earhart worked effortlessly to promote opportunities for women in aviation.  She assisted in forming the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for the advancement of female pilots and was the first president of the organization, which still exists today and represents women flyers from forty-four different countries.
• Frances Perkins: In 1933, Frances Perkins became the first female member of a Presidential cabinet, serving as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor. Perkins was a social reformer who supported federal initiatives regarding unemployment relief, public works, insurance, and efforts to regulate child labor as well as wages and hours for adults.  Her efforts became the cornerstones of the New Deal’s relief and reform policies during the Great Depression.  While Roosevelt relied significantly on her advice, many others in Congress did not agree with her left-winged ideologies.  Perkins resigned in 1945 following Roosevelt’s death.
• Janet Guthrie: Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 race in 1977.  Although mechanical difficulties did not allow her to compete in the 1977 race, the following year Guthrie competed and finished in ninth place—with a broken wrist!  Prior to becoming a racecar driver, Guthrie was an aerospace engineer and was training to be an astronaut, but was cut from the space program because she did not have a PhD.  This led to her love of racecars and she began to transfer her skills as an engineer to building and maintaining her own cars.  Her helmet and driver’s suit are on display at the Smithsonian Institution and was one of the first athletes to be named to the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.
• Sandra Day O’Connor: Our first female on the Supreme Court was Sandra Day O’Connor, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.  On September 21 of that year, O’Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with a vote of 99-0, even though she had very little judicial experience prior.  O’Connor considered herself a moderate conservative and took each case into careful consideration before making a decision.  She acted as a swing vote in several important decisions, most notoriously the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election.  In 2009, President Barack Obama acknowledged her accomplishments and honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Aretha Franklin: Known as “The Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin became the first female to be elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Born in 1942 to a Baptist preacher Reverend C.L. Franklin and gospel singer Barbara Siggers Franklin, she grew up surrounded by music and discovered her own musical talents at an early age.  She recorded some of her earliest tracks by the age of fourteen which were released by a small label, and continued making music into her adulthood.  By 1987, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Detroit.  Since Franklin’s induction, fewer than a hundred women have been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Kathryn Bigelow: In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow’s 2008 film “The Hurt Locker” won six Oscars on March 7, 2010 including the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture making Bigelow the first female to win an Oscar for Best Director!  Not only was she the first female to win this award, but she also prevailed over her former husband, James Cameron, who was the assumed front-runner for the award for his science fiction epic “Avatar.”  Other well-known films that Bigelow directed include “Strange Days” and “Point Break.”
• Hillary Clinton: Already having been in the White House as a former First Lady, Hilary Clinton made history becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party in 2016.  In 2008, Clinton was unsuccessful in securing the presidential nomination losing to Barack Obama and fought hard for the nomination in 2016 against Bernie Sanders.  Although Clinton lost the election, her Presidential campaign was significant in women’s rights in politics.
• Katie Sowers: Just in the last two years, Katie Sowers became the first female and first openly gay football coach to guide her team to the Super Bowl in 2020.  Sowers is a former quarterback and was an assistance coach for the San Francisco 49ers as they competed against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2020 Super Bowl.  Although her team did not win, this still was a historic game.
• Kamala Harris: Not only is Kamala Harris the first female vice-president, but she is also the first Black and South-Asian vice president in United States history.  Harris embarked on her own presidential run in 2020, but after ending that journey, Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, chose her as his running mate.  In addition to this achievement, Harris was acting president for a total of eighty-five minutes on November 19, 2021 while President Biden underwent his annual physical (which requires anesthesia) making her the first female in history with presidential power.

Whether it’s racing cars, rock ‘n roll, flying a plane, or political advancements, these women’s advancements are important in the continuation of women’s rights and women’s changing roles in society.  While each marked history by becoming the “first female,” they are only the beginning and will not be the last.