Timeline of U.S. Women's History
We've Come a Long Way, Baby!
Timeline of U.S. Women's History Women have been making strides toward equality and empowerment for years, but the struggle continues. This timeline highlights some of the achievements women have made in last 150 years. Click on a year to see how far women have come throughout history.
1850President: Zachary Taylor who is succeeded by Millard Fillmore
In 1854, Florence Nightingale takes 38 women to Turkey to nurse wounded and sick Crimean War soldiers. In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman doctor in the Western hemisphere. Harvard Medical School admits the first black students and the first woman: Harriot Kezia Hunt, 44. Hunt withdraws after riots by male students. For the first time, women are employed as shopkeepers in Philadelphia. Women make up 13 percent of all paid workers in America. Susan B. Anthony meets Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick B. Douglass for the first time at an anti-slavery meeting in Rochester, NY. 
1875President: Ulysses S. Grant
Wellesley College for Women opens its campus doors on September 8 in Wellesey, MA; the college begins the first rowing program for women. Smith College opens in Northhampton, MA, one day later. The "Blondes" and "Brunettes" play their first match In Springfield, IL. Newspapers called the event the "first game of baseball ever played in public for gate money between feminine ball-tossers."
1900President: Benjamin Harrison
Men outnumbered women in the United States in 1900: 38.8 million to 37.2 million. (But the situation has reversed: By July 1, 1999, there were 139.5 million women to 133.4 million men).
Women officially participate in the Olympics for the first time. The first 19 women to compete in the modern Olympics Games in Paris, France, play in just three sports: tennis, golf, and croquet.
19 percent, or one in five, women are in the work force. That's 5 million women earning wages outside of the home.
The International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (IGWU) is formed.
1925President: Calvin Coolidge
In 1920, women have finally won the right to vote in the U.S.
Mrs. Nellie Tayor Ross of Wyoming becomes the first woman governor in America.
Florence Sabin, one of the foremost scientists of the day, became the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the first woman elected to full membership in the Rockefeller Institite.
1950President: Harry S. Truman
Nearly 30 percent of all U.S. women work outside the home.
Althea Gibson became the first black American to play in the U.S. Open, breaking the color barrier in professional tennis.
Gwendolyn Brooks wins a Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry, Annie Allen, becoming the first black American to win the prestigious award.
Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) delivered her "Declaration of Conscience" speech, denouncing Senator Joseph McCarthy.
1975President: Gerald R. Ford
Title IX goes into effect on June 21. Title IX mandates that all schools allocate equal resources to male and female athletic programs, giving girls a lot more athletic opportunities.
Women are admitted to the U.S. military academies.
The first national Women's Health Conference is held in Boston.
Elizabeth Ann Seaton is canonized as the first American-born saint.
Gloria Randle Scott becomes the first black president of the Girl Scouts of America.
2000President: William J. Clinton
More than 2.5 million girls took part in high school athletic programs during the 1997-98 school year. That's triple the number in 1972-73.
In 1998, women earned 73 cents for every dollar earned by men ($25,862 compared with $35,345). This figure isn't statistically different from women's all-time high in this regard of 74 cents ($23,710 versus $32,144) in 1996.
In 1998, the educational attainment levels of women ages 25 to 29 exceeded those of men in the same age group. 90 percent of young women had at least a high school diploma and 29 percent had a bachelor's degree or more. The respective percentages for men of the same ages were 87 percent and 26 percent.
Even if women and men voted at the same rate, women would hold the balance of electoral power. Projections indicate women constituted 52 percent of the voting-age population in November 1998, representing majorities in each state except Alaska and Nevada.
Although females outnumber males nationally, there were four states in 1998 where females were in the minority: Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Wyoming.
More women nowadays are either postponing or not ever having children. Twenty-seven percent of women 30 to 34 in 1995 had never given birth; in 1976, the corresponding proportion was 16 percent.
The estimated median age at first marriage was 25 years for women in 1998 -- tying the 20th century high reached the previous year and up almost a full five years since the early 1960s.
Special thanks to the U.S. Census Bureau and 2000: Anniversaries in Women's History for statistics.
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