It has been but a century that women have had a say in government, with women of color facing even more limitations. They have established their place in positions of power in government, breaking barriers to represent the nation.
Beginning in the late 20th century, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the second wave of the feminist movement, they became more empowered and elected into government, giving way to new groundbreakers:
Patsy Mink
In 1965, Democrat Patsy Mink became the first woman of color and Asian-American elected into Congress as a Representative for Hawaii, serving until 1977, and then from 1990 until her death in 2002, also being the first East Asian-American woman to seek the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1972 election. According to the National Women’s History Museum, Mink fought for gender/racial equality, affordable childcare, bilingual education and co-authored Title IX of 1972, prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school/education program receiving federal funding.
Shirley Chisholm
In 1968, Democrat Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected into Congress, as a Representative for New York, serving until 1983. In the 1972 election, she became the first African-American candidate for a major-party nomination and first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. According to National Archives, Chisholm helped create the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), introduced legislation on gender/racial equality and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). In 2015, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
In 1989, Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first Cuban-American and Latina in Congress, as a Representative for Florida, serving until 2019. She was also the first Republican woman elected from the state, and served as Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. An advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Ros-Lehtinen was the first Republican in Congress to support same-sex marriage and co-sponsor the Respect for Marriage Act. In 2011, she gave the first Republican response to the State of the Union address in Spanish.
Supreme Court Justices – Sonia Sotomayor & Ketanji Brown Jackson
The induction of women of color in the Supreme Court took longer. In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first woman of color and Latina Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, being nominated by President Obama.
In 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman and former federal public defender to serve as an Associate Justice in the Supreme Court, nominated by President Biden. Currently, they are the only two women of color in the Court.
Kamala Harris
In the executive branch, history was made this decade. In 2021, following victory in the 2020 election, Kamala Harris became the first woman of color, African-American and Asian-American to serve as vice president of the United States.
Harris could make history once again in the upcoming presidential election, as the Democratic candidate facing Donald Trump in November. If victorious, Harris will become the first woman to be president of the United States, the highest ranking woman of color in government.
“As time has gone by, more women are involved, raising and going past the glass ceiling placed upon us,” Government and History Teacher Jessika Lozada said. “It’s a growth that needs to happen.”
According to the Center for American Women and Politics, there are currently 49 women of color serving in Congress, 708 state legislators and 14 mayors in the nation’s 100 biggest cities. Occupying government positions in every state, with numbers increasing every election, they endeavor to make an impact in government and represent the nation’s minorities.