:List of American women's firsts

This is a list of American women's firsts, noting the first time that an American woman or women achieved a given historical feat. Inclusion on the list is reserved for achievements by American women that have significant historical impact.

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17th century

18th century

19th century: 1800s • 1810s • 1820s • 1830s • 1840s • 1850s • 1860s • 1870s • 1880s • 1890s

20th century: 1900s • 1910s • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s

21st century: 2000s • 2010s • 2020s

17th century

1635
Anne Hutchinson was the first American woman to start a Protestant sect.Read, Phyllis J., and Bernard Witlieb (1992). The Book of Women's Firsts: Breakthrough Achievements of Almost 1,000 American Women. New York, NY: Random House.
1640
Anne Bradstreet was the first published poet in the British North American colonies.{{cite web|url=http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/Anne+Bradstreet-256449.html|title=Female Firsts- Anne Bradstreet, the first female poet|author=Lucy Walton-Lange|date=September 12, 2012|access-date=March 14, 2015}}
1647
Margaret Brent was the first American woman to demand the right to vote.Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, and New York Public Library. The Woman's Athenaeum For the Intellectual, Industrial and Social Advancement of Women. New York: Woman's Athenaeum, 1912.{{cite web |author= |title=Breakthrough Women Fast Facts: US Government, Education, Business and Sports |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/17/us/breakthrough-women-fast-facts-us-government-education-and-business/index.html |website=edition.cnn.com |date=December 15, 2021 |access-date=December 16, 2021}}
1649
Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were charged with "lewd behavior upon a bed." They are the first American women convicted of lesbian activity.Alyson Publications (1990). The Alyson Almanac: A Treasury of Information for the Gay and Lesbian Community. Boston: Alyson Publications.

18th century

1700s
Henrietta Johnston was the first known female portrait painter in the American colonies as well as the first woman pastelist.Saunders, Richard H. and Ellen G. Miles. American Colonial Portraits • 1700-1776. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987. pp. 94-96
1739
Elizabeth Timothy was the first woman to print a formal newspaper as well as the first female franchise holder in the colonies.
1750
Jane Colden was the first woman botanist in America.Humphrey, H. B (1961). Makers of North American Botany. New York: Ronald.
1756
Lydia Taft was the first woman known to vote legally in Colonial America after her husband died and son left her; she was granted permission to vote through a Massachusetts town meeting."Women in Politics." International women's democracy center. International Women, n.d. Web. 26 Apr 2012.http://www.iwdc.org/resources/timeline.htm
1762
Ann Smith Franklin was the first female newspaper editor in America.Hanaford, Phebe A (1882). Daughters of America; or, Women of the Century. Augusta, Me: True and Co.
1776
Margaret Corbin was the first woman to assume the role of soldier in the American Revolutionary War and receive a pension for it.Pennington, Reina (2003). Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
1784
Hannah Adams was the first American woman to become a professional writer.
Hannah Slater was the first American woman granted a patent.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives_old/investigations/202_inventors.html|title=History Detectives: Women inventors|publisher=PBS}}

19th century

= 1800s =

1808
Jane Aitken was the first American woman to print the Bible in English.Metzger, Bruce Manning (2001). The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

= 1810s =

1812
Lucy Brewer was one of the first American women to join the United States Marine Corps.Lacy, Linda Cates (2004). We Are Marines!: World War I to the Present. [North Carolina]: Tar Heel Chapter, NC-1, Women Marines Association.

= 1820s =

1828
Sarah Hale was the first American woman to become editor of a major women's magazine (Godey's Lady's Book).Burt, Olive Woolley (1960). First Woman Editor: Sarah J. Hale. New York: Julian Messner.

= 1830s =

1835
Harriot Kezia Hunt was one of the first American women to practice medicine professionally, and "clearly the first to achieve a marked success".James, Edward T., Janet Wilson James, and Paul S. Boyer (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950; A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

= 1840s =

1840
Dorothy Catherine Draper was the first woman to be photographed.{{Cite web|url=http://thefirstpodcast.com/miss-draper-first-woman-photographed/|title=Miss Draper: The First Woman Ever Photographed – The First Podcast|website=thefirstpodcast.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-02}}
1846
Sarah Bagley was the first woman in America to become a telegraph operator.{{cite web|title=Lowell Notes: Sarah Bagley|url=https://www.nps.gov/lowe/learn/historyculture/upload/SBagley_%20Lowell%20Notes.pdf|website=Lowell National Historical Park|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=8 February 2018}}
Frances Whitcher was the first significant female comic protagonist in America, and the "first best-selling woman humorist".Stevens, Peter F (1993). The Mayflower Murderer and Other Forgotten Firsts in American History. New York: Morrow.Lauter, Paul, and Bruce-Novoa (1990). The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath.
1848
Maria Mitchell was the first female astronomer in the United States as well as the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite web|url=http://www.sheisanastronomer.org/index.php/history/maria-mitchell|title=Maria Mitchell|author=Anita Heward|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1849
Elizabeth Blackwell, born in England, was the first woman to earn a medical degree in America.Robbins, Trina, Cynthia Martin, and Anne Timmons (2007). Elizabeth Blackwell: America's First Woman Doctor. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press.

= 1850s =

File:Harriet Tubman by Squyer, NPG, c1885.jpg

1850
Harriet Tubman was the first American woman to run an underground railroad to help slaves escape. Some scholars label her the "Queen of the Underground Railroad".Stein, R. Conrad (2010). Harriet Tubman: "on My Underground Railroad I Never Ran My Train Off the Track". Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.
1853
Antoinette Brown Blackwell was the first woman ordained as a minister in America; she was ordained by the Congregational Church.Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs (1993). Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800-1925: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
1855
Anne McDowell was the first American woman to publish a newspaper completely run by women; it was circulated weekly and titled, "Women's Advocate".Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth, and Sarah Kurian (1994). The ABC-CLIO Companion to Women's Progress in America. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.Heinemann, Sue (1996). Timelines of American Women's History. New York: Berkley Pub. Group.
Emeline Roberts Jones was the first woman to practice dentistry in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://cwhf.org/inductees/science-health/emeline-roberts-jones |title=Emeline Roberts Jones | Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame |publisher=Cwhf.org |access-date=2012-08-04}} She married the dentist Daniel Jones when she was a teenager, and became his assistant in 1855.{{cite web|url=http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/health/womenindentistry.htm |title=Missouri Women in the Health Sciences - Health Professions - "Women in Dentistry" by E.N. King |publisher=Beckerexhibits.wustl.edu |access-date=2012-08-04}}

= 1860s =

1865
Mary Surratt was the first woman executed by the federal government of the United States; she was hanged for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.Larson, Kate Clifford (2008). The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. New York: Basic Books.
1866
Mary Walker was the first woman in America to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.Mikaelian, Allen, and Mike Wallace (2002). Medal of Honor: Profiles of America's Military Heroes from the Civil War to the Present. New York: Hyperion.
1866
Lucy Hobbs Taylor was the first woman in America to graduate from a dental school (Ohio College of Dental Surgery).Oakes, Elizabeth H (2001). Encyclopedia of World Scientists. New York: Facts on File.
1869
Arabella Mansfield was the first American woman to become a professional lawyer; she was admitted to the Iowa bar.{{cite web|url=http://www.women.iowa.gov/about_women/HOF/iafame-mansfield.html|title=Iowa Commission on the Status of Women|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113033617/http://www.women.iowa.gov/about_women/HOF/iafame-mansfield.html|archive-date=January 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}

= 1870s =

File:Victoria Claflin Woodhull by Mathew Brady - Oval Portrait.jpg

1870
Louisa Swain was the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election, after the women of New Jersey lost the right to vote in 1807; she cast her ballot on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, Wyoming.{{cite book |title= Women vote in the West: the Woman Suffrage Movement, 1869–1896 |first= Beverly |last=Beeton |publisher= Garland Science |location= New York |year= 1986 |isbn= 978-0-8240-8251-2 |page= 11 }}{{cite book |title= Women and museums: a comprehensive guide |first= Victor J. |last= Danilov |publisher= AltaMira Press |location= Lanham, MD |year= 2005 |isbn= 978-0-7591-0854-7 |page= 68 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4AWmyJvZwkwC&pg=PA68 }}
1870
Esther Hobart Morris was the first woman in America to serve as Justice of the peace.Loewen, James W (1999). Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. New York: New Press.
1870
Ada Kepley was the first woman to graduate from law school in America (Northwestern University School of Law).{{cite encyclopedia|first=Judy Rosella |last=Edwards|url=http://uudb.org/articles/adamiserkepley.html |access-date=8 February 2018 |title=Ada Kepley|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography|publisher=Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society}}
1871
Frances Willard was the first American woman college president. She also presided over the Women's Christian Temperance UnionGordon, Anna A. (1898). The Beautiful Life of Frances E. Willard, A Memorial Volume. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Pub. Association.
1872
Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for President of the United States.Havelin, Kate (2007). Victoria Woodhull: Fearless Feminist. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.
1873
Ellen Swallow Richards was one of first American women to become a professional chemist and first to earn a degree in Chemistry; she was the first woman to graduate from school of science or technology in America (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).{{cite web|title=Ellen H. Swallow Richards|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/ellen-h-swallow-richards|website=Science History Institute |date=June 2016|access-date=21 March 2018}}
1876
Louise Blanchard Bethune was the first American woman to become a professional architect.{{cite web|url=http://www.fastcodesign.com/3023654/a-century-after-her-death-americas-first-female-architect-gets-her-due|title=A Century After Her Death, America's First Female Architect Gets Her Due|work=Co.Design|date=December 18, 2013|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1877
Helen Magill White was the first woman in America to earn the Ph.D. degree (in Greek).
1878
Emma Abbott was the first American woman to form her own opera company.

= 1880s =

1880
Belva Ann Lockwood was the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court of the United States.[http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/firsts-us-women Knowledge Center | Catalyst.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312072521/http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/firsts-us-women |date=2013-03-12 }}
Mary Myers, a balloonist, who was the first woman to fly solo - done 4 July 1880 at Little Falls, New York.{{sfn|Kane|1997|p=47}}
1881
Emma Amelia Hall became the first woman to head a state institution in Michigan when she was appointed as the first superintendent of Michigan's Girls Training School, Adrian, Michigan.{{cite book |last=Harley|first= Rachel Brett|year=1992|title= Michigan Women Firsts and Founders|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xUnaAAAAMAAJ|access-date=December 31, 2023|location= Ann Arbor, Michigan|publisher= Michigan Women's Studies Association|page=32|isbn=978-0-961-93901-4}}
1887
Susanna M. Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas, becoming the first woman mayor in the United States.Grout, Pam (2002). Kansas Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Guilford, Conn: Globe Pequot Press.Rutgers,Center for American Women and Politics, Firsts for Women in U.S. Politics
Phoebe Couzins was the first American woman to serve as a United States Marshal.Willard, Frances E., and Mary Ashton Rice Livermore(1973). American Women: Fifteen Hundred Biographies with Over 1,400 Portraits; a Comprehensive Encyclopedia of the Lives and Achievements of American Women During the Nineteenth Century. Detroit: Gale Research Co.

= 1890s =

1890
Amanda Theodosia Jones established the first all-women's company, called Women's Canning and Preserving Company
1891
Marie Owens, born in Canada, was hired as America's first female police officer, joining the Chicago Police Department.{{cite web|url=http://www.makers.com/blog/200-years-womens-firsts/7|title=MAKERS|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Irene Williams Coit, was the first woman passing the Yale College entrance examination.{{cite book|last1=Willard|first1=Frances Elizabeth, 1839-1898|last2=Livermore|first2=Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905|title=A woman of the century; fourteen hundred-seventy biographical sketches accompanied by portraits of leading American women in all walks of life|date=1893|publisher=Buffalo, N.Y., Moulton|page=190|url=https://archive.org/details/womanofcenturyfo00will|access-date=8 August 2017}}{{PD-notice}}
1892
Wilhelmina Weber Furlong was the first American woman Modernist studio painter from the early American Modernism scene in Manhattan, New YorkThe Biography of Wilhelmina Weber Furlong: The Treasured Collection of Golden Heart Farm by Clint B. Weber, {{ISBN|978-0-9851601-0-4}}
1893
Florence Kelley was the first woman to hold statewide office when Governor John Peter Altgeld appointed her Chief Factory Inspector for the state of Illinois.Kathryn Kish Sklar, "Florence Kelley", Women Building Chicago, 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary, Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast, eds., Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 2001, p. 463
1896
May Irwin was the first actress in America to kiss on screen, which she did in the film The Kiss.Cullen, Frank (2004). Vaudeville, old and new: an encyclopedia of variety performers. New York: Routledge.
1899
Eleonora de Cisneros was the first American trained opera singer the Metropolitan Opera company hired.

{{cite web |url= http://oxfordindex.oup.com/viewoverview/10.1093$002foi$002fauthority.20110803095613498 |title= Eleonora de Cisneros|author= |year= 2014 |publisher= Oxford University Press |access-date=4 February 2014}}

20th century

= 1900s =

File:May Sutton1.jpg

1900
Margaret Abbott was the first American woman to win an Olympic event (women's golf tournament at the 1900 Paris Games); she was the first American woman, and the second woman overall to do it.Buchanan, Andrea J., Miriam Peskowitz, and Alexis Seabrook (2007). The daring book for girls. New York: Collins.
Carro Clark was the first American woman to establish, own and manage a book publishing firm (The C. M. Clark Company opened in Boston).{{Cite news|url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/50414575/|title = Women here and abroad|date = August 26, 1902|work = Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date = January 7, 2016}}
1905
May Sutton was the first American woman to win Wimbledon.Conner, Floyd (2002). Tennis's most wanted: the top 10 book of baseline blunders, clay court wonders, and lucky lobs. London: Brassey's.
1907
Dorothy Tyler was the first known American woman jockey.Miller, Ernestine G. 2002. Making her mark: firsts and milestones in women's sports. Chicago: Contemporary Books.
1908
Lola Baldwin was the first known woman performing duties as police officer in the United States; she worked at Portland Police Bureau until 1922.
The first Mother's Day was observed; Anna Jarvis is noted as the driving force for recognition of this holiday.Sterling, Mary Ellen, and Dona Rice (1997). The 20th century. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
The first U.S. Navy nurses, known as the Sacred Twenty, were appointed; they were all women, and were the first women to formally serve in the U.S. Navy.{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/nurses/nurses.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819020908/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/prs-tpic/nurses/nurses.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 19, 2000|title=Nurses and the U.S. Navy|date=August 19, 2000|access-date=May 2, 2019}}
Poet Julia Ward Howe was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/first-woman-elected-to-american-academy-of-arts-and-letters-jan-28-1908-102659.html#ixzz2rteFSFRv|title=First woman elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters, Jan. 28, 1908|author=Andrew Glass|work=POLITICO|date=January 28, 2014 |access-date=March 14, 2015}}
1909
Carolyn B. Shelton became the first woman to serve as acting governor of a U.S. state; she performed the duties as governor of Oregon just over the weekend in absence of both outgoing and incoming full-time governor.{{cite web|url=https://www.opb.org/news/article/carolyn-b-shelton-chamberlain-oregon-governor-history/|title=The Governor Who Couldn't Vote: Why History Forgot Oregon's 1st Female Head Of State|author=Bryan M. Vance|work=Oregon Public Broadcasting|date=December 17, 2018}}

= 1910s =

1910
Alice Stebbins Wells was the first American-born woman sworn in as a police officer, which she did at Los Angeles Police Department.Newton, Michael. (2007). The encyclopedia of American law enforcement. New York: Facts On File.
Florence Lawrence was America's first movie star.Brown, Kelly R (1999). Florence Lawrence, the Biograph girl: America's first movie star. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.
1911
Harriet Quimby was the first woman licensed as an airplane pilot in America.Betz, Paul R., and Mark C. Carnes (2002). American national biography. Supplement. New York: Oxford University Press.
Clara Elizabeth Chan Lee was the first Chinese American woman to register to vote in the United States; she registered to vote on November 8, 1911, in California following the passage of 1911 California Proposition 4, nine years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1912
Girl Guides of America (now Girl Scouts of the USA) was established as the first voluntary organization for girls.
1914
Caresse Crosby was the first woman to patent a brassiere.Shaw, Charles (2011). The Untold Stories of Excellence From a Life of Despair and Uncertainty to One That Offers Hope and a New Beginning. Xlibris Corp.{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
1916
Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States.Whitelaw, Nancy (1994). Margaret Sanger: "every child a wanted child". New York: Dillon Press.Sanger, Margaret (1938). Margaret Sanger an autobiography. New York: Norton.
November 7 - Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to a national office; she represented Montana as the first woman in the U.S. House of Representatives or either chamber of U.S. Congress.Schultz, Jeffrey D., and Laura A. Van Assendelft (1999). Encyclopedia of women in American politics. Phoenix, Ariz: Oryx Press.
1917
Loretta Perfectus Walsh was the first woman to enlist in the U.S. Navy.Kane, Joseph Nathan (1981). Famous first facts: a record of first happenings, discoveries, and inventions in American history. New York: H.W. Wilson.
1918
Annette Abbott Adams was the first woman to serve as Assistant Attorney General, "...the highest judicial position any woman in the world had ever held".O'Dea, Suzanne (1999). From suffrage to the Senate: an encyclopedia of American women in politics. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the United States Marines.Lacy, Linda Cates (2004). We are Marines!: World War I to the present. [North Carolina]: Tar Heel Chapter, NC-1, Women Marines Association.
Myrtle Hazard was the first uniformed woman to serve in the United States Coast Guard.{{Cite web |last=Vojvodich |first=Donna |date=2023-03-24 |title=The Long Blue Line: The Baker Twins—Re-searching the first female Coasties - or were they? |url=https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3311017/the-long-blue-line-the-baker-twinsre-searching-the-first-female-coasties-or-wer/ |access-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230628043621/https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3311017/the-long-blue-line-the-baker-twinsre-searching-the-first-female-coasties-or-wer/ |archive-date= 2023-06-28 |url-status=live |website=United States Coast Guard |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal|date=September 1950|title=Original SPAR Declares Women Have an Important Place in a War Effort|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U6HVAAAAMAAJ&q=Mrs.+Harry+W.+Gambrill&pg=PA26|journal=Coast Guard Bulletin|volume=6|pages=26–28}}
Sara Teasdale was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (for her collection Love Songs){{cite web |url=http://bellefontainecemetery.org/timeline/sara-teasdale-1884-1933/ |title=Sara Teasdale 1884–1933 |publisher=Bellefontaine Cemetery |access-date=2013-09-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203004450/http://bellefontainecemetery.org/timeline/sara-teasdale-1884-1933/ |archive-date=2014-02-03 }}

= 1920s =

File:Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (cropped 02).jpg

1920
Marie Luhring was the first woman in America to become an automotive engineer.McCullough, Joan (1980). First of all: significant "firsts" by American women. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
1921
Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (for her novel The Age of Innocence).Wharton, Edith (1928). The children. New York: D. Appleton and Co.
Margaret Gorman was the first winner of Miss America beauty pageant.Gourley, Catherine (2008). Flappers and the new American woman: perceptions of women from 1918 through the 1920s. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.Lurie, Maxine N., and Marc Mappen (2004). Encyclopedia of New Jersey. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
June 20 - Alice Mary Robertson became the first woman to preside over the U.S. House of Representatives or either chamber of U.S. Congress; however, she was opposed to women's suffrage.
Zona Gale was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (for her play Miss Lulu Bett){{cite web|url=http://minttheater.org/archive-miss-lulu-bett.php?tab=tab-1 |title=Miss Lulu Bett | Archives | Mint Theater Company |date=March 21, 2000 |publisher=Minttheater.org |access-date=2013-09-05}}
1922
November 21 - Rebecca Latimer Felton became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate; she appointed by the state governor to represent Georgia, although she served for only one day.
1923
Florence King became the first woman to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court (Crown v. Nye).{{cite book|author=Sybil E. Hatch|title=Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKptTDl6eUcC&pg=PA204|date=1 January 2006|publisher=ASCE Publications|isbn=978-0-7844-0835-3|pages=204–}}
1923
Ella Lillian Wall Van Leer became the first woman to serve in an office of the American Legion and would later successfully advocate for women to be admitted into Georgia Tech.{{cite magazine |url=https://issuu.com/gtalumni/docs/2002_79_2 |volume=79 |number=2 |date=Fall 2002 |title=Ella Van Leer: The 'backbone' of women at Tech |page=42 |magazine=Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine}}{{cite web |url=http://www.news.gatech.edu/features/125-years-greek-life |title=Greek Life Commemorates 125 Years at Tech |access-date=17 April 2018 |author-last=Spikes |author-first=Lauren |date=1 November 2013 |website=news.gatech.edu |publisher=Georgia Tech}}
1924
Florence Bolan became the first unofficial U.S. Secret Service special agent.{{Cite web |date=July 5, 2015 |title=A history of the Secret Service |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/a-history-of-the-secret-service/ |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=FY 2022 United States Secret Service Annual Report |url=https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-02/fy-2022-annual-report-final.pdf |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=United States Secret Service |page=26}}{{PD-notice}}
Juliana R. Force was the first woman to present folk art in an official public showing exhibition in America.
1925
Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman elected governor of a U.S. state; she nominated for the unexpired term as governor of Wyoming upon the death of her husband.
An All-Woman Supreme Court in Texas, the first woman-majority state Supreme Court in U.S. history, sits for a five-month special sitting on a single case, disbanding shortly afterward.
1926
Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim across the English Channel.Adler, David A., and Terry Widener (2000). America's champion swimmer: Gertrude Ederle. San Diego: Harcourt.
1928
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic ocean.Van Pelt, Lori (2005). Amelia Earhart: the sky's no limit. New York: Forge.
Genevieve R. Cline was the first woman appointed as a United States federal judge.Felder, Deborah G (1999). A century of women: the most influential events in twentieth-century women's history. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group.

= 1930s =

File:Jane Addams - Bain News Service.jpg

1930
Ellen Church was the first female flight attendant in America; she suggested the idea of female nurses on board to Boeing Air Transport, claiming that if people felt safer they would fly more.Gazdik, Mark (2004). Vault guide to flight attendant careers. New York, NY: Vault.
1931
Jane Addams was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize; she shared the prize with Nicholas Murray Butler.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/ |title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1931 |publisher=Nobelprize.org |access-date=2013-09-06}}{{cite web |url=http://www.congressforkids.net/citizenship_6_janeaddams.htm |title=Citizenship]: Jane Addams - Nobel Peace Prize Winner |publisher=Congress for Kids |access-date=2013-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905160341/http://www.congressforkids.net/citizenship_6_janeaddams.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2013 |url-status=dead }}
1932
Hattie Caraway was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000138|title=CARAWAY, Hattie Wyatt - Biographical Information|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1933
Ruth Bryan Owen became the first woman ever to serve as a chief of mission at the minister rank, and as such the first woman to serve as minister to Denmark and Iceland; she served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2005/html/56313.htm |title=Women in Diplomacy |website=state.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of State |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025013634/https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/perfrpt/2005/html/56313.htm |archive-date=October 25, 2020}}
Frances Perkins became the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet, and as such the first woman to serve as Secretary of Labor; she served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0916FF3D5F147A93C7A8178ED85F418685F9|title=Frances Perkins, The First Woman In Cabinet, Is Dead|work=The New York Times |date=May 15, 1965|access-date=November 9, 2008}}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/roosevelt-appoint-first-ever-female-cabinet-member|title=Roosevelt to Appoint First-Ever Female Cabinet Member|magazine=The Nation|first= Oswald G.|last=Villard|date=December 8, 2008|access-date=February 22, 2011}}Keller, Emily (2006). Frances Perkins: first woman cabinet member. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds Pub.
1934
Gertrude Atherton was the first woman to be president of the (American) National Academy of Literature.Davis, Cynthia J., and Kathryn West (1996). Women writers in the United States: a timeline of literary, cultural, and social history. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lettie Pate Whitehead was the first woman to serve as a director of a major corporation (The Coca-Cola Company).
1935

Kate Galt Zaneis was the first woman to lead a state college or university in the United States when she became president of Southeastern Oklahoma State Teachers College.{{cite web |title=Former Southeastern president Kate Galt Zaneis, Distinguished Alumnus Buddy Spencer to be honored by Oklahoma Higher Ed Hall of Fame |url=https://www.se.edu/2022/08/former-southeastern-president-kate-galt-zaneis-distinguished-alumnus-buddy-spencer-to-be-honored-by-oklahoma-higher-ed-hall-of-fame/ |website=Southeastern Oklahoma State University |date=August 2022 |access-date=7 November 2022}}
1937
Grace Hudowalski was the ninth person and first woman to climb all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks.{{cite web|url=http://www.syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2014/06/adirondack_mountain_renamed_after_first_woman_to_scale_all_46_high_peaks.html|title=Adirondack mountain renamed after first woman to scale all 46 High Peaks|work=syracuse.com|date=June 12, 2014|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite web |title=Tribute to Grace Hudowalski 46er #9 |publisher=Adirondack Forum |date=March 14, 2004 |archive-date=2010-01-16 |url=http://www.adkforum.com/archive/index.php?t-519.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116033946/http://adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=519 |url-status=dead |access-date=2016-12-09}}{{cite web |title=Grace Peak Update 11-23-08 |date=November 23, 2008 |publisher=Views From The Top |url=http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26413 |access-date=2011-05-16}}
1938
Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.{{cite web|url=http://www.gradesaver.com/author/pearl-buck/ |title=Biography of Pearl S. Buck | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays |publisher=GradeSaver |access-date=2013-09-06}}
1939
Molly Kool was North America's first registered female sea captain or ship master.{{cite book|last=Baird|first=Donal M.|title=Women at Sea in the Age of Sail |url=https://archive.org/details/womenatseainageo0000bair|url-access=registration|publisher=Nimbus|date=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenatseainageo0000bair/page/2 2], 215|chapter=Last days of Sail|isbn=1-55109-267-0}}

= 1940s =

File:Georgia Neese Clark cph.3f05813.jpg

1940s
Lois Fegan Farrell was the first female reporter to cover a professional hockey team in America.{{cite web|url=http://blog.pennlive.com/life/2013/06/remembering_lois_fegan_farrell.html|title=Remembering Lois Fegan Farrell: first female reporter to cover a professional hockey team|work=PennLive.com|date=June 26, 2013|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1942
Anna Leah Fox was the first woman to receive the Purple Heart, which she received for being wounded in the attack on Pearl Harbor.Felder, Deborah G (2003). A century of women: the most influential events in twentieth-century women's history. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Mildred H. McAfee was the first woman commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal{{cite book|last1=Dilley|first1=Patrick|title=The Transformation of Women's Collegiate Education: The Legacy of Virginia Gildersleeve|date=2016|publisher=Springer|page=103|isbn=9783319468617|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMCiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA103|access-date=10 October 2017}}
1943
Nellie Neilson was the first woman to serve as president of the American Historical Association.Scott, Anne Firor (1993). Unheard voices: the first historians of southern women. Charlottesville: University of Virginia.
Edith Ellen Greenwood was the first woman to receive the Soldier's Medal.
1944
Cordelia E Cook was the first woman to receive both the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.{{sfn|Kane|1997|p=358}}
Ann Baumgartner was the first woman to fly a jet aircraft, the Bell YP-59A on October 14, 1944.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070323-027.pdf|title=FLYING FOR FREEDOM The Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots|work=Teacher Resource Guide|publisher=National Museum of the United States Air Force|access-date=2 March 2010|location=United States|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226112912/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070323-027.pdf|archive-date=26 December 2010}}
1946
Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first American canonized by the Roman Catholic church as a saint.{{cite web|url=http://cabrinifoundation.org/about-the-foundation/mother-cabrini/|title=Mother Cabrini|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914145734/http://cabrinifoundation.org/about-the-foundation/mother-cabrini/|archive-date=September 14, 2011|url-status=dead}}
1947
Gerty Cori was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; she shared the prize with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Bernardo Alberto Houssay.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/18/women-nobel-prize-winners-science-award_n_3541686.html#slide=2600374 |title=Women Nobel Prize Winners: 16 Women Who Defied Odds To Win Science's Top Award (PHOTOS) |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date= 2013-08-18|access-date=2013-09-05 |first=Adam |last=Toobin}}{{cite web |author=Anna Grace |url=http://www.eugeneweekly.com/article/sexism-stage |title=Sexism on the Stage |publisher=eugeneweekly.com |date=2012-02-09 |access-date=2013-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219110601/http://www.eugeneweekly.com/article/sexism-stage |archive-date=February 19, 2014 |url-status=dead }} Although born in Prague, Gerty Cori is considered the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine.{{cite web |url=http://www.missourilife.com/life/top-10-women-who-changed-missouri%3A-gerty-cori/ |title=Top 10 Women Who Changed Missouri: Gerty Cori |publisher=MissouriLife.com |date=2013-03-08 |access-date=2013-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201194556/http://www.missourilife.com/life/top-10-women-who-changed-missouri%3A-gerty-cori/ |archive-date=2014-02-01 |url-status=dead }} She had become a U.S. citizen in 1928.{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/cori.html |title=Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=2013-09-06}}
1948
Esther McGowin Blake was the first woman in the U.S. Air Force. She enlisted in the first minute of the first hour of the first day regular Air Force duty was authorized for women on July 8, 1948.{{cite web|url=http://www.andrews.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123338611|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131214204902/http://www.andrews.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123338611|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 14, 2013|title=Feature - Esther Blake: First enlisted woman in the Air Force|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1949
Georgia Neese Clark Gray was the first woman Treasurer of the United States; she served under President Harry Truman.Leavitt, Judith A (1985). American women managers and administrators: a selective biographical dictionary of twentieth-century leaders in business, education, and government. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
Eugenie Anderson became the first woman ever to serve as a chief of mission at the ambassador rank, and as such the first woman to serve as United States Ambassador to Denmark; she served under President Harry S. Truman.
Shirley Dinsdale was the first recipient of the Emmy Award.O'Neil, Thomas (2000). The Emmys: the ultimate, unofficial guide to the battle of TV's best shows and greatest stars. New York: Perigee.
Sara Christian was the first woman to compete in a major-league stock car race, competing in NASCAR's inaugural Strictly Stock (now NASCAR Cup Series) event.{{cite web|url=http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2011/08/26/retro-racing-maumann-dpatrick-history-women-nascar.html|title=Patrick follows in the footsteps of pioneers|last=Mark|first=Aumann|date=August 26, 2011|work=NASCAR.com|publisher=Turner Sports|access-date=2013-07-16}}

= 1950s =

File:Tenley Albright in Tokyo 1953-4-29.jpg

1950
On May 12, Emma Bailey held an auction in Brattleboro, Vermont, becoming the first American woman auctioneer.{{Cite news|last=Hewett|first=David|date=1983-05-19|title=Emma Bailey: reflections on life as America's first woman auctioneer|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1983/0519/051907.html|access-date=2021-11-05|issn=0882-7729}}
1951
Maryly Van Leer Peck became Vanderbilt University's first chemical engineer graduate. Peck also became the first woman to receive an M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Florida. Later she became the first female member of Tau Beta Pi, the oldest engineering honor society. Peck later became the first woman to be named president of any of Florida's community colleges.{{cite news|last=Chambliss|first=John|title=Maryly Van Leer Peck, Former PCC President, Dies at 81|url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20111104/NEWS/111109708|access-date=26 March 2018|newspaper=TheLedger.com|date=November 4, 2011}}{{cite interview |last=Van Leer Peck |first=Maryly |interviewer=Lauren Kata |title=Oral-History: Maryly Van Leer Peck |work=Profiles of SWE Pioneers Oral History Project| url=http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Maryly_Van_Leer_Peck|publisher=Engineering and Technology History Wiki |location=Winter Haven, Florida |date=13 June 2003|access-date=26 March 2018}}
1951
December 16: Anna Der-Vartanian became the U.S. Navy's first female master chief petty officer; this made her the first female master chief in the Navy, as well as the first female E-9 in the entire U.S. Armed Services. She received a personal letter from then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower congratulating her on her accomplishment.{{cite web|last=Daniel |first=Amber Lynn |url=http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=64075 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805090729/http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=64075 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |title=Navy's First Female Master Chief Petty Officer Laid to Rest at Arlington |publisher=Navy.mil |date=November 30, 2011 |access-date=December 18, 2011}}
1951
Paula Ackerman was the first woman in America to perform rabbinical functions.Nadell, Pamela Susan (1998). Women who would be rabbis a history of women's ordination, 1889-1985. Boston: Beacon Press. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/39013634.html.
Arie Taylor became the first black person to become a U.S. Women's Air Force classroom instructor.{{cite web |url=http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/africanamerican/25.html |title=Claiming Their Citizenship: African American Women From 1624–2009 |publisher=Nwhm.org |access-date=2013-01-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227155748/http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/africanamerican/25.html |archive-date=2012-02-27 }}
Helen E. Myers of Lancaster, Pa., a 1941 graduate of Temple University, was commissioned as the U.S. Army Dental Corps' first woman dental officer.{{cite journal |last=Hyson |first=John M. |url=http://www.cda.org/library/cda_member/pubs/journal/jour0602/hyson.html |title=Women Dentists: The Origins |journal=Journal of the California Dental Association |date=June 2002 |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=444–53 |doi=10.1080/19424396.2002.12223293 |pmid=12519054 |s2cid=26571662 |access-date=December 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402130624/http://www.cda.org/library/cda_member/pubs/journal/jour0602/hyson.html |archive-date=April 2, 2012 }}
1953

Fae Adams was the first female to receive regular commission as a doctor in the United States Army.Giele, Janet Zollinger, and Leslie F. Stebbins (2003). Women and equality in the workplace: a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Oveta Culp Hobby became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; she served under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.{{cite web|url=http://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/womens-history-month-oveta-culp-hobby-senator-kay-bailey-hutchison|title=Women's History Month: "Oveta Culp Hobby" by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison - Humanities Texas|access-date=March 14, 2015}}
Toni Stone, also known by her married name Marcenia Lyle Alberga, was the first of three women to play Negro league baseball, and thus the first woman to play as a regular on an American big-league professional baseball team.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/10/sports/toni-stone-75-first-woman-to-play-big-league-baseball.html|title=Toni Stone, 75, First Woman To Play Big-League Baseball|first=Robert McG. Jr.|last=Thomas|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 10, 1996|access-date=May 2, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/black-woman-pro-baseball-toni-stone|title=The Black woman of pro baseball, Toni Stone|access-date=March 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804034926/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/black-woman-pro-baseball-toni-stone|archive-date=August 4, 2015|url-status=dead}}
Ruby Bradley, upon leaving Korea, was given a full-dress honor guard ceremony, the first woman ever to receive a national or international guard salute.{{cite news|last1=McLellan|first1=Dennis|title=Ruby Bradley, 94; Army Nurse Was 'Angel in Fatigues' for POWs|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-02-me-bradley2-story.html|access-date=October 24, 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 2, 2002}}
1954
Jewel Prestage, first African-American woman to complete a doctorate in political science in the United States.{{Cite news|url=https://www.essence.com/2014/08/02/first-black-woman-earn-phd-political-science-dies|title=First Black Woman To Earn a Ph.D In Political Science Dies|work=Essence.com|access-date=2018-05-29|language=en}}
1955
Betty Robbins, born in Greece, was the first female cantor (hazzan) in the 5,000-year-old history of Judaism.{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/judaism_101/jt/judaism_101/the_first_cantor/ |title=Baltimore Jewish Times|publisher=Jewishtimes.com |access-date=2012-07-17}} She was appointed cantor of the reform{{cite news|last=Andres|first=Holly J.|title=Conservatice Female Cantor Fits In Religion|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CONSERVATIVE+FEMALE+CANTOR+FITS+IN+RELIGION%3A+LINDA+RICH+FOLLOWS...-a0176008848|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214140843/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CONSERVATIVE+FEMALE+CANTOR+FITS+IN+RELIGION%3A+LINDA+RICH+FOLLOWS...-a0176008848|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 14, 2013|access-date=2012-08-26|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|date=2008-03-01}} Temple Avodah in Oceanside, New York, in 1955,{{cite news|title=Religion: Woman Cantor|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807498,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215050639/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807498,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 15, 2008|access-date=2012-08-26|newspaper=TIME Magazine|date=1955-08-15}} when she was 31 and the Temple was without a cantor for the High Holidays.{{cite web|last=Robbins|first=Sandra|title=Betty Robbins|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/robbins-betty|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|access-date=2012-08-26}}{{cite news|title=Woman Named Cantor|access-date=8 March 2012|newspaper=The Portsmouth Times|date=4 August 1955|agency=AP|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5YlaAAAAIBAJ&pg=2973,5464741&dq=betty-robbins+cantor&hl=en|location=Oceanside, New Jersey}}
Clotilde Dent Bowen became the U.S. Army's first black female physician to attain the rank of colonel.
1956
Tenley Albright was the first woman in America to win the Olympic gold medal in figure skating.McDougall, Chros (2011). Girls play to win figure skating. Chicago: Norwood House Press.
1957
Decoy: Police Woman was the first television show to feature a female police officer, and in fact the first built around a female protagonist.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/decoy-police-woman-was-glimpse-things-come-204682|title=Decoy: Police Woman was a glimpse of things to come|website=The A.V. Club |date=May 19, 2014 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
1959
Arlene Pieper became the first woman to officially finish a marathon in the United States when she finished the Pikes Peak Marathon in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in 1959.{{cite web|url=http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/mystique.htm|title=First woman to run marathon in US - PPM|publisher=Pikespeakmarathon.org|access-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211125822/http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/mystique.htm|archive-date=2017-02-11|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://marathonandbeyond.com/2013/11/arlene-pieper-1st-lady-marathoner/|title=Arlene Pieper – 1st Lady Marathoner|publisher=Marathonandbeyond.com|access-date=6 October 2014}}

= 1960s =

File:Judy Garland at Greek Theater.jpg

Wilma L. Vaught became the first woman to deploy with a Strategic Air Command operational unit.{{cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/105332/brigadier-general-wilma-l-vaught/ |title=Biographies: Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught |publisher=United States Air Force |access-date=2014-06-25}}
1960
Master Gunnery Sergeant Geraldine M. Moran became the first female Marine promoted to E-9.{{cite web|url=http://www.womenmarines.org/wm_history.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812080527/http://www.womenmarines.org/wm_history.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 12, 2009|title=History of the Women Marines|website=Women Marines Association|access-date=June 22, 2013}}
1961
The first female U.S. Marine to be promoted to Sergeant Major (Bertha Peters Billeb).{{cite web|url=http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/timeline.html |title=Women in Military Service For America Memorial |publisher=Womensmemorial.org |date=July 27, 1950 |access-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629034939/http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/timeline.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 }}
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy began her role as the first Catholic First Lady of the United States.
1962
Pearl Faurie became the first SPAR in the U.S. Coast Guard advanced to E-9.
Judy Garland became the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, winning for Judy at Carnegie Hall. She was also the first woman to win the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.{{cite web |author1=Zach Laws |author2=Chris Beachum |title=Golden Globes: 75-year history of all Cecil B. DeMille Award recipients includes Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, George Clooney |url=http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/golden-globes-75-year-history-cecil-b-demille-award-photo-gallery-news/ |publisher=Gold Derby |access-date=10 April 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180126030540/http://www.goldderby.com/article/2017/golden-globes-75-year-history-cecil-b-demille-award-photo-gallery-news/ |archive-date=26 January 2018 |date=17 October 2017}}
1963
Maria Goeppert Mayer was the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics; she shared the prize with Eugene Paul Wigner and J. Hans D. Jensen.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 |publisher=Nobelprize.org |access-date=September 6, 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HULGDNDSenYC&q=%22first+american+woman+to+win+a+nobel+prize+in+physics%22&pg=PA163 |title=The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science - Julie Des Jardins - Google Books |isbn=9781558616554 |access-date=September 6, 2013|last1=Jardins |first1=Julie Des |date=March 2010 |publisher=The Feminist Press at CUNY }} She was born in Poland, but became a U.S. citizen in 1933.{{cite web|url=http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/MAYER.html |title=Mayer, Maria Goeppert |publisher=Astr.ua.edu |access-date=September 6, 2013}}
Sarah T. Hughes was the first and only woman to swear in the President of the United States
1964

File:Jerrie Mock 1964.JPG, flying solo in 1964, became the first woman to fly around the world]]

Jerrie Mock was the first woman to fly solo around the world, which she did in a Cessna 180 named the Spirit of Columbus.{{cite web|url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/09/13/trailblazing-female-pilot-honored-in-bronze-in-newark.html|title=Trailblazing woman pilot honored in bronze in Newark|author=Dean Narciso|work=The Columbus Dispatch|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite book|last=Buchanan|first=Paul D.|title=American Women's Rights Movement: A Chronology of Events and of Opportunities from 1600 to 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc9Pzsa2zyUC&pg=PA183|access-date=May 22, 2011|date=September 15, 2009|publisher=Branden Books|isbn=978-0-8283-2160-0|pages=183–}} The trip, which began on March 19, 1964, at the Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, and ended there on April 17, 1964,{{cite web|url=http://womenaviators.org/JerrieMock.html |title=Women Aviators |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227011718/http://womenaviators.org/JerrieMock.html |archive-date=2014-02-27 }} took 29 1/2 days, 21 stopovers and almost 22,860 miles.Mock, Jerrie: Three-Eight Charlie, First Edition, 1970. {{oclc|97976}}, {{asin|B007T093MK}} (paperback), {{asin|B002KTC39K}} (hardcover)
Carol Doda was the first woman in America to perform as a topless entertainer.
Isabel Benham was the first female partner in R.W. Pressprich & Co.'s 55-year history, which also made her the first female partner at any Wall Street bond house.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/isabel-benham-dies-railroad-expert-first-female-partner-at-a-wall-street-bond-house/2013/06/12/6e604ade-d387-11e2-b05f-3ea3f0e7bb5a_story.html |title=Isabel Benham dies; railroad expert first female partner at a Wall Street bond house |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2013-06-12 |access-date=2013-06-17 |first=Laurence |last=Arnold}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/management/obituary-isabel-h-benham-103.html

|title= Obituary: Isabel H. Benham, 103 |journal=Railway Age | date= June 14, 2013 }}

1964
Alice K. Kurashige became the first Japanese-American woman commissioned in the United States Marine Corps.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nn7Dj6qUn6kC&q=Alice+Kurashige&pg=PA45|last=Frank|first=Lisa Tendrich|title=An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2013|page=45|isbn=9781598844443}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9e2gTIOOxqwC&q=Alice+Kurashige&pg=PA116|title=Japanese Americans in San Diego|last=Hasegawa|first=Susan|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|date=2008|page=116|isbn=9780738559513}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/61361587/|title=This American Marine Is Oriental and Female|newspaper=San Bernardino County Sun|date=Jan 8, 1970|page=21}}
1965
Rachel Henderlite was the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church in the United States; she was ordained by the Hanover Presbytery in Virginia.{{cite web|url=http://www.napconline.org/articles/dateline_of_women_in_ministry.html|title=NAPC - National Association of Presbyterian Clergywomen|access-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928034719/http://www.napconline.org/articles/dateline_of_women_in_ministry.html|archive-date=28 September 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://pres-outlook.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1104|title=Women Ministers (1955–1966) and Margaret Towner|author=James H. Smylie|work=The Presbyterian Outlook|date=February 6, 2006|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1966
Roberta Louise "Bobbi" Gibb was the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon.{{cite web|url=http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history.aspx |title=B.A.A.: Boston Marathon History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307073949/http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history.aspx |archive-date=2012-03-07 }}
1967
Victorine du Pont Homsey was the first woman elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.{{Cite book |last=Allaback |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpY0KmICqKYC |title=The First American Women Architects |date=2008 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-03321-6 |language=en}}
Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry.{{cite web|url=http://kathrineswitzer.com/about-kathrine/kathrines-short-bio/|title=Kathrine Switzer Marathon Woman - Author. Activist. Athlete.|work=Kathrine Switzer - Marathon Woman|date=January 15, 2013 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Muriel Siebert was the first female member of the New York Stock Exchange.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/26/215663862/the-last-word-in-business|title=First Female Member Of NYSE Muriel Siebert Dies At 80|date=26 August 2013|work=NPR.org|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1969
Carol Doda was the first woman in America to perform as a bottomless entertainer.Allyn, David (2001). Make love, not war: the sexual revolution, an unfettered history. New York: Routledge.

= 1970s =

File:Anthony dollar coin.jpg coin]]

1970
Diane Crump was the first woman in America to ride in the Kentucky Derby, she placed fifteenth.Kleber, John E (2001). The encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky.
Patricia Palinkas was the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.{{cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1992/04/05/pat-parlinkas-the-only-woman-to-play-professional-football/|access-date=August 25, 2011|date=April 5, 1992|title=Pat Parlinkas, The Only Woman To Play Professional Football|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|first1=Gary|last1=McKechnie|first2=Nancy|last2=Howell}}
1972
Alene Duerk becomes the first woman to obtain the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.{{cite web |title=Navy's First Female Admiral, Alene Duerk, Passes Away | website=Naval History and Heritage Command |date=21 July 2018 |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/news-and-events/news/2018/navy-s-first-female-admiral--alene-duerk--passes-away.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531162658/https://www.history.navy.mil/news-and-events/news/2018/navy-s-first-female-admiral--alene-duerk--passes-away.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |access-date=12 March 2023}}
Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington were the first women in the United States promoted to brigadier general.{{cite news|author=Matt Schudel |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-03-me-hoisington3-story.html |title=Elizabeth P. Hoisington, 88; pioneering brigadier general led the Women's Army Corps - Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=2005-03-06 |access-date=2013-09-05}}
Sally Priesand was ordained on June 3, 1972, by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's president Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk at Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati,{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_qkP-xe7Lp4C&pg=PA20| title=Women Rabbis: Exploration & Celebration: Papers Delivered at an Academic Conference Honoring Twenty Years of Women in the Rabbinate, 1972-1992 | publisher=Hebrew Union College Press | editor=Zola, Gary Phillip | year=1996 | page=20 | isbn=0-87820-214-5}} making her the first woman ordained as a rabbi in the United States, and only the second woman ever formally ordained in the history of Judaism.Blau, Eleanor. [https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/04/archives/1st-woman-rabbi-in-us-ordained-she-may-be-only-the-second-in.html "1st Woman Rabbi in U.S. Ordained; She May Be Only the Second in History of Judaism"], The New York Times, June 4, 1972. Retrieved September 17, 2009. "Sally J. Priesand was ordained at the Isaac M. Wise Temple here today, becoming the first woman rabbi in this country and it is believed, the second in the history of Judaism."
Katharine Graham was the first female Fortune 500 CEO, as CEO of the Washington Post company.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UD9TOvA3cy0C&q=%22first+female+fortune+500+ceo%22&pg=PT41|title=The Impulse Factor|isbn=9781471109812|access-date=14 March 2015|last1=Tasler|first1=Nick|date=December 11, 2012|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}
Tonie Nathan was the first woman in America to receive an electoral vote for vice president in a presidential election.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Boaz |first=David |author-link= David Boaz |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |title= Nathan, Toni (1923– )|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC&q=encyclopedia+of+libertarianism |year=2008 |publisher= SAGE; Cato Institute |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi= 10.4135/9781412965811.n212|isbn= 978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |page=347 }}
1973
Shirley Muldowney was the first woman to receive a NHRA license to drive Top Fuel dragsters, the highest level of the drag racing sport.{{cite web |url=http://www.hotrod.com/whereitbegan/hrdp_0904_shirley_muldowney_interview/top_fuel_license_championship.html |title=In Their Own Words: Shirley Muldowney / Top Fuel License |publisher=Hot Rod Magazine |author=Bill McGuire |access-date=December 19, 2009 |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216060103/http://www.hotrod.com/whereitbegan/hrdp_0904_shirley_muldowney_interview/top_fuel_license_championship.html |url-status=dead }}
1974
Jeannette Piccard was the first female balloon pilot licensed in the United States; she was also the first woman to ascend to the stratosphere.Shayler, David, and Ian A. Moule (2005). Women in space: -- following Valentina. Chichester, UK: Praxis Pub.
Ella T. Grasso was the first woman elected a U.S. governor who was not the wife or widow of a governor. She was elected governor of Connecticut.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/06/nyregion/ex-gov-grasso-of-connecticut-dead-of-cancer.html | work=The New York Times | first=Matthew L. | last=Wald | title=Ex-Gov. Grasso Of Connecticut Dead Of Cancer | date=1981-02-06}}
1975
Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz was the first female cantor ordained in Reform Judaism, in 1975.{{cite web|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cantors-american-jewish-women|title=Cantors: American Jewish Women|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Carla Anderson Hills became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; she served under President Gerald Ford.{{cite web|url=http://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial/oralhistory/carla-hills/|title=Carla Hills|work=Gerald R. Ford Foundation|date=May 28, 2013|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ni0inG4e0AoC&q=%22first+woman+%22+%22secretary+of+housing+and+urban+development%22+carla&pg=PA172|title=Women and Politics: The Pursuit of Equality|isbn=9780495802662|access-date=14 March 2015|last1=Ford|first1=Lynne E.|date=January 12, 2010|publisher=Cengage Learning }}
Alice Rivlin became founder and the first woman to serve as Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/05/14/695947928/alice-rivlin-first-woman-to-serve-as-budget-director-dies-at-age-88 |title=Alice Rivlin, First Woman To Serve As Budget Director, Dies At Age 88 |last=Kurtzleben |first=Daniele |date=May 14, 2019 |website=npr.org |access-date=May 15, 2019}}
1976
Shirley Black, aka Shirley Temple, was the first woman to be chief of protocol, which she was for President Gerald Ford.Hightower-Langston, Donna (2002). A to Z of American women leaders and activists. New York: Facts on File.
Lucy Giovinco was the first female in America to win the AMF Bowling World Cup.Woolum, Janet (1992). Outstanding women athletes: who they are and how they influenced sports in America. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
Women first began to attend the U.S. service academies.{{cite web|url=http://www.womensmemorial.org/H%26C/History/milacad.html|title=Women In Military Service For America Memorial|access-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629034948/http://www.womensmemorial.org/H%26C/History/milacad.html|archive-date=29 June 2011}}
Shirley Muldowney was the first woman to win a NHRA national event.
Emily Howell Warner was the first woman to become an American airline captain.{{cite web | url=http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/women-in-aviation/Warner.cfm | title=Women in Aviation and Space History, Emily Howell Warner | publisher=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | work=America by Air |author1=Cochrane, D. |author2=Ramirez, P. |name-list-style=amp}}{{cite book | url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9542.html | title=The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic Inequality | publisher=Princeton University Press | author=Borstelmann, Thomas | year=2011 | isbn=9781400839704}}
1977
Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in the Daytona 500 and the first woman to lead a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race.
Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500,{{cite web|url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/052806/pro_052806116.shtml|title=Guthrie wonders why more women haven't followed her|date=May 28, 2006|work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal|access-date=2013-07-16|location=Lubbock, TX}} event.{{cite web|url=http://www.pressherald.com/news/Daytona-crash-exposes-risks-to-fans.html?pageType=mobile&id=1|title=Jimmie Johnson wins Daytona 500|date=February 24, 2013|work=Portland Press Herald|access-date=2013-07-17|location=Portland, ME}}
Shirley Muldowney was the first woman to win a NHRA championship, in the Top Fuel category.
Barbara McClintock was the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and since she was American, she was the first American woman to do so.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/18/women-nobel-prize-winners-science-award_n_3541686.html#slide=2600376 |title=Women Nobel Prize Winners: 16 Women Who Defied Odds To Win Science's Top Award (PHOTOS) |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date= 2013-08-18|access-date=2013-09-05 |first=Adam |last=Toobin}}
Juanita M. Kreps became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Commerce; she served under President Jimmy Carter.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-juanita-kreps-20100708-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=McClatchy | last=Newspapers | title=Juanita M. Kreps dies at 89; first female secretary of Commerce | date=2010-07-08}}
1978
January 25 - Muriel Humphrey Brown was the first and only former Second Lady of the United States to serve in the U.S. Congress; she appointed by the state governor to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate to succeed her late husband, making her the first woman to hold that office.{{cite news |title=Muriel Humphrey is named to husband's Senate Seat |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/01/26/muriel-humphrey-is-named-to-husbands-senate-seat/e71cad6d-113d-4ff5-8ce0-d22d08a5ad6c/ |access-date=October 6, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 26, 1978}}
Marcia Frederick, at the age of fifteen, was the first woman in America to win World gold in gymnastics.Miller, Ernestine G (2002). Making her mark: firsts and milestones in women's sports. Chicago: Contemporary Books.
Mary E. Clarke was the first woman to achieve the rank of major general in the United States Army.{{cite journal |title=News Notes |journal=Air Force Magazine |volume=61 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5s89AQAAIAAJ |year=1978 |publisher=Air Force Association |quote=US Army has promoted its first woman to the rank of major general. Wearing two stars is Mary Clarke, former Commander of the discontinued Woman's Army Corps}}
Nancy Teeters became the first woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.{{cite news |last=Vitello |first=Paul |date=November 25, 2014 |title=Nancy H. Teeters, First Woman on Federal Reserve Board, Dies at 84 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/business/nancy-h-teeters-first-woman-on-federal-reserve-board-dies-at-84.html |work=The New York Times |access-date= |issn=1553-8095}}
1979
Susan B. Anthony was the first woman in America depicted on a coin (the Susan B. Anthony doller).Richards, Caroline Cowles, and Kerry A. Graves (2000). A nineteenth-century schoolgirl: the diary of Caroline Cowles Richards, 1852-1855. Mankato, Minn: Blue Earth Books.
August 3 - Patricia Roberts Harris became the first woman and first person of color to serve multiple posts in a presidential cabinet; she appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Secretary of Health and Human Services serving under President Jimmy Carter.{{Cite web |date=2010-11-08 |title=A Higher Standard: Patricia Roberts Harris |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/higher-standard-patricia-roberts-harris |access-date=2021-02-19 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en}}
November 30 - Shirley Hufstedler became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Education; she served under President Jimmy Carter.

= 1980s =

1981

File:Sally Ride (1984).jpg was the first American woman to become an astronaut.]]

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and as such the first woman ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.Biskupic, Joan, and Sandra Day O'Connor (2005). Sandra Day O'Connor: how the first woman on the Supreme Court became its most influential justice. New York: ECCO.
1982
Karen N. Horn became the first woman ever to serve as president of any of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, and as such the first woman to serve as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.{{cite news |author= |title=BUSINESS PEOPLE; Fed Bank President Appointed in Cleveland |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/30/business/business-people-fed-bank-president-appointed-in-cleveland.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 30, 1982 |access-date=January 15, 2001}}
Leah Lowenstein was the first woman dean of a co-educational medical school in the United States.{{Cite journal|last1=Angelo|first1=Michael|last2=Varrato|first2=Matt|date=2011-10-01|title=Leah Lowenstein, MD Nation's first female Dean of a co-ed medical school (1981)|url=https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jmc_women/4|journal=50 and Forward: Posters}}
1983
Elizabeth Dole became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Transportation; she served under President Ronald Reagan.
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space.Riddolls, Tom (2011). Sally Ride: the first American woman in space. St. Catharines, Ont: Crabtree Pub. Co.
Vanessa L. Williams was the first African-American winner of the Miss America pageant (Miss America 1984).{{cite web

|url=http://www.biography.com/people/vanessa-williams-9542151

|title=Vanessa Williams Biography

|access-date=2015-09-15

|publisher=biography.com

}}

Linda Foust was the first woman to drive in the U.S. Presidential motorcade as an Army non-commissioned officer.{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19830328&id=RK5HAAAAIBAJ&pg=5474,6562564&hl=en|title=The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=2016-08-27}}
1984
Velma Barfield became the first woman in the United States to be executed after the 1976 resumption of capital punishment{{cite web |title=Velma Margie Barfield #29 |publisher=Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney |url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/barfield029.htm |access-date=2008-01-16}} and the first since 1962.{{cite news |first=William E. |last=Schmidt |title=First Woman is Executed in U.S. Since 1962 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9902E4D81339F930A35752C1A962948260 |work=The New York Times |date=1984-11-03 |access-date=2008-12-12}} and the first woman executed by lethal injection.
Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman in America to run for vice president on a major-party platform.Hutchison, Kay Bailey (2006). American heroines: the spirited women who shaped our country. New York: Harper.
Joan Benoit won the first women's Olympic marathon.Cooper, Pamela (1998). The American marathon. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Kathryn D. Sullivan was the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk.{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/sullivan-kd.html|title=Astronaut Bio: Kathryn D. Sullivan (04/2014)|work=nasa.gov|date=February 11, 2015 }}
1985
Penny Harrington was appointed as Chief of Police in Portland, Oregon, making her the first woman to lead a major-city police department.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenextwomen.com/2013/03/04/penny-harrington-usa-s-1st-female-chief-police|title=Penny Harrington, the USA's 1st Female Chief of Police|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030115809/http://www.thenextwomen.com/2013/03/04/penny-harrington-usa-s-1st-female-chief-police|archive-date=October 30, 2013|url-status=dead}}
Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod.{{cite web|url=http://americacomesalive.com/2011/03/12/libby-riddles-1956/|title=Libby Riddles (1956- ) - America Comes Alive|work=America Comes Alive|date=March 12, 2011|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1986
Ann Bancroft was the first woman to reach the North Pole by foot and dogsled, "...she became the first known woman to cross the ice to the North Pole."Roberts, Kate (2007). Minnesota 150: the people, places, and things that shape our state. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. pp. 9.
Nancy Lieberman joined the United States Basketball League (USBL), thus becoming the first woman to play in a men's professional basketball league.{{cite web|url=http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/nancy-lieberman.htm|title=Nancy Lieberman|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1987
File:Aretha Franklin 1968.jpg Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-inducts-first-woman|title=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts first woman|work=HISTORY.com|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1988
Dr. Lenora Fulani was the first female (and first African-American) presidential candidate to secure ballot access in all 50 states;[http://www.speaking.com/speakers/lenorafulani.html Lenora Fulani bio] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207083017/http://www.speaking.com/speakers/lenorafulani.html |date=2006-02-07 }}, Speakers Platform. Retrieved February 20, 2006 she also secured the most votes ever gained by a female candidate in a presidential election until 2012.{{cite news|url=http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/12/jill-stein-is-first-woman-to-receive-more-than-one-quarter-of-1-of-the-general-election-vote-for-president/|title=Jill Stein is First Woman to Receive More than One-Quarter of 1% of the General Election Vote for President|last=Winger|first=Richard|date=December 7, 2012|work=Ballot Access News|access-date=December 30, 2014}}
Shawna Robinson was the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned stock car race, winning in the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series at New Asheville Speedway.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-11-sp-4254-story.html|title=Shawna Robinson Becomes First Woman to Win a NASCAR Race|date=June 18, 1988|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2013-06-17|location=Los Angeles, CA}}

= 1990s =

1990
Jennifer York was the first woman to form a Christian rock band and the first such band that was all-female, Rachel Rachel.{{cite magazine |url= http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Rachel_Rachel_An_all_girl_rock_band_making_an_impact_Stateside/39275/p1/|title= Rachel Rachel: An All Girl Rock Band Making an Impact Stateside |first= Bryan |last= McAdie |magazine= Cross Rhythms |number=17 |date= October 1, 1993}}
1991
Geraldine Morrow was the first female president of the American Dental Association.American Dental Association elects first woman president. (Geraldine T. Morrow)
Minnesota's Supreme Court became the first woman-majority state supreme court that was appointed and sat for a regular session.
1992
Manon Rhéaume was the first woman to play in a National Hockey League game; although she was Canadian, "She played goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning..."Charns, Alexander (2006). How hockey saved the world (and defeated George W. Bush, but not necessarily in that order): finding ice during the lost season. New York: iUniverse.pp. 81.
Mona Van Duyn was the first woman named US poet laureate.{{cite news|first=Betsy|last=Taylor|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2004/12/03/mona_van_duyn_first_female_poet_laureate/ |title=Mona Van Duyn, first female poet laureate|date=3 December 2004|newspaper=The Boston Globe|access-date=8 February 2018}}
1993
Hazel R. O'Leary became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Energy; she served under President Bill Clinton.
Halli Reid was the first woman to swim across Lake Erie, swimming from Long Point, Ontario, to North East, Pennsylvania, in 17 hours.{{cite web|last=Martin |first=Jim |url=http://www.goerie.com/article/20120604/NEWS02/306049958/What's-in-a-name%3A-Halli-Reid-Park |title=What's in a name: Halli Reid Park |work=Erie Times |date=4 June 2012}}{{cite web|author=VICTOR FERNANDES, The Associated Press |url=http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/20130813_ap_b109698b03e842d4b01bcd7b9278730c.html |title=First woman to swim Lake Erie looks back |work=Philadelphia Daily News}}{{cite web|url=http://reprints.goerie.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=48343726&event=1690112&CategoryID=60316 |title=Twenty-Year Anniversary of Halli Reid's Swim Across Lake Erie – People |publisher=Reprints.goerie.com}}
Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as Attorney General; she served under President Bill Clinton.{{cite web|last=Couric |first=Katie |url=http://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=4604 |title=First Woman Attorney General Janet Reno=archives.nbclearn.com}}
Sheila Widnall became the first woman ever to serve as leader of a branch of the United States Armed Forces, and as such the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Air Force; she served under President Bill Clinton.
1994
Beverly Harvard became first black female police chief of a major city (Atlanta, Georgia) in the United States.{{cite web |last=Vejnoska |first=Jill |title=Top cop Beverly Harvard broke down many doors |website=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=16 August 2016 |url=https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/top-cop-beverly-harvard-broke-down-many-doors/IELgxkHkrwUIo9F6i4qR6L/ |access-date=12 March 2023}}
Judith Rodin was the first permanent female president of an Ivy League University (specifically, the University of Pennsylvania.){{cite web|url=http://www.upenn.edu/president/about-presidency/history-presidency#rodin|title=History of the Presidency|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303030358/http://www.upenn.edu/president/about-presidency/history-presidency#rodin|archive-date=March 3, 2014|url-status=dead}}
Alice Rivlin became the first woman to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget; she served under President Bill Clinton.
1995
Eileen Collins was the female pilot for the Space Shuttle (on STS-63). (see 1999—first female Shuttle commander)
Roberta Cooper Ramo was the first female President of the American Bar Association.{{cite web|url=http://wisc-amh.org/symposia/view/2-risk-reinvention-how-women-are-changing-the-world|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140801170917/http://wisc-amh.org/symposia/view/2-risk-reinvention-how-women-are-changing-the-world|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 1, 2014|title=Women's International Study Center|access-date=14 March 2015}}
1996
Alice Rivlin became the first woman to serve as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve.
1997
Madeleine Albright, born in Prague, became the first woman to serve as Secretary of State; she served under President Bill Clinton.Kramer, Barbara (2000). Madeleine Albright: first woman Secretary of State. Springfield, N.J.: Enslow Publishers.
Liz Heaston was the first woman to play and score in a college football game, kicking two extra points in the 1997 Linfield vs. Willamette football game.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/20/sports/woman-kicks-extra-points.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 20, 2011|date=October 20, 1997|title=Woman Kicks Extra Points}}
Nancy Dickey was the first female president of the American Medical Association.{{cite web|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/locallegends/Biographies/Dickey_Nancy.html|title=biography - Nancy Dickey, MD (Texas)|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Hazel J. Harper was the first female president of the National Dental Association.{{cite web |url=http://www.cda.org/library/cda_member/pubs/journal/jour0602/hyson.html |title=June 2002 |work=Journal of the California Dental Association |access-date=2012-08-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402130624/http://www.cda.org/library/cda_member/pubs/journal/jour0602/hyson.html |archive-date=2012-04-02 }}[https://www.aegisdentalnetwork.com/id/2012/02/a-conversation-with-hazel-harper-dds-mph Hazel Harper, DDS, MPH] Inside Dentistry. February 2012. Volume 8, Issue 2.
Janet Rosenberg Jagan was the first American woman elected as a head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of a nation's armed forces, taking the role of the President of the Co‑operative Republic of Guyana.{{cite magazine|surname=Wright|given=Robin B.|author-link=Robin Wright (author)|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/hillary-wouldnt-be-the-first-female-american-president|title=Hillary Wouldn't Be the First Female American President|magazine=The New Yorker|department=News Desk|date=2016-08-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803183142/http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/hillary-wouldnt-be-the-first-female-american-president|archive-date=2016-08-03|issn=0028-792X}}
1998
Julie Taymor was the first woman to win a Tony Award for best director of a musical.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywood.com/static/the-lion-king-los-angeles-premiere|title=Hollywood.com "The Lion King" Los Angeles Premiere|work=Hollywood.com|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/39437-Best-Director-of-a-Musical-Julie-Taymor-The-Lion-King|title=Best Director of a Musical: Julie Taymor (The Lion King)|work=Playbill|access-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202236/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/39437-Best-Director-of-a-Musical-Julie-Taymor-The-Lion-King|archive-date=29 October 2013}}
Fannie Gaston-Johansson was the first African American woman tenured full professor at Johns Hopkins University.{{Cite web|url=https://hub.jhu.edu/gazette/2014/july-august/workplace-fannie-gaston-johansson-retires/|title=A farewell celebration for Nursing's Fannie Gaston-Johansson|last=St Angelo|first=Steven|date=2014-07-01|website=The Hub|language=en|access-date=2020-03-28}}
1999
Eileen Collins was the first female commander of a Space Shuttle mission (on STS-93). (see 1995—first female Shuttle pilot)
Carly Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 company (Hewlett-Packard){{cite news|title=Carly Fiorina Fast Facts|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/us/carly-fiorina-fast-facts/|website=CNN|access-date=14 August 2015}} Carly Fiorina became the first female CEO of a Fortune 20 company.

21st century

=2000s=

File:Nancy Pelosi.jpeg, 2007]]

2000
Spring - Kathleen A. McGrath became the first woman to command a U.S. Navy warship at sea.{{Cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/us/capt-kathleen-mcgrath-50-pioneering-warship-commander.html | title = Capt. Kathleen McGrath, 50, Pioneering Warship Commander | date = 2002-10-01 | page = B8 | access-date = 2009-04-13 | work = New York Times }}
June 1 - Deborah Walsh became the first woman in the U.S. Coast Guard promoted to Chief Warrant officer in Aviation Engineering (AVI).{{cite web|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/uscghist/WomenChronology.asp |title=Women's History Chronology |publisher=Uscg.mil |access-date=June 29, 2011}}
July 1 - Regina Mills became the U.S. Navy's first female Aviation Deck LDO.{{cite web|url=http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/navy-remembers-fleets-first-female-handler.html|title=Navy Remembers Fleet's First Female Handler|publisher=Military.com|date=1 July 2000 }}
July - Lucille "Pam" Thompson became the first African-American woman to serve as a U.S. Coast Guard Special Agent; she served in this capacity until July 2004
Fall - General Janet E. A. Hicks was promoted to Brigadier General, becoming the first female one-star general who would later be [https://web.archive.org/web/20170131140214/http://signal.army.mil//OLD/History/32_hicks.html promoted to Major General] in 2002, also becoming the first two-star mother and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20150312183622/http://signal.army.mil/OLD/history/janet_e_a_hicks.html first female Commanding General of Ft. Gordon] in Augusta, Georgia.
2001
January 3 - Hillary Clinton was the first and only former First Lady of the United States to serve in the U.S. Congress; she elected to represent New York in the U.S. Senate, making her the first woman to hold that office.
January 20 - Ann Veneman became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Agriculture; she served under President George W. Bush.
January 31 - Gale Norton became the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Interior; she served under President George W. Bush.
Stephanie Ready was the first female coach of a men's professional league team in 2001, as an assistant coach for the now defunct Greenville Groove of the National Basketball Development League (the minor league of the National Basketball Association).{{cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/news/nbdl_ready_greenville_010815.html?nav=ArticleList |title=NBDL Makes History With Female Coach|website=NBA.com }}{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_6_57/ai_84344863 |title=Stephanie Ready: making history coaching male hoop stars - assistant coach of the National Basketball Developmental League's Greenville Groove |work=Ebony |first=Bobbi |last=Roquemore |year=2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601030554/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_6_57/ai_84344863/ |archive-date=2012-06-01 }}
Margaret C. Wilmoth, United States Army Reserve, was promoted to Brigadier General, becoming the first nurse and first woman to command a medical brigade as a general officer.{{cite news|first=Laura |last=Raines |url=http://www.ajc.com/news/business/general-dean/nQSF6/ |title=General dean |newspaper=www.ajc.com |date=2012-04-17 |access-date=2015-03-14}}
2002
January 15 - Nancy Pelosi became the first woman elected House whip, making her the first woman to hold such a position in either chamber of U.S. Congress.{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Nick |date=October 11, 2001 |title=Pelosi Makes History as New Minority Whip |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-11-mn-55996-story.html |url-status=live |work=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227101115/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-11-mn-55996-story.html |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |access-date=October 12, 2001 |issn=2165-1736}}
Melanie Wood was the first American woman and the second woman overall named a Putnam Fellow.{{cite web|url=http://www.awm-math.org/biographies/contest/LeenaShah2007.html|title=AWM Essay Contest: Leena Shah|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421003840/http://www.awm-math.org/biographies/contest/LeenaShah2007.html|archive-date=April 21, 2015|url-status=dead}}
2003
January 3 - Nancy Pelosi became the first woman elected House floor leader and minority leader, making her the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of U.S. Congress.{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/11/14/democrats.leadership/ |title=Democrats pick Pelosi as House leader |last=Loughlin |first=Sean |date=November 15, 2002 |website=edition.cnn.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723191835/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/11/14/democrats.leadership/ |archive-date=July 23, 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=November 16, 2002}}

January 8 - Kamala Harris became the first woman elected District Attorney of San Francisco.

2005
Danica Patrick was the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500.{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2012/11/11/danica-patrick-remains-interested-in-indy-500-beyond-2013/1697447/ | work=USA Today | first1=Nate | last1=Ryan | title=Danica Patrick remains interested in Indy 500 beyond 2013 | date=2012-11-11}}
Rosa Parks was the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol.{{cite web |title=Those Who Have Lain in State |url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/lain_in_state.cfm |date=December 1, 2009 |access-date=December 1, 2009 |publisher=Architect of the Capitol}}[https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/LyingState.pdf Memorial or Funeral Services in the Capitol Rotunda], senate.gov (United States Senate); content cited to Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
2006
Effa Manley was the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june06/baseball_2-28.html|title=Effa Manley Becomes First Woman in Baseball Hall of Fame|work=PBS NewsHour|access-date=14 March 2015}}
2007
January 4 - Nancy Pelosi became the first woman elected to serve as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.{{cite news |last=Branigin |first=William |date=January 4, 2007 |title=Pelosi Sworn in as First Woman Speaker of the House |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/2007/01/04/pelosi-sworn-in-as-first-woman-speaker-of-the-house/32917f2c-c075-4d7a-b404-90e8c9fe7cea/ |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122145116/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/2007/01/04/pelosi-sworn-in-as-first-woman-speaker-of-the-house/32917f2c-c075-4d7a-b404-90e8c9fe7cea/ |archive-date=January 22, 2019 |access-date=January 5, 2007 |issn=0190-8286}}
2008

File:82nd Academy Awards, Kathryn Bigelow - army mil-66453-2010-03-09-180354.jpg

Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win a major party's presidential nominating contest for the purposes of delegate selection when she won the New Hampshire Democratic primary on January 8.{{cite web|url=http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/resources/Firsts.php |title=Facts |access-date=14 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216234346/http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/resources/Firsts.php |archive-date=16 December 2014 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/elections/preswatch_clinton.php |title=Facts |access-date=14 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430130147/http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/elections/preswatch_clinton.php |archive-date=30 April 2009 }}{{efn|Shirley Chisholm's prior "win" in New Jersey in 1972 was in a no-delegate-awarding, presidential preference ballot that the major candidates were not listed in and that the only other candidate who was listed had already withdrawn from; the actual delegate selection vote went to George McGovern.{{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1972/06/07/83446893.pdf | title=Dakotan Beats Humphrey By a Big Margin in Jersey | first=Ronald | last=Sullivan | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 7, 1972 | page=1}}{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19720515&id=UmlPAAAAIBAJ&pg=7133,1487123 | title=Sanford Is Withdrawing From N.J. | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=The Times-News | location=Hendersonville, North Carolina | date=May 13, 1972 | page=12}}}}
Danica Patrick was the first woman to win an IndyCar Series by winning the 2008 Indy Japan 300.{{cite web|url=http://www.makers.com/blog/making-history-danica-patrick-becomes-first-woman-win-indycar-series|title=MAKING HISTORY: Danica Patrick Becomes First Woman to Win IndyCar Series|work=MAKERS|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Sarah Palin was the first female vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Conventions/story?id=5720910&page=1|title=Sarah Palin Makes History as First Female Vice Presidential Nominee of Republican Party|author=|work=ABC News|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Ann E. Dunwoody was the first female four-star general in the U.S. Army.{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/14/woman.4.star.general/ | work=CNN | title=Army general is nation's first four-star woman | date=2008-11-14}}
The New Hampshire Senate became the first state legislative body to hold a majority of female members (13 out of 24).
2009
January 3 - Jeanne Shaheen became the first woman to hold the offices of U.S. Senator and state Governor, being elected as governor of New Hampshire from 1997 to 2003 and U.S. senator for New Hampshire since 2009.
January 21 - Hillary Clinton was the first former First Lady of the United States to serve in a presidential cabinet; she appointed Secretary of State under President Barack Obama.
January 21 - Janet Napolitano became the first woman to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security; she served under President Barack Obama.
Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing, for The Hurt Locker (2008).{{cite news|url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=340344&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19 |title=First woman to win top Guild's award |newspaper=Gulf Times |date=2010-01-31 |access-date=2010-07-10}}
Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, and since she was American, the first American woman to do so; she shared the prize with Oliver E. Williamson.{{cite news|last=Langer |first=Emily |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/elinor-ostrom-first-woman-to-receive-nobel-prize-in-economics-dies-at-78/2012/06/13/gJQAMO2vaV_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214095123/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-06-13/national/35462850_1_elinor-ostrom-nobel-prize-pastures |url-status=live |archive-date=2012-12-14 |title=Elinor Ostrom, first woman to receive Nobel Prize in economics, dies at 78 - Washington Post |publisher=Articles.washingtonpost.com |date=2012-06-13 |access-date=2013-09-05}}
Nancy Lieberman became the coach of the Texas Legends in the NBA Development League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, thus making her the first woman to coach a professional men's basketball team.This is the first time in American history that a professional men's basketball team has ever been coached by a woman. Read [https://www.espn.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=4627134 ESPN report, Lieberman introduced by D-League, November 9, 2009]
Kathleen O'Loughlin was the first female executive director of the American Dental Association.{{cite web|url=http://www.ada.org/3266.aspx|title=Dr. Kathleen O'Loughlin Named American Dental Association Executive Director |publisher=American Dental Association |date=May 5, 2009|access-date=May 7, 2013}}

=2010s=

2010
Nikki Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina and the first person of an ethnic minority to serve as governor of South Carolina.{{cite web |last1=Tikkanen |first1=Amy |title=Nikki Haley |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikki-Haley |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=30 March 2020}}
Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Academy Award,{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna35752337 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722061908/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35752337 |url-status=live |archive-date=2010-07-22 |title='Hurt Locker' wins best picture, director |publisher=MSNBC |date=2010-03-08 |access-date=2010-07-10}} the BAFTA Award,{{cite news|agency=Reuters |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2010/02/21/2010-02-21_kathryn_bigelow_wins_best_director_bafta_for_hurt_locker_over_james_camerons_ava.html |title=Kathryn Bigelow wins best director BAFTA for 'Hurt Locker' over James Cameron's 'Avatar' |newspaper=NY Daily News |date=2010-02-21 |access-date=2010-07-10 | location=New York}} and the Critics' Choice Award for Best Director, all for The Hurt Locker (2008).{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2010/01/15/2010-01-15_critics_choice_awards_2010_kathryn_bigelow_makes_history_as_first_female_to_win_.html |title=Critic's Choice Awards 2010: Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep kiss; Kathryn Bigelow is Best Director |newspaper=NY Daily News |date=2010-01-16 |access-date=2010-07-10 |location=New York |first=Soraya |last=Roberts |archive-date=January 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119033217/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2010/01/15/2010-01-15_critics_choice_awards_2010_kathryn_bigelow_makes_history_as_first_female_to_win_.html |url-status=dead }}
Jennifer Gorovitz was the first woman to lead a large Jewish federation in America (specifically, the Jewish Community Federation, based in San Francisco).{{cite news|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/70548/stepping-down-jennifer-gorovitz-first-woman-to-lead-major-federation-resign/|title=Stepping down: Jennifer Gorovitz, first woman to lead major federation, resigns JCF post|author=dan pine|newspaper=J |date=January 10, 2014 |access-date=14 March 2015}}

2011
Angella Reid was the first female White House Chief Usher.{{cite web|url=http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/10/angella-reid-named-first-female-chief-usher-at-white-house-67466.html |title=Angella Reid named first female chief usher at White House | News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | WJLA News |publisher=Wjla.com |access-date=2015-08-29}}
Kamala Harris was the first woman Attorney General of California.
2012
February 2 - Elizabeth MacDonough was the first female appointed as Parliamentarian of the United States Senate.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/31/politics/senate-female-parliamentarian/index.html?eref=rss_politics|publisher=CNN|title=Senate welcomes first female parliamentarian|first=Ted|last=Barrett|date=January 31, 2012|access-date=April 12, 2014}}
Janet Wolfenbarger was the first female four-star general in the U.S. Air Force.{{cite web|url=http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/janet-wolfenbarger-air-forces-first-female-four-star-takes-material-command/|title=Janet Wolfenbarger, Air Force's First Female Four Star, Takes Material Command|date=June 8, 2012 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Katy Perry was the first female artist in history to have five consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 from one album, thus awarding her with the Billboard Spotlight Award.{{cite web|url=http://popcrush.com/katy-perry-wins-spotlight-award-at-the-2012-billboard-music-awards/ |title=Katy Perry wins Spotlight Award at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards; |date=May 20, 2012 |access-date=May 21, 2012}}
Shannon Eastin was the first woman to officiate a National Football League game in a pre-season matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the San Diego Chargers.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/19738736/shannon-eastin-will-be-first-woman-to-work-nfl-officiating-crew|work=CBS Sports|title=Shannon Eastin will be first woman to work NFL officiating crew|access-date=August 9, 2012|date=August 6, 2012|first=Ryan|last=Wilson}}
New Hampshire elects the first all-woman congressional delegation in U.S. history, with U.S. senators Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte and U.S. representatives Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster.
2013
Irina Krush was the first female American to hold the title of Grandmaster.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/30/chess-wesley-so-wins-us-title-unbeaten-as-hikaru-nakamuras-run-ends-tamely|title=Chess: Wesley So wins US title unbeaten as Hikaru Nakamura's run ends tamely|first=Leonard|last=Barden|newspaper=The Guardian |date=October 30, 2020|via=www.theguardian.com}}[https://ratings.fide.com/title_applications.phtml?details=1&id=2012782&title=GM&pb=37 GM title application]. FIDE.
Danica Patrick was the first woman to win a pole in the Daytona 500 and a NASCAR Cup Series race.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/story/_/id/8956961/danica-patrick-first-woman-win-daytona-500-pole|title=Danica Patrick is first woman to win Daytona 500 pole - ESPN|work=ESPN.com|date=February 17, 2013 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Danica Patrick was the first woman to lead the Daytona 500.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danica-patrick-first-woman-to-lead-a-lap-at-daytona-500/ | work=CBS News | title=Danica Patrick, first woman to lead a lap at Daytona 500 - CBS News}}
Rosie Napravnik rode the filly Unlimited Budget to a 6th place finish in the 2013 Belmont, becoming the first woman to ride all three Triple Crown races in the same year.{{cite news|last=Thomas |first=Colleen |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/bs-sp-belmont-napravnik-0605-20130604,0,7189268.story |title=Rosie Napravnik has another shot at history aboard Unlimited Budget at Belmont |publisher=baltimoresun.com |newspaper=Baltimore Sun |date=2013-06-04 |access-date=2013-06-17}}
Davie Jane Gilmour was the first woman to lead the Board of Directors for Little League.{{cite web|url=http://psdispatch.com/news/baseball/607398/Gilmour-is-Little-Leagues-first-female-board-chair |title=Gilmour is Little League's first female board chair |author=Sunday Dispatch |work=Sunday Dispatch |access-date=14 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216061154/http://psdispatch.com/news/baseball/607398/Gilmour-is-Little-Leagues-first-female-board-chair |archive-date=16 December 2013 }}
Ashley Freiberg was the first woman to claim an overall GT3 Cup Challenge victory in North America, winning the Porsche IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge.{{cite web|url=http://imsachallenge.com/news/freiberg-becomes-the-first-female-overall-north-american-gt3-cup-challenge|title=IMSA - Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge - News|access-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705031156/http://imsachallenge.com/news/freiberg-becomes-the-first-female-overall-north-american-gt3-cup-challenge|archive-date=5 July 2013}}
UFC 157, which took place in February, featured not only the first women's fight in UFC history but also the first UFC event headlined by two female fighters (Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche).{{cite web|url=http://www.cagepotato.com/women-in-the-ufc-looking-back-at-the-first-six-months-and-what-it-means-for-the-future/|title=Women in the UFC: Looking Back at the First Six Months, And What It Means for the Future|publisher=www.cagepotato.com|access-date=2013-09-05}}
Rabbi Deborah Waxman was elected as the President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. As the President, she is believed to have been the first woman and first lesbian to lead a Jewish congregational union, and the first female rabbi and first lesbian to lead a Jewish seminary; RRC is both a congregational union and a seminary.{{cite web|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national-news/reconstructionists-pick-first-woman-lesbian-denominational-leader|title=Reconstructionists Pick First Woman, Lesbian As Denominational Leader - The Jewish Week|work=The Jewish Week|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/185252/trailblazing-reconstructionist-deborah-waxman-reli/?p=all|title=Trailblazing Reconstructionist Deborah Waxman Relishes Challenges of Judaism|date=9 October 2013|work=The Jewish Daily Forward|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.rrc.edu/sites/default/files/ORPHAN_PDFs/RRC_WaxmanPresidentElect-ForPress3.pdf?hero=1615 |title=RRC Announces New President Elect |access-date=2013-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092703/http://www.rrc.edu/sites/default/files/ORPHAN_PDFs/RRC_WaxmanPresidentElect-ForPress3.pdf?hero=1615 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}
Julia Morgan was the first woman to receive the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal, which she received posthumously.{{cite web|title=2014 AIA Gold Medal Awarded to Julia Morgan, FAIA|url=http://www.aia.org/press/AIAB100853|work=Press Releases|publisher=American Institute of Architects|access-date=12 December 2013}}
On March 1, 2013, Privateers owner and president Nicole Kirnan served as the team's coach for the first time, making her the first woman to coach a professional hockey team in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130302/SPORTS01/703029857|title=Watertown Daily Times - Local pro hockey: With Kirnan behind bench, Privateers win|work=Watertown Daily Times|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809155216/http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130302/SPORTS01/703029857|archive-date=August 9, 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/puck-daddy/nicole-kirnan-first-woman-coach-men-pro-hockey-130716495--nhl.html|title=Nicole Kirnan, first woman to coach men's pro hockey team, faced 'demoralizing' criticism|date=14 March 2013|work=Yahoo Sports|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Erika Schmidt was the first female director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.{{Cite web |url=http://internationalpsychoanalysis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ErikaSchmidtRelease.pdf |title=Erika Schmidt Elected First Female Director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis |access-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113033757/http://internationalpsychoanalysis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ErikaSchmidtRelease.pdf |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |url-status=dead }}
Mia Hamm was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame in Pachuca, Mexico.{{cite web|url=http://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/football-americas/concacaf-news/13621-hamm-is-first-woman-inductee-into-pachuca-world-football-hall-of-fame|title=Hamm is first woman inductee into Pachuca World Football Hall of Fame - Inside World Football|author=Paul Nicholson|access-date=14 March 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064657/http://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/football-americas/concacaf-news/13621-hamm-is-first-woman-inductee-into-pachuca-world-football-hall-of-fame|url-status=dead}}
General Motors named Mary Barra as its first female CEO and the first female CEO of a major automaker.{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/12/10/gm-new-ceo/3950057/ | work=USA Today | first1=James R. | last1=Healey | title=GM's Barra: First female CEO at major automaker | date=2013-12-10}}
Deborah Rutter was named as the first female president of the Kennedy Center.{{cite web|url=http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/12/deborah-rutter-named-kennedy-center-president-is-first-woman-to-hold-job-97927.html|title=Deborah Rutter named Kennedy Center president, is first woman to hold job|work=WJLA|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Jodi Eller was the first woman to complete the 1,515 mile Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail.{{cite web|url=http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/01/11/first-woman-completes-1515-mile-saltwater-paddling-trail/|title=First Woman Completes 1,515 Mile Saltwater Paddling Trail|date=January 11, 2014 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) voted unanimously to elect Kim Charlson as its president, making her the first female president of a major national blindness consumer advocacy organization in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.afb.org/afbpress/community.asp?AnnouncementID=1490|title=Activist Kim Charlson is unanimously elected to lead rights advocacy group|access-date=14 March 2015}}
Lauren Silberman was the first woman to try out at an NFL Regional Scouting Combine, and thus the first woman to try out for the NFL (she tried out as a kicker), but she did not succeed.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/bondy-swift-kick-article-1.1278554#ixzz37Ask8I00|title=Lauren Silberman disappoints as first woman to tryout at NFL Regional Scouting Combine - NY Daily News|website=New York Daily News |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Vanessa O'Brien became the first woman to climb the highest peak on each continent (The Seven Summits) in the shortest period of time (295 days), resulting in a Guinness World Record.{{cite news|last1=Strege|first1=David|title=Woman Completes Explorer's Grand Slam in Record Time|url=https://www.grindtv.com/travel/woman-does-explorers-grand-slam-in-record-time/|newspaper=Men's Journal|access-date=10 March 2013}}
2014

File:Janet Yellen official Federal Reserve portrait.jpg, 2015]]

February 3 - Janet Yellen became the first woman to serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve.{{cite news |last=Frizell |first=Sam |date=February 3, 2014 |title=Janet Yellen Sworn In To Lead Federal Reserve |url=https://time.com/3866/janet-yellen-sworn-in-to-lead-federal-reserve/ |magazine=Time |access-date=February 4, 2014}}
The first women competed in ski jumping at the Olympics, including three American women - Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome and Sarah Hendrickson.{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/11/womens-ski-jump-carina-vogt-wins-gold/5395533/ | work=USA Today | first1=Paul | last1=Myerberg | title=Carina Vogt wins historic first women's ski jump gold | date=2014-02-11}}
Lauryn Williams was the first American woman to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games.{{cite web|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-02-19/sports/sfl-williams-silver-medal-bobsled-20140219_1_sochi-games-jamie-greubel-heather-moyse|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226181119/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-02-19/sports/sfl-williams-silver-medal-bobsled-20140219_1_sochi-games-jamie-greubel-heather-moyse|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 26, 2014|title=Williams gets silver in bobsled; fifth athlete to win medals in Winter and Summer Olympics|work=tribunedigital-sunsentinel|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite news|title=Lauryn Williams eyes Olympic history|url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/winter/2014/bobsled/story/_/id/10476343/2014-sochi-games-usa-1-leads-olympic-women-bobsled-sochi-usa-2-third|access-date=February 19, 2014|newspaper=ESPN|date=February 18, 2014}}
Jennifer Welter was the first woman non-kicker or placekick-holder to play in a men's pro football game; she played running back for the Texas Revolution.{{cite web|url=http://extramustard.si.com/2014/02/17/jen-welter-first-female-football-player/|title=Jen Welter Becomes First Woman to Play Running Back in a Professional Football Game|author=Dan Treadway|work=SI.com|access-date=14 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302194041/http://extramustard.si.com/2014/02/17/jen-welter-first-female-football-player/|archive-date=2 March 2014}}
Michelle J. Howard began her assignment as the U.S. Navy's first female and first female African-American four-star admiral on July 1, 2014.{{cite web|url=http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/1/michelle-j-howard-becomes-navys-first-female-4-sta/|title=Michelle J. Howard becomes Navy's first female 4-star admiral - Washington Times|work=The Washington Times|access-date=14 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_766cbe98-0157-11e4-a01f-0019bb2963f4.html|title=Howard becomes Navy's first woman, first African American four-star admiral|work=St. Louis American|date=July 2014 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Michele A. Roberts was elected as the new Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association, thus making her the first woman elected to the highest position of a major U.S. sport's players association.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2014/07/29/nbpa-turns-page-makes-michele-roberts-first-sports-union-leader/|title=National Basketball Players Association Turns Page, Elects Michele Roberts First Female Pro Sports Union Leader|author=Darren Heitner|date=29 July 2014|work=Forbes|access-date=14 March 2015}}
During the two-week 2014 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Natalie Nakase was an assistant coach for the Clippers, becoming the first woman to sit on the bench as an NBA assistant.{{efn|Lisa Boyer was an assistant for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2001–02, but she neither sat on the bench nor traveled for away games, and she was paid by the Cleveland Rockers of the WNBA and not by the Cavaliers. Becky Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs for the 2014–15 season, becoming the first woman to either be paid or work full-time as an NBA assistant.{{cite news|last=Zillgitt|first=Jeff|title=Spurs hire Becky Hammon as assistant coach|date=August 5, 2014|newspaper=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/08/05/spurs-female-assistant-becky-hammon/13623937/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805183132/http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/08/05/spurs-female-assistant-becky-hammon/13623937/|archive-date=August 5, 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Schwartz|first=Nick|title=Spurs make history by hiring female assistant coach|date=August 5, 2014|newspaper=USA Today|url=http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/08/spurs-hire-becky-hammon-female-coach|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805185250/http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/08/spurs-hire-becky-hammon-female-coach|archive-date=August 5, 2014|url-status=live}}}}{{cite news|last=Patten|first=Eric|title=Clippers' Nakase Breaking Barriers|date=July 18, 2014|work=Clippers.com|url=http://www.nba.com/clippers/natalie-nakase-breaking-barriers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720031959/http://www.nba.com/clippers/natalie-nakase-breaking-barriers|archive-date=July 20, 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Witz |first=Billy |title=Aiming at Glass Ceiling, but Not With Her Jump Shot |date=July 21, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/sports/basketball/clippers8217-nakase-aspires-to-be-nba8217s-first-female-head-coach.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808192406/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/sports/basketball/clippers8217-nakase-aspires-to-be-nba8217s-first-female-head-coach.html?_r=0 |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|last=Dwyer |first=Kelly |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/natalie-nakase-end-her-first-summer-league-as-an-assistant-coach--makes-a-little-history-along-the-way-182651181.html |title=Natalie Nakase ends her first Summer League as an assistant coach, makes a little history along the way | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo Sports |date=July 21, 2014 |publisher=Sports.yahoo.com |access-date=July 23, 2014}}
Becky Hammon became the first full-time female coach in the NBA - and the first full-time female coach in any of the four major professional sports in America - as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/11313239/wnba-san-antonio-stars-future-spurs-assistant-becky-hammon-was-born-coach|title=WNBA - San Antonio Stars' and future Spurs assistant Becky Hammon was born to coach - ESPN|work=ESPN.com|date=August 5, 2014 |access-date=14 March 2015}}
Anne B. France won the inaugural Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.{{cite web|url=http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/2015-NASCAR-Hall-of-Fame-Class|title=Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site - NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2015|access-date=March 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317225627/http://www.jayski.com/news/pages/story/_/page/2015-NASCAR-Hall-of-Fame-Class|archive-date=March 17, 2015|url-status=dead}}
Katie Higgins was the first female pilot to join the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy's flight demonstration squadron.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.flyingmag.com/news/first-female-pilot-joins-blue-angels#jdK7LcHf6g0emiTC.99|title=Female Pilot Joins Blue Angels |magazine=Flying|author=Stephen Pope|date=July 24, 2014|access-date=July 24, 2014}}
Dr. Connie McCaa became the first American woman and the first Mississippi doctor inducted into the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.clarionledger.com/story/money/business/2014/11/05/jackson-eye-doctor-first-woman-national-hall-fame/18575945/ |title=Jackson eye doctor first woman in national Hall of Fame|work=The Clarion-Ledger|access-date=November 6, 2014}}
Suzy Whaley became the first female officer in the PGA, as PGA secretary.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/suzy-whaley-1st-female-officer-pga-27105753|title=Suzy Whaley Becomes 1st Female Officer at PGA|author=|work=ABC News|access-date=November 23, 2014}}
Susan Morrison was named as the first female executive pastry chef at the White House.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/susan-morrison-female-exec-pastry-chef-white-house-article-1.2019922|title=Susan Morrison named first female executive pastry chef at White House|work=NY Daily News|date=November 22, 2014|access-date=23 November 2014}}
Megan Smith was named as the first female Chief Technology Officer of the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/04/white-house-names-googles-megan-smith-the-next-chief-technology-officer-of-the-united-states/|title=White House names Google's Megan Smith the next Chief Technology Officer of the United States|last=Scola|first=Nancy|date=September 4, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 September 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.techrepublic.com/article/googlex-vp-megan-smith-busts-silicon-ceiling-as-first-female-us-cto/ |title=Google[x] VP Megan Smith busts Silicon ceiling as first female US CTO |publisher=Tech Republic |date=September 4, 2014 |first=Alex |last=Howard |access-date=October 3, 2014 }}
Megan Brennan was named as the first female United States Postmaster General.{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3585604/usps-megan-brennan-mail-patrick-donahoe/|title=U.S. Postal Service Selects First Female Postmaster General |magazine=Time magazine|date=November 14, 2014 |access-date=November 23, 2014 }}
2015
Jennifer Welter became the first American woman hired to coach in men's pro football when the Texas Revolution of the Champions Indoor Football league announced that Welter was hired to coach linebackers and special teams.{{cite web|url=http://www.foxsports.com/southwest/story/texas-indoor-pro-football-team-first-to-hire-woman-to-coaching-staff-021215|title=Texas indoor pro football team first to hire woman to coaching staff |work=www.foxsports.com}}
The U.S. Senate confirmed Michelle K. Lee as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).{{cite web|url=http://www.asianfortunenews.com/2015/03/michelle-k-lee-first-woman-to-lead-united-states-patent-and-trademark-office/ |title=Michelle K. Lee First Woman to Lead United States Patent and Trademark Office | Asian Fortune |date=March 13, 2015 |publisher=Asianfortunenews.com |access-date=March 13, 2015}} Lee is the first woman and the first person of color to lead the USPTO.
Yumi Hogan became the first Korean American first lady of a U.S. state and the first Asian-American first lady in the history of Maryland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/20/politics/who-is-yumi-hogan/index.html|title=Maryland's first lady capitalizes on her South Korean heritage to secure test kits|last=Bennett|first=Kate|date=April 21, 2020|website=CNN|access-date=2020-04-21}}
2016
File:Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 7.jpg Taylor Swift became the first woman to win Album of the Year twice.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/grammys/6882510/taylor-swift-grammy-album-of-the-year-win-multiple|title=Taylor Swift Joins Elite Club to Win Grammy Album of the Year More Than Once: See the Rest|last=Lynch|first=Joe|date=February 19, 2016|magazine=Billboard|access-date=July 31, 2016}}
July 26 - Hillary Clinton was formally nominated at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.Alan Rappeport, Yamiche Alcindor & Jonathan Martin, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/dnc-speakers-sanders-clinton.html Democrats Nominate Hillary Clinton Despite Sharp Divisions, New York Times (July 26, 2016).]
Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win the popular vote in a United States presidential election and one of the two first women to receive an electoral vote for president.{{cite web|last1=Krieg|first1=Gregory|date=December 21, 2016|title=It's official: Clinton swamps Trump in popular vote|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count/index.html|website=CNN|access-date=November 11, 2017}}
Carla Hayden became the first female Librarian of Congress.{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/9/14/12916522/carla-hayden-librarian-of-congress |title=Carla Hayden is officially sworn in as the first woman and African-American librarian of Congress |publisher=Vox |date=September 14, 2016|access-date=September 14, 2016}}
Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign.{{cite news |url=https://theweek.com/speedreads/660809/kellyanne-conway-becomes-first-woman-successfully-run-presidential-campaign |title=Kellyanne Conway becomes first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign |newspaper=The Week |location=New York City |access-date=November 9, 2016 |quote=Hillary Clinton may not have been elected president, but other glass ceilings were shattered on Election Day nonetheless. One such historic moment came from Trump's own camp, where Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign.}}
Faith Spotted Eagle became the first Native American and one of the two first women to receive an electoral vote for president, which she received from a faithless elector.{{cite news |url= http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/meet-faith-spotted-eagle-the-native-elder-voted-for-president-by-a-washington-state-elector/ |title= Meet Faith Spotted Eagle, who received one Washington state elector's presidential vote |first1= Benjamin |last1= Woodard |newspaper= The Seattle Times |date= December 19, 2016 |access-date= May 6, 2017}}
General Lori Robinson became the first female officer to command a major Unified Combatant Command in the history of the US Armed Forces.
Adena Friedman became the first female CEO of NASDAQ.
2017
Peggy Whitson broke the record for most total days spent in space by any NASA astronaut.
Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead the Coca-Cola 600.
Vanessa O'Brien became the first woman to summit K2, the second tallest mountain, at 28,251 feet.{{cite web|last1=Pokhrel|first1=Rajan|title=Vanessa O'Brien, John Snorri set record as 12 scale Mt K2|url=https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/vanessa-obrien-john-snorri-set-record-as-12-scale-mt-k2/|website=The Himalayan Times|date=July 28, 2017 |access-date=July 28, 2017}}
2018
Oprah Winfrey became the first African American woman to receive the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-golden-globes-2018-live-updates-oprah-winfrey-makes-history-as-first-1515382989-htmlstory.html|title=Oprah Winfrey makes history as first black female recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award|last=Kelley|first=Sonaiya|website=Los Angeles Times|date=January 9, 2018 |access-date=2019-06-05}}
Gina Haspel became the first woman to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Stacey Cunningham became the first female President of the New York Stock Exchange.
Ellie Morrison became the first woman elected National Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America; likewise, she became the first woman to hold a position in the BSA's "Key Three", consisting of the National Commissioner, the Chief Scout Executive, and the National Chair.{{cite web|url=https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/05/31/meet-your-bsa-national-key-3/|title=Meet the two new volunteers on the BSA's National Key 3|first=Bryan|last=Wendell|date=May 31, 2018|website=Bryan on Scouting|access-date=May 2, 2019}}
Carla Provost became the first female chief of the United States Border Patrol on August 9, 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/carla-l-provost-named-chief-us-border-patrol |title=Carla L. Provost Named Chief of the US Border Patrol - U.S. Customs and Border Protection |website=www.cbp.gov |access-date=August 9, 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/carla-provost-officially-named-first-woman-chief-border-patrol-n899171 |title=Carla Provost officially named first female chief of Border Patrol|website=NBC News |date=August 9, 2018 |access-date=August 9, 2018}}
Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Sharice Davids of Kansas became the first Native American women to be elected to Congress.
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota became the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress.
Martha McSally of Arizona became the first female senator who was appointed to Congress after losing an election to a future Senate colleague, and also the first to serve alongside someone who defeated her in the election prior to inauguration.
2019
January 3 - Nancy Pelosi became the first woman elected to serve as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for non-consecutive terms.{{cite news |last=Hirschfeld Davis |first=Julie |date=January 3, 2019 |title=Nancy Pelosi Elected Speaker as Democrats Take Control of House |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/us/politics/nancy-pelosi-speaker-116th-congress.html |url-status=live |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123022725/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/us/politics/nancy-pelosi-speaker-116th-congress.html |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |access-date=January 4, 2019 |issn=1553-8095}}
Ghazala Hashmi became the first Muslim woman elected to the Senate of Virginia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wric.com/news/politics/local-election-hq/democrat-ghazala-hashmi-wins-10th-senate-district-race/|title=Democrat Ghazala Hashmi wins 10th Senate District race|last=Mirshahi|first=Dean|website=8News|date=November 6, 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=6 November 2019}}
Carolyn Kindle Betz was among the first female-majority owners (i.e. Major League Soccer investors) to be awarded an MLS franchise,{{cite news |last=Gutzior |first=Betsey |title=New St. Louis soccer team has women-majority ownership |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/08/new-st-louis-soccer-team-has-women-majority.html?page=all |access-date=October 6, 2020 |work=Bizwomen |date=August 21, 2019}} eventually named St. Louis City SC.

=2020s=

2020

File:Kamala Harris Vice Presidential Portrait.jpg, 2021.]]

January 26 - Billie Eilish became the first woman to win all four General Field categories in one ceremony at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards
August 19 - Kamala Harris of California was formally nominated by the 2020 Democratic National Convention as the Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States, becoming the first woman of color, the first African American, the first Asian American, the first person of South Asian descent, the first person of Indian ancestry, and the first person of Jamaican ancestry to be nominated on a major party ticket.Astead W. Herndon and Lisa Lerer (19 August 2020) {{Cite news|title=Democrats Nominate Harris for Vice President, as Obama Lashes Trump|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/democratic-national-convention-recap.html|access-date=25 August 2020|website=The New York Times|date=August 20, 2020 |last1=Herndon |first1=Astead W. |last2=Lerer |first2=Lisa }}
Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first woman to lie in repose at the Supreme Court Building on September 23 and, the following day, became the first woman to lie in repose there for a second day.{{Cite news |last=Karni |first=Annie |date=September 19, 2020 |title=Ginsburg Expected to Lie in Repose at the Supreme Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/us/politics/ginsburg-funeral-services.html |access-date=September 20, 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |quote=Plans for a commemoration and services have yet to be made final, but large crowds are expected to pay their respects for a justice who became a feminist icon and liberal hero.}}
On September 25, Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state at the Capitol, becoming the first woman to do so.{{Cite web|last=Higgins|first=Tucker|date=September 21, 2020|title=Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be first woman to lie in state at Capitol and will lie in repose at Supreme Court|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/21/ruth-bader-ginsburg-funeral-services-at-supreme-court-start-wednesday.html|access-date=September 21, 2020|website=CNBC|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Kampeas|first=Ron|date=September 21, 2020|title=Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the first Jew and first woman to lie in state at the Capitol|url=https://www.jta.org/2020/09/21/united-states/ruth-bader-ginsburg-will-be-the-first-jew-and-first-woman-to-lie-in-state-at-the-capitol|access-date=September 21, 2020|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}}
November 7 - Kamala Harris became the first woman elected as Vice President of the United States.{{Cite web |date=2020-11-07 |title=Kamala Harris Makes History As First Female, Black, Asian American Vice President |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-makes-history-as-first-female-black-asian-american-vice-president/ |access-date=2020-11-13 |website=Forbes}}
November 28 - Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game.{{cite web |last1=Scarborough |first1=Alex |date=November 28, 2020 |title=Vanderbilt Commodores K Sarah Fuller makes history with second-half kickoff |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30407278/vanderbilt-commodores-k-sarah-fuller-makes-history-second-half-kickoff |access-date=28 November 2020 |website=Espn.com}}
December 30 - Becky Hammon became the first female acting head coach in NBA history.{{cite magazine |date=30 December 2020 |title=Becky Hammon Becomes First Woman to Lead NBA Team After Gregg Popovich's Ejection |url=https://www.si.com/nba/2020/12/31/gregg-popovich-spurs-ejected-becky-hammon-acting-head-coach |magazine=Sports Illustrated}}
2021
January 20 - Kamala Harris inaugurated as the first woman to serve as Vice President of the United States, making her the most powerful woman in America's political history, first in the line of succession to the US Presidency.
January 20 - Kamala Harris became the first woman President of the United States Senate in U.S. history.
January 20 - Jill Biden became the first non-Catholic first lady married to a Catholic president.
January 21 - Avril Haines became the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence; she served under President Joe Biden.Barbara Sprunt. January 20, 2021. "[https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958995331/senate-confirms-avril-haines-as-director-of-national-intelligence Senate Confirms Avril Haines As Director Of National Intelligence]" NPR. Retrieved 20, 2021.
January 26 - Janet Yellen became the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Treasury; she served under President Joe Biden.{{cite news |last=Rappeport |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Rappeport |date=January 26, 2021 |title=Janet Yellen, the first woman to be Treasury secretary, is sworn in by the first woman to be vice president. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/us/politics/janet-yellen-treasury.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 27, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}
November 19 - Kamala Harris became the first woman to serve as Acting President of the United States in American history.
2024
March 3–5 - Nikki Haley became the first woman to win a Republican presidential nominating contest when she won the District of Columbia primary, and the first to win a Republican state primary when she won Vermont.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-04 |title=Nikki Haley wins the District of Columbia's Republican primary and gets her first 2024 victory |url=https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-republicans-donald-trump-dc-primary-7b5eec7a5398379b0f1c9ed9f50b6ce3 |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=AP News |language=en}}{{cite web |last=Allison |first=Natalie |date=March 6, 2024 |title=Nikki Haley plans to drop her presidential bid Wednesday |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/06/nikki-haley-drop-out-republican-primary-00145301 |accessdate=March 6, 2024 |work=Politico}}
November 6 – Sarah McBride was elected as the first trans woman in the United States House of Representatives and also the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress.{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2024 |title=AP Race Call: Democrat Sarah McBride wins election to U.S. House in Delaware's 1st Congressional District |url=https://apnews.com/article/race-call-mcbride-wins-delaware-u-s-house-district-8a17ccfc8686486cae2477fe76df90d8 |access-date=November 18, 2024 |website=AP News}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://www.womenhistoryblog.com History of American Women]

Category:History of women in the United States

Category:Lists of firsts

Women's Firsts

firsts

american

:List of American women's firsts

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See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links