1650-1850

1671 - Hannah Callowhill Penn is born. She becomes the most powerful political woman in the American colonies.

1712 – to 1726 Hannah Penn becomes the “Acting Governor” of PA after William Penn had an incapacitating stroke.  She is “Acting Governor” for 14 years.

1752 - Betsy Ross patriot and businesswoman is born in Philadelphia, PA.

1769 - 1776 The American colonies including Pennsylvania adopt laws that take away married women’s rights to own property of any kind.

1776 - Abigail Smith Adams writes her famous letter to her husband in Philadelphia, PA “Remember the Ladies”.  

1780 - Pennsylvania was the first state to pass the Gradual Abolition Act.

1793 - Lucretia Mott, one of the major leaders in women’s rights in Pennsylvania and the US is born.  She was co-author of the Declaration of Sentiments.

1815 - Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm an early feminist was born. A strong advocate for women’s economic rights, she leads the battle for married women’s rights.

1820 - Susan B. Anthony is born and helps lead the battle for women to vote.

1837 – A young Susan B. Anthony asked for equal pay for women teachers.

1848 – Woman’s rights convention held in Seneca Fall, NY, The Declaration of Sentiments is passed. 

1848 - The Pennsylvania Married Women’s Property Act was passed.

1851 - 1900

1850 - Jane Grey Swisshelm became the first woman admitted to the reporter's gallery in the House of Representatives.

1850 – 1st National Woman's Rights Convention was held in Worcester, MA.

1851 – Sojourner Truth defended woman's & "Negros' rights" at a women's convention in Ohio.

1852 - Pennsylvania’s First Women’s Rights Convention held in West Chester, PA.

1852 - PA Supreme Court overturns The Married Women’s Property Act.

1854 - PA Supreme Court rules that all wages of married women are the property of her “Lord and Master.”

1868 – 14th Amendment ratified, adding the word “male” including negros... but not women.

1869 – National Woman Suffrage was founded by Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton

1869 - Pennsylvania Female College, "Chatham University," founded. 

1870 – 15th Amendment adopted, prohibited states from preventing citizens from voting because  of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." But still excludes women.

1872 – Republican Party included reference to woman's suffrage.

1872 – Susan B. Anthony encouraged women to vote using 14th Amendment.

1872 – Susan B. Anthony and other attempted to vote – She was arrested.

1873 – Susan B. Anthony was tried for “illegally” voting.

1878 – The “Anthony Amendment introduced to Congress for women to vote.

1884 - Daisy Lampkin Civil Rights Leader is born.  First African American Women to have a PA Historical Marker. 

1886 - Judge Sara Mathilde Soffel First Female Judge in Pennsylvania and Allegheny County.

1887 – Senate voted on woman’s suffrage for the 1st and last time for 25 years.

1887 - Pennsylvania finally passes legislation giving married women the right to own property.

1890 – Wyoming became the 1st state to allow women to vote.

1893 – Colorado gave women the right to vote – 1st state to  amend its constitution.

1896 – Utah and Idaho gave women the right to vote.

1896 – Ellen Sargent started a petition for women’s suffrage in Northern California.

1896 – Mary Church Terrell and others founded the National Association  of Colored Women’s Clubs.

1896 – Utah and Idaho gave women the right to vote.

1898 - Sadie T.M. Alexander is born in Philadelphia. She will become the FIRST Black woman to obtain a Ph.D in Economics.

1900 - Susan B. Anthony asked Carrie Chapman Catt take her place as president of NAWSA.

1900 – Carrie Chapman Catt became president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

1901 - 1920

1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton died.

1903 - Judge Anne X Alpern first woman in PA to be Attorney General and to serve on the PA Supreme Court.

1906 - Susan B. Anthony Died.

1907 - Rachael Carson is born in Springdale, PA. She becomes the voice of the modern-day environment movement. 

1907 –Alice Paul attended the London School of Economics.

1907 - Alice Paul met Emeline Pankhurst and becomes a militant feminist.

1909 –Alice Paul received a Phd in Economics.

1910 – Washington State gave women the right to vote.

1911 – California gave women the right to vote.

1912 - Women marched up Fifth Ave in NY demanding the right to vote.

1912 - Arizona, Kansas & Oregon gave women the right to vote.

1912 - Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS), started in Pittsburgh on February 12, 1912.

1912 - November 16th, 10,000 signatures collected suffrage in PA. NAOWS becomes a major force in PA politics blocking women from obtaining the right to vote.

1913 – Territory of Alaska gave women the right to vote.

1913 - Alice Papul forms the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.

1914 – Jessie Haver Butler helps set the 1st Minimum Wage for women.

1914 – Nevada gave women the right to vote.

1913 – 5,000 women marched in support of Womens Suffrage D.C.  ½ Million Onlookers during Wilson’s inauguration.

1913 - Alice Paul forms the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.

1914 – Montana and Nevada gave women the right to vote.

1914 - First Convention of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage held in Harrisburg, PA. 

1914 – The Congressional Union splits from the National American Womens Suffrage Association.

1914 – Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul split and lead the two groups.

1914 – The 1st Minimum Wage for women is passed in Boston from $4 a week to $8.

1915-NAOWS (National Association Opposed to Womens Sufferage leads the movement to defeat a women's right to vote in Pennsylvania

1915 – Carrie Chapman Catt became president of National American Woman Suffrage Association.

1915 – 25,000 women marched in NY City on Fifth Ave for Woman Suffrage.

1916 - Sara Mathilde Soffel FIRST woman to compete her legal education at the University of Pittsburgh Law School.

1916 – The National Woman’s Party is formed by Alice Paul and others.

1916 – Jessie Haver Butler became the 1st official woman lobbyist at the Capitol.

1916 – Jessie Butler got the minimum wage legislation passed for entire country.

1917  - Sophie Masloff, born in Pittsburgh, PA. Goes on to become first woman mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1917 – NAWSA officers met with President Wilson.

1917 – National Woman’s Party began picketing the White House.

1917 – Arrests began of women picketing at the White House.

1917 -  Alice Paul, leader of the National Woman’s Party starts jail sentence.

1917 – New York State gave women the right to vote.

1918 – House passed Anthony Amendment, but Senate did not.

1918 – The Anthony Amendment became the 19th Amendment.

1918 – Michigan, Oklahoma & South Dakota gave women the right to vote.

1919 - Fannie Mooney Sellins, labor organizer, was murdered in Natrona Heights, PA by Allegheny County sheriff deputies.

1919 – June 4 19th Amendment adopted by congress and sent to states for ratification.

1919 - On June 24, 1919, the Pennsylvania legislature voted to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

1920 – Carrie Chapman Catt created the League of Women Voters.

1920 – Tennessee legislature ratified the 19th (Anthony Amendment) by one vote-Harry Burn!

1920 – Women won the right to vote in USA on August 18th – Celebration!

1920 – Alice Paul and others create the Equal Rights Amendment.

1921 - 2000

1922  - Firsts 8 women elected to the PA House of Representatives.

1923 – Equal rights Amendment introduced to Congress, by the Alice Paul & The National Woman’s Party.  It fails in its attempt to be ratified.

1924 – Native Americans granted citizenship and are allowed to vote. 

1925 - Elsie Hilliard Hillman, National, Political, Civic and Philanthropic Leader born..

1927 - Sadie T. M. Alexander becomes the FIRST Black Woman admitted to the PA Bar Association.

1928 – Women in England finally won the right to vote!

1930 - Catherine Baker Knoll is born. She will become the first and only woman Lt. Governor in Pennsylvania.

1930 - Sara Mathilde Soffel appointed Judge of Allegheny County. She is the first women Judge of the County and of the state of PA.

1933 – Frances Perkins   1st female Secretary of Labor appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt.

1938 - Crystal Bird Fauset is the FIRST African American Female elected to the PA State Legislature and in the nation. 

1941 -1945– Millions of women recruited for jobs during World War II.

1942 - Anne X Alpern becomes the FIRST woman to be appointed Pittsburgh City Solicitor and and FIRST woman city solicitor in the US.

1954 - Genevieve Blatt (D) was the first woman elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania – winning the race for Secretary of Internal Affairs in 1954, 1958, and 1962. 

1959 - Anne X Alpern becomes the FIRST woman appointed to PA State Attorney General office.

1961 – FDA approved birth control pills.

1961 - Anne X Alpern FIRST woman to serve on the PA Supreme Court.

1961 – Eleanor Roosevelt helped establish for passage in 1963 the Equal Pay Act.

1962 - Silent Spring published, author Rachel Carson, documenting the harmful impact of DDT and Fertilizer.

1964 – Civil Rights Act established Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

1965 - Voting Rights Acts passed.

1966 – National Organization for Women – NOW, founded by Betty Friedan and Associates.

1968 - Fair Housing Act Passed.

1972 – The Equal Rights Amendment passes in both houses signed by Nixon.

1972 - Title IX becomes Law.

1972 – Shirley Chisholm was first black American to run for president.

1972 - Pennsylvania ratified the ERA Amendment on September 26, 1972.

1973-  United States passes Title IX, allowing women the opportunity to access funding for Women's sports. Creating equality with mens sports on the amateur level.

1973 – Roe v. Wade affirmed women’s right to 1st Trimester abortions without intervention.

1974 – Ella Grasso of Connecticut becomes 1st woman governor.

1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

1982 - Deadline for ERA ratification expired; final count - three states short of adoption.

1982 - Women's History Week Established.

1984 - Geraldine Ferraro first woman from a major party to be nominated for Vice President.

1986 - Gwen Elliott becomes the FIRST African American Woman appointed Commander of the Pittsburgh Police Force.

1987 - Women's History Month Established.

1988 - Sophie Masloff becomes the first woman Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She served in that position from 1988 - 1994. There has not been another woman mayor since then. 

2001 to Present Day

2017 - Women's March 2.6 million worldwide.