Dorothy Ann Richards was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat,she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer,when she gave the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards was the second female governor of Texas,and was frequently noted in the media for her outspoken feminism and her one-liners.
Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer,educator,and politician. A Democrat,she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction,the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives,and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901,alongside Andrew Young of Georgia.
Bella Abzug,nicknamed "Battling Bella",was an American lawyer,politician,social activist,and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971,Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem,Shirley Chisholm,and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus. She was a leading figure in what came to be known as ecofeminism.
Sheila Jackson Lee was an American lawyer and politician who was the U.S. representative for Texas's 18th congressional district,from 1995 until her death in 2024. The district includes most of central Houston. She was a member of the Democratic Party and served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council before being elected to the House. She was also co-dean of Texas's congressional delegation.
Florence Donald Shapiro is an American politician from Texas. Her political career lasted over 30 years and coincided with Plano's growth from a bedroom community of 17,000 to a city of almost 300,000 residents. After moving to Plano in 1972,she served on the Plano City Council from 1979 to 1990 and served as the city's first female and Jewish elected mayor from 1990 to 1992.
Helen Bentley was an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland from 1985 to 1995. Before entering politics,she had been a leading maritime reporter and journalist.
Dorchen A. Leidholdt is an activist and leader in the feminist movement against violence against women. Since the mid-1970s,she has counseled and advocated for rape victims,organized against "the media's promotion of violence against women",served on the legal team for the plaintiff in a precedent-setting sexual harassment case,founded an international non-governmental organization fighting prostitution and trafficking in women and children,directed the nation's largest legal services program for victims of domestic violence,advocated for the enactment and implementation of laws that further the rights of abused women,and represented hundreds of women victimized by intimate partner violence,human trafficking,sexual assault,the threat of honor killing,female genital mutilation,forced and child marriage,and the internet bride trade.
Lionel Aron Peña,Jr., known as Aaron is an American attorney and politician who for 10 years represented House District 40 in the Texas House of Representatives,a seat he was first sworn into on January 14,2003. On November 25,2011,Rep. Aaron Peña announced that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term in office. He ended his tenure with the Texas House of Representatives on January 8,2013 and returned to his work as an attorney and advisor in the private and public sectors. Currently Peña is employed with the Texas General Land Office,serving under the leadership of Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
Terie Norelli is a Democratic former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives,serving the Rockingham 16th District and later 26th District from 1996 through 2014. She served as Speaker of the House for six years,from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2014. When Republicans regained control of the New Hampshire House in 2010,she became the Democratic minority leader. Norelli was the first Democratic speaker of the New Hampshire House in 84 years. When the Democrats regained control of the New Hampshire House in 2012,she was elected to the role of speaker again.
Sarah M. Buel is an American lawyer and anti-domestic violence activist. In 1994 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.
Judi Jane Conway Patton is an American activist for women's safety and child abuse prevention. She served as the First Lady of Kentucky from December 12,1995,until December 9,2003,during the tenure of her husband,former Governor Paul E. Patton.
Gail Lavielle is a former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives,where she represented the 143rd district. The district included parts of Wilton,Norwalk,and,following redistricting in 2012,Westport. Representative Lavielle,an Assistant House Minority Leader,was the House Ranking Member of the Connecticut General Assembly's Appropriations Committee,and served on the Transportation and Education Committees. During her 10 years in the legislature,she also served on the Finance,Revenue,and Bonding Committee and Higher Education Committee and as House Ranking Member of both the Education Committee and the Commerce Committee.
Nina Adil Godiwalla is an American author and businesswoman. She is CEO of MindWorks Leadership and the author of Suits:A Woman on Wall Street.
Ellen Spencer Susman is an American journalist,philanthropist,political appointee and television producer. She was nominated by Barack Obama in September 2011 to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She served from 2013 to 2016 as the director of the US Department of State Art in Embassies Program,a public-private partnership of American and international artists,collectors,galleries,foundations,museums and universities.
Rita Crocker Clements was an American Republican Party organizer,an activist in historic preservation,and a First Lady of the U.S. state of Texas.
Katrina Frye Shealy is an American politician,and a member of the South Carolina State Senate. She is a Republican but was elected as a petition candidate from District 23 in Lexington County. At the time of her election in 2012,she was the only woman in the South Carolina Senate and in May of 2023,was one of six women serving in the South Carolina State Senate. She was defeated in a runoff in 2024.
Pamela Anne Quiroz is an American sociologist. She is executive director of Inter University Program on Latino Research and director of Center for Mexican American Studies and professor of sociology,University of Houston.
The 2017–18 United States political sexual scandals saw a heightened period of allegations of sexual misconduct,harassment and assault,and resulted in the subsequent firings and resignations of American politicians. Some of the allegations are linked to the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases starting in October 2017 amid the wider MeToo movement.
Veronica Escobar is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district,based in El Paso,since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party,she served as an El Paso County commissioner from 2007 to 2011 and the El Paso county judge from 2011 until 2017.
Wilhelmina Ruth Delco is an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1986. She was the first African American official elected at-large in Travis County and the first woman to hold the second highest position in the Texas House of Representatives.
