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 Savitzky 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 eco-feminism.
Sheila Jackson Lee is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for Texas's 18th congressional district,having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is 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 is also co-dean of Texas's congressional delegation.
Deborah Wasserman Schultz is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 25th congressional district,first elected to Congress in 2004. A member of the Democratic Party,she is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee.
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.
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.
Rubén Jesús Kihuen Bernal is an American politician and former member of the United States House of Representatives for Nevada's 4th congressional district,serving from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party,he previously was a member of the Nevada Senate from 2006 to 2016. He was Nevada's first Latino member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Kihuen described himself as the first "Dreamer" elected to Congress. In December 2017,House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Kihuen to resign in response to sexual misconduct allegations against him by a female campaign staff member,as reported by BuzzFeed. He refused to resign but did not run for reelection in 2018.
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.
Dr. Martha Jee Wong,born Martha Jee,(1939–) is a Texas politician who was the first Asian American woman to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives,representing Houston's District 134. She served from 2002 to 2006 as a Republican. Moreover,she was the first Asian American woman part of Texas Spirits,an honorary spirit,service,and social organization on the campus of University of Texas at Austin. Texas Spirits is the oldest spirit organization at the University of Texas,founded in 1941.
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.
Victoria Neave Criado is an American attorney and a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 107 in Dallas County,Texas. In the general election held on November 8,2016,she unseated Republican Representative Kenneth Sheets in the most expensive Texas House race of the 2016 cycle. Neave was sworn into office on January 10,2017. She was named the House Democratic Caucus Freshman of the Year. During her first session,Neave passed a law to allow "Texans applying for or renewing their driver’s license the option to donate $1 or more toward rape kit testing." As of June 2018,the program had "collected more than $234,956."
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.
Alma Hernandez is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 20th district. Hernandez was elected in 2018 to succeed Macario Saldate,who was term-limited. She was the youngest woman elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.
