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womens rights
The original 13 states pass laws that prohibit women from voting. Abigail Smith Adams, wife of John Adams, and mother of John Quincy Adams, writes that women "will not hold ourselves bound by any laws which we have no voice." -
womens rights
The first public high schools for girls open in New York and Boston. The American Journal of Education wrote that the school should give "women such an education as shall make them fit wives for well educated men," -
womens rights
Oberlin College in Ohio, becomes the first co-educational college in the U.S. Three women graduated in 1841. -
womens rights
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary is established in South Hadley, Massachusetts by Mary Lyon as the first college for women. -
womens rights
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States from Geneva College in New York. For the first time, women are permitted to practice medicine legally. -
womens rights
The first National Women’s Rights Convention is held in Worcester, Massachusetts, attracting more than 1,000 participants. National conventions continue to be held yearly through 1860. -
womens rights
The First Legislative Assembly of the territory of Wyoming grants women, over the age of 21, the right to vote and to hold political office. Wyoming becomes the first state to grant women the right to vote. -
womens rights
A Wyoming Court swears in the first panel of female Grand Jurors, finding that their service will "give them the best possible opportunities to aid in suppressing the dens of infamy which curse the country." -
womens rights
Victoria Chaflin Woodhull is nominated as the candidate of the Equal Rights party, the first woman to run for President of the United States. Neither she nor any other woman in the country is allowed to cast a vote for her. -
womens rights
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amends the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and bans employment discrimination against pregnant women. -
womens rights
The U.S. Senate votes unanimously to confirm Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman Supreme Court Justice. She was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. -
womens rights
Geraldine Ferraro is nominated as first female vice presidential candidate by the Democratic presidential candidate, Walter Mondale.
