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Women in Congress

 

And now, another Fact of Congress

Quick! What year did women in America get the vote?

If you said 1920, give yourself an A+!! That’s hard to believe in today’s world.

Now, what year was the first woman elected to Congress — this may be hard to believe too, but it was before 1920 — 1916 to be exact.

Her name was Jeannette Rankin and she was elected to the House of Representatives from the state of Montana.

Like many pioneers, she opened the door for women all across America to seek and win office in Washington.

Although women make up slightly over 50% of the US population today, only 15% of the members of Congress are women. What do you think those numbers will be when your generation is voting?

And that’s another Fact of Congress

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