Landmarks for women Since 1848

1848

The world's first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, N.Y. A Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions is signed, setting the agenda for the women's rights movement.

Astronomer Maria Mitchell becomes the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Almost a century passes before another woman is added.

1849

Amelia Jenks Bloomer publishes and edits Lily, the first prominent women's rights newspaper.

1850

Quaker physicians establish the first women's medical college in Philadelphia.

1853

Antoinette Brown is the first US woman ordained as a minister in a Protestant denomination (First Congregational Church in New York).

1855

The University of Iowa becomes the first state school to admit women.

1860

Connecticut becomes the first state to prohibit all abortions.

1869

The first woman suffrage law in the US is passed in Wyoming.

1870

Iowa is the first state to admit a woman to the bar.

1872

Congress passes a law to give women federal employees equal pay for equal work.

1873

Edward Clarke of Harvard Medical College argues that higher education harms women and their future offspring. Clarke is widely believed and quoted for decades.

1873

Supreme Court affirms that states can restrict women from the practice of any profession to preserve family harmony and 'uphold the law of the Creator.'

Congress passes the Comstock Law, defining contraceptive information as 'obscene material.'

1875

Sophia Smith is the first woman to endow and found a women's college. Smith College is chartered in 1871, opens in 1875.

To be continued tommorow.