history of women in politics
History of Women in Politics: Presidential Nominees
The history of women in politics took a dramatic leap forward when Hilary
Rodham Clinton made it to second place in the Democratic Primaries. In the 2012
election, we already are seeing fierce competition from Republican Party
candidates like Bachmann, Palin and Rice. What many people don’t realize is
that there has been a long history of women in politics, including on the
presidential ticket.
The first female US Presidential candidate was Victoria Woodhull in 1872.
Despite the fact that her nomination was ratified, her name did not appear on
the ballot. This is because political parties were then in charge of printing
the ballot tickets. There were many other presidential candidates in the
history of women in politics, including Belva Ann Lockwood, Gracie Allen, and
Agnes Waters. However, a woman did not have her name appear on the ballots for
president until 1964 when the ballot printing system was reformed.
Senator Margaret Chase from Maine was the first women in politics to get her
name on ballot. She was also the most successful Republican female nominee,
getting more than 83,000 votes plus 22 delegate votes. The history of women in
politics running for president isn’t complete without Rep. Shirley Chisholm of
New York. This woman was the first African-American to run for democratic
presidential nomination.