There have been 39 women in the United States Senate since the establishment of that body in 1789. The first woman served in 1922, but women were first elected in number in 1992. As of 2012, 17 of the 100 senators are women. Thirteen of the women who have served were appointed; seven of those were appointed to succeed their deceased husbands. The 113th Congress will have 20 female senators, the most ever in U.S. history.
Read more about Women In The United States Senate: History, Women Senators For The 113th Congress, Election, Selection and Family, Firsts and Onlies, List of States Represented By Women, List of Female Senators
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“General McLaidlaw: Lena will never marry. She’s not the marrying sort. I see no reason to worry. There’s enough to care for her for the rest of her life.
Mrs. McLaidlaw: I suppose you’re right, dear. I’m afraid she is rather spinsterish.
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“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
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“So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter.”
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“We have been here over forty years, a longer period than the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness, coming to this Capitol pleading for this recognition of the principle that the Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Mr. Chairman, we ask that you report our resolution favorably if you can but unfavorably if you must; that you report one way or the other, so that the Senate may have the chance to consider it.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)