Timeline

2001 Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from New York, the only First Lady ever elected to public office. She won an open seat in a general election.

2001 Condoleezza Rice became the first woman to hold the post of National Security Advisory (formally known as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs) when she was appointed by President George W. Bush.

2001 Elaine Chao became the first Asian-American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet when she was appointed Secretary of Labor by President George W.Bush.

2001 Gale Norton became the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Interior, appointed by President George W. Bush. Norton was the first woman elected as Colorado's Attorney General and served that position for two terms.

2001 Ann Veneman was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the first female Secretary of Agriculture. She had previously been the first woman to serve as Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

2001 Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey became the first female former governor to serve in a presidential cabinet-level position when she was appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency by President Bush. She had been the first woman elected governor in New Jersey and served two terms in that position.

2001 Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) became the first woman to hold the position of vice-chair of the Senate Republican Conference during the 107th Congress (2001-2003).
2001 Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) became the first woman to serve as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

2001 Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected by her colleagues as House Democratic Whip, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. Congress.

2001 Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) became the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She also served as House Minority Whip-at-Large.

2001 Sila Calderon (Popular Democratic Party), former mayor of San Juan, became the first woman governor of Puerto Rico.

2002 Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became the first woman to head her party in Congress when she was elected by her colleagues as House Democratic Leader.

2002 The election to Congress of Linda Sanchez (D-CA) meant that for the first time, two sisters served together in the House. Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) was first elected to the House in 1996.

2003 Arizona became the first state where a woman governor succeeded another woman governor. Jane Dee Hull (R) was succeeded by Janet Napolitano (D).

2005 Washington state became the first state to have both a woman governor (Christine Gregoire, D) and two women serving in the U.S. Senate (Patty Murray, D and Maria Cantwell, D).

Since 2000 the idea of women in politics has grown to a new level. Women are now taking governor positions in states and continuing to pass their reign onto women.
Even though women as a whole in America are still aren't regarded as equal to men, especially in the realm of politics, it looks like times are slowly changing and helping women for the better. Sisters are now serving in congress together, Washington state politics is dominated by women (governor and both senators). This is advancement for all women across America, of every color, shape, size and ethnicity. Some think it is sad that women are still having firsts in politics, firsts that men do not have any more and have longer surpassed. Personally, I think it is truly beautiful that women are becoming more involved in the politically arena. We can not change the advancement of men from the past, we can only change the future for women and for us all.