What She Said

Part III, Case 7: Elected Officials

Though some women ran for public office before the 19th Amendment's adoption, the first elected to federal office was Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana in 1916, just two years after Montana enfranchised women. Journalist Estelle Lawton Lindsey was the first woman elected to the Los Angeles City Council, serving from 1915 until 1917. While early victories were symbolic and inspirational, significant growth in the number of women in public office occurred only after emergence of the women's movement during the 1960s and 1970s.

Women who have served in government at the municipal, state, and federal level have made significant contributions to Los Angeles's development. Joy Picus, the first woman City Council member from the San Fernando Valley and a Ms. Magazine "Woman of the Year" for 1985, addressed numerous environmental and pay equity issues over her sixteen years of service. Diane Watson, the first African-American woman elected to LAUSD's Board of Education, went on to be the first African-American woman elected to the California State Senate, and a US Congresswoman.

Gloria Molina is the first Latina in history to be elected to the California State Legislature, the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the California State Assembly. In recent decades, California has sent several women to represent the state in the US House of Representatives and Senate, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, the first and only woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007-2009) and Select Committee on Intelligence (2009-2015), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War and presidents like George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Case 8, Health, is the wide tower toward the center of the gallery.

• 1

  Letter of thanks from Congresswoman Maxine Waters to Brad Pye Jr., November 15, 1990Brad Pye Jr. Campaign Collection

• 2

  Congresswoman Maxine Waters and activist Willis Edwards speaking at the Greater LA Press Club, April 7, 1987Guy Crowder Collection

• 3

  Ms. Magazine, featuring Joy Picus as one of eleven "Women of the Year," January 1986Joy Picus Collection

• 4

  Los Angeles Councilwoman Joy Picus addresses the press following post- Proposition 13 budget cuts, September 1979Joy Picus Collection

• 5

  Newsletter, National Women's Political Caucus, supporting Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's candidacy for the Presidential Democratic Party nomination, January 1972Susan B. Nelson Collection

• 6

  Then Mayor of San Francisco, Dianne Feinstein, meets with Kenneth and Ramona Hahn, Brad Pye Jr., Marcine Shaw, and others in her bid for Governor of California, 1990Brad Pye Jr. Campaign Collection

• 7

  Letter of thanks from Dianne Feinstein to Brad Pye Jr., November 4, 1990Brad Pye Jr. Campaign Collection

• 8

  California State Senator Diane Watson speaks at an event honoring Assistant Police Chief, Jesse Brewer, October 10, 1993Guy Crowder Collection

• 9

  Newspaper clipping, "Metropolitan Plan is Only Way to Integrate: Watson," Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1980Daily News Morgue Files of the Bustop Campaign Collection

• 10

  Campaign brochure in support of Assemblywoman Gloria Molina for Los Angeles City Council, 1987Frank del Olmo Collection