March Is Women's History Month

In honor of Women's History Month, each day in March the Commission will present an interesting, fun, or thought-provoking fact about women in the law.

Get your daily fix on Facebook and Twitter or view the entire list below.

Week March 1-2
Week March 5-9
Week March 12-16
Week March 19-23
Week March 26-30

Week March 1-2

March 1 - Margaret Brent was the first woman lawyer in America, arriving in the colonies in 1638. She was a master negotiator, an accomplished litigator, and a respected leader. Brent was involved in 124 court cases over eight years and won every one. The Commission's prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established in 1991, is named after this legal trailblazer. Learn more ...

March 2 - Hillary Rodham Clinton served as the first chair of the Commission on Women (1987-1991). During her term, the Commission conducted national hearings on the status of women in the profession; issued a report based on those hearings concluding that, despite the exponential growth in the number of women entering the legal profession, a variety of discriminatory barriers remained a part of the professional culture that made it difficult for women to participate fully in work, responsibilities, and rewards of the profession; released the first annual Goal IX Report Card (now the Goal III Report) on the number of women in ABA leadership positions; and presented the first annual Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Awards at the Annual Meeting luncheon.

Week March 5-9

March 5 - Ms. JD has a new president for its 6th birthday. Ms. JD, a student-founded nonprofit that supports women in law school and the legal profession, celebrates its 6th birthday this month. The organization, which began as a law school blog, now boasts a nationwide network of campus chapters and an array of other programs, including an international scholarship fund and an online directory of scholarship and resources for and about women in law. Learn more ...

March 6 - Roberta Cooper Ramo became the first woman ABA President in 1995. Since then, four women have served or will serve as president: Martha W. Barnett (2000-2001), Karen J. Mathis (2006-2007), Carolyn B. Lamm (2009-2010), and Laurel G. Bellows (2012-2013).

March 7 - Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) was the first African American woman to serve as a federal judge. Prior to her appointment in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, she practiced as a civil rights lawyer and fought nearly every important civil rights case for two decades. Learn more ...

March 8 - Today is International Women's Day (its 101st anniversary). The first National Women's Day was observed in the U.S. in 1909. Two years later, International Women's Day was marked for the first time. The global theme for this year is "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures." Follow tweets on Twitter @WomensDay.

March 9 - Patsy Mink (1927-2002) - a lawyer - was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress. A Democrat, she represented Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965-1977 and 1990-2002. Rep. Mink participated in the passage of much of the 1960s Great Society legislation. Learn more ...

Week March 12-16

March 12 - Lorna Lockwood (1903-1977) was the first woman chief justice of a state supreme court in the U.S. (and a grand-niece of Abraham Lincoln). She was elected to the Arizona Supreme Court in 1961 and served there for 14 years, becoming chief justice in 1965 and again in 1970 for one-year terms. Learn more ...

March 13 - Actress Katherine Hepburn portrayed a defense attorney in one of the first movies featuring a woman lawyer as a main character. In Adam's Rib (MGM 1949), one of the classic comedies about the battle of the sexes, Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are husband and wife lawyers on opposing sides of the same attempted murder case. Learn more ...

March 14 - Sarah T. Hughes (1896-1985), a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, was the first - and thus far the only - woman to administer the oath of office to a U.S. president. On November 22, 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, she conducted the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson on Air Force One. Learn more ...

March 15 - Janet Reno is the first woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States (1993-2001). Appointed by President Bill Clinton, she also is the only woman out of 82 attorneys general since 1789 (when the office was created) to hold this position. Learn more ...

March 16 - Lucile Lomen (1920-1996) was the first woman to clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Born in Nome, AK, she worked for Justice William O. Douglas in 1944-1945. Learn more ...

Week March 19-23

March 19 - The Women's Rights Law Reporter, published by Rutgers School of Law in Newark, is the oldest legal periodical in the U.S. focusing exclusively on women's rights law. It was founded in 1970 by now-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and feminist activists, legal workers, and law students. Learn more ...

March 20 - Burnita Shelton Matthews (1894-1988) was the first woman to serve as a federal district court judge. She received a recess appointment from President Harry Truman to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1949 and received a permanent appointment the following year. Learn more ...

March 21 - Ada Kepley (1847-1925) was the first woman to graduate from law school. In 1870, she received an LL.B. from Union College of Law in Chicago, now known as Northwestern University. Learn more ...

March 22 - Actress Bette Davis replaced actor Raymond Burr as the defense attorney in one episode of the Perry Mason TV series. In 1963, surgery caused Burr to miss a few episodes, and Davis stepped in to play defense attorney Constant Doyle, defending a young man who knew her late husband Joe. This episode, The Case of Constant Doyle, aired on January 31, 1963. Speaking of Perry Mason, while his assistant extraordinaire, Della Street, was not a lawyer, she certainly shares much of the credit for his success. Read an interview with Street herself, actress Barbara Hale ...

March 23 - Women currently comprise approximately 31% of lawyers in the U.S. In 1951, women comprised 3% of the lawyer population, a number roughly remaining constant by decade until 1980, when it more than doubled to 8%. The percentage increased to 20% by 1991, 24% in 1995, 27% in 2000, and 30% in 2005. It has held steady from 30-31.6% since 2005 to the present.

Week March 26-30

March 26 - Mary Ann Hynes is the first woman general counsel of a Fortune 500 company. In 1979, at the age of 32, she was named vice president and general counsel of Commerce Clearinghouse (CCH). Since her time with CCH, she has served as GC of other global companies. Learn more ...

March 27 - Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong became the first tenured woman law professor in the U.S. when she was appointed a full professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law in 1935. Learn more ...

March 28 - Women comprise 27% of all state court judges in the U.S. (4,711 women out of 17,489 total). View more statistics on women state court judges ...

March 29 - The first two women ABA members - Mary B. Grossman of Cleveland and Mary Florence Lathrop of Denver - joined the organization in 1918. Learn more ...

March 30 - Presently, women comprise 31.7% of ABA lawyer members and 32.9% of all ABA members. Learn more about women's advancement into ABA leadership positions

Advertisement

Did You Know ...

Did You Know ...