Women in the United States Senate Women in the United States Senate There have been 52 total women in the United States Senate since its establishment in 1789. The first woman who served as a U.S. Senator, Rebecca Latimer Felton, represented Georgia for a single day in 1922. The first woman elected to the Senate was Hattie Caraway from Arkansas in 1932. Fifteen of the women who have served were appointed; seven of those were appointed to succeed their deceased husbands. As of April 9, 2018 when Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi was sworn in, the 115th United States Congress has 23 female Senators out of 100
Women in the United States Senate the popular perception of the Senate as an exclusive "boys' club." Since 1992, there has been at least one new woman elected to the Senate every two years with the exception of the 2004 cycle (Lisa Murkowski was elected for the first time in 2004, but had been appointed to the seat since 2002). Since 2004, at least two new women have been elected to the Senate every two years, with the exception of 2010, when Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire was the only new woman elected to the Senate. Senator Olympia Snowe arrived in the Senate in 1995, having