Total population in the United States by gender from 2010 to 2025
Status of Women in the States
For Women’s History Month, a look at gender gains – and gaps – in the U.S.
Large gender gaps persist at the top levels of leadership in government
UNITED STATES (by Margaret Wood): Arabella Mandsfield was the first woman admitted to the bar in 1869 in Iowa. She had not studied at a law school but rather had studied in her brother’s office for two years before taking the bar examination. Curiously enough, in the same year Ada Kepley became the first woman in the United States to graduate from law school. A year later, in 1870, Esther Morris was appointed as a justice of the peace in Wyoming Territory – the first woman in the United States appointed to a judicial position. Genevieve Cline was the first woman appointed to a federal court in 1928 when President Coolidge nominated her for a seat on the US Customs Court. She remained on the court for 25 years. Florence Allen, who had previously been a justice on the Ohio Supreme Court, was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in 1932, making her the first woman to be appointed as a judge to a federal appeals court. Currently, there are three women on the US Supreme Court, 1/3 of that body.