"This woman's place is in the house—The House of Representatives!"
That was the slogan of Bella Abzug's successful 1970 election campaign. But from the first Congress, in 1789, until the 65th Congress, in 1917, women served in neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate. It wasn't until a suffragist from Montana named Jeannette Rankin won her state's congressional election that women first came to the House. "I may be the first woman member of Congress," she declared, "but I won't be the last." She wasn't, but it's been slow going.
