WOMEN LEGISLATORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20263, 24 May 1929, Page 15

WOMEN LEGISLATORS.

MANY IN UNITED STATES.

EIGHT ELECTED TO CONGRESS. THREE WIDOWS NAMED RUTH. [from our own correspondent.] NEW YORK, May X. Eight women have sat in the Congress of tho United States since 1917. In the new Congress of 1929 there are eight. Miss Jeanette A. Rankin, Republican, of Montana, had the distinction ,of blazing the trail for women in the National Legislature. She made her appearance three years before the adoption of the women suffrage amendment of the Constitution. .

Five women members of Congress were re-elected at the last election. The veteran Congresswoman is Mrs. Florence Kahn, Republican, of California, elected four years ago to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, and reelected. Mrs. Edith Nourse Rogers, Republican, of Massachusetts, was also elected to succeed her late husband. She, too, was re-elected. Mrs. Mary Norton, Democrat, of New Jersey, was also elected in November, 1925, and re-elected. Mrs. John W. Langley, Republican, of Kentucky, succeeded her husband, who resigned in 1926. Mrs. Oldfield is the widow of Mr. Oldfield, chairman of the Democrat Congressional Committee. Tho three new members are widows, each with the name of Ruth. Mrs. Ruth Bryan Owen is a daughter of the late Mr. William Jennings Bryan, and widow of Major Reginald Owen, of the British Army. She is a Democrat. Mrs. Ruth Hanna McCormick, of Illinois, and Mrs. Ruth Baker Pratt, of New York, aro Republicans. Eleven women sit in State Senates, and 112 in the House of Representatives of the various States. In 13 States there are no women representatives. Connecticut has 16, although it steadfastly opposed woman suffrage. Conversely, Wyoming, the first State to recognise woman suffrage, has but one representative.