Celebrating Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

March is Women’s History Month and this year’s theme celebrates Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

The theme, which is designated by the National Women’s History Alliance each year, recognizes women across the country who understand that for a positive future, we need to eliminate bias and discrimination entirely from our lives and institutions.

The women of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus have that understanding, and with the support of the entire caucus, they are committed to working to make Pennsylvania a more equitable and inclusive place to live and work for the diverse group of people who call our commonwealth home.

You can learn more about the women of our caucus, as well as some of the countless Pennsylvania women who have made – and are making – history in the sections below.

Our celebration of Women’s History Month continues on our social media channels.

Be sure to follow us, @PaSenateDems, on Facebook, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) for more #WHM2024 content!

Meet the Women of the Senate Democratic Caucus

Women's History Month - Senator Lisa Boscola

Women's History Month - Senator Katie Muth

Women's History Month - Senator Amanda Cappelletti

Women's History Month - Senator Judy Schwank

Women's History Month - Senator Maria Collett

Women's History Month - Senator Christine Tartaglione

Women's History Month - Senator Carolyn Comitta

Women's History Month - Senator Lindsey Williams

Healthcare is a human right, for everyone, regardless of gender orientation. No one should have restrictions on the care they’re able to receive or the decisions they’re able to make about their own body. Yet the fight for women to have bodily autonomy and equitable access to quality care continues.

Pennsylvania Senate Democrats are fighting for better healthcare options for women. We need more healthcare, not less. We need more access and coverage options, not less.

We believe lawmakers and leaders on both sides of the aisle can work together to make the healthcare system work even better for women and their specific health needs. Our caucus will continue to identify real health challenges and fight for solutions for women across the commonwealth. Proactive, unbiased, convenient, and supportive healthcare can easily be a reality for women if we make it a priority.

Learn More about Women's Health & Advocacy

Spotlight on the PA Women Who Have Shaped History

Louisa May Alcott

American Author

Louisa May Alcott, of Germantown, is best known as the author of the American classic novel Little Women (1868). In total, Louisa has over 30 published works to her name.

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Marian Anderson

Singer

Marian Anderson, of Philadelphia, was the first African-American singer to perform as a member of the Metropolitan Opera, and the first African American to perform at the White House for President Roosevelt. Anderson also performed the National Anthem at the inauguration of President Kennedy.

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Catherine Baker Knoll

Lieutenant Governor

Catherine Baker Knoll, of McKees Rocks, made history as the first female Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. Knoll was known for her blunt and honest way of speaking, and for the role she carved out for herself in the male dominated world of politics.

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Genevieve Blatt

Judge

Genevieve Blatt, of East Brady, was the first woman in Pennsylvania to be elected to statewide office and to serve on the state’s appellate court. She spent more than 50 years in public service, but her longest-held position was judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.

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Nellie Bly

Journalist

Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864 in Cochran’s Mills, Nellie Bly was a pioneer of investigative journalism. She went undercover to gain access to a mental institution in order to investigate patient treatment. Her article about the treatment of patients in these institutions lead to monumental reform in mental health care.

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Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Writer

Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an acclaimed writer from Harrisburg. Her most popular works are her nonfiction works Kids on Strike!, and Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow,. She has won accolades for her work including the Newbery Medal, given by the American Library Association (ALA).

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Rachel Carson

Writer, Scientist, and Ecologist

Rachel Carson, of Springdale, published Silent Spring in 1962. The book warned readers of the serious environmental and health effects that came from the use of the pesticide DDT, commonly found on fruit and produce. The modern environmentalist movement is forever indebted to Carson and Silent Spring, as the book made so many people aware of the damage that humans can do to the Earth.

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Margaret Cochran Corbin

American soldier

Margaret Cochran Corbin, of Franklin County, served as a nurse during the Revolutionary War while her husband was serving. After witnessing the death of her husband on the battle field, Corbin decided to take his place and fight on the front lines of the revolution. Corbin is widely regarded, “as the first woman to take a soldier’s part in the War for Liberty.”

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Mo’ne Davis

Baseball Player

Born on Philadelphia, Mo’ne Davis became a nationwide phenomenon for being the first female pitcher to win a game in the Little League World Series 2014. A member of the Taney Dragons, Davis was the first girl to ever pitch a shutout in Little League postseason. Mo’ne is also the first Little Leaguer to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the jersey she wore when she won her historic game is in the Baseball Hall of fame.

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Katharine Drexel

Saint

Born in Philadelphia in 1858, Saint Katharine Drexel committed herself to the Catholic religious order, Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and became a nun. Drexel dedicated her life to aiding the plight of Native Americans and African Americans. In the Catholic Church, Katharine is known as the patron saint of racial justice and philanthropists. She was made a saint by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.

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Tina Fey

Writer, Comedian and Actress

Writer, comedian and actress Tina Fey was born in Upper Darby. Fey entered the Second City comedy training program before being hired for Saturday Night Live (SNL). Fey became the first ever female head writer on the show. She has written and starred in numerous movies and TV shows.

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Martha Graham

Choreographer

Martha Graham, of Allegheny, was a world-renowned dancer and trailblazer in the dance community for creating a modern form of dance outside of the classical tradition. Graham collected many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was named “Dancer of the Century” by TIME magazine.

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Ruth Kramer Hartman

Baseball Player

Ruth Hartman, of Leesport, is best known for being an original member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The “Queen of Baseballtown” played for the Fort Wayne Daises during the summers of 1946 and 1947, and played with the Grand Rapids Chicks in the 1947 league playoffs. Hartman was also recognized as a member of the Major-League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

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Barbara Iglewski

Scientific Researcher

Dr. Barbara Iglewski is a scientific researcher from Pennsylvania born in 1938. Iglewski’s research has served as the foundation for an entire field of study on drugs that can prevent infections, and interrupt the bacterial communication process. She has published a total of 180 papers, in addition to holding seven patents in her name.

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Roxanne Jones

Pennsylvania State Senator

Roxanne Jones, of Philadelphia, made history as the first Black woman to serve in the Pennsylvania State Senate, and the first woman to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate Democratic Caucus.

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Florence Kelley

American Social Reformer

Florence Molthrop Kelley, of Philadelphia, rallied for a standard set time work day, a minimum wage for all workers, and for protection of child workers. Kelley is also credited as a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and served as vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

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Grace Kelly

Actress

Born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Grace Kelly became world renowned for her acting as well as her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. In 1954, Kelly won an Academy Award for her lead role in the film The Country Girl. After meeting Prince Rainer at the Cannes Film Festival, the pair were married in 1956.

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Susan Kelly-Dreiss

Women's Rights Activist

Due to her own violent childhood, Pennsylvania native Susan Kelly-Dreiss has worked her whole life to protect women and children. Her first act was lobbying for the passage of Pennsylvania’s first domestic violence law in 1976, the Pennsylvania Protection from Abuse Act. Dreiss then co-founded the nation’s first domestic violence coalition, the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV).

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Betsy King

Professional Golfer

Born in Reading, Betsy King has won six major golf championships and 34 Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour victories in all. King was inducted into the World of Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.

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Stephanie L. Kwolek

Scientist

Stephanie Kwolek, of New Kensington, became one of the greatest scientists of the 19^th century. She is best known for developing Kevlar, a material used in ultra-protective clothing, such as bulletproof vests. This material has saved countless lives of those serving in the military, and other emergency first responders.

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Tara Lipinski

Figure Skater

Tara Lipinski, of Philadelphia, won the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, becoming the youngest individual Gold Medalist ever in Winter Games history. Lipinski also holds the records for the youngest ever World Figure Skating Champion, as well as youngest United States Champion.

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Sophie Masloff

American Politician

Sophie Masloff was a long-time member of the Democratic Party and civil servant. She was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council in 1976 and later served as the mayor of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 1994. She was the first, and so far, only woman to be Mayor of Pittsburgh. She was also the first Jewish person to hold that office.

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Joanna McClinton

Democratic Speaker of the House

Joanna McClinton, of Philadelphia, continues to make herstory as a state lawmaker, most recently by being elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House – the first woman to serve in that position.

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Lucretia Mott

Abolitionist

Lucretia Mott was a prominent activist that assisted in the Underground Railroad, in the abolition movements, in the women’s rights movements, and the Native American rights movements of the day. Mott founded the Philadelphia Female Antislavery Society in 1833 and helped launched the American women’s rights movement. Later, she founded Swarthmore College.

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Violet Oakley

Artist

Although she was born in New Jersey, Violet Oakley made some of the most beautiful artistic contributions to the state of Pennsylvania. Oakley was the first woman to receive a public mural commission in 1920 for her work in the Pennsylvania State Capital building. Her most famous works can be seen on the walls of the chambers of the PA State Senate, the PA State House, and the PA Supreme Court in Harrisburg.

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Jackie Ormes

Cartoonist

Zelda “Jackie” Ormes, of Pittsburg, reached stardom as the first female African American cartoonist. With strips in the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper read nationwide, her comics centered on narratives of politics and race relations of the times. Some of her more well-known cartoons include the Torchy Brown comics, and the Patty Jo ‘n’ Ginger cartoons.

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Hannah Callowhill Penn

William Penn's Wife

Born in Bristol, England, Hannah Callowhill Penn married Pennsylvania founder William Penn in 1696. After her husband William became ill, Hannah handled all of the Province of Pennsylvania’s official business. No other woman had successfully run a British proprietary colony for as long as Hannah Penn ran the day-to-day operations of the colony of Pennsylvania.

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Ann Preston

Physician and Educator

Ann Preston, of West Grove, was a member of its first graduating class of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Preston later became the dean of the school in addition to being an activist for women’s education.

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Dawn Staley

Basketball Player

The stellar basketball career of Dawn Staley, of North Philadelphia, two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. After a career in the WNBA, Staley became the women’s basketball coach at Temple University in 2000. Desiring to give back to her community in Philadelphia, Staley created the Dawn Staley Foundation to help under-privileged girls develop leadership, teamwork, and social skills.

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Taylor Swift

Singer and Songwriter

Singer, songwriter Taylor Swift was born in Reading in 1989. She has sold millions of records across the world. In 2008 her album Fearless made her the highest selling country artist of the year. Fearless also made Swift the youngest ever recipient of the Grammy Award for Album of the year. She again made history with her Album of the Year win for her album 1989 as the only woman ever to win two Grammy Awards for Album of the Year.

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Ida Tarbell

Journalist

Ida Minerva Tarbell, of Erie County, became famous after her 19-part series on the Standard Oil Company was published. The series, The History of Standard Oil, outlined the tragedy of the Cleveland Massacre, highlighted people’s fear at the time of John D. Rockefeller’s prosperous oil company becoming a monopoly.

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C. Delores Tucker

Politician and Civil Rights Activist

Philadelphia native C. Delores Tucker was a political and social activist that became in the civil rights movement by registering African-Americans to vote. Tucker was the first African-American woman to be offered the position of Secretary in Pennsylvania State Government. She was appointed by Gov. Milton Shapp as the Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1971.

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Lilith M. Wilson

House Representative

Lilith M. Wilson was a Pennsylvania House Representative from Berks County. She made her first unsuccessful run for public office in 1922, before winning her race in 1931 and joining the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She held office for two consecutive terms before her death in July 1937.

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Margaret Wilson Pryor

1785-1874

Margaret Pryor was born in Philadelphia to a Quaker family. She was known to family and friends as “Aunt Margaret.” While Pryor spent much of her life advocating for women’s rights, she was also involved in the Hicksite Quaker reforms and the abolition of slavery. Her passion and determination to implement change by combatting social injustice led her to attend the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19-20, 1848. In the 1868 presidential election, Pryor and many other women voted in protest of the laws that prevented women from participating in elections. The courage of Pryor and the women who stood with her against voting discrimination inspired the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) to strategize a similar, more organized form of voting protest.

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Harriet Forten Purvis

1810-1875

African American abolitionist and suffragist. Purvis founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society with Lucretia Mott and several other women and remained an active member for many years. In her work to end slavery, Purvis initiated the Free Produce Movement that boycotted produce and cotton grown and picked by slaves. Purvis helped slaves who were escaping their masters on the Underground Railroad. She provided them with clothing, money and shelter in her home. Purvis’s involvement with the Underground Railroad led her and her family to move from central Philadelphia to the rural outskirts of Byberry, Pennsylvania. When women were not included in the 15th Amendment allowing freed male slaves the right to vote, Purvis joined with her friend Susan B. Anthony and the National Woman Suffrage Association to support a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage.

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Lucretia Mott

1793-1880

Lucretia Mott was born on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and spent much of her life in Philadelphia. Mott was a Quaker minister who became one of the most prominent women’s rights activists of her time. After being denied entry to anti-slavery conventions abroad, and being criticized for being an outspoken woman in the United States, Mott joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and three other women to organize the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Seneca Falls was the first women’s rights convention in U.S. history, and was attended by almost 200 people, including famous abolitionist Fredrick Douglas. After Seneca Falls, Mott continued publicly speaking about the need for women’s equality and published the “Discourse on Women” detailing the history of the oppression of women. Mott was also a part of the founding of Swarthmore College, and insisted the institution educate both men and women equally.

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Jane Clothier Master Hunt

1812-1889

Jane Clothier Master Hunt was born in Philadelphia in 1812, and moved to Waterloo, New York, in 1845 with her husband Richard Pell Hunt. Hunt is best known for hosting founders of the Seneca Falls Convention in her home as they planned the convention. The women announced that it would be “a convention to discuss the social, civic and religious condition and rights of woman.” The Seneca Falls Conventions, held in New York on July 19-20, 1848, was a pivotal moment for the women’s rights movement in the United States. Hunt died in 1889 in Chicago, Illinois.

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Eliza L. Sproat Turner

1826-1903

Eliza Sproat Turner was born in Philadelphia in 1826. She was an abolitionist, a suffragist, and a women’s club founder and leader. Her Quaker beliefs developed her desire for a peaceful society that promoted the equality of all races and genders. Turner was a member of the Philadelphia Female AntiSlavery Society (PFASS) and a leader of the Women’s Congress. She also distributed the publication “New Century for Women” for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. The following year she helped found the New Century Club for women. In 1882, Turner was instrumental in the establishment of the New Century Guild of Working Women, known today as the New Century Trust. The organization continues to work to build the economic and political power of women and girls throughout the Southeastern Pennsylvania region through grant funding.

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Gertrude Emily Hicks Bustill Mossell

1855-1948

Gertrude E. H. Bustill Mossell was born to a prominent African American family in Philadelphia in 1855. Mossell was first published in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) publication “The Christian Recorder” immediately after graduating from school. By 1885, Mossell became the woman’s editor for the “New York Age” and was the woman’s editor of the “Indianapolis World” from 1891 to 1892. Through her work in journalism, and her book “The Work of Afro-American Women” (1894), Mossell encouraged women, specifically women of color, to engage in the fight for suffrage, to seek higher education and to enter journalism themselves.

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Caroline “Carrie” Burnham Kilgore

1838-1909

Caroline “Carrie” Burnham Kilgore moved to Philadelphia to teach after obtaining a medical degree in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 1860s. After attempting to vote in 1871 and having her ballot rejected, Kilgore sued the state of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard Kilgore’s case, and ruled that the constitution did not give women the right to vote. Kilgore then attempted to enroll at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1871, in 1873, and 1874. After years of independent study with the support of her husband (a practicing lawyer), Kilgore was finally accepted into the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1881. She was the first woman lawyer in Philadelphia and the first woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1886. She was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1890.

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Dora Lewis

1862-1928

Dora Lewis was born in 1862 to a prominent Philadelphia family. As a wealthy widow, she began working for the women’s suffrage movement through the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Her first major project with the organization was to increase support for a federal women’s suffrage amendment. Lewis was one of the first members of the National Woman’s Party (NWP), which formed in 1916. Her involvement with suffrage put her in conflict with law enforcement many times. On November 14, 1917, while serving time in prison with other suffragists for protesting for the right to vote, Lewis and 32 others were beaten so severely by prison guards that Lewis was thought to be dead at one point. Today, the incident is referred to as “The Night of Terror.” This treatment did not stifle Lewis’s courage to continue her work with the National Woman’s Party, and she was arrested during protests several times after the “Night of Terror”. Lewis continued traveling the country and fighting for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

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Alice Dunbar-Nelson

1875-1935

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1875, Alice Dunbar-Nelson became a teacher in 1892. She had her first book, “Violets and Other Tales”, published in 1985. After moving from New York to Delaware, Dunbar-Nelson became active in both the civil rights and suffrage movements, using her writing skills to articulate the effects of racial and gender discrimination. In 1915, she was field organizer for the Middle Atlantic States in the campaign for women’s suffrage, and during World War I, she served as a field representative of the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense. After the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, Dunbar-Nelson continued to fight for racial justice and the civil rights movement until her death in Philadelphia in 1935.

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Mary B. Archer

1881-1963

Mary B. Archer was one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women in 1927. A Lifelong resident of Berks County, Archer was instrumental in raising funds for those in need during World War I. Under her leadership, the City of Reading contributed five times more than the national average to relief funds for the war. After her service to the war efforts, and the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, Archer lead the efforts of the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, and became the first female member of the National Committee of the Democratic Party. She was also the first female member of the Berks County Prison Board, and the first president of the Berks County League of Women Voters, and founded the Animal Rescue League of Berks County in 1952.

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Lucy Kennedy Miller

1880-1962

Lucy Kennedy Miller served as chairwoman of the Pittsburgh suffrage movement during some of the movement’s most crucial years. She founded the State Suffrage Organization in 1912, with members traveling to Harrisburg to lobby legislators, and hosted local gatherings to present the argument for the vote for women. In 1915, Miller wrote an appeal on behalf of the Woman Suffrage Party to voters in Pennsylvania, encouraging them to ratify the 19th Amendment. When the Pennsylvania Legislature met in full session to ratify the 19th Amendment on June 24, 1919, Miller became the first woman to ever address the Pennsylvania Legislature. Miller also became a founding member of the Allegheny County League of Women Voters which grew from the suffrage movement and remains active to this day.

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Jennie Bradley Roessing

1881-1963

Jennie Bradley Roessing was a leader and active member of the suffrage movement in the Pittsburgh area during the early 1900s. Born in Pittsburgh in 1882, Roessing was introduced to the suffrage movement by her father on their many trips abroad to his native England. In 1904, Roessing organized the Allegheny County Equal Franchise Federation with fellow Pittsburgh suffragist Lucy Kennedy. Under Roessing’s leadership, the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association also organized the Justice Bell Tour, a four-month tour through Pennsylvania with a replica of the Liberty Bell with its clapper silenced until women won the right to vote. The tour’s purpose was to continue lobbying for the passage of the women’s suffrage bill, which was narrowly defeated in a statewide vote in November of 1915. After the failure at the state level, Roessing turned her attention to the national level. She lobbied both the Democratic and Republican national conventions of 1916 to make suffrage a part of party platforms. It was through Roessing’s and many other women’s efforts that the 19th Amendment was finally adopted, and women gained the right to vote in 1920.

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Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin

1883-1965

Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin was born in 1883 in Washington D.C., and spent much of her youth in Reading, Pennsylvania. Lampkin moved to Pittsburgh where she developed her passion for social justice and began organizing consumer protest groups for black housewives. She was elected president of the Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League in 1915, where she organized for suffrage for black women. Lampkin also served as national organizer and chair of the executive board for the National Association of Colored Women. She served as the vice chair of the Negro Voters League of Pennsylvania in the 1920s, after the passage of the 19th Amendment. Lampkin was also an active member of the NAACP, increasing membership in the organization throughout the 1930s. In 1964, Lampkin was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt-Mary McLeod Bethune World Citizenship Award from the National Council of Negro Women for her dedication to racial and gender equality.

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Caroline Katzenstein

1888-1968

Caroline Katzenstein was born in North Carolina in 1888 and moved to Philadelphia in 1907 at the age of 19 with her three sisters. During the fight for suffrage, Katzenstein served in official positions for the Equal Franchise Society of Philadelphia, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party. Rifts in the movement formed when famed suffragist Alice Paul brought her more militant style of advocacy for a women’s right to vote to Philadelphia. The National American Woman Suffrage Association rejected the use of militant tactics. The two opposing sides disagreed on the most effective tactics for their campaigns, but Katzenstein remained a unifying force within the movement. After the passage of the 19th Amendment, Katzenstein worked in the insurance industry. She continued to fight for women’s economic rights in both labor and marriage legislation. Katzenstein wrote the book “Lifting the Curtain” detailing the history of suffrage and the women’s labor rights movements in Pennsylvania. She also lobbied tirelessly for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendments until her death in January of 1968.

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Alice Paul

1885-1977

Alice Paul was one of the most active leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, helping to secure the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and authoring the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923. After obtaining her master’s degree from the New York School of Philanthropy (which is now Columbia University), Paul spent time in Britain where she first became involved with the women’s suffrage movement. While working on her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, Paul joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and was appointed as head of the Congressional Committee working towards the passage of the 19th Amendment. Paul also organized over 1,000 people as “Silent Sentinels” who protested outside of the White House for 18 months in their fight for suffrage. After being arrested at this protest, Paul was imprisoned for seven months, but was released following public sympathy for her and the suffrage movement. Paul spent the rest of her life advocating for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the Equal Rights Amendment being ratified by 38 states as of January 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives still faces hurdles in the final passage of the amendment because the deadline for its passage was 1982.

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