Women's rights movement rooted in Iowa

By Duane Schmidt

Mark Twain wrote, “History is written in the ink of lies.” Meaning, those who record history do so impaired by their prejudices. The birth of the women's rights movement, that supposedly took place in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1850, is a perfect case in point.

I contend that the women's movement actually sprang from roots sunk deeply into Iowa soil. Some facts that bolster my contention:

l 1849: Eleven years before the Seneca Falls conference, Iowa public schools had became coeducational, a world first. Hardy Iowa women said, “We work like men, we deserve equal rights.” And their men agreed.

l 1856: Forty-three women join 81 men to form the first freshman class at the University of Iowa. For the first time, in a state institution, women enter college as equals.

l Late 1850s: Amelia Jenkins Bloomer of Council Bluffs champions dress reform as a part of her suffragist activities, and an item of apparel takes her name.

l 1864: Annie Wittenmeyer of Keokuk creates the first diet kitchen for Civil War hospitals and President Lincoln puts her in charge of all Union dietary kitchens.

l 1864: Lucy Hobbs Taylor of McGregor becomes the world's first woman dentist.

l 1869: Arabella Mansfield of Henry County passes the bar exam to become the first woman attorney.

l 1874: Phoebe Sudlow of Davenport accepts a position as the first woman superintendent of schools.

l 1875: Iowa's Mary Humphrey Haddock becomes the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S. circuit and district courts.

l 1894: Elmira Wilson of Harper graduates from ISU to become one of, if not the, first woman engineer.

l Late 1800s: Iowa is the first state to allow women to become members of state boards and commissions.

l 1898: Elmira Wilson, at ISU, becomes the first woman to teach engineering.

l 1902: Mabel Lee of Centerville forms one of, if not the, first, women's basketball teams.

l 1910: Jesse Field Shambaugh of Shenandoah founds 4-H, allowing young women to compete on the basis of skills.

l 1913: Coe College's Ethel R. Outland of Mahaska becomes the first woman to teach journalism.

l 1917: Cora Bussey Hills at ISU founds the first Child Welfare Station.

l 1918-1919: Mabel Lee at Coe becomes the nation's first woman professor of physical education.

l 1920: Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, raised in Iowa, leads the fight for ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. And, quite naturally, an Iowan was the first woman to cast a ballot.

l 1924: Gertrude Durden Rush, first African American woman admitted to practice law in Iowa, along with four other black lawyers, founded the Negro Bar Association (later renamed the National Bar Association).

l 1935: Viola Babcock Miller of Washington County founds one of, if not the, first state Highway Patrols.

l 1955: Beulah Gundling of Cedar Rapids founds the swimming sport of aquatic art.

l 1956: Dorothy Deemer Houghton of Red Oak is elected to become the first woman president of the Electoral College Board.

l 1974: Mary Louise Smith, born in Eddyville, is the first woman to chair the National Republican Party.

l 1986: The Iowa Legislature enacts the first Gender Balance Law for all state boards and commissions.

l 1991: Spearheaded by State Rep. Minnette Doderer, Iowa becomes the first state to endorse the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The prairies of Iowa may be rolling, but all Iowans can be justifiably proud of being first to declare these plains must forever be gender-level.

Dr. Duane Schmidt of Vinton founded Gentle Dental in Cedar Rapids and, among others, authored Iowa Pride (ISU Press, 1996, 278 pp), the stories of 111 Iowans who impacted the world. Contact him at DuaneA

SchMidt@aol.com