International Women’s Day – Women in Missouri Politics

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Knell
Former Rep. Emma Knell served as chair of the Children’s Code Committee and as a member of the Appropriations, Official Salaries and Fees, and Roads and Highways committees during her time in the Missouri General Assembly.

Jefferson City, Mo. – Wednesday was International Women’s Day. Since 1922, women have been an integral part of Missouri politics.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, stating for the first time that women, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, including voting.

The first-ever female legislators in Missouri came just a few years later. Former Missouri Representatives Mellcene Smith, D-St. Louis, and lawyer Sarah Lucille Turner, D-Kansas City, were elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1922. Smith sponsored 11 pieces of legislation, six of which became law. Turner was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in 1923.

Turner
Former Rep. Sarah Turner became the first woman to preside as the Speaker of the House in March 1923.

Then in 1924, the third female lawmaker and the first Republican Emma Knell, a funeral director from Carthage was elected. She co-sponsored a bill, which created the Missouri Highway Patrol and introduced another bill that required every Missouri school to fly the American flag.

In 1973, former Sen. Mary Gant, D-Kansas City, was the first- ever female to serve in the Missouri Senate. She previously served three terms in the House and received over 70 percent of the votes electing her as a Senator.

Currently there are six women serving in the Missouri Senate: Minority Floor Leader, Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors;  Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City; Sen. S. Kiki Curls, D-Kansas City; Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D- St. Louis; Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Callaway; and Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur. The most female Senators serving at one time was eight in 2009.

For more information about the Missouri Capitol or the Missouri Senate, please visit the Missouri Senate’s website at www.senate.mo.gov.