Harriett Woods

Harriett Woods began in politics by protesting a rattling manhole cover as a young mother of three and went on to become the first woman to win statewide office in Missouri before leading a national effort to promote women as candidates.

She was the grand matriarch of Missouri Democratic politics, continually supporting women candidates across the state and throughout the country.

Harriett was fortunate to be at the swearing-in of the 1st woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, in January of 2007, a few months before she died of leukemia.

• 1962 – 1970 – Elected to the University City Council

• 1976 – 1980 – Elected to the Missouri State Senate

• 1982 – Candidate for U. S. Senate

• 1984 – Harriett’s loss for the U.S. Senate inspired the creation of Emily’s List

• 1984 – Elected as Missouri Lt. Gov – 1st woman ever & sole Democrat to win statewide that year

• 1986 – Candidate for U. S. Senate – (was one of two female U. S. Senate candidates nationwide)

• 1988 – Named Fellow at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

• 1991 – 1995 – President of the National Women’s Political Caucus

• 1991 – She testified and was a national spokesperson on behalf of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings

• 1992 – Responsible for helping elect a record number of women to Congress in the acclaimed “Year of the Woman”

• 1993 – Appointed by President Bill Clinton to chair the “Coalition for Women Appointments”

• 2000 – Published “Stepping Up to Power – the Political Journey of America Women” and was a regular radio commentator for NPR and PBS in St. Louis and across the nation

• 2000 – 2006 – Associate Professor at both Hunter College in New York and the University of Missouri at St. Louis, teaching “Women in Public Life”.