Path Of Progress A Chronicle Of 25 Years Of Achievement For Women Across The Globe

The last 25 years have amounted to an extraordinary quarter-century for women. Women’s heightened expectations and zeal for change have shaken the status quo the world over. Here are some highlights, in honor of Women’s History Month, which falls in March. (Reprinted from Ms. magazine.)

1972

Jeanne Martin Cisse of Guinea becomes the first permanent woman delegate to the United Nations on Aug. 7. On Nov. 1, she is appointed the first woman president of the Security Council.

In the United States, Title IX bans sex bias in federally funded programs. Within a decade, 500 percent more girls compete in school sports.

The Equal Rights Amendment is approved by the U.S. Congress. The attempt to get two-thirds of the states to ratify the ERA drags on for 10 years before the amendment goes down to defeat three votes short of the 38 needed.

1973

The U.S. Supreme Court legalizes abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision, which invalidates state laws prohibiting abortion.

1974

The U.S. Little League allows girls to participate for first time.

1975

The United Nations declares International Women’s Year and holds a world conference of women in Mexico City. At the conference, a 10-year plan is adopted to promote women’s equality and to increase their participation in national development.

Junko Table of Japan climbs Mount Everest, becoming the first woman to do so.

A women’s-rights bill is passed in Austria giving married women the right to retain their birth names, choose places to live, decide to work outside the home and receive financial subsidies for the management of their families.

1976

Britain’s Rhodes Scholarship program allows female applicants for the first time, and 20 women are admitted to the next year’s program.

Barbara Walters becomes the first woman anchor on a nightly network news program and the highest-paid newscaster in the world.

Barbara Jordan gives a keynote address at the opening session of the U.S. Democratic National Convention, becoming the first woman and the first African-American to do so.

1977

The first U.S. National Conference on Women is held in Houston. With 2,000 delegates, it is the largest conference devoted to issues concerning women ever held in the United States.

Janet Guthrie is the first woman driver in the Indianapolis 500.

1978

Naomi James, a New Zealander, becomes the first woman to sail around the world alone.

For the first time, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration includes women in its selection of astronauts.

The U.S. Women’s Basketball League is formed. It grows to more than a dozen teams before folding in 1981.

1979

Margaret Thatcher is elected the first woman prime minister of Britain.

For the first time in U.S. history, more women than men enter college.

1980

Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman ever to be elected to the French Academy, the 345-year-old French intellectual and cultural institution.

In a precedent-setting decision, the Canadian Human Rights Commission rules that six female nurses merit the same pay as male technicians who work with them and perform the same tasks.

The U.S. Census Bureau broadens the definition of head of household to include women.

1981

Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1982

Kenya bans female genital mutilation.

Bertha Wilson becomes the first woman appointed to the Canadian Supreme Court.

1984

Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya is the first woman to walk in space.

Geraldine Ferraro is the first woman to be chosen as a U.S. vicepresidential nominee on a major party ticket.

1985

Wilma Mankiller becomes the first woman in history to lead a major Native American tribe when she is named the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the second-largest tribe in the United States.

Lynette Woodard becomes the first woman to join the Harlem Globetrotters.

1986

The European Court of Justice rules that Britain’s policy of compelling women to retire five years earlier than men breaches the European Community directive on sexual equality.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision declares sexual harassment in the workplace to be a crime.

1987

In Mississippi, an amendment to the state’s constitution reverses an 1890 law that made interracial marriage illegal.

1988

Benazir Bhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman in modern history to lead a predominantly Muslim nation.

1989

In Korea, the National Assembly gives women equal right to child custody in divorce settlements and makes inheritance equitable between sons and daughters.

1990

Spain launches a campaign to get men to do more housework. The drive include TV ads featuring Premier Felipe Gonzalez.

Mary Robinson is elected Ireland’s first woman president.

Approximately 50 Saudi women in Riyadh stage a “protest drive” against the government’s ban on female drivers.

1991

In Brazil, the Superior Justice Tribunal rules that men may no longer claim “defense of honor” as a justification for killing their allegedly unfaithful partners.

1992

A Japanese woman becomes the first to win a sexual-harassment case in that country.

1993

Kim Campbell is elected the first woman prime minister of Canada.

1994

The Vatican allows girls to become altar “boys.”

Liv Arnesen is the first woman to ski to the South Pole alone.

1995

Nearly 40,000 women from around the world gather for the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

1996

Ruth Perry becomes Liberia’s first woman head of state.

1997

Peru repeals a 1924 law that allowed rapists to avoid criminal prosecution if they married their victims.

Madeleine Albright is confirmed as the first woman U.S. Secretary of State.

Ireland legalizes divorce, the last country in Europe to do so.