[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 30 (Thursday, March 17, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  (Ms. SHEPHERD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SHEPHERD. Mr. Speaker, when Mattie Hughes Cannon came to 
Washington, DC in 1898 she testified in Congress on behalf of women's 
suffrage. At the time she was a Utah State Senator. She had won her 
seat in 1896--the first woman in the country elected to a state senate. 
On her trip to Washington she commented, ``Utah received her full share 
of honor and recognition, and was acknowledged to be in the vanguard of 
progress.'' That is not far from the truth today.
  A century later, 2 of 29 State senators and 12 of 75 State 
representatives put women at about 13 percent in the Utah legislature. 
Congress, with 7 of 100 Senators and 48 of 435 Representatives, almost 
reaches the Utah standard. Yet, despite our limited number, women have 
made a difference in the 103d Congress as Mattie Hughes Cannon did in 
the Utah Senate's second legislative session more than a century ago.
  My hat is off to Mattie Hughes Cannon and the many women like her 
that we celebrate during Women's History Month. Through their stories 
we are inspired to continue our efforts to open doors that have been 
shut to all women for far too long.

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