This is a list of the first female members of parliament in each country and territory. Princess Isabel of Brazil could have become the first female parliamentarian in 1871, as the Brazilian constitution reserved a seat in the Senate for the heir presumptive to the throne once they reached 25 years of age. However, she did not take the seat she was entitled to.Primeira senadora tomou posse há 40 anos e foi recebida com flor e poesia Senate of Brazil Instead, the first female parliamentarians came from the Grand Duchy of Finland, where 19 women were elected to the Eduskunta in 1907.Mart Martin (2000) The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics, p. 131 The first female parliamentarian in a fully-independent country was Anna Rogstad of Norway, who took her seat in the Storting as a substitute in 1911, while the first woman directly elected to parliament in an independent country was Jeannette Rankin of the United States, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 1916, taking office the following year.
In some cases – such as Grace Schneiders-Howard of Suriname – women were elected before they had the right to vote, having been granted the right to stand as candidates but not active suffrage. In many cases, the first female parliamentarians were appointed rather than elected members.
The Vatican City was the last country in the world to have a female parliamentarian, with Raffaella Petrini appointed as the president of the Commission and Governorate of Vatican City in 2025.
List of the first female members of parliament by country Members are listed by when they took office. The list excludes members of provisional, non-elected legislatures constituted during or following conflicts.
CountryYearMemberNotesAfghanistan1965Roqia AbubakrKhadija AhrariMasuma Esmati-WardakAziza GardiziAnahita RatebzadHomeira SeljuqiHafizullah Emadi (2008) Establishment of Afghanistan's Parliament and the Role of Women Parliamentarians Retrospect and Prospects Internationales Asienforum, Volume 39, Number 1–2, pp. 5–19Albania1945Naxhije DumeLiri GegaOllga PlumbiSonila Boçi The December 2nd, 1945 Albanian Elections: Legitimization, or Mere Formalization for Communist Power?Algeria1945Alice Sportisse Gomez-NadalAmerican Samoa1953Zilpher JenningsMabel ReidAndorra1984Mercè BonellFirst Woman Takes Her Seat In the Parliament of Andorra The New York Times, 28 October 1984Angola198019 womenAnguilla1972Idalia GumbsGumbs was an appointed member of the House of Assembly. She and Albena Lake-Hodge became the first elected members in 1976Women in Politics in Anguilla Caribbean ElectionsBringing in the sheaves The Anguillan, 28 October 2019Antigua and Barbuda1958Bertha Higgins"The Steelband as Nationalism and Art", The CLR James Journal, volume 8, number 1, Winter 2000–2001, pp. 108–115Higgins was an appointed member of the West Indies Federal Senate. Jacqui Quinn-Leandro was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 2004Hon. Jacqui C.Quinn-Leandro, Ph.D OASArgentina1952Judith Elida AcuñaGenerosa AguilarMagdalena Álvarez de SeminarioCelia ArgumedoJosefa BiondiJosefa BrigadaMaría Rosa Calviño de GómezHilda Nélida CastañeiraMaría Elena CasuccioMaría CavigliaAngélica Esperanza DacundaElena Di GirolamoPaulina EscardoJuana Alicia EspejoEsther FadulElena Aída FernicolaFrancisca Ana FloresMatilde GaetaJuanita LarrauriAna Carmen MacriDominga OrtizDelia ParodiHilda Leonor Pineda de MolinsMafalda PiovanoZulema Noemí PracánicoElvira Rodríguez LeonardiCelina RodríguezSeferina RodríguezCarmen SalaberMaría Urbelina TejadaIsabel TorterolaOtilia Villa MacielPrimeras diputadas Pagina12Conmemoraron el Día Nacional de los Derechos Políticos de la Mujer Parlamentario, 24 September 2009Armenia1919Perchuhi Partizpanyan-BarseghyanVarvara SahakyanKatarine Zalyan-ManukyanThe women MPs of the First Republic of Armenia Armenians TodayAruba1963Maria Irausquin-WajcbergEerste maal in geschiedenis Aruba - mevrouw M. Yrausquin lid van eilandsraad Amigoe, 15 May 1963Australia1943Enid LyonsDorothy TangneyFirst women in parliament National Museum AustraliaAustria1919Anna BoschekHildegard BurjanEmmy FreundlichAdelheid PoppGabriele ProftTherese SchlesingerAmalie SeidelMaria TuschWomen in Parliament Austrian National LibraryBahamas1967Doris Sands JohnsonJohnson was an appointed member of the Senate. Janet Bostwick was the first woman elected to the House of Assembly in 1982Gabrielle Hosein & Jane Parpart (2016) Negotiating Gender, Policy and Politics in the Caribbean: Feminist Strategies, Masculinist Resistance and Transformational Possibilities, p. 30Bahrain2000Mariam Al JalahmaBahia Al JishiAlees SamaanMona Al-Zayaniالمرأة البحرينية.. مناصب قيادية مهمة أكدت جدارتها واستحقاقها Al WatanThe four were appointed members.The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Volume 1 Lateefa Al Gaood became the first elected member of the Consultative Council in 2006Bangladesh1947Shaista Suhrawardy IkramullahIkramullah was indirectly elected to the Constituent Assembly of India,Farida Shaheed (1998) Shaping Women's Lives: Laws, Practices and Strategies in Pakistan, p. 323 subsequently representing East Bengal in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.First constitute assembly from 1947-1954 National Assembly of Pakistan Barbados1949Muriel HanschellHanschell was an appointed member of the Legislative Council. Edna Ermyntrude Bourne became the woman elected to the House of Assembly in 1951Women in Politics in Barbados Caribbean ElectionsBelgium1921Marie JansonJanson was an indirectly-elected member of the Senate. Lucie Dejardin was the first directly-elected member of the Chamber of Representatives in 1929Karl van den Broeck (2018) Doctor Ferdinand Peeters: The Real Father of the Pill p. 19Belize1961Gwendolyn Lizarraga54 years of political history – 1954 to 2008 Amandala, 18 January 2008Benin197928 womenMarie-Odile Attanasso (2012) Femmes et pouvoir politique au Benin des origines Dahomeennes a nos jours Friedrich Ebert StiftungBermuda1948Hilda AitkenEdna WatsonHilda Doris Aitken Bermuda BiographiesBhutan1979Hiranyamayee LamaFirst woman councilor, Leki Pemo passes away Kuensel Online, 25 March 2019Bolivia1956Emma GutiérrezBosnia and Herzegovina1945 Botswana1974Gaositwe K. T. ChiepeKebatshabile DiseleChiepe became the first female directly-elected member in a 1977 by-electionHistory of Parliament Parliament of BotswanaBrazil1933Carlota Pereira de QueirósDireito de voto feminino completa 76 anos no Brasil; saiba mais sobre essa conquista Folha da Sao Paulo, 24 February 2008British Virgin Islands1965Emogene CrequeEugenia O'Neal (2001) From the Field to the Legislature: A History of Women in the Virgin Islands, pp. 87, 128Creque was an appointed member of the Legislative Council. Eileene L. Parsons and Ethlyn Smith became the first two women elected in 1995Brunei2011Zasia binti SirinSalbiah SulaimanTwo women are appointed to Legco The Economist Intelligence UnitSirin and Sulaiman were both appointed; Brunei has not held parliamentary elections since 1965.Bulgaria1945Stoyanka AnchevaEkaterina AvramovaTsola DragoychevaStanka IvanovaTsvetana KeranovaElena KetskarovaMara KinkelVenera KlincharovaVyara MakedonskaStefana MarkovaEkaterina NikolovaRada TodorovaMata TyurkedzhievaMaria TotevaVera ZlatarevaMartin, pp. 53–54Burkina Faso1959Célestine Ouezzin CoulibalyPalingwindé Inès Zoé Lydia Rouamba (2011) La participation des femmes à la vie politique au Burkina (1957–2009)Burundi1982Colette Samoya KiruraFour othersCambodia1958Tong Siv EngTong Siv Eng, Political Pioneer, Mourned The Cambodian Daily, 18 June 2001Cameroon1955Dorcas IdowuWho's who in Nigeria, 1956, p. 164Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué (2019) Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon pp. 43–44Idowu was an appointed member of the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly. Julienne Keutcha was the first elected member of the National Assembly in 1960Canada1921Agnes MacphailMartin, p. 63Cape Verde1975Isaura GomesRagnhild L. Muriaas, Vibeke Wang & Rainbow Murray (2019)