Pryor Cashman joins millions around the world to celebrate the 110th International Women's Day. According to the official International Women's Day website: "International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality."

In the United States, there have been many "firsts" for women since the 1848 Declaration of the Rights of Women in Seneca Falls, NY. Unfortunately, many challenges resulting from biases against women and systems of oppression remain and must be overcome in this country and worldwide. 

In the legal industry, women of all races and ethnicities continue to make history today. Please see an excerpt of a historical timeline of "firsts" compiled by the New York Women's Bar Association below:

• 1648 – First women lawyer in America – Margaret Brent (Maryland)
• 1869 – First women admitted to law school:
  • Washington University in St. Louis – Lemma Barkaloo and Phoebe Wilson Couzins
    • Ms. Couzins graduated in 1871 and the University’s website reports she became the 4th woman admitted to the practice of law in the U.S.
    • Ms. Barbaloo became Missouri’s first attorney; however, she attended the Washington University for only one year and took the Missouri bar in 1870 without completing law school.
• Howard University – Charlotte E. Ray (graduated 1872 and became the first African American woman admitted to the bar)
• 1869 – First woman admitted to practice law – Arabella Mansfield in Iowa (Ms. Mansfield is sometimes called “Bella Mansfield”)
• 1870 – First woman to graduate from law school – Ada H. Kepley, of Illinois, graduated from the Union College of Law in Chicago (which is now Northwestern University).
• 1870 – First woman judge appointed in U.S. – Hon. Esther McQuigg Morris, Justice of the Peace, South Pass City, Wyoming
• 1872 – First African American woman admitted to the bar – Charlotte E. Ray (District of Columbia)
• 1896 – First law school for women established – Washington College of Law (District of Columbia); this school is now known as American University Washington College of Law. (Some references indicate that classes actually started in 1898.)
• 1899 – “Women Lawyers Club” established in New York City by 18 women denied admission to other bar associations; organization renamed in 1908 to “Association of Women Lawyers,” and in 1923 to “National Association of Women Lawyers” (NAWL)
• 1893 – First woman lawyer admitted to the New York State Bar – Stanleyetta Titus (graduation of NYU Law School)
• 1906 – First woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court – Belva Lockwood
• 1910 – First Native American woman admitted to the bar – Lyda Burton Conley (Kansas)
• 1918 – First women admitted to the American Bar Association – Mary B. Grossman of Cleveland and Mary Florence Lathrop of Denver
• 1920 – Ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote
• 1924 – First woman hired by a Wall Street law firm – Catherine Noyes Lee (Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft)
• 1926 – First African American Woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court – Violette Neatly Anderson
• 1933 – First woman President of Federal Bar Association – Marguerite Rawalt
• 1934 – First woman Federal Court Judge – Hon. Florence Ellinwood Allen
• 1943 – First woman appointed to the position of federal prosecutor in New York State – Hon. Florence Perlow Shientag (Assistant U.S. Attorney, Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York); Judge Shientag was also a founder of the New York Women’s Bar Association in 1934, served as Law Secretary to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and later served as a Family Court Judge in New York City)
• 1944 – First woman partner at a Wall Street law firm – Soia Mentschikoff (Spence, Windels, Walser, Hotchkiss & Angell; firm name changed in the following year to Spencer, Hotchkiss, Parker & Duryee) (She was also the first woman to teach at Harvard Law School)
• 1944 – First woman to serve as a Law Clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court – Lucille Lomen
• 1965 – Title VII of Civil Rights Act enacted, which (among other provisions) added “sex” as a grounds for discrimination complaints for the first time; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission established with power to enforce Title VII
• 1966 – First African American woman appointed to the federal bench – Hon. Constance Baker Motley (U.S.D.J, S.D.N.Y) (Judge Motley was also the first woman to serve as New York City Borough President)
• 1981 – First woman appointed to serve as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court – Hon. Sandra Day O’Connor
• 1992 – First Latinas appointed to the federal bench in the continental U.S.:
  • Hon. Sonia Sotomayor (U.S.D.J., S.D.N.Y.) – Judge Sotomayor was the first Hispanic (man or woman) appointed to the federal bench in New York, and she went on to serve as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and is now an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
  • Hon. Irma Gonzalez (U.S.D.J, S.D. Calif.) – Judge Gonzalez was first Mexican-American woman to serve as a federal judge, and she later served as Chief Judge of the S.D. Calif.
• 1993 – First woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States – Janet Reno
• 2012 – First Filipino American (man or woman) appointed to the federal bench – Hon. Lorna Schofield (U.S.D.J., S.D.N.Y)

We hope you take a few moments to review the below links for additional resources as we celebrate International Women's Day today, Women's History Month this March, and the achievements of women year-round.