Timeline of Women in Transportation History

Rebecca Lukens took charge of the Brandywine Iron Works, a company that produced iron for the boilers and hulls of ships and for railcars and rails.

Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, discovered a comet. She became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850. She later worked at the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office, contributing calculations to the Nautical Almanac produced by the U.S. Naval Observatory.

From 1850 to 1858, Harriet Tubman helped more than 300 slaves reach freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Susan Morningstar became one of the first women on record employed by a railroad.

Martha J. Coston earned a patent for Telegraphic Night Signals, a pyrotechnic signaling system that revolutionized maritime communication. The U.S. Navy used the system to win battles and rescue shipwrecked sailors.

In November, Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and others established the American Woman Suffrage Association, an organization that helped to gain voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions.

Eliza Murfey patented 16 devices for improving railroad car axles. These devices were used to lubricate the axles with oil, which reduced derailments caused by seized axles and bearings.

Elizabeth Bragg Cumming became the first woman in the United States to receive a civil engineering degree when she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mary Walton received patent #221,880 for a method of deflecting smokestack emissions through water tanks to capture pollutants, which were then carried by the water through the city sewage system. She adapted the system for use on locomotives.

The Brooklyn Bridge opened. Emily Warren Roebling served as the surrogate chief engineer from 1872 to 1883. She supervised the day-to-day construction, after her husband, Washington Roebling, the chief engineer, became ill. She later earned a law degree and became one of the first female lawyers in the state of New York.

Mary Meyers set a new world altitude record of four miles, in a balloon filled with natural gas instead of hydrogen – she ascended to this height without benefit of oxygen equipment.

Thea Foss began a shipbuilding company in Tacoma, Washington, which became the Foss Maritime Company.

Annie H. Chilton invented and patented a combined horse-detacher and vehicle brake. The device allowed for the simultaneous application of the brake and release of the horse, which reduced the chance of injuries to drivers.

Colorado became the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote. Utah and Idaho follow suit in 1896, Washington State in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917; Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma in 1918.

Mary Church Terrell founded the National Association of Colored Women.

Sarah Clark Kidder became the president of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad in California.

The National Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) was established to advocate for improved wages and working conditions for women.

Alice Huyler Ramsey was the first woman to drive coast-to-coast, from New York to California. She also founded the Women’s Motoring Club. 

Bessica Raiche became the first woman pilot in America to make a planned flight.

Helene Mallard became the first women to ascend by means of a kite, which was designed by Samuel F. Perkins.

Bernetta Miller became the first person to demonstrate a monoplane for the U.S. government.

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns established the Congressional Union to work toward the passage of a federal amendment to give women the vote. The group was later renamed the National Women's Party. 

Wilma Russey became the first woman to work as a taxi driver in New York and was an expert garage mechanic.

Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first women to serve in either branch of Congress. She was elected at a time when women in most states were not allowed to vote.

Charlotte Bridgwood patented the first automatic windshield wiper.

A large number of women entered the workforce during World War I. They worked in many male dominated jobs, such as building and maintaining vehicles and machinery.

The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B. Anthony and introduced in Congress in 1878, was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and then sent to the states for ratification.

The Department of Labor created the Women's Bureau to collect information about women in the workforce and safeguard good working conditions for women. Mary Anderson served as the first director of the new organization.

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American, male or female to earn a pilot’s license from the FAI.

Helen Schultz, the "Iowa Bus Queen," established the Red Ball Transportation Company, providing city-to-city transportation by bus.

Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie was the first woman to obtain a pilot’s license and an aircraft mechanics license from the U.S. federal government.

Louise Thaden was the first pilot to hold the women's altitude, endurance, and speed records in light planes simultaneously. In 1929 she won the first All Women's Air Race, which became known as the Power Puff Derby. 

Elizabeth Drennan received her commercial truck driver’s license and went on to run a trucking company.

Florence "Pancho" Barnes was the first female stunt pilot in motion pictures. 

Ellen Church, a registered nurse, served as the first airline stewardess in the U.S.

Amelia Earhart set the woman’s autogiro altitude record of 18,415 feet. The following year, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Ruth Nichols failed in her attempt to fly solo across the Atlantic, but broke the world distance record flying from California to Kentucky.

Olive Ann Beech, along with her husband Walter, co-founded Beech Aircraft Company.

Helen Richey was the first woman hired as a pilot for a U.S. commercial airline (Central Airlines).

Mary McLeod Bethune organized the National Council of Negro Women, a coalition of black women's groups that lobbied against job discrimination, racism, and sexism.

Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes beat male pilots in the Bendix Trophy Race, the first victory of women over men in a race which both men and women could enter.

The Fair Labor Standards Act codified the 40-hour workweek, paid overtime, minimum wages, and child labor laws.

Willa Brown was first African-American commercial pilot and first African-American woman officer in the Civil Air Patrol. She also helped establish the National Airmen's Association of America which worked to open the U.S. Armed Forces to African-American men.

Frances Prothero became the first female manager for UPS.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration began hiring and training women to be air traffic controllers.

Rose Rolls Cousins was the first African-American woman in West Virginia licensed as a solo pilot under the government sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). She earned her wings at West Virginia State College, Institute. A member of West Virginia State University's first graduating Civilian Pilot Training Program class in 1941, Cousins traveled to Tuskegee in hopes of becoming a military pilot like her male counterparts. She was refused admission because she was a woman. Cousins stayed at West Virginia State University and became an instructor in the CPTP program. Tuskegee Airmen Inc. made her an honorary member before her death in 2006.

Nancy Harkness Love and Jackie Cochran organized women flying units and training detachments. 

Janet Waterford Bragg became the first African-American woman to earn a federal commercial pilot's license. 

Arcola Philpott broke the color line at Los Angeles Railways when she became the first African-American “motormanette.”

By 1945, 18 million women were in the U.S. labor force, an increase of 50 percent from 1940. "Rosie the Riveter" became a symbol for women's role in the defense industry.

Marilyn Jorgenson Reece became the first female engineer for California’s Division of Highways (now Caltrans). In 1965 she designed the I-10/405 interchange (now named after her), and later worked on construction of the I-605 Freeway, the I-210 extension, and the I-105 Century Freeway.

From 1952 to 1953, Ann Davison became the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo in a sailboat.

Jacqueline Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier. 

Rosa Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger sparking the Montgomery County Bus Boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King. Parks became an icon of resistance and an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Mabel MacFerran Rockwell Woman Engineer of the Year for her contributions to national defense. She was one of the first woman aeronautical engineers in the United States and is known for demonstrating the greater effectiveness and efficiency of spot welding as opposed to riveting. She designed the guidance systems for the Polaris missile and the Atlas guided missile launcher, and helped design the electrical installations at the Boulder and Hoover Dams. She also designed underwater propulsion systems and submarine guidance mechanisms.

Dana Ulery was the first female engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, developing real-time tracking systems using a North American Aviation Recomp II, a 40-bit word size computer.

A group of women aviators, known as the Mercury 13, underwent and passed the same physical and psychological exams that were given to the Mercury 7 male astronauts. None of the women were ever selected for a space mission.

Beverly Cover became the first woman highway engineer to join the Bureau of Public Roads, the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration.

Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock was the first woman to fly around the world. 

The Labor Department created the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to hold federal contractors to a higher obligation for affirmative action in response to Executive Order 11246. The Executive Order prohibited federal contractors and subcontractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors from employment decisions that discriminate based on race, sex, color, religion or national origin.

Ensign Gale Ann Gordon became the first woman to solo in a Navy training plane.

Executive Order 11375 expanded President Lyndon Johnson's affirmative action policy of 1965 to cover discrimination based on gender. As a result, federal agencies and contractors had to take active measures to ensure that women as well as minorities enjoyed the same educational and employment opportunities as white males.

Elinor Williams became the first African-American air traffic controller. 

Southern Pacific employee Leah “Rosie” Rosenfeld filled and settled a sex-discrimination suit against her employer that resulted in a change to California’s women’s protective laws and opened senior positions at the railroad for women. 

In Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co., a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that jobs held by men and women had to be "substantially equal" but not "identical" to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. 

Wally Funk became the first female FAA inspector and, in 1973, the first female in the FAA's System Airworthiness Analysis Program. Funk moved on to the NTSB in 1974, where she became one of the Board's first female air safety investigators.

Title IX of the Education Amendments banned sex discrimination in schools. It states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." As a result of Title IX, the enrollment of women in athletics programs and professional schools increased dramatically.

Santa Fe Railway hired its first female locomotive engineer, Christene Gonzales.

In Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers could not justify paying women lower wages because that was what they traditionally received under the "going market rate." A wage differential occurring "simply because men would not work at the low rates paid to women" was unacceptable.

Sally Murphy and Barbara Allen Rainey

• Sally Murphy became the first woman to qualify as a helicopter pilot with the U.S. Army.
• Barbara Allen Rainey became the first female pilot in U.S. Navy.

Janet Guthrie qualified for and competed in the Indianapolis 500. Before becoming a race car driver, Guthrie worked as a pilot, flight instructor, aerospace engineer, technical editor, and public representative for major corporations.

The Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) was founded to improve professional and personal advancement and develop industry and government recognition for women in transportation.

Gary Gayton, former Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams and Department of Transportation’s White House Liaison, drafted the DOT Minority Business and Women Business Enterprise program later adopted by President Jimmy Carter for all Executive level departments. His work led to his appointment to the Interagency Committee on Women Business Enterprise. 

Lynn Spruill became the first woman U.S. Navy aviator to obtain carrier qualification.

Candy Lightner, founded Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), which has grown into one of the most influential safety advocacy groups in the country.

Arlene Feldman became the first woman to head a state division of aeronautics. In 1984 she began her career with the FAA as the first female deputy director of the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1986 she became the first female deputy director of the FAA's Western Pacific Region in Los Angeles, California. She became the FAA's highest ranking, non-politically appointed woman in 1988 when she became the New England Regional Administrator. In 1994, she became the director of FAA’s Eastern Region.

Carmen Turner became the General Manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). She was the first African-American woman to lead a major transit agency.

Ellen Evak Paneok became the first Alaska Native woman bush pilot. After flying for air taxi operations throughout Alaska, she worked for the Federal Aviation Administration as an operations inspector, and then for the Alaska Aviation Safety Foundation as the statewide aviation safety coordinator.

Beverly Burns was the first woman to captain a Boeing 747 cross country.

Kathryn Sullivan was the first U.S. woman to walk in space.

Jeana Yeager served as copilot of first around-the-world, non-stop, non-refueled flight. 

Arlene Westermeyer became UPS's first female pilot.

Captain Jacquelyn “Jackie” Parker was the first woman Air Force pilot to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Courtney Caldwell started the first automotive publication aimed at women, American Woman Road & Travel.

The Glass Ceiling Commission was established to investigate the “artificial barriers” that prevent qualified women and minorities from moving into more senior positions.

Kathy Thornton, Ph.D., made the longest walk in space by a woman. 

Dr. Sheila Widnall served as the first female Secretary of the Air Force from 1993 to 1997. She held three patents on airflow technology and is recognized for her contributions to fluid mechanics, specifically in the areas of aircraft turbulence and spiraling airflows called vortices.

Jolene Molitoris became the first female to head the Federal Railroad Administration.

Jackie Parker became the first woman to qualify to fly an F-16 combat plane.

Susan J. Binder, formerly Chief of the Industry and Economic Analysis Branch, Office of Policy Development, reported for duty as Maryland Division Administrator, the first woman to become an FHWA Division Administrator.

Julie Anna Cirillo became the first woman to become an FHWA regional administrator when she took over management of FHWA’s Region 9 (San Francisco, CA). 

Gail C. McDonald became the first woman to serve as the administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. 

Ann Livermore became the first female to serve on the UPS board of directors.

Christine Owens became UPS's first female regional director.

Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-American woman and the second Indian to travel in space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. She was an aerospace engineer and one of seven crew members killed in the Columbia disaster.

Karen Thorndike became the first American woman to sail around the world when she completed her two year and two week adventure.

Lt. Col. Eileen Collins served as NASA’s first female space shuttle commander. 

Mary E. Peters was appointed as the first female Federal Highway Administrator.

Dr. Patricia Galloway became the first woman president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Major Nicole Malachowski was the first U.S. Air Force woman Thunderbird pilot.

Dr. Wanda Austin became the aerospace and defense industry’s first African-American female president and chief executive officer of The Aerospace Corporation.

Captain Rachelle Jones, first officer Stephanie Grant and flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers became the first African-American, all female flight crew for Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) Flight 5202.

President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which allowed victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government against their employer within 180 days of their last paycheck. Previously, victims (most often women) were only allowed 180 days from the date of the first unfair paycheck. The legislation was named after a former employee of Goodyear who alleged that she was paid 15–40% less than her male counterparts, which was later found to be accurate. 

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency selected its first female superintendents: Sarita Britt, Potrero Division; Cindia Chambers, Presidio Division; and Debra Franks, Kirkland Division. Cheryl Turner became the assistant superintendent of the Woods Division. During this year, Paulette Davis served as acting superintendent of the Presidio Division and Elizabeth Valdelon as acting superintendent of the Cable Car Division. Two additional women became superintendents in 2012: Leda Rozier, Woods Division, and Elizabeth Valdelon, Flynn Division.

Carol Fenton became the first woman at the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) to attain the SES rank as associate administrator, after a 34-year career at the SLSDC beginning in 1978 as a switchboard operator/receptionist. 

Sue Cischke retired after 35 years of service in the automobile industry. She left the industry after serving as Ford's vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering since 2008. Before joining Ford in 2001, she was senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs and Passenger Car Operations for DaimlerChrysler. She began her career at Chrysler Corporation in 1976.

President Obama nominated Major General Michelle Johnson for the appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment to serve as the Air Force Academy’s first female superintendent. As an air force cadet at the Academy, she was the first woman to serve as Cadet Wing Commander – the senior ranking cadet.