Widow's succession
Encyclopedia
Widow's succession was a political practice prominent in some countries in the early part of the 20th century, by which a politician who died in office was succeeded by his widow
, either through election or direct appointment to the seat. Many of the earliest women to hold political office attained their positions through this practice.
In earlier years, women who held office through widow's succession rarely became prominent as politicians in their own right, but were regarded merely as placeholders
whose primary role was to retain a seat and a vote for the party rather than risk a protracted fight for the nomination between elections. The practice was also sometimes seen as a way to provide the woman with financial support due to the loss of her family's primary income.
The expectation was that a widow would serve only until the next election, at which time she would step down and allow her party to select a new candidate. Upon the retirement of Effiegene Wingo from the United States House of Representatives
in 1932, the New York Sun
wrote,
In one unusual Canadian instance, Martha Black succeeded her husband George Black in the Canadian House of Commons
when he had not died, but merely stepped down temporarily for health reasons; in the next election, Martha stood down and George returned to office.
With the evolving role of women in politics, however, a number of women who first took office under widow's succession went on to build long and distinguished careers in their own right. These included Margaret Chase Smith
, who became the longest-serving woman in the history of the United States Senate
and the first woman ever to have her name placed in nomination for the Presidency of the United States
at a major party's convention, Edith Nourse Rogers
, who became the longest-serving woman in the history of the United States House of Representatives
, and Mary Ellen Smith
, who earned the distinction of becoming the first woman ever appointed to a cabinet position, as well as the first woman ever to become speaker
of a legislature, in both Canada
and the entire British Empire
.
In Sri Lanka Sirimavo Bandaranaike
who succeeded her assassinated husband was a long-serving Prime Minister and party leader.
While widows are occasionally still appointed or elected to political positions following their husband's death, the practice is not as common in the modern era, in which women have been able to take on increasingly prominent roles in politics based on their own talents and experience rather than as "placeholders". Additionally, some figures, such as Sonia Gandhi
in India and Grace MacInnis
in Canada, have happened to hold political office and to be the widow of an earlier officeholder, but are not true "widow's successions" as they were not immediately appointed to their late husband's office.
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
, either through election or direct appointment to the seat. Many of the earliest women to hold political office attained their positions through this practice.
In earlier years, women who held office through widow's succession rarely became prominent as politicians in their own right, but were regarded merely as placeholders
Placeholder (politics)
In politics, a placeholder is an official appointed temporarily to a position, with the understanding that they will not seek office in their own right....
whose primary role was to retain a seat and a vote for the party rather than risk a protracted fight for the nomination between elections. The practice was also sometimes seen as a way to provide the woman with financial support due to the loss of her family's primary income.
The expectation was that a widow would serve only until the next election, at which time she would step down and allow her party to select a new candidate. Upon the retirement of Effiegene Wingo from the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1932, the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
wrote,
In one unusual Canadian instance, Martha Black succeeded her husband George Black in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
when he had not died, but merely stepped down temporarily for health reasons; in the next election, Martha stood down and George returned to office.
With the evolving role of women in politics, however, a number of women who first took office under widow's succession went on to build long and distinguished careers in their own right. These included Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith was a Republican Senator from Maine, and one of the most successful politicians in Maine history. She was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. House and the Senate, and the first woman from Maine to serve in either. She was also the first woman to have her name...
, who became the longest-serving woman in the history of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
and the first woman ever to have her name placed in nomination for the Presidency of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
at a major party's convention, Edith Nourse Rogers
Edith Nourse Rogers
Edith Nourse Rogers was an American social welfare volunteer and politician who was one of the first women to serve in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to congress from Massachusetts...
, who became the longest-serving woman in the history of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, and Mary Ellen Smith
Mary Ellen Smith
Mary Ellen Spear Smith was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. She was the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and both the first female cabinet minister and the first female Speaker in the British Empire.She was born in England...
, who earned the distinction of becoming the first woman ever appointed to a cabinet position, as well as the first woman ever to become speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of a legislature, in both Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the entire British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
In Sri Lanka Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
who succeeded her assassinated husband was a long-serving Prime Minister and party leader.
While widows are occasionally still appointed or elected to political positions following their husband's death, the practice is not as common in the modern era, in which women have been able to take on increasingly prominent roles in politics based on their own talents and experience rather than as "placeholders". Additionally, some figures, such as Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...
in India and Grace MacInnis
Grace MacInnis
Winona Grace MacInnis, OC, OBC was a Canadian politician and feminist. She was the first woman from British Columbia elected to the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first wife of a former Canadian Member of Parliament to be elected to the House of Commons in her own right, rather than by...
in Canada, have happened to hold political office and to be the widow of an earlier officeholder, but are not true "widow's successions" as they were not immediately appointed to their late husband's office.
Australia
- Millie PeacockMillie PeacockMillie Gertrude Peacock, Lady Peacock was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria.-Early life:...
first woman elected to the Parliament of VictoriaParliament of VictoriaThe Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of The Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria; the Legislative Council ; and the Legislative Assembly...
; she said when she retired: "Parliament is no place for a woman."
Canada
- Cora Taylor CasselmanCora Taylor CasselmanCora Taylor Casselman was a Canadian federal politician.Casselman was elected to represented the electoral district of Edmonton East in the Canadian House of Commons from 1941 to 1945...
- Jennifer CossittJennifer CossittJennifer Cossitt was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. She was a business executive by career....
- Eloise JonesEloise JonesEloise May Jones, née Shaver was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Saskatoon in the Canadian House of Commons from 1964 to 1965....
- Margaret Mary MacdonaldMargaret Mary MacdonaldMargaret Mary Macdonald was a Canadian politician. On May 29, 1961 she became the first woman from Prince Edward Island to be represented in the House of Commons....
- Sarah RamslandSarah RamslandSarah Katherine Ramsland, née McEwen was a Canadian politician, the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....
- Margaret RideoutMargaret RideoutMargaret Isabel Rideout, née Saunders was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Westmorland in the Canadian House of Commons from 1964 to 1968...
New Zealand
- Mary GriggMary GriggMary Victoria Cracroft Grigg, Lady Polson, MBE was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.She represented the Mid-Canterbury electorate in Parliament from 1942 after the death of her husband Arthur Nattle Grigg who she had married in 1920, and who had held the seat from 1938...
first woman MP of the National Party - Elizabeth McCombsElizabeth McCombsElizabeth McCombs was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in 1893, though were not allowed to stand for the House of Representatives until the election of 1919...
first woman MP, succeeded by their son - Iriaka Ratana first woman Māori MP
United Kingdom
- Agnes HardieAgnes HardieAgnes Agnew Hardie was a British Labour politician.Her association with the Labour movement began when she was a shop girl in Glasgow. She was a pioneer member of the Shop Assistants' Union, acting for some years as organizer...
for Glasgow SpringburnGlasgow Springburn (UK Parliament constituency)Glasgow Springburn was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until the 2005 general election, when it was largely replaced by the Glasgow North East constituency....
in Scotland - Irene Adams for Paisley NorthPaisley North (UK Parliament constituency)Paisley North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
in Scotland
United States
- Veronica BolandVeronica Grace BolandVeronica Grace Boland was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and the first female member of Congress from Pennsylvania....
- Frances BoltonFrances P. BoltonFrances Payne Bolton , born Frances P. Bingham, was a Republican politician from Ohio. She served in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Ohio. She was also the oldest woman to date to serve in the House of Representatives.Born in Cleveland,...
- Sala BurtonSala BurtonSala Burton was a United States Representative from California. She was born Sala Galante in Białystok, Poland. She attended public schools in San Francisco and University of San Francisco. She was the associate director of the California Public Affairs Institute from 1948 to 1950...
- Katharine ByronKatharine ByronKatharine Edgar Byron , a Democrat, was a U.S. Congresswoman who represented the 6th congressional district of Maryland from May 27, 1941 to January 3, 1943...
- Hattie CarawayHattie CarawayHattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway was the first woman elected to serve as a United States Senator. Senator Caraway represented Arkansas.-Biography:...
- Mary Carr, wife of Joe C. CarrJoe C. CarrJoseph Cordell Carr, Sr. , commonly known as "Joe C. Carr," was a Democratic Party politician in the state of Tennessee who served almost 27 years as Tennessee Secretary of State. -Early life:...
- Jean CarnahanJean CarnahanJean Anne Carpenter Carnahan is an American politician and writer who served in the United States Senate from 2001 to 2002. A Democrat, she was appointed to the Senate to fill the seat of her posthumously elected husband, becoming the first woman to represent Missouri in the Senate.-Biography:Born...
- Marian ClarkeMarian W. ClarkeMarian Williams Clarke was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. She was the second woman elected to Congress from New York , after Ruth Baker Pratt.-Biography:...
- Willa Eslick
- Elizabeth Hawley GasqueElizabeth Hawley GasqueElizabeth Hawley Gasque was a Congresswoman from South Carolina, the first woman elected to Congress from that state....
- Florence Reville GibbsFlorence Reville GibbsFlorence Reville Gibbs was a Democratic congresswoman, the first woman to represent Georgia in the United States House of Representatives....
- Florence Prag KahnFlorence Prag KahnFlorence Prag Kahn was an American teacher and politician who in 1925 became the first Jewish woman to serve in the United States Congress. She was only the fifth woman to serve in Congress, and the second from California, after fellow San Franciscoan Mae Nolan...
- Katherine LangleyKatherine G. Langley]Katherine Gudger Langley was an American politician. Langley was member of United States House of Representatives from Kentucky during the Seventieth and Seventy-first sessions of Congress. She was the wife of John W. Langley and daughter of James M. Gudger, Jr...
- Clara McMillanClara G. McMillanClara Gooding McMillan was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina, wife of Thomas S. McMillan.Born in Brunson, South Carolina, Mcmillan attended the public schools, Confederate Home College, Charleston, South Carolina, and Flora MacDonald College, Red Springs, North Carolina.Mcmillan was...
- Mae NolanMae NolanMae Ella Nolan was an American politician who became the fourth woman to serve in the United States Congress, the first woman elected to Congress from California, the first woman to chair a Congressional committee, the first women to win a special election for the United States Congress, and the...
- Pearl Oldfield