Something's just struck me about Anu's explanation of his theme last week. When did women in the US get the vote? And who was the first woman governor of a state? Surely, if Miriam Ferguson was governor of Texas in the 1920s, she must have been among the first, if not the first.

Bingley

Looks like "Ma" Ferguson became the second woman governor in U.S. history. Wyoming's Nellie Ross beat her out by 15 days.

And Miriam Ferguson was more of an uxgovernor than a governor in her own right, it would seem, based on her promise that "if elected she would follow the advice of her husband and that Texas thus would gain "two governors for the price of one."

The Handbook of Texas Online

Mrs. Ferguson served as the first lady of Texas during the gubernatorial terms of her husband (1915-17), who was impeached during his second administration. When James Ferguson failed to get his name on the ballot in 1924, Miriam entered the race for the Texas governorship. Before announcing for office, she had devoted her energies almost exclusively to her husband and two daughters. This fact, and the combination of her first and middle initials, led her supporters to call her "Ma" Ferguson. She quickly assured Texans that if elected she would follow the advice of her husband and that Texas thus would gain "two governors for the price of one." Inaugurated fifteen days after Wyoming's Nellie Ross, Miriam Ferguson became the second woman governor in United States history.

http://snipurl.com/gsme

On November 2, 1920, over 8 million American women voted for the first time in history.

http://snipurl.com/gsmr

Here's a brief history of women's suffrage in the US.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsuffrage.htm

The vote came piecemeal to women, state by state, up until the passage of the 19th Amendment.

In 1869, Wyoming's territorial legislature became the first government in the world to grant "female suffrage" by enacting a bill granting Wyoming women the right to vote. The act was signed into law on December 10 of that year by Governor A.J. Campbell. From:
http://wyoming.gov/state/wyoming_news/general/history.asp

Woman elected governor of a state: Nellie Tayloe Ross, Wyoming, 1925. From:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194050.html

Inaugurated fifteen days after Wyoming's Nellie Ross, Miriam Ferguson became the second woman governor in United States history.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/FF/ffe6.html
There ya go.