Women at the FCC

The FCC has always been a wee bit sexist. I was reading in an article about the AWRT in 1951that they were excitedly expecting the nomination of a woman as an FCC commissioner. It didn't happen. I read a few days later about the first female chairwoman of the FCC... appointed only this year! I got curious as to how many women had been commissioners at the FCC. It turned out to be a very small number —an inexcusably small number. The FCC actually was grossly imbalanced until the mid 1980s. More here.


Harry Truman nominated the first woman, Frieda Barkin Hennock to the FCC in 1948. As the FCC (excluding the years it was the FRC) it's leadership had been all male for 14 years. Ms. Hennock served until 1955, a tenure of 23 years. No more women were appointed until 1971, another 16 years —whole presidencies passed. Hennock was the only woman on the commission for a period of almost 40 years.

The situation didn't improve much after Charlotte Reid was appointed in 1971.  Margarite White wasn't appointed until 1976...to replace Reid.  They had agreed to a token woman on the commission, but only one and only one at a time. But in the 1980s it improved. Over the following three decades 29 more commissioners were nominated, 17 male, 12 female — an much closer ratio of 41% to 59%. It's a wild improvement over their historical percentage.  Since 1934 there have been 15 female commissioners out of 80, that's 19%. But before 1980... it was only 8%.  Below I post the entire commissioner list straight form the FCC website for your indignant reference.

Commissioner	Party Affiliation	State
			From	To
Eugene O. Sykes   Chairman	Democrat	Mississippi	Jul 11, 1934 Jul 11, 1934	Apr 5, 1939 Mar 8, 1935
Thad H. Brown	Republican	Ohio	Jul 11, 1934	Jun 30, 1940
Paul A. Walker   Acting Chairman   Chairman	Democrat	Oklahoma	Jul 11, 1934 Nov 3, 1947 Feb 28, 1952	Jun30, 1953 Dec 28, 1947 Apr 17, 1953
Norman Case	Republican	Rhode Island	Jul 11, 1934	Jun 30, 1945
Irvin Stewart	Democrat	Texas	Jul 11, 1934	Jun 30, 1937
George Henry Payne	Republican	New York	Jul 11, 1934	Jun 30, 1943
Hampson Gary	Democrat	Texas	Jul 11, 1934	Jan 1, 1935
Anning S. Prall   Chairman	Democrat	New York	Jan 17, 1935 Mar 9, 1935	Jul 23, 1937 Jul 23, 1937
Tunis Craven	Democrat	DC Virginia	Aug 25, 1937 Jul 2, 1956	Jun 30, 1944 Mar 25, 1963
Frank McNinch    Chairman	Democrat	North Carolina	Oct 1, 1937 Oct 1, 1937	Aug 31, 1939 Aug 31, 1939
Frederic I. Thompson	Democrat	Alabama	Apr 13, 1939	Jun 30, 1941
James Lawrence Fly   Chairman	Democrat	Texas	Sept 1, 1939 Sept 1, 1939	Nov 13, 1944 Nov 13, 1944
Ray C. Wakefield	Republican	California	Mar 22, 1941	Jun 30, 1947
Clifford J. Durr	Democrat	Alabama	Nov 1, 1941	Jun 30, 1948
Ewell K. Jett   Interim Chairman	Independent	Maryland	Feb 15, 1944 Nov 16, 1944	Dec 31, 1947 Dec 20, 1944
Paul A. Porter   Chairman	Democrat	Kentucky	Dec 21, 1944 Dec 21, 1944	Feb 25, 1946 Feb 25, 1946
Charles R. Denny   Acting Chairman   Chairman	Democrat	DC	Mar 30, 1945 Feb 26, 1946 Dec 4, 1946	Oct 31, 1947 Dec 3, 1946 Oct 31, 1947
William H. Willis	Republican	Vermont	Jul 23, 1945	Mar 6, 1946
Rosel H. Hyde   Chairman   Acting Chairman   Acting Chairman   Chairman	Republican	Idaho	Apr 17, 1946 Apr 18, 1953 Apr 19, 1954 May 1, 1966 Jun 27, 1966	Oct 31, 1969 Apr 18, 1954 Oct 3, 1954 Jun 26, 1966 Oct 31, 1969
Edward M. Webster	Independent	DC	Apr 10, 1947	Jun 30, 1956
Robert F. Jones	Republican	Ohio	Sept 5, 1947	Sept 19, 1952
Wayne Coy   Chairman	Democrat	Indiana	Dec 29, 1947 Dec 29, 1947	Feb 21, 1952 Feb 21, 1952
George E. Sterling	Republican	Maine	Jan 2, 1948	Sept 30, 1954
Frieda B. Hennock	Democrat	New York	Jul 6, 1948	Jun 30, 1955
Robert T. Bartley	Democrat	Texas	Mar 6, 1952	Jun 30, 1972
Eugene H. Merrill	Democrat	Utah	Oct 6, 1952	Apr 15, 1953
John C. Doerfer   Chairman	Republican	Wisconsin	Apr 15, 1953 Jul 1, 1957	Mar 10, 1960 Mar 10, 1960
Robert E. Lee   Interim Chairman   Chairman	Republican	Illinois	Oct 6, 1953 Feb 5, 1981 Apr 13, 1981	Jun 30, 1981 Apr 12, 1981 May 18,1981
George McConnaughey   Chairman	Republican	Ohio	Oct 4, 1954	Jun 30, 1957
Frederick W. Ford   Chairman	Republican	West Virginia	Aug 29, 1957 Mar 15, 1960	Dec 31, 1964 Mar 1, 1961
John S. Cross	Democrat	Arkansas	May 23, 1958	Sept 30, 1962
Charles H. King	Republican	Michigan	Jul 19, 1960	Mar 2, 1961
Newton N. Minow   Chairman	Democrat	Illinois	Mar 2, 1961 Mar 2, 1961	Jun 1, 1963 Jun 1, 1963
E. William Henry   Chairman	Democrat	Tennessee	Oct 2, 1962 Jun 2, 1963	May 1, 1966 May 1, 1966
Kenneth A. Cox	Democrat	Washington	Mar 26, 1963	Aug 31, 1970
Lee Loevinger	Democrat	Minnesota	Jun 11, 1963	Jun 30, 1968
James J. Wadsworth	Republican	New York	May 5, 1965	Oct. 31, 1969
Nicholas Johnson	Democrat	Iowa	Jul 1 1966	Dec 5, 1973
H. Rex Lee	Democrat	DC	Oct 28, 1968	Dec 31, 1973
Dean Burch   Chairman	Republican	Arizona	Oct 31, 1969 Oct 31, 1969	Mar 8, 1974 Mar 8, 1974
Robert Wells	Republican	Kansas	Nov 6, 1969	Nov 1, 1971
Thomas J. Houser	Republican	Illinois	Jan 6, 1971	Oct 5, 1971
Charlotte T. Reid	Republican	Illinois	Oct 8, 1971	Jul 1, 1976
Richard E. Wiley   Chairman	Republican	Illinois	Jan 5, 1972 Mar 8, 1974	Oct 13, 1977 Oct 13, 1977
Benjamin L. Hooks	Democrat	Tennessee	Jul 5, 1972	Jul 25, 1977
James H. Quello   Chairman	Democrat	Michigan	Apr 30, 1974 Feb 5, 1993	Nov 1, 1997 Nov 28, 1993
Glen O. Robinson	Democrat	Minnesota	Jul 10, 1974	Aug 30, 1976
Abbott M. Washburn	Republican	Minnesota	Jul 10, 1974	Oct 1, 1982
Joseph R. Fogarty	Democrat	Rhode Island	Sept 17, 1976	Jun 30, 1983
Margita E. White	Republican	Sweden	Sept 23, 1976	Feb 28, 1979
Charles D. Ferris   Chairman	Democrat	Massachusetts	Oct 17, 1977 Oct 17, 1977	Apr 10, 1981 Feb 4, 1981
Tyrone Brown	Democrat	Virginia	Nov 15, 1977	Jan 31, 1981
Anne P. Jones	Republican	Massachusetts	Apr 7, 1979	May 31, 1983
Mark S. Fowler   Chairman	Republican	Canada	May 18, 1981 May 18, 1981	Apr 17, 1987 Apr 17, 1987
Mimi Weyforth Dawson	Republican	Missouri	Jul 6, 1981	Dec 3, 1987
Henry M. Rivera	Democrat	New Mexico	Aug 10, 1981	Sept 15, 1985
Stephen A. Sharp	Republican	Ohio	Oct 4, 1982	Jun 30, 1983
Dennis R. Patrick   Chairman	Republican	California	Dec 2, 1983 Apr 18, 1987	Apr 17, 1987 Aug 7, 1989
Patricia Diaz Dennis	Democrat	New Mexico	Jun 25, 1986	Sept 29, 1989
Alfred C. Sikes   Chairman	Republican	Missouri	Aug 8, 1989 Aug 8, 1989	Jan 19, 1993 Jan 19, 1993
Sherrie P. Marshall	Republican	Florida	Aug 21, 1989	Apr 30, 1993
Andrew C. Barrett	Republican	Illinois	Sept 8, 1989	Mar 30, 1996
Ervin S. Duggan	Democrat	Georgia	Feb 28, 1990	Jan 30, 1994
Reed E. Hundt   Chairman	Democrat	Maryland	Nov 29, 1993 Nov 29, 1993	Nov 3, 1997 Nov 3, 1997
Susan Ness	Democrat	New Jersey	May 19, 1994	May 30, 2001
Rachelle B. Chong	Republican	California	May 23, 1994	Nov 3, 1997
William E. Kennard   Chairman	Democrat	California	Nov 3, 1997 Nov 3, 1997	Jan 19, 2001 Jan 19, 2001
Harold W. Furchtgott-Roth	Republican	Tennessee	Nov 3, 1997	May 30, 2001
Michael K. Powell   Chairman	Republican	Virginia	Nov 3, 1997 Jan 22, 2001	Mar 17, 2005 Mar 17, 2005
Gloria Tristani	Democrat	New Mexico	Nov 3, 1997	Sept 7, 2001
Kathleen Q. Abernathy	Republican	Kentucky	May 31, 2001	Dec 9, 2005
Michael J. Copps   Acting Chairman	Democrat	Wisconsin	May 31, 2001 Jan 22, 2009	Dec 31, 2011 June 28, 2009
Kevin J. Martin   Chairman	Republican	North Carolina	Jul 3, 2001 Mar 18, 2005	Jan 19, 2009 Jan 19, 2009
Jonathan S. Adelstein	Democrat	South Dakota	Dec 3, 2002	June 29, 2009
Deborah Taylor Tate	Republican	Tennessee	Jan 3, 2006	Jan 3, 2009
Robert M. McDowell	Republican	Virginia	Jun 1, 2006	May 17, 2013
Julius Genachowski   Chairman	Democrat	New York	Jun 29, 2009	May 17, 2013
Meredith Attwell Baker	Republican	Texas	July 31, 2009	June 3, 2011
Mignon Clyburn   Acting Chairwoman	Democrat	South Carolina	August 3, 2009 May 20, 2013
Jessica Rosenworcel	Democrat	Connecticut	May 11, 2012
Ajit Pai	Republican	Kansas	May 14, 2012