From City Hall to The White House San Francisco’s Women Leaders Are Showing How To Lead The World
by Heather Cassell
From its founding, women have been key to San Francisco’s success. While the City by the Bay’s male leadership hasn’t always tapped into the city’s “girl power,” San Francisco became a place that allowed women to grow and thrive from businesses to political power, especially in the 1900s.
By the second half of the 20th century, San Franciscan women grabbed the torch of political power and ran with it from San Francisco City Hall and the Hall of Justice to the highest echelons of the United States’s Capitol. It happened by fate at first, powered by a wave of feminism, and then self-empowered these women campaigned their way into political power.
These San Franciscan women changed the face of San Francisco and US politics showing what women’s leadership looks like:
1. Juana Briones de Miranda (1802- 1889), “Founding Mother of San Francisco”
Juana Briones de Miranda, also known as Dona Juana Briones de Miranda, is often called the founding mother of San Francisco. Juana was one of the first three settlers in Yerba Buena long before the City by the Bay became San Francisco and the Golden State became California. The 1800s were a tumultuous time in California which saw its transition under three different flags: Spain, Mexico, and the US during the first 50 years of the 19th century. Juana survived and thrived under all three different nation’s flags. To do so, she had to be politically savvy to build and hold onto a successful farming business that spanned from San Francisco to Palo Alto as a single working mother. Juana did just that when many failed. She secured her own freedom from her abusive husband legally separating from him at a time when that was unheard of. She bought a property in her own name – when women weren’t legally allowed to own property – and built the first private house between the Presidio and Mission Dolores. She grew her property holdings to also own a 4,400-acre farm in Palo Alto. Juana never ran for political office, but she was a business and community leader and played a key role in the establishment of San Francisco.
2. Tye Leung Schulze (August 24, 1887- March 10, 1972), First Chinese-American Woman to Vote
Tye Leung Schulze was the first Chinese-American woman to vote in California, the first Chinese-American woman to work for the federal government, and she was an anti-human trafficking and human rights activist. In 1912, she cast her ballot in the US election, one year after women won the right to vote in California. Tye also defied California’s anti-miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage by marrying outside of her race. In 1910, she was hired as a federal interpreter at Angel Island Immigration Station, where she met her future husband, Charles Schulze. Tye and Charles tied the knot in Washington State, which did not ban interracial marriage, in 1913, and returned to San Francisco. Born in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the aftermath of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which severely restricted Chinese immigration to the US, Tye escaped an unwanted arranged marriage at the age of 12 to the mission house. There she became a Chinese interpreter helping to free women and girls working in local brothels. She never ran for political office but made history at the ballot box.
3. Mary Margaret Morgan (May 1, 1866 – May 27, 1946), San Francisco’s First Woman Supervisor
A decade after California granted suffrage in 2011 and a year after women won the right to vote nationwide, San Francisco ushered in Mary Margaret Morgan as the city’s first woman member on its board of supervisors in 1921. The Irish-American businesswoman was appointed by Mayor James D. Phelan. Morgan served one four-year term before she lost her bid for re-election in 1925 “after becoming embroiled in a plan permitting PG&E to resell power from the city’s hydroelectric plant.” She advocated for the first municipal camp at Hetch Hetchy, dubbed “Margaret Maryland.” Mary was very active in San Francisco’s suffragette and women’s business, political, and charitable organizations prior to and after her term in office. She served in key roles and was a member of the California Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, the San Francisco Business and Professional Women’s Club, the California League of Women Voters, and the San Francisco Nursery for Homeless Children.
4. Clarissa McMahon (1912-Unknown), San Francisco’s First Woman Acting Mayor
The San Francisco Chronicle announced Clarissa McMahon as the city’s first female mayor when she assumed the role on June 18, 1954, “San Francisco has a female mayor for the first time when Supervisor Clarissa McMahon serves as acting mayor.” Clarissa was appointed to the board of supervisors by Mayor Elmer Robinson in 1953. At the time, it was common for the supervisors to rotate filling the mayor’s seat as “acting mayor” in the mayor’s absence from San Francisco. Clarissa served on the board for 13 years (1953-1966) until she abruptly resigned February 15, 1966, two weeks before the final vote on the I-280 Potrero Hill Freeway extension. In April of that year, the San Francisco Examiner reported she cast a “no” vote against the freeway. Clarissa was a staunch freeway opponent. During her term in office, she voted “no” on the proposed controversial Panhandle-Golden Gate Freeway. It is unknown why she suddenly quit the board.
5. Susan Leal (1949-), San Francisco’s First Lesbian Latina Supervisor
Susan Leal, 74, made history when then-mayor Frank Jordan appointed her to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1993. The move made her the first Latina lesbian to serve on the city and county’s legislative body from 1993 to 1998. A title that she remains the only one to hold. Susan was appointed to fill the vacant seat left by one of the first lesbian members of the board, Roberta Achtenberg, when she was tapped to hold a federal position by then-President Bill Clinton that same year. Susan’s appointment was significant. During her tenure she renamed Army Street in honor of United Farm Workers Union co-founder Cesar Chavez and stood up for immigrants after California voters restricted public services for undocumented immigrants with the passage of Proposition 187. The San Francisco native’s most significant accomplishment was the passage of the equal benefits ordinance. The ordinance mandated companies doing business with the city must provide the same benefits to domestic partners, including same-sex couples, to provide the same benefits as straight married couples. Since her time on the board, Susan continued to serve the city as general manager of the Public Utilities Commission and treasurer-tax collector. She also ran to be mayor but lost to now-California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was mayor of San Francisco (2004-2011), in 2003. Today, she does some consulting work on water and climate issues and is also a senior fellow at Harvard Advanced Leadership Institute.
6. London Breed (1974-), San Francisco’s First Black Woman Mayor
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, 49, is the second woman to be elected as the 45th mayor of the city. She is the first woman of color and second Black person in San Francisco’s top office. London was appointed to the office after the late Mayor Ed Lee died suddenly of a heart attack in 2017. Like her mentor, the late California Senator Dianne Feinstein, London was president of the board of supervisors at the time. Per the city’s charter, she served out his term until a special election was held. London won the special election outright in 2018. She led the city through COVID-19 and is currently tackling a fentanyl drug epidemic, pandemic-related economic downturn, and rampant crime throughout San Francisco.
7. Roberta Achtenberg (1950-), First Lesbian to Serve in a Federal Office/One of San Francisco’s First Lesbian Supervisors
Roberta Achtenberg (1991-1993) and Carole Migden (1991-1996) were the first Jewish lesbians elected to serve on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1991. Roberta, 73, held the position until she became the first and highest-ranking LGBTQ person appointed to a federal position. Former President Bill Clinton appointed, and the Senate confirmed Roberta as assistant director of the Department of Urban Housing and Development in 1993. Roberta also served in former President Barack Obama’s administration leading the HUD transition team (2008-2009) and as a commissioner for the US Commission on Civil Rights (2011-2016). For more than 30 years, Roberta held positions in public service and private entities including chairing the board of trustees at California State University (1999-2016) and currently she’s a partner at ABK City Advisors. Roberta also co-founded and was the first executive director of the National Center for Civil Rights in the 1980s. NCLR went on to be a major player in the US marriage equality battle. In 2015, the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
8. Dianne Feinstein (June 22, 1933-September 29, 2023), Longest-Serving Senator/San Francisco’s First Woman Mayor
The late Dianne Feinstein, 90, was the longest-serving senator on Capitol Hill until her sudden death at her Washington, DC home September 29. The veteran Jewish politician broke barriers throughout her storied political career. In 1978, Dianne was thrust into the national spotlight with the assassination of California’s first gay elected official fellow Jewish San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, and Mayor George Moscone by former supervisor Dan White. The first woman president of the board of supervisors, Dianne, was named acting mayor. She finished serving out Moscone’s term in office. The native San Franciscan was subsequently elected as San Francisco’s 38th mayor, serving two terms (1978-1988), a feat after losing twice for the office to mayors Joe Alioto (1971) and George (1975). Dianne lost another political race, her bid for governor of California to Republican Pete Wilson. In the Year of the Woman, Dianne, a Democrat, was one of a wave of women elected to Congress in 1992, filling Pete’s vacant seat. She served Californians and San Franciscans on Capitol Hill for more than 30 years until her passing. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler, 44, October 1 to fill Dianne’s seat. Vice President Kamala Harris swore in Los Angeles County-based Laphonza October 3 making her the first Black lesbian to serve in the US Senate. Laphonza announced she would not run for Dianne’s seat in the 2024 election October 19.
9. Nancy Pelosi (March 26, 1940-), First Woman Emerita Speaker of the House
Emerita Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, 83, was the first woman to serve as second-in-line to the presidency from 2007 to 2011. She took the position again in 2019 until 2023. Nancy’s political career spans more than 35 years. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 1987. In the chamber of Congress, she has been the architect of significant legislation, such as the Affordable Care Act (which she beat back attacks during former President Donald Trump’s administration) and the American Rescue Plan, to name a couple of her accomplishments. Throughout her career, she championed HIV/AIDS, climate change, families, health care, labor, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and accountability, transparency, and participation in government. Radical right-wing conservatives and rhetoric from Donald and some members of Congress targeted her for her work that culminated in the January 6 insurrection in 2021 and continued with the attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home in 2022.
10. Kamala Harris (October 20, 1964-), First Woman Vice President of the United States
Kamala Harris, 59, was sworn in as the first Black American, and the first South Asian American, and first woman to be vice president of the US on January 20, 2021. The Oakland native, just on the other side of the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, skyrocketed to national attention in 2003 when she was elected as San Francisco’s District Attorney and was re-elected in 2007. During her tenure, Kamala created ground-breaking programs that became national models for law enforcement by the US Department of Justice, such as the high school diplomas and employment programs for first-time drug offenders. She was elected as California’s attorney general in 2010 where she won a $20 billion settlement for Californians whose homes had been foreclosed on, she defended the Affordable Care Act, enforced environmental protections, and championed same-sex marriage. In 2017, Kamala was sworn in as a California Senator filling retired Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat. As Senator, she fought for immigrant rights and better protections for DREAMers and passed the anti-lynching legislation in 2018 and funding for low-income communities during COVID-19. As vice president, Kamala has worked with President Joe Biden to vaccinate Americans against COVID-19, rebuild the US economy, pass infrastructure laws, protect voters’ rights, worker’s rights, and women’s rights in her role at the White House.