When Sarah Tilghman Hughes campaigned in the 1930s for a second term in the Texas House, her opponent ridiculed her candidacy, saying, “We should slap her face and send her back to the kitchen.”

She won, but was the only woman in the Legislature that year. At the beginning of her third term, she was appointed to the 14th District Court in Dallas, a position that would mark her as the first woman to serve as a state district judge.

But when a state senator objected to the appointment because she was married — and thought she should stay home and wash dishes — the women of the city banded for her support and she was re-elected to the position seven times.

Years later, Hughes credited that senator for uniting Texas women. Such were the challenges of women in politics in Texas in the early years. Eighty-six of these ambitious and accomplished women are the focus of a new compilation, Capitol Women: Texas Female Legislators, 1923-1999, by Nancy Baker Jones ’69 and Ruthe Winegarten.

Drawing on many years of research, historians Jones and Winegarten have brought together, into one volume, these stories, as well as four essays that provide historical and cultural context for the biographies. It is an easy and fascinating read that will surely inspire many budding women politicians as well as be a solid resource for further study of the influence of women in Texas politics.