Geraldine Ferraro, born in 1935 and raised in working-class Bronx and Queens neighborhoods, was the first in her family to graduate college. She attended Marymount Manhattan College, on a scholarship no less, where she was the editor of the school newspaper. While working as a schoolteacher by day, she went on to earn a law degree at night from Fordham Law School in 1960; she was one of only two women in her class and told she “was taking up a space for a man.” But that attitude didn’t stop Geraldine and was just the beginning of some of the “firsts” she was to achieve.

To begin, Geraldine kept her maiden name professionally after marrying her husband, John Zaccaro, in 1960, hardly the custom then. But Geraldine says she did it in honor of her mother, who always encouraged Geraldine to get a college education even when an uncle questioned why it was necessary. After all, he said, “she was a girl and would get married.”

Unable to get a job at any of the law firms she interviewed at because, as one law firm partner admitted, “You’re terrific but we are not hiring any women this year,” Geraldine worked part-time as a civil attorney in her husband’s real estate firm while giving birth to and raising three children. Her first full-time job, beginning in 1974, was as an Assistant District Attorney in Queens, where women prosecutors were uncommon and she earned less than her male colleagues because she “was married and had a husband.” But she made a name for herself in the Special Victims Bureau prosecuting cases of rape and child and spousal abuse.

Frustrated she couldn’t deal with root causes behind crimes she was prosecuting, she ran for Congress in 9th District of Queens, then known as Archie Bunker’s district (and this blogger’s childhood Congressional District). This largely blue-collar district was conservative, but Geraldine’s campaign slogan — “Finally, a Tough Democrat” — and her humble Italian-American roots helped her win a tough three-way primary and then the general election. The first Congresswoman from Queens, Geraldine quickly found prominence on Capitol Hill and focused her legislative attention on equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions and retirement plans; she co-sponsored the 1981 Economic Equity Act.

But it was in 1984 that Geraldine made history, 64 years after women gained the right to vote, when she became the first woman to be on a major political party’s national ticket as a VP candidate, with Walter Mondale.

Female delegates at the Democratic Convention that year were joyous and proud, and the party thought Geraldine would help exploit the gender gap of that era. While she and Mondale did not win that election, Geraldine feels “every time a woman runs, women win” and that she “opened a door for women in national politics.”  

The seasoned politician next became a bestselling writer when Ferraro: My Story was published in 1985. She also used her fame and communications skills when she hit the lecture circuit and began doing TV commentary. Her second book, Changing History: Women, Power & Politics, came out in 1993. In 1996, she co-hosted CNN’s Crossfire, where her rapid-fire speech and prosecutorial style played well against her co-host, Pat Buchanan. 

She left CNN to run for the Senate but lost. That defeat may have ended Geraldine’s career in politics, but not her place in history or in the world of communications. Her next book, Framing a Life: A Family Memoir, came out in 1998, and she joined the Fox News Channel as a commentator in 1999. Since then she has worked tirelessly to make workplaces more amenable to women. At age 75, she still works part-time saying, “If I fully retired, I’d go nuts.” But perhaps the true measure of her historical impact is that Geraldine Ferraro has forever changed the political future for women — even if her own political career was cut short. 

On November 13, 2008 Geraldine took part in a NYWICI panel titled "The Spin Room: Gender, Politics and Media in the 2008 Election." Below, a few photos from that discussion. Photos: maryannerussell.com

• Gerry: A Woman Making History, by Rosemary Breslin and Joshua Hammer
• The Invisible Bar, by Karen Berger Morello
• The Women in Congress website