Did you know that NCTE elected its first woman president in 1929? She was Rewey Belle Inglis, and she opened the door for many other women. Inglis was succeeded in 1930 by Ruth Mary Weeks; in 1932 by Stella S. Center; in 1936 by Dora V. Smith; and in 1939 by Essie Chamberlain.
There have been many other women presidents since 1939:
1944 Angela Broening
1946 Helene W. Hartley
1949 Marion C. Sheridan
1954 Lou LaBrant
1956 Luella B. Cook
1957 Helen K. Mackintosh
1960 Ruth G. Strickland
1966 Muriel Crosby
1972 Virginia M. Reid
1974 Margaret Early
1976 Charlotte Huck
1977 Charlotte Brooks
1978 Marjorie Farmer
1979 Yetta Goodman
1985 Sheila Fitzgerald
1987 Nancy S. McHugh
1988 Julie M. Jensen
1989 Janet Emig
1990 Ruth K.J. Cline
1991 Shirley Haley-James
1994 Janie Hydrick
1995 Miriam Chaplin
1996 Beverly Ann Chin
1997 Carol Avery
1999 Joan Naomi Steiner
2001 Anne Ruggles Gere
2002 Leila Christenbury
2004 Patricia Lambert Stock
2006 Kyoko Sato
2007 Joanne Yatvin
2008 Kathleen Blake Yancey