This may be a later period than the information you need, but this link is to the life and achievements of Margaret G. Reid, who received her Ph. D. in economics from Chicago in 1931. Reid became a full professor there after teaching elsewhere. She had a most interesting career and influenced people like Gary Becker, Franco Modigliani et al.

The link unfortunately is not directly to the article, but to the journal, Feminist Economics. If it doesn't work, there are other ways of getting it, I am sure.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13545709610001707746

Sumitra Shah

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From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of luigino bruni [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 12:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SHOE] the first women economist: help


I'm writing a paper with a colleague (Smerilli) on the women contribution to economics (and more in general on the feminine dimension in economics), but it is very difficult to find a sort of history of the early days, because most of the references I found begin the history with Johan Robinson, Anna Schwartz,  plus some references to Mill's and Marshall's wives. In particular I'm interested in knowing who was the first academic woman with a tenure/position in universities in England or US or other countries.
Thanks
Luigino