Mary R. Grizzle

Mary R. Grizzle (née Pearson; August 19, 1921 – November 9, 2006), was a legislator and advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment, who served in both houses of the Florida Legislature. She was the first Republican woman elected to the legislature of Florida.

Career In 1963, she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. From 1974 to 1978 she served as House Republican Leader Pro-Tempore, making her the first woman in Florida elected to a leadership position. In 1978, she was elected to the Florida Senate.

She introduced and passed the Married Women Property Rights Act, which became law in 1970, giving married women in Florida, for the first time, the right to own property solely in their names and to transfer that property without their husbands' signatures.