Welcome from the National Research Center for Women & Families President, Diana Zuckerman, PhD

Welcome from the National Research Center for Women & Families President, Diana Zuckerman, PhD The Foremother Awards are our way of saying "Thank you" to wonderful women who have worked so hard to improve the lives and opportunities of women. It's a great way to celebrate Mother's Day.

Judy Woodruff, a member of our National Advisory Board, was unable to be here today, but wanted me to say a few words on her behalf:

"All of us stand on the shoulders of our mothers and grandmothers, and the women of their generations, because they lived through much more demanding times for women, through the Great Depression, through two World Wars and at a time when women didn't have the right to vote or the choices we have today. My own mother is 81 and an inspiration to me everyday."

All of these women are inspiring. They have all been appreciated and recognized for their contributions. But, at a time when so many of us are concerned that women are still fighting for equality in many aspects of their lives, it is easy to lose sight of how far we have come and of the women who helped us get to where we are today. So, we want to honor and recognize them again and let them know how much we appreciate them and love working with them and following in their footsteps.

Today we are honoring 10 of the many women in the Washington, DC area who have dedicated their lives to improving our lives. They started before it was fashionable and continued long after they were expected to retire and take it easy.

I first met Joy Simonson 20 years ago, when I was starting out as a Congressional staffer. It has been fun and inspiring to work side by side with her and with Margaret Feldman, Gloria Johnson, Ruth Nadel, and Ellie Newman through the years. I have admired Anne Hale Johnson, Mary Dent Crisp, Sonia Pressman Fuentes, Allie Latimer, and Fann Harding from afar and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to meet them and honor them.

This luncheon is a small token of how much we appreciate them and want to thank them for being there for us - years ago and still fighting the good fight today.

Our Honorees

Mary Dent Crisp

Mary Dent Crisp is the founder and former Chair of the Republican Pro Choice Coalition. Believing passionately that a woman's right to choose was threatened by the anti-abortion movement in the Republican Party, she formed this grass roots organization to support a woman's constitutional and legal right to reproductive freedom and to remove the anti-choice plank from the national party platform.

Ms. Crisp began her career as a political leader in the Arizona Republican Party in 1961. In 1972, she was elected Republican National Committeewoman. As Secretary of the 1976 Republican National Convention, she called the roll of the states. The following year, she was elected Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee, a post she held for three and a half years. During that time, she was an ardent advocate for the right to choose and the Equal Rights Amendment.

At the Republican National Convention in 1980, which she attended as National Co-Chair, Ms. Crisp warned the party that it's newly declared position on abortion calling for a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure would undermine its ability to gain majority party status. She left the convention a political outcast and joined the campaign of independent John Anderson as its national Chair because of his strong support of the Equal Rights Amendment and women's rights.

From 1984 to the mid-nineties, Ms. Crisp served as Senior Adviser and National Political Director of BENS, Business Executives for National Security. She serves on the advisory boards of the National ACLU, National Political Women's Caucus, and the National Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood. Her life and political career have been featured in two recent books, The Republican War Against Women by Tanya Melich and True to Ourselves by the League of Women Voters.

Margaret Feldman

Margaret Feldman received a BA from Chapman College in Los Angeles, a MSW in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a PhD from Cornell University in Educational Psychology. She taught psychology and social work for 20 years at Ithaca College. Her involvement with the women's movement started when she was student body president of Chapman College, the first woman student to hold that position. In 1970 she organized a large celebration in Ithaca to celebrate the signing of the 19th Amendment.

Around this time, while participating in a forum, Dr. Feldman used the word "sexism" to describe women's condition; she has been credited as creating the term. Later she chaired the planning committee for the Seneca Falls pre-convention rally and celebration. Her husband Harold Feldman was always supportive of the Woman's Movement, and was a founding faculty member of the Women's Studies program at Cornell.

After retiring and moving to Washington, DC in 1981, she served as the Washington representative for the National Council on Family Relations. She also volunteered for the Senate Committee on Aging and the Older Women's League. She served as a board member for the Clearing House on Women's Issues. She has also been active in the Southwest DC Neighborhood Assembly, serving as President for many years, and has recently worked to establish the Southwest Heritage Walk.

Dr. Feldman has won numerous awards for her community service in Washington, DC and from the National Council on Family Relations for her years of service. She also received a life-time membership to the Groves Conference on Marriage and Families.

Sonia Pressman Fuentes

Sonia Pressman Fuentes was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to the U.S. with her family to escape Nazism. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University in 1950 and first in her class at the University of Miami School of Law in 1957. She had a 36-year career as an attorney and executive with the federal government and multinational corporations. She drafted many of the EEOC's initial landmark guidelines and decisions. In addition to being one of the founders of NOW, she was also a founder of Federally Employed Women (FEW). In November 1966, Betty Friedan presented her with the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) Medal of Honor in recognition of her work to improve the status of women.

Currently, Ms. Fuentes serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Woman's Party (NWP) and on the advisory committee of the Veteran Feminists of America. On March 21, 2000, she was one of five women inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Later that year, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees included Ms. Fuentes in its Gallery of Prominent Refugees. She will be included in an exhibit of the Jewish Women's Archive on l00 women who improved women's status, and will be featured in a documentary film, "The Second Wave," scheduled for release in early 2006.

Since her retirement in 1993, Ms. Fuentes has pursued an active career as a writer and public speaker. Her memoir, Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter, has been required reading in courses at Cornell University and American University. Further information is available on her website: http://www.erraticimpact.com/fuentes.

Anne Hale Johnson

As a philanthropist, a pro-choice activist and a progressive leader within the religious community, Anne Hale Johnson puts her actions and her energy where her passions lie.

As a young girl growing up in the 1920s, Ms. Johnson knew early on that there was a difference between how boys and girls were treated and viewed by society. But Johnson--born in Rochester, N.Y., the home of Susan B. Anthony, from a line of college-educated women--sensed the gender gap could be bridged.

As board chair of Union Theological Seminary in New York, which trains progressive people who wish to enter the ministry from a diversity of religious backgrounds, Johnson has helped further the institution's women-friendly atmosphere. Johnson received a master's degree from the school in 1956, just a month before Presbyterian Church USA ordained its first female minister. Today, two-thirds of the students are women, as are more than half of the tenured professors.

Following the death of their daughter Christiane in a tragic 1987 Amtrak accident, Anne Johnson and her husband Art founded Safe Travel America and successfully lobbied Congress to pass legislation requiring drug and alcohol testing for those in safety-sensitive positions in transportation.

Johnson has continued her support of progressive ideas within the religious community by serving on the board of directors of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, a group that supports gay ministers and an all-inclusive church. She has fought within the church in support of pro-choice positions, and has funded several studies of conservative religious groups in order to inform the public of their anti-choice, anti-gay agendas.

Fann Harding

Fann Harding, a native of Kentucky, received her A.B. (1951) from Coker College in South Carolina and her M.S. (1954) and Ph.D (1958) in Anatomy from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. In 1958, Dr. Harding started her career at the National Institutes of Health in the National Heart Institute (Changed in 1976 to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) and held numerous positions in the Research and Training Grants Branch.

She also served as Program Director for Extramural Research Training and Career Development in Blood Diseases and Transfusion Medicine (1974-1996); Executive Secretary to the Blood Diseases and Resources Advisory Committee (1974-1996); and Assistant Coordinator of the US-USSR Health Exchange Program (1974-1996). Dr. Harding was responsible for the development of a new area of medicine (transfusion medicine) through an NIH-funded program she created and headed from 1982-1996 when she retired to pursue sculpturing.

Dr. Harding was the founding President (1970) of the NIH Organization for Women (now known as SHER, Self Help for Equal Rights), and a founding member of both the Association for Women in Science (1971) and the Federation of Organizations for Professional Women (1972). In the early 1970s she filed the first sex discrimination complaint against the National Institutes of Health and won her case in 1974.

Dr. Harding has received numerous awards, including the Ruth Patrick Award (1951); the NIH Sustained Performance Award (1973); and a Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Blood Banks (1990). She also is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a member of Sigma Delta Epsilon, the National Woman's Party, the Microcirculatory Society, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and the International Society of Lymphology.

Gloria T. Johnson

As a founding member, Gloria T. Johnson served as President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women from1993 to 2004. Prior to being elected to that position, Ms. Johnson was CLUW's Treasurer for 17 years. In 1993, Ms. Johnson was elected Vice President of the AFL-CIO, only the second African American woman to hold that prestigious position.

Ms. Johnson joined the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers in 1954 as a bookkeeper. For many years she served as the elected chair of the IUE Women's Council. Today she serves as the Women's Activities Coordinator for the merged IUE-CWA.

Ms. Johnson has represented the American Labor Movement around the world. Her travels abroad for the labor movement have taken her to Israel, France and Sweden Africa, Taiwan, Japan, Belgium, Haiti, Brazil, Slovakia, Croatia, Central and South America, and Czech Republic, speaking to trade union women and men on issues of special concern to women.

Her work for women's rights and civil rights has been recognized over the years. She has received the Operation PUSH Award for Outstanding Women in the Labor Movement. Other honors include: the 1981 Economic Equity Award from Women's Equity Action League (WEAL) for outstanding achievement in the Labor Movement; the 1985 award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; the A. Philip Randolph Institute 1994 Achievement Award; the 1995 Wise Women Award presented by Center for Women Policy Studies; and the NAACP first Annual Pathway to Excellence Award "Women of Labor" in 1995. In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. In 1999, she received the Eugene V. Debbs Award in Labor. In 2000, she received the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Labor Leader "Nation Builders" Award, and the National Committee on Pay Equity's Winn Newman Award.

Allie Latimer

Attorney and social justice activist Allie Latimer was born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Growing up in Alabama, her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a builder. She attended the Alabama State Lab High School where she earned her high school diploma in the 1940s. Latimer earned a BS degree from Hampton Institute in Virginia. Upon graduation Ms. Latimer joined the American Friends in Service, which is part of the Quaker International Volunteer Service program, and worked at a women's prison in New Jersey. She later traveled to France with the same group as part of a peace rebuilding mission.

Ms. Latimer received a law degree from Howard University Law School, a LL.M degree from Catholic University, and a M. Div. and D.Min from Howard University School of Divinity. In 1969, she became an Ordained Elder at Northeastern Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.

In 1968, Ms. Latimer was instrumental in organizing Federally Employed Women and became the founding president. FEW is a national organization that has more than 200 chapters today. After working in private practice for several years, she joined the General Services Administration (GSA) in the early 1970s as an Assistant General Counsel. In 1976, Ms. Latimer left GSA to serve as an Assistant General Counsel for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1977, she returned to the GSA and made history when she became the first woman and African American to serve as General Counsel of a major federal agency. She held that post for ten years until she moved on to serve as Special Counsel for Ethics and Civil Rights at GSA from 1987-1995.

In 1998, Ms. Latimer was awarded the prestigious Ollie Mae Cooper Award for her legal and humanitarian achievements.

Ruth Nadel

With two brothers, six uncles, a husband and four sons, Ruth Nadel was destined to be an activist on women's issues. In the 30's she completed a BBA degree and a MS in Education. She later completed a group dynamics training certificate program at Bethel, ME. Family life during the 40's and early 50's included leadership in the Montgomery County, MD community, with preschools, the PTA and a variety of public policy organizations. Her community service activities continued after she moved to California. In the 60's, Ruth campaigned and won election to the Santa Barbara Board of Education, the lone woman among its 5 members.

Returning to Washington, Ms. Nadel was encouraged in 1968 to apply for a midlevel vacancy in Department of Labor's Women's Bureau, testing whether unpaid volunteer work of equivalent level could be accepted as work experience. She got the job. Ruth worked for 21 years at the Women's Bureau where she earned the Department's Distinguished Service Award for her contribution in designing and developing the first on-site, employer-supported child care center, and related child care options for working families. As their dependent care specialist, she made sure that eldercare was added in the 80's.

When she retired in 1989, Ms. Nadel chose to return to "professional volunteerism," or pro bono work, as she calls it. She is a DC Commissioner on Aging, serves as co-chair of the NCWO Global Women's Task Force, the Woman's National Democratic Club Board of Governors, IONA Citizens Advisory Council, and produces a weekly national legislative call-in for OWL, among other commitments. She also works against the stigma of ageism.

Elaine Newman

After completing her BS degree at the University of Illinois, Elaine Newman's first job was at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, helping to bring displaced persons to this country. She subsequently worked as the Assistant to the Director of the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and as a caseworker in TB Control in Texas. She was also a union organizer until the Office Director (a woman) decided she shouldn't stand in front of the garment shops while visibly pregnant. She was subsequently promoted to be the Director of Education.

Ms. Newman ultimately moved to Washington, DC and worked in politics and civil rights, and lobbied Congress as a volunteer. Her first paying job in the Women's Movement was in the early 1970's, when she became the first Director of the Maryland Commission for Women.went on to run women's and civil rights programs in the federal government and chaired the Federal Women's Interagency Board (made up of people who chaired women's programs in government agencies).

Ms. Newman's accomplishments in government service were recognized by Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in Government. She is a past chair of the Clearinghouse on Women's Issues and is currently the Vice President for Programs at the Woman's National Democratic Club. She also serves on several other boards, and is a delegate to the Metro Council of the AFL-CIO.

Joy Simonson

A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Joy Simonson served as chairman of the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board from 1964 to 1972, the first woman to hold that position; chief hearing examiner for the D.C. Rent Commission; Assistant Director of the Federal Women's Program of the U.S. Civil Service Commission; president of the D.C. League of Women Voters; vice president of Executive Women in Government; and was the founder of the D.C. Commission for Women.

From 1975 to 1982, Ms. Simonson was the Executive Director of the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs, a Presidentially appointed body which advises Congress and federal officials on educational equity for women and girls. In 1982, the newly appointed members of the Council removed Ms. Simonson from her position as Executive Director because of her support for the Equal Rights Amendment. Her firing became a cause celebre and a rallying cry for the Women's Movement.

From 1982 to 1990, Ms. Simonson worked as an oversight investigator for the House Employment and Housing Subcommittee. She worked on issues such as child labor, occupational safety and health issues, and delays by the EEOC in processing age discrimination cases. At her retirement, she was the oldest House staff member.

In 1992, Ms. Simonson was elected to the District of Columbia Women's Hall of Fame. She is currently President of the Clearinghouse on Women's Issues, serves on the Steering Committee of the National Council of Women's Organizations and has been a long-time board member of OWL.

The National Research Center for& Families (formerly the National Center for Policy Research Women & Families) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. We promote the health and safety of women, children, and families, by using objective, research-based information to encourage more effective programs and policies. Visit our website for more information: www.center4research.org.

Special thanks to Preferred Office Club and Suzanne Turner of Turner Strategies for co-sponsoring this special luncheon celebration with the National Research Center for Women & Families. Thanks also to the Occidental Restaurant for making it possible.

Top