… Continuation 2: SOME NOTABLE FEMALE SOCIAL WORK WORKERS

Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)

A graduate of what is now the Columbia School of Social Work, Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress. In addition, she was an advocate of women’s suffrage and a lifelong pacifist. Her first act as a congresswoman was to introduce a suffrage amendment on the House floor; the amendment was passed about a year later. She was also the only member of Congress to vote against entering World Wars I and II.

 

Frances Perkins (1880 – 1965)

Frances Perkins was the first woman to be a Presidential Cabinet member, serving as Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt. A lifetime champion of labor reform, Perkins helped pass a minimum wage law and was one of the drafters of the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Social Security Act. The Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. is now named after her.

 

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Perhaps the most famous and decorated female social worker, Jane Addams founded one of the world’s first settlement houses – the renowned Hull House in Chicago – and received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Living among those she intended to help in the Hull House, Addams became intimately familiar with the problems of Chicago’s poor and built the House’s services accordingly, adding a library, a gymnasium, and providing classes for adults and children, among many other services. Her work at the ground level earned her subsequent posts on the Chicago Board of Education and the School Management Committee. She founded the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and became the first female president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. She later became the president of the Women’s Peace Party and the Women’s International Peace Congress at The Hague.
All of these women identified their passions through their experience as social workers, moving on to historic accomplishments in academia, policy, charity, professionalization and peace.

#Let’s leave our footprint in the sands of time