The Boundaries of Women’s Rights: Activism

and Aspirations in the Society of Women

Engineers

Lauren Kata, MA

ICWES 15

July 20, 2011

1950 - SWE Founding

Professional Opportunities for Women Engineers,

post-WWII• Limited opportunities, despite employment

increase in WWII• Only a handful of women in engineering

programs• Technical Societies denied full membership

to women

• Conservative Board of Directors• Members conflict over increase in activism• Tax Status for non-profit organizations

Collective Action1950s, 60s

1973 New Leaders Make

Change• Formation of “Federation of Professional

Women”• Affiliation with National Society of Professional

Engineers• Endorsement of the ERA

A Moderate Feminist Organization

Gradual Retreat

• SWE members in non-ratified states• Mainstream women’s movement anti-

defense agenda• Indictments on technology

A Legacy Outside the Mainstream Women’s Movement

Society of Women Engineers Archives, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University - Images and References Secondary Sources Bledstein, Burton.  The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and theDevelopment of Higher Education in America.  New York: Norton, 1976. Hartmann, Susan.  The Other Feminists: Activists in the Liberal Establishment.  New                            Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998.

Oldenziel, Ruth. “Multiple-Entry Visas: Gender and Engineering in the US, 1870-1945.” CrossingBoundaries, Building Bridges: Comparing the History of Women Engineers,1870s-1990s.  Edited by Annie Canel, Ruth Oldenziel, and Karin Zachmann, 11-50. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic ; Abingdon : Marston, 2000. Rossiter, Margaret.  Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940.  Vol. 1 of Women Scientists in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.  ---.  Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1945-1970.  Vol. 2 of                            Women Scientists in America.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Scott, Anne Firor.  Natural Allies: Women’s Associations in American History.  University                            of Illinois Press, 1991. 

References