Ethel M. Smith
Ethel Marion Smith (1877–1951)[1] was an American women’s rights activist and a union activist in the early 1920s. She participated in women’s organizations such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL). She also worked with other union organizations such as the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Ethel Smith spent her life promoting the idea of equal compensation for equal work regardless of gender in order to protect the rights of the individual worker as well as society as a whole.
Early life
Born in Sangamon County, Illinois on 1 November 1877 to Richard Peter Smith and Marion Elizabeth Patterson, she was the oldest of three children.[2] Smith’s father, Richard Smith, was a wage worker, moving from one job to another in order to make a living wage for himself and his family. His work ranged from farmer to teacher to deputy sheriff, he even ran a stable business for a short period of time.[3] In 1895 Ethel Smith graduated from High School and went to work as a stenographer. In 1897 Smith went to Chicago to take a test in order to qualify her to become a stenographer at the Census Office. Subsequently, she worked at the Office of Chief Division of Manufactures in the 12th Census of the United States for about ten months earning about $600 a year.
In 1901 Ethel Smith was transferred to the Bureau of Fisheries to work as a clerk and as a stenographer making $720 a year.
In 1904 Ethel Smith assisted the editor of the Civil Service Commission publications in Washington D.C., a job she would eventually take over as editor in 1906 till 1914. By 1912 Smith had been passed over for promotion several times and received no increase in pay. Although she was earning $1600 a year it was still less than her predecessors.[6] When she brought the issue up to her superiors she was told that they had no intention of promoting her or increasing her pay because of the belief that as a woman she could not be the primary bread winner.[7] As a result, in 1912 Ethel Smith began to do volunteer work for the suffrage movement in the evenings.
Activism
In 1914 Smith resigned from her position as editor of the Civil Service Commission publications and took a paid position as secretary for the Congressional Committee of the
Smith worked as a state organizer for the Committee as well as tracked suffrage votes and reported the activities of other suffrage organizations. Then in April 1917 Smith was appointed as Director of NAWSA's Industrial Committee and their Publicity Bureau.[9] Within the Industrial Committee Smith worked to safeguard the industrial standards during World War I and organized a “systematic propaganda campaign against excessive overtime and underpay in industries where women are employed.”[9]
Smith began to push the suffrage movement to extend their organizational experiences and interests to include other areas that were in need of legislative change, such as women’s labor.
In November 1917 Smith became active in the National Federation of Federal Employees which engaged in a range of actives to establish modern standards of wage and working conditions in the civil services.[11] Smith became a member of their Legislative Committee to further education on social and economic welfare for Federal employees.
Then in 1918 Ethel Smith was offered two paid positions in the
Smith continued to be very active in both labor organizations and women’s organizations but her hard work took its toll on her health and in late 1920 Ethel Smith collapsed due to extreme exhaustion.
Ethel Smith died in 1951.
References
- ^ "WorldCat Identities". Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
- ^ "Ancestry". www.ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 12.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 13.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 14.
- ^ a b Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 15.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 16.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 17.
- ^ a b Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 18.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 19.
- ^ a b Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 20.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 23.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 25.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 31.
- ^ a b Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 79.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 88.
- ^ Butler, Amy E, Two Paths to Equality: Alice Paul and Ethel M. Smith, (Albany, State University Press), 89.