Back in 1893, Antoinette Dakin Leach of Indiana was the first woman to challenge bar admission denial based on gender. Leach's lawyers argued in front of the Indiana Supreme Court. They argued that even though a woman couldn't vote, if a woman was otherwise qualified, she should be admitted to practice law. Despite the fact that female admission to the bar was approved, male lawyers did not agree with the decision. She was not admitted to the Indiana State Bar Association until 1909.
Antoinette was the first lawyer to submit typewritten filings to the court instead of handwritten writings, thus embracing modern technology. She became an active suffragist, urging people to give women the right to vote. To recognize the accomplishments of female attorneys in central Indiana the Indianapolis Bar Association's Women & Law Division established the Antoinette Dakin Leach Award. It aims to encourage today's women in the pursuit of this honorable profession. The award, begun in 1990, named Judge Heather Welch as the 2019 recipient of the award. Judge Walton Pratt, a former recipient of the award, made opening remarks regarding Judge Welch and how she had been a trailblazer for other female attorneys.
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Dutch activist Aletta Jacobs needed to get the personal authorization of the country's prime minister to pursue a higher education due to her sex. In 1879 she became the Netherlands' first woman doctor. Her medical expertise centered on the health and welfare of women and children. Over the years she was an active woman suffragist, healthcare reformer and peace advocate.
Aletta and American Carrie Chapman Catt traveled together around the world in 1910-1911, working with women's groups in many countries to help them better their situations. To discover more about this outstanding European pioneer and her Dutch colleagues visit the website of the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Netherlands. It featured a 100 years of Women's Suffrage exhibit in 2019. There are some wonderful photographs included. You might also enjoy reading Memories, a translated biography of Aletta Jacobs published by the Feminist Press of the City University of New York. Thirteen-year old Carrie Lane, growing up on a Charles City, Iowa farm, discovered her mother and other American women couldn’t vote to decide who would be next president of the United States. She vowed she would do something about it and did. She became the head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association when the 19th Amendment was passed. It was a hard struggle over many years to accomplish that feat. In 1991, the National 19th Amendment Society was founded and purchased Carrie’s girlhood home to honor the memory of Carrie Chapman Catt. The Charles City home has been restored and is now utilized as a center for the study of contemporary issues springing from the fields of interest to which Carrie devoted her life. To learn more about the adventures of Carrie and how a small local group of Charles City women, with the assistance of many friends, developed the center, visit the Society's website. You’ll find the Society provides interesting and unusual programs for adults and children. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic the National 19th Amendment Society is closed. However, it is looking forward to the time when it can open its doors and welcome visitors to the interesting exhibits and fun programs provided. In the 1870s Clara Shortridge Foltz was abandoned by her husband in San Jose, California, with five children to feed and support. She began a dress making business but a local sheriff took her sewing machine away to pay her ex-husband’s debts. Clara wanted to sue for the machine’s return but no male lawyer would take her case. She joined the woman suffrage movement as a lecturer and began reading law books on the side.
After a long struggle, Clara became a California lawyer. She presented her idea of having a public defender available to criminal defendants at a meeting of the Board of Lady Managers during the Chicago 1893 World’s Fair. Today, that concept is being used to provide assistance to impoverished criminal defendants across America. In 2002 the Criminal Courts building in Los Angeles was rededicated as the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in honor of California’s first woman attorney. Go to to Learn more about this courageous, fascinating woman on Wikipedia. |
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