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President's Message
by Deborah A. Scalise, Esq.
In a letter to her husband, President John Adams, dated March 31, 1776, First Lady Abigail Adams wrote “...Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”
Although it is no secret that women like First Lady Abigail Adams have richly contributed to history, it was not until 1981 that their contributions were remembered when Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) co-sponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women’s History Week. Thereafter in 1987, Congress wisely expanded the celebration to a month, and March was declared Women’s History Month. Thus, it appears that it only took 211 years for Abigail Adams’s plea to be heard!
As you know, we are celebrating the WWBA’s history with 35th Anniversary events throughout this year. Fortuitously, we recently learned that the WWBA had a predecessor organization, called the Westchester County Women’s Bar Association (WCWBA) which was established in 1935 and ceased sometime during the 1960’s. How did we learn of the WCWBA? Leon Krangle, the nephew of the WCWBA’s first President Freda Rosenblum brought us documents about its history. Unfortunately, it appears that its members are deceased so we rely on the historic documents to learn about the remarkable women of the WCWBA.
We learned that their meetings and the concerns of the members of the WCWBA were very similar to those of the WWBA. Indeed, these women lawyers joined together because they needed a place to voice their opinions and to fulfill the goals of women lawyers. They established and formulated By-laws nominating and electing officers to do the work and be the voice of the WCWBA. Article II of the WCWBA By-laws states:
The object of this association shall be to advance and maintain a high standard of ethics in the legal profession, to bring about a spirit of cooperation among the members of the bar, to promote the interests of women lawyers and to extend their opportunities.
The membership ranged from a handful of women in the 1930’s to about 42 women in 1947. Two stalwart members who served as President of the WCWBA, Freda Rosenblum and Dorothea Genzlinger were among the few women to become lawyers in the 1920’s. So, they sought out others who were similarly situated and pushed forward to ensure that they had a group to further their interests.
Members of the WCWBA also attended monthly substantive meetings with speakers. For instance, their minutes indicate that at a December 12, 1938 meeting the speaker was Mrs. Joseph V. Meige on the subject entitled “Women Facing the Changing World.” The meetings also covered topics such as: Foreign Divorce in New York State, the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Act, Juvenile Delinquency, Current Legislation, Trusts and Their Practical Application Proportional Representation as it Effects County Government. Clearly, the WCWBA understood that it was important to address the overall needs of women lawyers in a “Changing World,” as well to keep them informed and up to date on legal topics to maintain their professional skills. The WCWBA passed resolutions voicing their opinion, including its recognition of Dorothea Genzlinger as “eminently qualified by character education and experience as a lawyer to fulfill the duties of City Judge of the City of Yonkers.”
And they also located other Women’s Bar Associations from the five boroughs of New York City and Nassau County to establish a Joint Committee of Women’s Bar Associations, where among other things they discussed appointments of women judges and sent a letter to the Mayor of New York City commending him for appointing the Hon. Doris Byrne as a Magistrate.
Today the WWBA continues many of the same practices. We address the overall needs of women lawyers. We continue to offer programs on relevant legal topics and CLE to ensure that our members maintain their professional skills.
Likewise, we continue to speak out, not only to allow women to “face the changing world” but also to embrace and be part of the solution to ensure that women have a voice in this world. For instance in January, one of our members informed us of a call for a boycott by Pace Law Professor Bridget Crawford regarding a panel discussion organized by the Committee on Women in the Law to be featured during NYSBA’s 2010 Annual Meeting (Their Point of View: Tips from the Other Side, Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.) In fact, the program was advertised as follows “a distinguished panel of gentlemen from the legal field will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of women in the areas of communication, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, organization and women’s overall management of their legal work.” Although the program may have been well intentioned, we had to question why the panel was composed of gentlemen. Surely, there had to be distinguished women in the legal field who give similar advice? Especially since the law schools consistently report that half of the graduating lawyers are women. To that end, we brought this matter to the attention of our parent association WBASNY. Ultimately, the outcry led the initial speakers to withdraw and the NYSBA to have women and men on the panel and to change the advertisement (“a distinguished panel of attorneys, comprising women and men, will engage in a dialogue about the challenges faced by women in the workplace in the areas of communication, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, organization and management of work, as well as the role of mentoring”). Needless to say, while it may seem a minor victory to some, the issue itself indicates that there is still work to be done to ensure that successful women lawyers are recognized as leaders with relevant information to impart to other lawyers, be they women or men.
Simply stated, women’s bar associations remain as relevant and necessary today as they did in 1935. I was amazed to learn of the history of the women lawyers of our predecessor organization, the WCWBA. I remain grateful to know that by virtue of our numbers and the hard fought battles of the women lawyers who were our foremothers in the WCWBA and the WWBA, we continue to be heard. I hope that you make some time to “remember the ladies” as we celebrate Women’s History Month.
Four months and counting to our 35th.
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03/10/2010 10:30AM
