Ernestine Louise Friedmann (September 11, 1884 – September 1973) was an American economist and educator. She was a professor of economics and taught at the Barnard and Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers.

Early life and education

Friedmann was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the daughter of John Friedmann and Josephine Henrietta Heil Friedmann, who were both born in New York. She graduated from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 1907, and earned a master's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1916; she completed doctoral studies in economics at Columbia in 1926, with a dissertation titled "A Study of the Workers' Education Movement in the United States."

Career

Friedmann was a professor of economics at

Rockford College Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name *Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United St ...

and Wheaton College in Illinois. She wrote about the

cooperative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

, about women in industrial work, and about

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

and

cost of living Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a c ...

, asking "Shall we continue to safeguard the system and to establish a minimum wage that creates a standard of living that permanently enslaves the wage earning class? Or shall we chart what we consider the standards of 'an abundant life' and work to establish that order of society that will make them possible to all of us alike?" in a 1922 essay for '' The World Tomorrow''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Friedmann was active in the national leadership of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

, and wrote several booklets in that work. She directed the Barnard College Summer School for Women Workers and the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers. She worked with Hilda Worthington Smith in the 1930s, on adult education programs. "The principle of democracy underlies every step in workers' classes, emphasizing the learning process rather than the teaching process," they explained in 1937. With the

Federal Emergency Relief Administration The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Adm ...

, she taught adults across the United States.

Charlotte Wilder Charlotte Wilder (Aug 28, 1898 – May 26, 1980 Brattleboro, Vermont) was an American poet and academic who worked in the Federal Writers Project. Wilder published poetry in ''The Nation'' and ''Poetry Magazine''. She also published poetry ...

dedicated her poetry collection ''Phases of the Moon'' (1939) to Friedmann and novelist Evelyn Scott. Friedmann was a member of the

National Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL play ...

and the

American League for Peace and Democracy The American League Against War and Fascism was an organization formed in 1933 by the Communist Party USA and pacifists united by their concern as Nazism and Fascism rose in Europe. In 1937 the name of the group was changed to the American League fo ...

. She joined the staff of the Washington International Center when it opened in 1950, and retired from that work in 1962.

Personal life

Friedman died in 1973, aged 89 years, in Maryland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedmann, Ernestine 1884 births 1973 deaths Academics from Brooklyn Smith College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American women in World War I American educators Rockford University faculty Wheaton College faculty Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 20th-century American economists