Joy Rosenheim Simonson (January 16, 1919 – June 24, 2007) was a feminist who worked on women's rights and progressive activist.

Career

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

native and graduate of

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, Simonson began her career in the 1940s for the War Manpower Commission. In 1945, she worked for the U. N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Egypt and Yugoslavia at the end of the war, then as a civilian for Army headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, until 1948, when she and her husband returned to Washington. She was a member of the national commission on the

International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. Hist ...

and was a delegate from Washington to the 1977

National Women's Conference The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,0 ...

in Houston. She also attended the U.N. women's conferences in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1980 and

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in 1985. From 1975 to 1982, Simonson was the executive director of the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs. Under Simonson's leadership the Council helped the Department of Education and the Women's Educational Equity Act Program by preparing some of the first reports on women's studies, sexual harassment, and the first edition of the ''Handbook for Achieving Sex Equity through Education''. With the election of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, however, she was fired and replaced by a member of

Phyllis Schlafly Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (; born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; August 15, 1924 – September 5, 2016) was an American attorney, conservative activist, author, and anti-feminist spokesperson for the national conservative movement. She held paleocons ...

Eagle Forum Eagle Forum is a conservative interest group in the United States founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972 and is the parent organization that also includes the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Eagle Forum PAC. The Eagle Forum has ...

. in 1977, Simonson became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media. Simonson was the first woman to serve as chair of the DC Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; President of the Clearinghouse on Women's Issues; chief hearing examiner for the D.C. Rent Commission; Assistant Director of the Federal Women's Program of the

U.S. Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of t ...

; president of the D.C. League of Women Voters; vice president of Executive Women in Government; and was the founder of the D.C. Commission for Women. From 1982 to 1990, Simonson worked as an oversight investigator for the House Employment and Housing Subcommittee. In 1992, she was elected to the District of Columbia Women's Hall of Fame. She received the Foremother Award from the

National Center for Health Research The National Center for Health Research (formerly known as the National Research Center for Women & Families) is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization founded in 1999, providing health-related services such as providing free informatio ...

in 2005.

Death

She died on June 24, 2007, aged 88, from complications of pneumonia at the Washington Home hospice, survived by three children. She was predeceased by her husband, Richard Simonson.

References

External links

Death notice at Indybay.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonson, Joy 1919 births 2007 deaths American women's rights activists Deaths from pneumonia in Washington, D.C. Activists from Washington, D.C. Activists from New York City