Virginia Allen
OverviewVirginia Allan was a native of Michigan and was an educator and businesswoman, whose interest in women's issues developed through her work as President of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women, where she initiated the idea of a national network of state commissions on the status of women, based on her experience on Michigan's commission. In 1969, she was named chair of President Nixon's Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities. From that group came the report "A Matter of Simple Justice" and from its recommendations grew the Women's Equality Act of 1971. In 1972, she was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, where she served in a variety of roles and was the liaison with non-governmental organizations for the International Women's Year conference in Mexico City in 1975. She also attended world conferences in Copenhagen in 1980 and Nairobi in 1985. In 1983, she helped to inaugurate the United States Committee of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, a non-profit organization created to support projects to promote the political, economic, and social empowerment of women around the world. She also served as Director of the Graduate School of Women's Studies at George Washington University. In 1993, she retired and moved to Florida. She died in Sarasota, August 8, 1999.
About the Transcript
Virginia Allan discusses her early work with the National Federation
of Business and Professional Women in pushing for equality
for women, their development of a talent bank to refute charges
of a lack of qualified women, and leadership in fighting discrimination.
In part of the interview, Charles Clapp joins the conversation
to talk about the selection and qualities of Virginia Allan
as chairman of the Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities
and the selection of Task Force members. Both agree Catherine
East played the key role as staff person, providing information
for the Task Force. They discussed the tone of the meetings
and the final report, "A Matter of Simple Justice," and
the need to be moderate to a point and politically astute to
secure acceptance from higher White House staff. They also
discussed the broader impact of the Task Force deliberations
and recommendations at the state level and how state commissions
on the status of women contributed new ideas to the federal
level, and how these ideas percolated up towards the International
Year of the Woman. In a concluding segment, Virginia Allan
discusses her work as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State to
establish contacts with non-governmental organizations on foreign
policy issues and to coordinate the U.S. observances of the
International Year of the Woman. She also briefly discusses
her role in the establishment of the women's study center at
George Washington University.
