THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Dr. Catherine Shipe East

May 15, 1916 – August 17, 1996

“Betty Friedan called me ‘the valiant, incorruptible woman who cajoled me into the act of starting NOW’.”

Known as the “midwife to the birth of the women’s movement.” Served on the board of National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1979 to 1983. Part of NOW’s first Legal Committee. Technical adviser, JFK President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Commissions report, “American Women,”  published, 1963. Senior staff positions with every presidential advisory commission on the status of women from 1962 to 1977. Legislative director, National Women’s Political Caucus (1983 – 1986). Active member of American Association of University Women, American Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters, National Woman’s Party, Planned Parenthood. Veteran Feminists of America Medal of Honor, 1993. Inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame, 1994. Marshall University, 1943. U.S Civil Service Commission, 1939.