Catherine Shipe East | |
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Born | May 15, 1916 Barboursville, West Virginia |
Died | August 17, 1996 Ithaca, New York |
(aged 80)
Occupation | Researcher, feminist |
Spouse(s) | Charles East (m. 1937) |
Catherine Shipe East (May 15, 1916 – August 17, 1996) was a U.S. government researcher and feminist referred to as "the midwife to the women's movement". She was a powerful force behind the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and held several influential federal government positions throughout her career.
Catherine Shipe East was born on May 15, 1916, in Barboursville, West Virginia to Bertha Woody and Ulysses Grant Shipe. She was the oldest of three children. Her mother suffered a nervous breakdown when Catherine was eleven years old and four years later her father committed suicide. Considering teaching her only option at the time, she entered teaching school at Marshall College, but had to withdraw due to financial difficulties eleven credit short of getting her bachelor's degree.
She married Charles East in 1937, whom she subsequently divorced; they had two daughters. In 1939 took a position with the U.S Civil Service Commission as a clerk. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1943.
Catherine Shipe East began her career as a junior civil service examiner with the U.S Civil Service Commission in 1939. She advanced to become the chief of the career service division before going to work for the Department of Labor in 1963. She served as the technical adviser to the President's Commission on the Status of Women and participated in the research and writing of the commissions report, American Women, published in 1963. Subsequent to the release of this report, President John F. Kennedy created the Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women and the Citizen's Advisory Council on the Status of Women, appointing East to serve as executive secretary for both groups.
Through her position as a government insider, Catherine East served as a foundational conduit of information for feminists across the nation. She believed that women needed a powerful organization similar to the NAACP. She encouraged Betty Friedan, who referred to her as "the midwife to the women's movement and other women in her circle to create the National Organization for Women, in order to have an organization that could function outside of the government to create change in government policies.