Emily Greene Balch (January 8, 1867 – January 9, 1961) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, sociologist and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

. Balch combined an academic career at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

with a long-standing interest in social issues such as

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

child labor Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

, and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, as well as settlement work to uplift poor immigrants and reduce juvenile delinquency. She moved into the peace movement at the start of World War I in 1914, and began collaborating with

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

of Chicago. She became a central leader of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

(WILPF) based in Switzerland, for which she won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1946.

Early life and education

Balch was born to a prominent Yankee family in

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbur ...

, Massachusetts (later a neighborhood of Boston), the daughter of Francis V. and Ellen (née Noyes) Balch. Her father was a successful lawyer and one time secretary to United States Senator

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...

. She graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

in 1889 after reading widely in the classics and languages and focusing on economics. She did graduate work in Paris and published her research as ''Public Assistance of the Poor in France'' (1893). She did settlement housework in Boston before deciding on an academic career. She then studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

Career

Balch began teaching at

in 1896. She focused on immigration, consumption, and the economic roles of women. In 1913, she was appointed to serve as Professor of Economics at Wellesley, following the resignation of political economist

Katharine Coman Katharine Ellis Coman (November 23, 1857 – January 11, 1915) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her ...

, who had founded the department. That same year, Balch was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor of Political Economy and of Political and Social Science. Balch served on numerous state commissions, such as the first commission on

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. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

s for women. She was a leader of the

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 pla ...

, which supported women who belonged to labor unions. She published a major sociological study of ''Our Slavic Fellow Citizens'' in 1910. including the Nobel Lecture, April 7, 1948 ''Toward Human Unity or Beyond Nationalism'' She was a longtime

, and was a participant in Henry Ford's International Committee on Mediation, the follow-up organization to the Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation. When the United States entered the war, she became a political activist opposing conscription in espionage legislation, and supporting the civil liberties of conscientious objectors. She collaborated with

in the Women's Peace Party and numerous other groups. In a letter to the president of Wellesley, she wrote we should follow "the ways of Jesus." Her spiritual thoughts were that

American economy The United States has a highly developed mixed economy. It is the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). As of 2025, it has the world's seventh highest nominal GDP per capita and ninth ...

was "far from being in harmony with the principles of Jesus which we profess." Wellesley College terminated her contract in 1919. Balch served as an editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', a well-known magazine of political commentary. Balch converted from

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

to Quakerism in 1921. She stated, "Religion seems to me one of the most interesting things in life, one of the most puzzling, richest and thrilling fields of human thought and speculation... religious experience and thought need also a light a day and sunshine and a companionable sharing with others of which it seems to me there is generally too little... The Quaker worship at its best seems to me give opportunities for this sort of sharing without profanation." Her major achievements were just beginning, as she became an American leader of the international peace movement. In 1919, Balch played a central role in the International Congress of Women. It changed its name to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and was based in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. She was hired by the League as its first international Secretary-Treasurer, administering the organization's activities. She helped set up summer schools on peace education and created new branches in over 50 countries. She cooperated with the newly established

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

regarding drug control, aviation, refugees, and disarmament. In World War II, she supported the Allied powers and did not criticize the war effort, but she did support the rights of

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

s.Suzanne Niemeyer, editor, ''Research Guide to American Historical Biography: vol. IV'' (1990) pp. 1806–14

Nobel prize

John Randall, professor of philosophy at Columbia University, and his wife, Mercedes Randall, one of the leaders of the US section the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, initiated a campaign to nominate Balch for the peace prize. The campaign was supported by five US organizations that established a committee called the "Committee to sponsor Emily Greene Balch for the Nobel Peace Prize". The organizations were the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the National Federation of Settlements, the Women's Trade Union League of America, the National Council of Women of the US, and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

. Balch won the 1946

for her work with the

(WILPF). She donated her share of the prize money to the WILPF. Her acceptance speech highlighted the issues of nationalism and efforts for international peace.

Personal life

Balch never married. She died the day after her 94th birthday.

References

Bibliography

Emily Greene Balch, ''Public Assistance of the Poor in France''
Vol. 8, Nos. 4 & 5, ''Publications of the American Economic Association.''
Emily Greene Balch, "A Study of Conditions of City Life: with Special Reference to Boston, A Bibliography"
1903, 13 pages
''Our Slavic Fellow Citizens''
By Emily Greene Balch, 1910, 536 pages.
''Women at the Hague: the International Congress of Women and its Results''
By Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, and

Alice Hamilton Alice Hamilton (February 27, 1869 – September 22, 1970) was an American physician, research scientist, and author. She was a leading expert in the field of occupational health, laid the foundation for health and safety protections, and a pione ...

. 171 pages, New York: MacMillan, 1915.
''Approaches to the Great Settlement''
By Emily Greene Balch & Pauline Knickerbocker Angell (1918), 351 pages

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture, April 7, 1948 ''Toward Human Unity or Beyond Nationalism''
Tribute to Emily Greene Balch
by John Dewey, pages 149–150 in ''Later Works of John Dewey'' volume 17. First published in Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1946 page 2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Balch, Emily Greene 1867 births 1961 deaths American Christian pacifists American magazine editors American Nobel laureates American Quakers Bryn Mawr College alumni Converts to Quakerism American women economists Economists from Massachusetts Nobel Peace Prize laureates Writers from Boston Wellesley College faculty Women Nobel laureates American women sociologists American sociologists American anti–World War I activists Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people Women's Trade Union League people American women magazine editors People from Jamaica Plain American women's rights activists Quaker feminists The Nation editors