Felice Nierenberg Schwartz (January 16, 1925 – February 8, 1996) was an American writer, advocate, and feminist. During her career, Schwartz founded two national advancement and advocacy organizations. In 1945, she established the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students (NSSFNS), an association committed to placing African Americans in institutions of higher education. In 1962, she founded

Catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

, a national organization dedicated to advancing women in the workplace, where she served as president for three decades. Schwartz is also well known for her controversial article, "Management Women and the New Facts of Life," published in ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

'' in 1989. The article pitted her against other feminists, such as

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...

, for pointing out the differences between men and women and their functions in the workplace. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.

Background

Schwartz was born Felice Toba Nierenberg on January 16, 1925, in New York, to Jewish parents – businessman Albert Nierenberg, and his wife, Rose Irene (née Levin). After attending boarding school in Cooperstown, New York, she enrolled in Smith College, where she graduated in 1945. In 1946, she married Irving Schwartz, a physician, with whom she raised three children. After her father's death in 1951, she took over the ailing family manufacturing business with her brother, which they successfully saved and sold four years later.

Career

After graduation from Smith in 1945, Schwartz sought to address the extremely low number of African American students at the college. Because she had been one of only a few

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

students at her high school, Schwartz empathized with the isolation of African Americans at Smith. That same year she founded the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students. The organization

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...

ed colleges and universities to open their doors to African American applicants, and matched qualified students with available scholarship money. In 1951, Schwartz left the organization to help manage the family business. However, she soon encountered the unpleasant realities of running a company as a woman,Baldwin, Louis. ''Women of Strength''. pg 87. and she left to become a full-time mother after the birth of her second child. She had a third child and ultimately was out of the

workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

for nine years. During this time, she became frustrated by the obstacles preventing educated mothers such as herself from entering or re-entering the workforce. In 1962, Schwartz contacted the presidents of several colleges, and a handful of them became the board of directors of Catalyst, Inc., a new organization that she hoped would address the issues she and others had experienced as businesswomen and mothers. At the time, Catalyst's mission was "to bring to our country's needs the unused capacities of educated women who want to combine family and work." Schwartz went on to lead Catalyst as its president for 30 years until her retirement in 1993. Over her career, Schwartz was a prolific writer. The piece that she is probably best known for, entitled "Management Women and the New Facts of Life," was published in the ''

'' in 1989. The article was interpreted as suggesting that companies create two career paths to accommodate women who wish to balance career and family and women whose careers are their primary concern. It sparked a heated debate after ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' ridiculed Schwartz's idea, dubbing it the "

Mommy Track A mommy track is a path in a woman's life that puts priority to being a mother. It can also specifically refer to work arrangements for women in the workforce that facilitate motherhood, such as flexible hours, but at the same time usually provide ...

."Tamar Lewin, March 8, 1989
“’Mommy Career Track' Sets Off a Furor”
The New York Times. Schwartz, however, maintained that her article was misinterpreted, saying, "I violated the

politically correct ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

thing by saying that women are not just like men. What I said then and still say is that women face many, many obstacles in the workplace that men do not face. I was saying to that group of men at the top, 'Rather than let women's talents go to waste, do something about it'."Nemy, Emid (February 10, 1996)
"Felice N. Schwartz, 71, Dies; Working Women's Champion"
''The New York Times''. Retrieved August 15, 2010. Schwartz died on February 8, 1996, in Manhattan.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Felice 1925 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American writers American feminist writers Jewish American writers Jewish feminists Smith College alumni Writers from New York (state) 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American Jews