The Federal Woman's Award, also known as the Federal Women's Award, was given by the

United States Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States. It was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of ...

from 1961 until 1976. The Federal Woman's Award was established by Barbara Bates Gunderson in 1960, while she was serving on the Civil Service Commission. Her goal was to publicize the ways women were excelling in federal employment, and to encourage young women to consider careers with federal laboratories and agencies. Gunderson was also the first chair of the award's board. Katie Louchheim, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and later Patricia Hitt, Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, issued press releases about the awards and appeared at the presentation events. Nominations were submitted annually by federal departments and agencies to the board of trustees for the Federal Woman's Award. The nominations were judged by a panel of "persons prominent in public life", including magazine editors, broadcasters, journalists, business executives, and college presidents. Among the judges were Milton S. Eisenhower, Carl Rowan, Doris Fleeson, Arthur Sherwood Flemming,

Sol Linowitz Sol Myron Linowitz (December 7, 1913 – March 18, 2005) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and businessman. Early life Linowitz was born to a Jewish family in Trenton, New Jersey. He was a graduate of Trenton Central High School, Hamilton Co ...

David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkle ...

, Betty Furness, and Katharine E. McBride. About six recipients were selected each year, for their "outstanding achievement and ability in an executive, professional, scientific, or technical position in the federal service." Award winners were invited to a ceremony in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three lar ...

. The president posed for official photographs with the group, and made remarks for the occasion. The awards were discontinued after the 1976 presentations, though there were nominations for 1977. "Although the prize had served its purpose at no cost to the government, its continuation in the era of equal opportunity as a separate compensatory award for women only, which had seemed so harmless and even chivalric before, began to raise concerns and embarrassment," noted historian of science Margaret Rossiter. In 1978,

Rosalyn Yalow Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally) for development of the radioimmunoass ...

, one of the award's first recipients, recalled that "I viewed this award as second-class", adding "I was therefore delighted to learn last year that the Federal Woman's Award was to be discontinued — I hope permanently." FederalWomansAward1964

Awardees by year

1961

* Beatrice Aitchison * Ruth E. Bacon * Nina Kinsella (Warden of the Federal Reformatory for Women, Alderson, WV) * Charlotte Moore Sitterly * Aryness Joy Wickens *

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (July 19, 1921 – May 30, 2011) was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally) for development of the radioimmunoass ...

1962

* Katherine W. Bracken (Director of the Office of Central American and Panamanian Affairs, Department of State) * Margaret H. Brass (attorney, Department of Justice) * Thelma Brumfield Dunn * Evelyn Harrison (Civil Service Commission) *

Allene Jeanes Allene Rosalind Jeanes (July 19, 1906 – December 11, 1995) was an American chemist whose pioneering work significantly impacted carbohydrate chemistry. Born in 1906 in Texas, Jeanes' notable contributions include the development of Dextran, a li ...

* Nancy Roman

1963

* Eleanor L. Makel * Bessie Margolin * Katharine Kniskern Mather * Verna C. Mohagen (1908-1980; Personnel Management Division, Department of Agriculture) * Blanche W. Noyes * Eleanor C. Pressly

1964

* Evelyn Anderson * Gertrude Blanch * Selene Gifford * Elizabeth F. Messer (Civil Service Commission) *Margaret Wolman Schwartz (specialist in economic warfare, Treasury Department) * Patricia G. van Delden

1965

* Ann Z. Caracristi * Elizabeth B. Drewry * Dorothy M. Gilford *

Carol Laise Caroline Clendening Laise (November 14, 1917 – July 25, 1991) was an American civil servant, ambassador to Nepal and the first female Assistant Secretary of State. Early life and education Born in Winchester, Virginia, to Elizabeth Frances ( ...

* Sarah Elizabeth Stewart * Penelope Hartland-Thunberg

1966

* Fannie N. Boyls (1906-2002; National Labor Relations Board) * Stella E. Davis (Desk officer, East and South Africa, USIA) * Jocelyn Gill * Ida Craven Merriam * Irene Parsons (Personnel, Veterans Administration) * Ruth G. Van Cleve (director, Office of the Territories, Department of Interior) Also nominated: Julia Brown Wright (US Naval Propellant Plant)

1967

* Elizabeth Ann Brown * Barbara Moulton * Anne Mason Roberts * Kathryn Grove Shipp * Wilma Victor * Marjorie J. Williams

1968

* Ruth R. Benerito *Mabel Kunce Gibby (1926-2015; vocational rehab, psychologist) *Frances M. James (Council of Economic Advisors) *

Ruby Grant Martin Ruby Lee Grant Martin (February 18, 1933 – May 8, 2003) was an American lawyer and government official. She was director of the federal Office for Civil Rights, appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson. She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968 for h ...

* Lucille Farrier Stickel *Rogene L. Thompson (Federal Aviation Administration) * Nina Bencich Woodside Also nominated: Eileen R. Donovan, Charlotte M. Hubbard, and Susan T. Tait

1969

* Mary Hughes Budenbach * Edith N. Cook (Associate Solicitor, Division of Legislation, Department of Labor) * Eileen R. Donovan * Jo Ann Smith Kinney (Navy, Submarine Medical Research Lab) * Esther Christian Lawton * Dorothy L. Starbuck

1970

* Jean Apgar * Margaret Pittman * Naomi Rosen Sweeney (Office of Management and Budget) * Sarah B. Glindmeyer (chief of the Bureau of Nursing, D. C. Dept. of Public Health) * Valerija B. Raulinaitis * Margaret Joy Tibbetts Also nominated: Marilyn Levy

1971

* Jeanne Wilson Davis (National Security Council) * Florence Johnson Hicks (Public Health, Washington DC) * Juanita Morris Moody * Essie Davis Morgan * Rita Rapp * Joan R. Rosenblatt Also nominated: Frances L. Whedon, Miriam H. Thomas, Joyce L. House, Joyce I. Allen, Vilma B. Harper, Cleo S. Cason

1972

* Lois Albro Chatham * Phyllis Dixon Clemmons (d. 2013; Government of the District of Columbia) * Ruth M. Davis * Mary Harrover Ferguson (d. 1999; Office of Naval Research) * Ruth M. Leverton * Patricia Ann McCreedy

1973

* Bernice L. Bernstein (HEW) * Marguerite S. Chang * Janet Hart (Federal Reserve) * Marilyn E. Jacox * Isabel L. Karle * Marjorie R. Townsend

1974

* Henriette D. Avram * Edna A. Boorady * Roselyn Payne Epps * Brigid Gray Leventhal * Gladys P. Rogers (Department of State) * Madge Skelly

1975

* Beatrice Dvorak (Department of Labor) *

Evans Hayward Evans Hayward (February 17, 1922 – March 2, 2020) was an American physicist and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She was an international leader in photonuclear physics using beams of electrons, positrons and neutrons from high-energy ...

* Wilda Martinez (Department of Agriculture) * Marie U. Nylen
Also nominated: Theresa V. Brassard

1976

* I. Blanche Bourne (Public Health, Government of the District of Columbia) * Carin Ann Clauss * Dorothy I. Fennell (Department of Agriculture) *Marion J. Finkel (FDA) *Mary Patricia Murray (VA, kinesiologist) *Joyce J. Walker (OMB){{Cite news, date=1977-10-13, title=Joyce Walker Honored for WHS Homecoming, pages=2, work=Windsor Beacon, url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94040012/joyce-walker-honored-for-whs-homecoming/, access-date=2022-02-02, via=Newspapers.com

1977

Nominated: Lola McFerson

References

Civil awards and decorations of the United States