Mary Jean Collins (born December 8, 1939) is an American feminist. She was president of the Chicago chapter of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

(NOW), a member of the national board and director of the campaign to have the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

(ERA) ratified in Illinois. She led anti-discrimination protests against

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

and

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

Early life

Collins was born on December 8, 1939, in

Superior, Wisconsin Superior (; ) is a city in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 26,751 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the western end of Lake Superior in northwestern Wisconsin, the city l ...

. She received a degree in history with a minors in English and theology from

Alverno College Alverno College is a Private college, private Catholic Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. History Chartered in 1887 as "St. Joseph's Normal School", Alverno became "Alverno Teachers Col ...

. While studying, she was encouraged by the nuns to become involved in the women's movement. She worked in an administrative role at Taylor Electric, Allied Radio Corporation and

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

. She worked for the Illinois Nurses Association in the

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

program between 1975 and 1979 and then for

Catholics for a Free Choice The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international instituti ...

in 1985.

Activism

She joined the

(NOW) in 1967 as an officer in the Milwaukee chapter. In 1968, she moved to

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she joined the local NOW chapter and was elected as president. The chapter sponsored the

Women's Strike for Equality The Women's Strike for Equality was a strike which took place in the United States on August 26, 1970. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, which effectively gave American women the right to vote. The ...

, which took place in 1970. Collins was the Midwest regional director between 1970 and 1972 and served as the president of the Chicago chapter of NOW between 1978 and 1980, becoming the executive director of the chapter in 1979. While she was regional director, she helped to found chapters in thirteen Midwest states on a budget of $100. She was a member of the NOW board of directors from 1972 to 1975, with responsibility for task forces. In 1974, she ran for president against Karen DeCrow but lost by a narrow margin. She was elected at the national level as the co-director of the

(ERA) campaign from 1980 to 1982 and as vice president for action from 1982 to 1985. Collins was the director of the Illinois ERA campaign to coordinate the ratification of the amendment by the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

. She took a year off work to focus on this task. She was also co-chair of the Sears Task Force at NOW, alongside Anne Ladky, which fought discrimination by

, then the largest employer of women in the world. She also lead anti-discrimination efforts against

. She was elected to the board of directors of the

Veteran Feminists of America Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization for supporters and veterans of the second-wave feminist movement. Founded by Jacqueline Ceballos in 1992, Veteran Feminists of America regularly hosts reunions for secon ...

. She is also a director of Catholics for Choice, a member of the

Choice USA Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) is a national youth-led reproductive rights and justice non-profit organization in the United States based in Washington, D.C. that began as Choice USA in 1992. Choice USA changed its name to URGE in Ju ...

Commission, and vice president and national political director of

People for the American Way People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

Honors

She is one of the protagonists of the feminist history film ''

She's Beautiful When She's Angry ''She's Beautiful When She's Angry'' is a 2014 American documentary film about some of the women involved in the second-wave feminism, second-wave feminist movement in the United States. It was directed by Mary Dore and co-produced by Nancy Ken ...

''. Some of her papers are held by the

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...

at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.

References

External links

Appearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Mary Jean 1939 births People from Superior, Wisconsin Alverno College alumni National Organization for Women people American feminists 20th-century American women Equal Rights Amendment activists Living people