Business and Professional Women's Foundation

• Successful Workplaces Movement
• Pay equity
• Support for women veterans
• Contraceptive equity
• Family time flexible leave
• Equal Rights Amendment

The work of BPW Foundation is supported through corporate partnerships, grants and individual philanthropic donations. Its Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) number is 10506. It is governed by a Board of Trustees.

The legacy of Business and Professional Women/USA began in 1919.

While mobilizing for World War I, the U.S. Government recognized the need for a cohesive group to coordinate identification of women's available skills and experience. A Women's War Council, financed through a federal grant, was established by the War Department to organize the resources of professional women. It was guided principally by executives of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs was founded on July 16, 1919, at a meeting led by Lena Madesin Phillips of Kentucky. In the 1930s it became a charter member of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women.

BPW/USA became the first organization created to focus on the issues of working women. BPW worked throughout the 1930s to prohibit legislation or directives denying jobs to married women and lobbied successfully to legislatively end the legal practice of workplace preference for unmarried persons and, in the case of married persons, preference for males. BPW/USA was one of the first women's organizations to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment in 1937.

At the advent of World War II, BPW developed a classification system for women with specialized skills critical to the war effort and supported the formation of women's branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. While wage discrimination has existed in the U.S. since women and minorities first entered the paid workforce, its prevalence was not felt until the massive influx of women sought work during World War II. Immediately following the war, the Women's Pay Act of 1945 - the first ever legislation to require equal pay - was introduced in the U.S. Congress. It was another 18 years before an equal pay bill made its way to the President's desk to be signed into law.

BPW Foundation was incorporated in 1956 as the first foundation dedicated to providing resources to and about working women. It included research, information, career development programs, workshops and other training opportunities. The Marguerite Rawalt Resource Center, established in 1980 and put on-line 2006, is a major resource for information and documents on the history of women and women in the workplace.

The establishment of "Status of Women" commissions in the U.S. in 1963 was due largely to BPW efforts. President John F. Kennedy recognized BPW's leading role in securing passage of the Equal Pay Act by giving BPW's National President the first pen he used when signing the Act into law.

Virginia Allan initiated the "Young Careerist" Program to develop the business and presentation skills of young women between 25–35 years of age. The first National Legislative Conference, held in 1963 in D.C., later developed into BPW's current Policy & Action Conference, where members lobby Congress and the Administration on BPW's legislative issues.

BPW tackled "comparable worth" by calling for newspapers to stop the occupational segregation in classified ads (clustering of women in a few restricted occupations of low-paying, dead-end jobs). Numerous state and municipal governments revamped their pay scales, recognizing dissimilar jobs may not be identical, but may be composed of tasks, educational requirements, experience and other characteristics that are equivalent or comparable. In 1986, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to approve a pay equity referendum, implementing $34 million in increases for employees in female and minority-dominated jobs. Continuing with BPW's focus on workplace issues, BPW lobbied Congress for passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which finally passed in 1993.

Discussions on comparable worth were expanded to include enforcement and strengthening of existing Equal Pay legislation. The Pay Equity Employment Act of 1994, followed by the Equal Pay Act (introduced in 1994) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (introduced in 1997) became BPW's focus legislation through the '90s. Then-Secretary of Labor, Elizabeth Dole, and First Lady Barbara Bush addressed BPW's members at the White House Briefing during the 1990 "Lobby Day" event. Subsequent speakers have included Senator Tom Harkin, First Lady (Senator) Hillary Clinton and Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

In 2005, BPW used its grassroots power to continue the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' (BLS) Working Women Series and to re-instate Lifetime TV on the DISH Network programming. During this same year in October, BPW/USA launched Women Joining Forces:Closing Ranks, Opening Doors (WJF), a program to support women veterans as they transition from military to civilian life. This commitment made BPW/USA the first and only non-governmental agency to offer programming that supports women veterans.

Workplace equity issues including sexual harassment, opportunities for women veterans, work-life balance, health care reform, dependent care, tort reform, increasing the minimum wage, lifetime economic security and pay equity continue to be BPW's targeted issues.

In 2009 BPW Foundation merged with its sister organization BPW/USA.

• 1919-1920: Gail Laughlin
• 1920-1923: Lena Lake Forrest
• 1923-1925: Adelia Prichard
• 1925-1926: Olive Joy Wright
• 1926-1929: Lena Madesin Phillips***
• 1929-1931: Marion H. McClench
• 1931-1935: Geline MacDonald Bowman
• 1935-1937: Charl Ormond Williams
• 1937-1939: Earlene White
• 1939-1944: Minnie L. Maffett
• 1944-1946: Margaret A. Hickey
• 1946-1948: Sally Butler***
• 1948-1950: K. Frances Scott
• 1950-1952: Sarah T. Hughes
• 1952-1954: Helen G. Irwin***
• 1954-1956: Marguerite Rawalt**
• 1956-1958: Hazel Palmer**
• 1958-1960: Grace B. Daniels**
• 1960-1961: Fannie Hardy**
• 1961-1962: Katherine Peden**
• 1962-1963: Minnie C. Miles**
• 1963-1964: Virginia Allan**
• 1964-1965: Dorothy Ford**
• 1966-1967: Sarah Jane Cunningham**
• 1967-1968: Mabel R. McClanahan**
• 1968-1969: Hope Roberts**
• 1969-1970: Myra Ruth Harmon**
• 1970-1971: Ruth M. Easerling**
• 1971-1972: Osta Underwood**
• 1972-1973: Jeanne C. Squire**
• 1973-1974: Jean L. McCarrey**
• 1974-1975: Marie B. Bowden**
• 1975-1976: Maxine R. Hayes**/****
• 1976-1977: Jane Culbreth**
• 1977-1978: Piilani C. Desha**
• 1978-1979: Geraldine R. Eidson**
• 1979-1980: Julia K. Arri**
• 1980-1981: Dorine Chancellor**
• 1981-1982: Phylllis Harrison
• 1982-1983: Jeri S. Libner**
• 1983-1984: Polly Madenwald**
• 1984-1985: Winifred E. Lethbridge**
• 1985-1986: Anne Steinbeck**
• 1987-1988: Beth Wray**
• 1988-1989: Betty J. Forbes**
• 1989-1990: LaVerne F. Collins**
• 1990-1991: Elizabeth Athanasakos**
• 1991-1992: Pat Taylor**
• 1992-1993: Jo Etta Y. Wickliffe**
• 1993-1994: Dianne Studer**
• 1994-1995: Cindy L. Winckler**
• 1995-1996: Anna Vacca**
• 1996-1997: Candace G. Butler**
• 1997-1998: Joyce R. Hart**
• 1998-1999: Susan B. Dailey**
• 1999-2000: Robin J. Robinson**
• 2000-2001: Patricia Cornish**
• 2001-2002: Leslie R. Wilkins**
• 2002-2003: Cindy Patterson Young**
• 2003-2004: Carolyn V. Grady
• 2004-2005: Nancy L. Hurlbert
• 2005-2006: Roslyn R. Ridgeway**
• 2006-2007: Nancy Jackson
• 2007-2008: Barb Henton
• 2008-2009: Diane Polangin

The "*" denotes the following:

• Chair of BPW Foundation**
• International President***
• International President-representing Australia Federation****

• Amy Allbright, Member[1]
• May Wallace Allen, Member[1]
• Anne L. Anderson, Member[1]
• Gertrude Thomas Arnold, Member[1]
• Julia G. Babcock, Member[1]
• Elizabeth Balderston, Member San Mateo[1]
• Gladys H. Barndollar, founder and past president[1]
• Annie Little Barry, Member San Francisco[1]
• Grace Thorpe Bear, Member New Mexico Fed.[1]
• Ruth Moench Bell, Member[1]
• Elisabeth Sara Benton, recording secretary San Francisco League[1]
• Myrtle Bernard, Vice-president[1]
• Cecelia Mae Beyler, for 3 years a member of Oregon State Board[1]
• Gertrude Richards Bliss, Member Los Angeles[1]
• C. Louise Boehringer, National Vice-President (for Arizona), National and State Member[1]Bl
• Pauline Suing Bloom, Member[1]
• Ada Margaret Brayton, First vice-president of Calif. Fed., Member and president of Pasadena[1]
• Imogen Harding Brodie, member of the Professional Woman's League of Portland[1]
• Leta May Bryan, Member El Centro, California[1]
• Emilie Henry Burcham, President[1]
• Euna Pearl Burke, honorary member[1]
• Nellie T. Bush, Member[1]
• Mary Ryerson Butin, Member[1]
• Sadie M. Callan, Member[1]
• Lenore Sollender Campbell, Commissioner of Recreation of Los Angeles Club[1]
• Mary Jane Canter, president of Federated League (1928-29)[1]
• Lillian M. Carse, Vice-president[1]
• Bessie Chamberlain, Member Pasadena Club[1]
• Clara F. Chladek, President[1]
• Edna E. Christofferson, Member[1]
• Zulu Clements, Past President California Federation , Director, Treasurer and First-Vice President San Francisco, former editor of "The Business Woman and Business Women's News"[1]
• Felice Cohn, Member Reno Club[1]
• Emma Coldiron, Member Walla Walla Club[1]
• Anne D. Cooper, Member[1]
• Inez Mabel Crawford, Member San Mateo Club[1]
• Mary Sinclair Crawford, Member National Association[1]
• Clara R. Cushman, Member[1]
• Alma Jeannette Danford, Member[1]
• Myrtle Ramey Davis, Member[1]
• Naomi Deutsch, Member[1]
• Allie Dickerman, National Member[1]
• Eva Hunt Dockery, National Fed., State chairman legislation, Idaho Club[1]
• Edith Daggett Rockwood, Organizer, Yuma, Arizona[1]
• Jeannette M. Drake, Member[1]
• Elaine Anderson Dudley, Member Goodwill Industries Club[1]
• Nannie C. Dunsmoor, president of the Professional Women's Club[1]
• Charlotte Penniman Ebbets, Member Santa Barbara Club[1]
• Clarice McGlauflin Elliott, local, state and national Member[1]
• Augusta Louise Eraser, president San Diego Club, honorary member San Diego Junior Club, Past state pres. Calif. Fed.[1]
• Jessie A. Eraser, Member[1]
• Letitia H. Erb, Member Lewiston Club[1]
• M. Winnifred Feighner, Member[1]
• Alice R. Fischer, Member[1]
• Helen G. Fisk, president Pasadena Club, Member Los Angeles Service League[1]
• Minnie Flanigan, Member[1]
• Jennie Fortune, Member Capital City Club, National Fed.[1]
• Abigail Keasey Frankel, first President of State Federation of Oregon[1]
• Blanche Galloway, Member[1]
• Helena M. Gamble, Member[1]
• Florence Gardner, Member[1]
• Mary E. Gartin, Member[1]
• Mary Gervais, founder and first president[1]
• Ruth Beatrice Gibson, Member[1]
• Harriet A. Haas, Member[1]
• Mozelle Hair, Member[1]
• Carrie E. Hall, Member[1]
• Ceil Doyle Hamilton, Member[1]
• Winifred M. Hausam, for 2 years Vocational Guidance chairman, L. A. County Fed., Vocational Guidance chairman, California State Fed., Member Pasadena Club[1]
• Alta L. Hawker, Member[1]
• Bertha R. Hays, president and past secretary, Member National Fed.[1]
• Grace Raymond Hebard, Member Wyoming Club[1]
• Elizabeth Heinline, Member[1]
• Mary Hughes, Member[1]
• Mattie R. Hummell, President of Idaho State Club[1]
• Emma W. Lillis Humphrey, Member[1]
• Ruth M. Huntington, Member[1]
• Sarah M. Jacobus, Member[1]
• Lotta Hetler James, Hanford Club[1]
• Kate L. Fick Jeancon, Member San Diego Club[1]
• Amelia F. Johnson, State Chairman of Legislation California Federation[1]
• Bessie M. Lill, One of organizers and first president of Madera Club, State Secretary (1928) of Women's Federation[1]
• Adda Bradford Manker, Member Upland Club[1]
• Retta F. Martin, Member Boise Club[1]
• Rena B. Maycock, Member[1]
• Ona F. Meens, Member[1]
• Rebecca B. Mellors, Member[1]
• Evelyn Melvin, Member Salmon Club[1]
• Blanche Funk Miller, Member[1]
• Eleanor Miller, Member[1]
• Mabel Louise Mills, honorary member Glendale Club[1]
• Mary Frances Mooney, Member[1]
• Cassie C. Moreland, Member[1]
• Rinda Shortridge Morse, Member San Mateo Club[1]
• Estella Smith Mulliner, Organizer and first president, Idaho Falls Club[1]
• Jacqueline Noel, Member[1]
• Marion Campbell Orr, president[1]
• Adelina Otero-Warren, Member[1]
• Lillian McNeill Palmer, founder of the Women's Business and Professional Club in San Francisco[2]
• Matilda Peterson, Life Member[1]
• Kate Pier, was the only honorary member of the Milwaukee Business Women's Club[3]
• Julietto Pierce, Member[1]
• Cornelia D. Plaister, State Chairman, Educational Committee[1]
• Alma E. Plumb, Member[1]
• Adelia Prichard, For two years National president[1]
• Maude Hancock Prichard, Member Capital City Club[1]
• Cornelia Douglas Provines, Member[1]
• Ada E. Purpus, president of the Laguna Beach Business and Professional Woman's Club[4]
• Mildred Chick Pyle, Member[1]
• Frances Effinger Raymond, president Nationally Affiliated League[1]
• Ida M. Reagan, Member[1]
• Ethel Emily Redfield, Member[1]
• Margaret Reeves, Member Capitol City Club[1]
• Eve Richardson, president[1]
• Charlotte Roberson, Member[1]
• E. Ruth Rockwood, Member[1]
• Mary McMillan Rodney, Member[1]
• Frances Eastman Rose, Member[1]
• Margaret Ruse, Member Santa Fe Club[1]
• Rachel Irene Seibert, State Treasurer of the Chehalis Business and Professional Women's Club[1]
• Elizabeth Seymour (publicist), one of the five founders San Diego Club[1]
• Florence Elizabeth Shindler, First president Southern District California Fed.[1]
• Orfa Jean Shontz, president[1]
• Anna B. Smith, Former County Treasurer, Director, State Fed. Club, National Member[1]
• Lucetta Amelia Smith, President of local club, Member National Fed.[1]
• Mary E. Smith, Member[1]
• Susan T. Smith, president 1921-23 Calif Fed.[1]
• May Ella Hand Snow, Member[1]
• Grace M. Sparkes, Member[1]
• Lillian Spongberg, Member[1]
• Mary Jane Spurlin, Member[1]
• F. Josephine Stevenson, president of Pasadena Club, for one year, state organization chairman of the State Federation[1]
• Grace S. Stoermer, Member[1]
• Isabel Seal Stovel, Member[1]
• Nina E. Steunenberg, Member[1]
• Clara F. Strong, charter member and president[1]
• Nora Early Summers, Member[1]
• Jennie Lasby Tessmann, Member[1]
• Monica B. Thompson, Member[1]
• Margaret Todt, Member[1]
• Jessie F. Treen, Member[1]
• Helen Ella True, Member[1]
• Miriam Van Waters, Member Los Angeles Club[1]
• Dotha S. Varker, Member[1]
• Fanny Maughan Vernon, chairman of Legislative Committee, state legislative chairman[1]
• Frances Vogel, Member[1]
• Margaret Ward, Member[1]
• Ida V. Wells, president of the Professional Women's Club[1]
• Lillian M. Wendemuth, Interested in the activities of Business and Professional Women, State Publicity chairman, Member National Federation League of San Francisco[1]
• Sarah Elizabeth Wenk, Corresponding Secretary of Northern District Club and second Vice-President of California Federation, president[1]
• Nina May Westmore, Member[1]
• Anna Musselman Westover, Member[1]
• Reah Whitehead, Member Seattle Club[1]
• Marian Tracie Whiting, Member Service League[1]
• Josephine Clancey Wice, Member[1]
• Elsie K. Wilcox, For third term president of Culver City Club[1]
• Emily D. Wilkie, Member Berkeley Club[1]
• Mabel Walker Willebrandt, one year chairman of Legislation, Los Angeles County Club[1]
• Bird M. Wilson, Member[1]
• Edna Josephine Wilson-Olive, Former recording secretary, California Federation Club, Recording secretary Southern District California Fed.[1]
• Una R. Winter, president Southern District Calif. Fed., president Upland Club[1]
• Maude Wolff, Member[1]
• Bessie J. Wood, president[1]
• Belle Wood-Comstock, Professional Woman's Club of Los Angeles[1]
• Dora Wright, charter member[1]
• Emma Russell Yearian, Member Salmon Club[1]
• Mary Yost, active member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Palo Alto[5]

The California sub-organization, the California Federation of Business & Professional Women's Clubs, has been especially large and influential. Zulu Clements was its president.

• Lena Madesin Phillips
• International Federation of Business and Professional Women

• Kathleen A. Laughlin. "Civic Feminists: The Politics of the Minnesota Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 1942-1965," in Laughlin, Kathleen A., and Jacqueline L. Castledine, eds., Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985. (New York: Routledge, 2011) pp. 11–27

• Business and Professional Women's Foundation
• The Rawalt Online Resource Center
• National Women's Law Center - Paycheck Fairness Act fact sheet