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Karen Nussbaum

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Karen Nussbaum
Karen Nussbaum
13th Director of the United States Women's Bureau
In office
1993–1996
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byElsie Vartanian
Succeeded byIrasema T. Garza
Personal details
Born
Karen Nussbaum

April 25, 1950
Chicago, Illinois

Karen Nussbaum (born April 25, 1950) is an American labor leader and founding director of Working America.

Biography

Nussbaum was born in Chicago where her mother, Annette Brenner Nussbaum, was a publicist and father, Mike Nussbaum, was an exterminator, actor, and director.[1][2] Her parents were active in the anti-Vietnam movement and worked to bring speakers to their community of Highland Park in Chicago including Staughton Lynd. During this time, the family was also receiving hate mail from the local John Birch Society.[2] She enrolled in the University of Chicago in 1968 but dropped out to move to Boston and work in the anti-Vietnam movement. While in Boston, she began working as a clerical worker at Harvard where she was exposed to inequalities in the workplace for female office workers.[1] In 1975, she earned a B.A. from Goddard College.[2]

In 1973, she co-founded 9to5, an organization that addressed issues female office workers faced, eventually helping create a union for female office workers in 1975.[1] In 1977, 9to5 merged with Cleveland Women Working to create a national coalition of like-minded associations, the Cleveland-based Working Women Organizing Project, headed by Nussbaum.[3][4] In 1981, 9to5 worked as a partner with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) known as District 925. She served as director from 1981 to 1993.[1][5]

During the Clinton Administration, Nussbaum served as the director of the Women's Bureau, in the United States Department of Labor from 1993 to 1996.[1][6] As director of the Women’s Bureau, she surveyed working women about their jobs and initiated programs in response to their concerns.[7]

Nussbaum is the founding director of Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. She co-founded the organization in 2003 and formerly served as executive director.[8]

She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1984.[9]

See also

Library resources about
Karen Nussbaum
By Karen Nussbaum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Too Much Self-Reliance". MAKERS. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  2. ^ a b c "Voices of Feminism Oral History Project" (PDF). Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  3. ^ "9TO5, NATIONAL ASSN. OF WORKING WOMEN". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  4. ^ Fauxsmith, Jennifer. "Research Guides: 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women (U.S.): Home". guides.library.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  5. ^ "SEIU District 925 Collection" (PDF). Walter P. Reuther Library. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  6. ^ "WB - Directors' Gallery". www.dol.gov. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  7. ^ "WB - Directors' Gallery". www.dol.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  8. ^ Dean, Amy (July 8, 2013). "Why the Revival of US Labor Might Start with Nonunion Workers". Yes! Magazine. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  9. ^ "ODJFS Online | SEARCH the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame". www.odjfs.state.oh.us. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
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