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Wilma Porter Soss (March 13, 1900 – October 10, 1986) was a journalist and women's rights activist.

Early life[edit]

Soss was born Wilma Porter on March 13, 1900, in San Francisco, California. Her parents were George Edison Porter, a photographer, and Clara (née Weissman). After her parents divorce when she was six, Weissman began using her mother's maiden name. She and her mother moved in with her grandparents in Brooklyn, New York, where her grandfather worked in insurance.[1][2] When her mother remarried, she moved back west but Porter stayed with her grandparents. Graduating from high school in 1919, she enrolled at the Columbia University School of Journalism and supported herself by working nights as a reporter for the Brooklyn Times.[1] [Brooklyn Eagle?] Porter married Joseph Albert Soss in 1923, who worked in advertising, and graduated with her journalism degree in 1925. She stayed with the Brooklyn Times, and began working full-time for the newspaper after her graduation as a movie reviewer. Her column was titled "Matinee Girl".[1][2]

Early career[edit]

In 1927, Soss began working as an assistant to Harry Reichenbach, a movie producer and publicist, which enabled her later career as a publicist. She worked as a public relations consultant for Saks Fifth Avenue, Tailored Woman, and Shoecraft between 1931 and 1934 and was rumored to be the highest-paid publicity woman on Fifth Avenue, earning $750 a week despite the Great Depression. Soss also worked in publicity for Alfred Dunhill, the International Silk Guild between 1934 and 1941 and several railroad car manufacturers between 1941 and 1947. Despite her successes, she was frustrated when her offer to represent a group of businessmen in their labor negotiations was rejected, declaring that "the men of this country aren't what they used to be, and that it was up to the women to take over".[1]

Economic rights activism[edit]

Soss attended the 1947 U.S. Steel annual meeting, where she asked the board to move the meetings from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Manhattan, to allow female stockholders – who held a major percentage of the company's stocks – to more easily attend. The board's refusal to agree to her proposal inspired Soss to work to give women a larger voice in economic decisions. After this meeting, Soss began working full-time on women's economic rights, founding the Federation of Women Shareholders in American Business in the same year. Although she rarely owned many shares in companies, she regularly attended annual meetings and spoke against the incomprehensible language in annual reports and the lack of accountability the board had to shareholders. Soss's work gained national attention and other women often gifted her their proxy votes; in 1947, she had only owned one share in U.S. Steel but four years later, this had increased to over 10,000 shares.[1]

Soss was often theatrical in her protests, in order to gain public attention. She attended a meeting for U.S. Steel in 1949 in a Gay Nineties costume, to symbolize the company's old-fashioned approach.[1] She attended a CBS meeting in 1960 with a mop and pail, which was intended as a commentary on the network's quiz show scandal.[1][3] Her approach to attending meetings was described by her as "Be very charming and very feminine today. After all, the men do have Mom complexes, you know." Soss sat in the front row of meetings and often made motions to the boards of companies such as U.S. Steel, CBS, General Electric and the New York Times to increase representation of women and minorities on corporate boards and challenge bonuses and salaries of the companies' executives. In 1975, she raised a motion to suggest that Western Electric shares should be distributed to AT&T stockholders, rather than remaining a subsidiary of the parent company. Described as a "corporate gadfly", she often worked with Lewis and John Gilbert.[1]

Financial journalism[edit]

Soss worked as a financial reporter for the NBC Radio Network between 1955 and 1980, on the shows "Wilma Says" and "Pocketbook News".[1]

Death and legacy[edit]

Soss died of a heart attack on October 10, 1986, in her Manhattan apartment at the age of 86.[3] She is often considered the inspiration for the play and film The Solid Gold Cadillac.[2][4]



[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

[16][17][18][19][20][21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Soss, Wilma Porter (13 March 1900–10 October 1986), women's economic rights activist". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1002108?rskey=lnmngg&result=1. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  2. ^ a b c Wright 2018, p. 138.
  3. ^ a b Archives, L. A. Times (1986-10-18). "Wilma P. Soss, Corporations' Nemesis, Dies at 86". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  4. ^ Bennetts, Leslie (2002-07-02). "The Unstoppable Force That Is 72-Year-Old Shareholder Activist Evelyn Y. Davis". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  5. ^ "U.S. Steel Swayed by Persistence of Wilma Soss; Company May Drop Hoboken as Site of Meetings; Woman Has Pressed for a Change Since 1948". The New York Times. 1964-03-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  6. ^ TIME (1965-05-21). "Annual Meetings: Into Orbit & Out of Order". TIME. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  7. ^ Popper, Nathaniel; Times, Los Angeles (2010-08-23). "Pesky shareholder activists gain influence". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  8. ^ Logan, Andy; Gill, Brendan (1954-04-16). "For Love". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  9. ^ TIME (1949-05-16). "MANAGEMENT: Stockholders' Revolt". TIME. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  10. ^ Norman, Michael (1986-10-16). "WILMA PORTER SOSS, 86, A GADFLY AT STOCK MEETINGS OF COMPANIES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  11. ^ Service, New York Times News (1986-10-17). "INVESTOR ADVOCATE WILMA SOSS". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  12. ^ "Obituary for Wilma Porter PORTER SOSS (Aged 86)". Daily News. 1986-10-17. p. 628. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  13. ^ Wright, Robert E. "Wilma Soss, Pioneer Financial Broadcast Journalist - The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator | USA News and Politics". The American Spectator | USA News and Politics. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  14. ^ Logan, Andy (1951-03-09). "HOBOKEN MUST GO!". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  15. ^ Hellman, Geoffrey T. (1949-06-17). "Pressure Group". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  16. ^ Wright, Robert E. (2018-10). "Pioneer Financial News: National Broadcast Journalist Wilma Soss, NBC Radio, 1954–1980". Journalism History. 44 (3): 138–149. doi:10.1080/00947679.2018.12059205. ISSN 0094-7679. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Traflet, Janice (2016-10-01). "Queen of the Corporate Gadflies: Wilma Porter Soss". Financial History (119): 20–23.
  18. ^ Haan, Sarah (2023-01-01). "Women in Shareholder Activism". Seattle University Law Review. 46 (2): 469. ISSN 1078-1927.
  19. ^ Marens, Richard (2002-08). "INVENTING CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: THE EMERGENCE OF SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM IN THE NINETEEN-FORTIES". Academy of Management Proceedings. 2002 (1): D1–D6. doi:10.5465/apbpp.2002.7517511. ISSN 0065-0668. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Wright, Robert E. (2021-04-03). "The limits of female policy punditry: The Gendered Misreading of Wilma Soss's Critiques of Nixonomics and Nadernomics". Media History. 27 (2): 237–250. doi:10.1080/13688804.2020.1745626. ISSN 1368-8804.
  21. ^ Women on Corporate Boards of Directors. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3401-4#page=236.
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