Mary Anderson (labor leader)
Encyclopedia
Mary Anderson was an Labor activist and an advocate for women in the workplace.
, in Skaraborg County
, Sweden
. She emigrated to the United States in 1888 at the age of sixteen. She began her working career as a domestic worker, became a factory employee and later a trade union leader. She was a member of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union and a founder of the Women's Trade Union League
in Chicago, Illinois.
Mary Anderson was the first Director of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.Anderson was Director of the United States Women's Bureau
in the U.S. Department of Labor for a quarter century and was considered one of the most influential of all women in Federal service. She served for five presidents and, during her tenure, saw the ranks of women workers more than double.
Biography
Mary Anderson was born in LidköpingLidköping
Lidköping is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 27,941 inhabitants in 2005.It is neatly situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidköping by Vänern", possibly to distinguish itself from Linköping near...
, in Skaraborg County
Skaraborg County
Skaraborg County, or Skaraborgs län, was a county of Sweden until December 31, 1998 when it was merged with the counties of Gothenburg and Bohus and Älvsborg to form Västra Götaland County....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. She emigrated to the United States in 1888 at the age of sixteen. She began her working career as a domestic worker, became a factory employee and later a trade union leader. She was a member of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union and a founder of the Women's Trade Union League
Women's Trade Union League
The Women's Trade Union League was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women formed in 1903 to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions...
in Chicago, Illinois.
Mary Anderson was the first Director of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.Anderson was Director of the United States Women's Bureau
United States Women's Bureau
The United States Women's Bureau is an agency of the United States government within the United States Department of Labor. The WB was established by Congress in 1920 and continues its responsibility to carry out Public Law 66-259; 29 U.S.C...
in the U.S. Department of Labor for a quarter century and was considered one of the most influential of all women in Federal service. She served for five presidents and, during her tenure, saw the ranks of women workers more than double.
Autobiography
- Woman At Work: The Autobiography of Mary Anderson as Told to Mary N. Winslow (Minneapolis,MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. 1951)
Further reading
- Foner, Philip S., Women and the American Labor Movement: From Colonial Times to the Eve of World War I (The Free Press; 1979)
- Orleck, Annelise, Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965 (The University of North Carolina Press. 1995)