8/18/2011:
After Agnes Rex ventured to St. Louis in 1919 for the first meeting of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women, she was excited to return to North Dakota and start organizing local clubs. Soon, she was elected the first North Dakota BPW president, after starting clubs in cities all around the state. They would go on to benefit their cities for many years, and the BPW was often at the forefront when it came to women’s rights issues.
The first meeting of the first North Dakota BPW branch happened on this date in Grand Forks in 1919. Membership fees were established at $1.50 per year. Throughout their first year as a club, the Grand Forks ladies kept busy with poetry readings, concerts, fundraisers, and membership drives. In the 1920s they also operated a placement service for women seeking jobs, and ran a periodical called “The Gist of It” until 1932.
And after World War Two, the national BPW thought women should remain employed, with equal pay. So, they began a campaign that would continue for decades, and North Dakota women played their part. For example, on January 23, 1956, Irene S. Gable came from Bismarck to speak at one of the Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club meetings. Other women’s business groups from the area also came to listen. Gable spoke about the importance of women advocating for workplace rights. She said men were always promoted to the higher level jobs, whether or not they were more qualified. She said this meant more women needed to register to vote; 46% wasn’t enough. She said women needed to treat jobs as lifetime commitments, rather than “stopgaps” between school and marriage.
In 1956 many people still thought women shouldn’t be working, so it’s obvious the Grand Forks ladies weren’t afraid to cause controversy with their events and goals. A brochure of theirs from 1959 had a quote from Mary Stewart: “let us be large, in thought, in word, in deed.” They knew that what they were fighting for was part of a bigger picture.
Today, only two North Dakota BPW clubs remain – in Bismarck-Mandan and Devils Lake, still actively recruiting members, granting scholarships, and providing a safe and nurturing environment for businesswomen to meet, laugh, and support each other.
Dakota Datebook written by Leewana Thomas
Sources:
UND Library Special Collections—OGL #416—Grand Forks Business and Professional Women’s Club Records from 1919-1975 (meeting minutes, scrapbooks, financial information, periodicals)
www.bpwfoundation.org/index.php/about/history/
http://www.bpwfoundation.org/documents/uploads/LASummary_June2011.pdf
Rhonda Jacobs, President of the Bismarck-Mandan Business and Professional Women at the Bismarck-Mandan BPW, and the Bismarck-Mandan BPW "Woman of the Year!"