East, Catherine Shipe, 1916-1996

Catherine Shipe East (b. May 15, 1916, Barboursville, W. Va.-d. Aug. 17, 1996, Ithaca, N.Y.), began her career an a junior civil service examiner with the U.S Civil Service Commission in 1939. She advanced to become the chief of the career service division before going to work for the Department of Labor in 1977. She served as the technical adviser to the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and participated in the research and writing of the commissions report, American Women, published in 1963. Subsequent to the release of this report, President John F. Kennedy created the Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women and the Citizen's Advisory Council on the Status of Women, appointing East to serve as executive secretary for both groups.

Catherine East served as a staff member on President Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women, 1962-1963; executive secretary of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women and the Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1963-1974; and deputy coordinator of the secretariat for the National Committee for the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975-1976. She was vice-chair of the National Women's Political Caucus of Virginia and a member of the board of directors of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Government official and feminist activist, Catherine East served in a senior capacity on all Presidential advisory commissions on women from 1962 through 1977, conducting research, and preparing position papers, publications, and reports on a wide range of women's issues. Hailed by Betty Friedan as the "midwife to the birth of the women's movement," East served as a staff member on President Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women, 1962-1963; executive secretary of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women and the Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1963-1974; and deputy coordinator of the secretariat for the National Committee for the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975-1976.

After her retirement in 1977, East began a new career as a full-time activist, working for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia and nationally, serving as women's issues coordinator in the John Anderson Presidential campaign (1979-1980), as legislative director of the National Women's Political Caucus (1983-1986), and as a board member of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund (1979-1983).