Commissions on the Status of Women

Established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the President's Commission on the Status of Women undertook a 22-month study "to examine and recommend remedies to combat the...prejudices and outmoded customs [that] act as barriers to the full realization of women's basic rights." Its report, issued in 1963, spurred the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Dept. of Labor to spearhead the creation of state commissions on the status of women. By 1966, 45 states had commissions studying the condition of women within their jurisdictions, and by 1976, there were 82 local commissions, primarily in cities or highly urbanized counties.

From the guide to the Papers, 1967-2004 (inclusive), (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)