Eleanor Davis was born in Seattle, WA in 1922. She majored in Sociology at the University of Washington. She and her husband, Charles, settled in Portland in 1951.
In the early 1960s Davis became active in the American Association of University Women and the women's group at the First Unitarian Church. She was elected to the national board of the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation in 1964 where she served for six years. In 1971 Davis helped form the Oregon Council for Women’s Equality, and became a chief advocate for the advancement of women in Oregon. From 1974-1984 she was employed as a paid field investigator in the Civil Rights Division of the Oregon Bureau of Labor.
Through her social activism and political advocacy, Oregon passed the Equal Rights Amendment, after which Davis went on to serve the state in a variety of volunteer capacities. Her passions for women’s equality and social justice led her to work with the Task Force on Sex Discrimination in Education, the State Advisory Council on Sex Discrimination in Employment, the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, and a variety of other civil rights-related commissions and task forces.
From the guide to the Eleanor R. Davis Papers, 1971-2001, 1971-1990, (Portland State University Library)
