Rose Schneiderman

(1882-1972) A former factory worker and dedicated labor organizer, Rose Schneiderman focused on the needs of working women from 1926-1950. Schneiderman was president of the Women’s Trade Union League; the only woman on the National Recovery Administration’s Labor Advisory Board; and served as New York state’s secretary of labor from 1937 to 1943.

Schneiderman fought for unemployed female workers to get relief funds and for domestic workers to be covered by Social Security during the Great Depression (not enacted until 1950). She also sought to improve wages and working conditions for waitresses, laundry workers, beauty parlor workers and hotel maids, many of whom were women of color.