Congresswoman Cecil Murray Harden, Advocate of Women Post Office Workers

Congresswoman Cecil Murray Harden, Advocate of Women Post Office Workers

Cecil Harden had served as a congresswoman before Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield appointed her as Special Assistant for Women's Affairs. Even though some still didn’t like the idea of women mail carriers, Summerfield and Harden wanted to employ more women for the job. Harden went across the nation in a speaking tour to promote women in post offices, encouraging women to take on the jobs and offering her aide whenever she could. By January of 1961, reports showed that her help worked, as the number of women rural carries had been raised from 380 to 487. In addition, she was the only Republican woman to have represented the state of Indiana in the U.S. Congress.

Library of Congress

1949-1959

Wikimedia

Source: Cecil Murray Harden. (n.d.). Women in Congress. Retrieved Oct 26, 2012, from http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/14512?ret=True

Link: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Medium: Photograph

English

Figures

Postal

Historic