NEHA Green Book

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Chapter 7 WOMEN IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Heightened public concern, complex chemical hazards, widespread environmental disasters such as Love Canal, and program fragmentation have all been among the challenges facing the environmental health field over the past two decades. However, the agencies responsible for addressing these environmental issues faced an internal change equally challenging. During that period, the previously nearly all-male environmental health profession became attractive to growing numbers of women desir ing rewarding careers. The increasing numbers of women professionals can be seen by comparing member ship statistics of NEHA. In 1972, a survey of 5,516 Active NEHA members produced a 35.26% return, of which 2.78% of the respondents were female. In 1986, figures taken from theNEHA membership roster noted that of 3,561 Active members, 589, or 16.54% had obviously female first names. Of 462 Student members, 193 had obviously female first names. Similar increases have been observed using employment data. As one example, the state of Washington reported one female professional in environmental health in 1965, representing less than I% of the work force. In 1987, 30% of the professionals in that state were women. Also in 1987, 50% of the environ mental health personnel in Ventura County, California were reported to be females. The increase in the number of female professionals reflects a gradual process which probably had its first stirrings with the role reversals and societal changes that World War II thrust on the nation. The names of women sanitarians can be found in old health department records from the 1940's, but they are very rare. In 1943 the name of Blanche Walsh of San Francisco is documented. About the same time reference is made to a female sanitarian in Seattle. In 1948 RuthNesbet was noted to be the Sanitation Direc tor for the Bauer's Confectionary Company in Denver. These forerunners mark the beginning of the change, but the change appears to have been a slow one for at least one more decade. During the fifties very few additional women are apparent in the field. The duties of Mrs. Lillian Fisher, noted to be one of the few women sanitarians in the United States, and one of two employed in Maryland, were considered unique enough to be the subject of an illustrated article appearing in the Sunday Magazine Section of the BALTIMORE SUN of May 25, 1952. Interestingly, in 1953 Treva Richardson, an R.S. with the Pixley and Ehlers Restaurant in Chicago, was recorded as being a member of theNAS Board of Directors. It was not until the decade of the sixties that the first major change was seen. By 1963 Marjorie Boswell and Agnes Jones were identified as active members of the Illinois section ofNAS, evidence that women were not only entering the field, but were taking their professional commitment seriously. Yet even in 1965, entry into the male dominated field was still not easy. As an illustration, Karen Jenkins graduated magna cum laude, with a B.S. degree in preventive medicine from the University of Washington in June 1965. Among the top-ranked not only in civil service examinations, but also the R.S. examination, she nonetheless found overt discrimination when seeking employment in health agencies. She was actually told that while impressed with her credentials, employers would not hire her because environmental health was a "man's job." Though eventually hired by a director willing to challenge the status quo (with the result that she eventually became the first woman in her state to win the Washington State Environ mental Health Association's Outstanding Sanitarian Award) a colleague six years later was still confronted in an interview with the comment, "I just wanted to see what kind of woman wanted to be a sanitarian.'' ..