By Anne M. Filiaci, Ph.D.
In 1886, prompted by the appeal of an activist store clerk named Alice Woodbridge, Shaw Lowell also became a leader in the movement to reform working conditions for women. That year, she attended a series of meetings held in New York City and chaired by labor activist Leonora O’Reilly. During these meetings, women in the retail trade testified about their work experiences. Their testimony made it clear that long hours, low wages and sexual harassment were the norm rather than the exception. Moved to act, Shaw Lowell joined forces with O’Reilly, Woodbridge and others to form the Working Women’s Society of the City of New York (WWS).
Shaw Lowell, serving as the group’s principal advisor, relied on the methods she had been using for over a decade to implement change. As its first activity, the WWS investigated and reported on working conditions for women in department stores, with Shaw Lowell personally investigating many sites and working on the report. After the investigation was completed and its results publicized, Shaw Lowell joined with others to form the Consumer’s League of the City of New York (CLCNY), officially established in January of 1891. She became its first President.
Like the COS, the CLCNY was patterned on a group (the Consumer’s Society) that had started earlier in England. As the President of the CLCNY, Shaw Lowell’s duties included lobbying and testifying to state legislators for the passage of laws to protect and improve women’s working conditions in New York. She was also instrumental in making the Consumers’ League a national organization. The National Consumers’ League (NCL), chartered in 1899, wielded considerable influence, giving a “White Label” to businesses that met its standards for fairness to workers. It remains in existence to this day.
Lowell, Josephine Shaw
Copyright Anne M. Filiaci 2016