A Matter of Simple Justice | The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and a Few Good Women

WASHINGTON, September 16, 2020 (Newswire.com) - Penn State University Press today announced the re-release of A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and A Few Good Women.

Based on the “A Few Good Women” oral history project at the Penn State University Libraries, A Matter of Simple Justice illuminates the Nixon administration’s groundbreaking efforts to expand the role of women—and the long-term significant advances for women in the American workplace. 

At the forefront of these efforts was Barbara Hackman Franklin, a staff assistant to the president who was hired to recruit more women into the upper levels of the federal government.

Franklin, at the direction of President Nixon, White House counselor Robert Finch, and personnel director Fred Malek, became the administration’s de facto spokesperson on women’s issues. She helped bring more than one hundred women into executive positions in the government and created a talent bank of more than a thousand names of qualified women.

The Nixon administration expanded the numbers of women on presidential commissions and boards, changed civil service rules to open thousands of more federal jobs to women, and expanded enforcement of anti-discrimination laws to include gender discrimination.

“In hindsight, I am so proud of the trailblazers captured in this book, all working to advance women 50 years ago! And I am gratified that Penn State Library Press has re-released this book in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guaranteed women the right to vote,” said Franklin. “In 1972, I said that I hoped to see a woman elected President of the United States in my lifetime. Our work and the efforts of so many others have brought that day closer.”

The Honorable Barbara Hackman Franklin, the 29th US Secretary of Commerce, is President and CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises, a private consulting firm in Washington, DC. She advises and advocates for American companies doing business in international markets, notably China. Franklin has served five US Presidents. In 2017 TIME Magazine named her one of the “50 Women Who Made American Political History.”

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For more information, please visit matterofsimplejustice.com. 

For media inquiries and event bookings, please contact: Marc Ross - +1 (202) 596-5270 or [email protected]

Source: Penn State University Press