Hilda Muhlhauser Richards, from a 1918 publication
111-SC-5936 - Mrs. Hilda M. Richards - NARA - 55172782

Hilda Muhlhauser Richards was an American government official during World War I. She aimed to protect women's rights as chief of the Woman's Division of the Federal Employment Service in the United States Department of Labor.

Early life

Hilda Muhlhauser was from Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Frederick Muhlhauser and Antoinette Kahnheimer Muhlhauser. Her father, born in Switzerland, was the owner of the Northern Ohio Woolen Mills. As a young woman, inspired after a visit to Hull House, Hilda Muhlhauser worked in a settlement house in Cleveland.[1][2]

Career

In 1909 Hilda Muhlhauser spoke at a meeting of the Council of Jewish Women in Buffalo, about her work on the Council of Educational Alliance in Cleveland.[3] She was head of the Girls' and Women's Employment Bureau in that city. She was on the board of the Consumers' League of Ohio, the Woman's Suffrage Association, and the Woman's City Club of Cleveland.[4] Muhlhauser attended the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915 as a representative on Cleveland.[1]

In 1915 she was the only woman named to an advisory board of twelve national experts, to work on coordinating employment policy at federal, state, and municipal levels.[5][1] She published a report on public employment bureaus during this time.[6] She was vice president of the International Association of Public Employment Services from 1915 to 1917,[7] focusing on the employment issues of women and girls.[8]

In January 1918, Richards was appointed chief of the Woman's Division of the Federal Employment Service in the U. S. Department of Labor.[9] Her policy positions included "equal pay for equal work" and the eight-hour work day.[10] "We will protect the women hired to replace men from exploitation by unscrupulous employers," she explained of her division's wartime mission.[11][12] She resigned her post in August 1918, after the program was reorganized.[13] Her successor was Margaretta Neale.[14]

In 1919, she wrote a syndicated newspaper column titled "Woman and her Job."[15]

Personal life

In 1917, Hilda Muhlhauser married Charles Russell Richards (1865–1936), director of Cooper Union.[16][17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ada Patterson, "Can I Help You?" The Continent (November 14, 1918): 1285-1286.
  2. ↑ "If Your Job is 'Ladylike', Watch Out for Mrs. Richards" Literary Digest (May 4, 1918): 53.
  3. ↑ "The Jewish Sisterhood" Buffalo Morning Express (June 16, 1909): 5. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  4. ↑ "The World of Women" War Work Bulletin (February 5, 1918): 7.
  5. ↑ "Government to Take Hand in Helping All Laborers" Morning Press (August 7, 1915): 1. via California Digital Newspaper CollectionOpen access icon
  6. ↑ Hilda Muhlhauser, "Public Employment Bureaus and Their Relation to Managers of Employment in Industry" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science" 65(May 1916): 170-175.
  7. ↑ "Officers and Executive Committees of the International Association of Public Employment Services" Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (Government Printing Office 1925): iv.
  8. ↑ "Gets Good Jobs for N. Y. Girls" Muskogee County Democrat (November 30, 1916): 6. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  9. ↑ "Women in Industry" Sierra Educational News (September 1918): 401.
  10. ↑ "'Equal Pay' Policy of New Director of Women Workers" Riverside Daily Press (February 18, 1918): 6. via California Digital Newspaper CollectionOpen access icon
  11. ↑ "First Government Bureau for Women Workers" War Work Bulletin (January 18, 1918): 2.
  12. ↑ "Woman Now Directs Nation's Women Workers" New York Times (February 3, 1918): 56.
  13. ↑ William J. Breen, Labor Market Politics and the Great War: The Department of Labor, the States, and the First U.S. Employment Service, 1907-1933 (Kent State University Press 1997): 85. ISBN 9780873385596
  14. ↑ "Women's Division" Annual Report of the Secretary of Labor (US Government Printing Office 1919): 696.
  15. ↑ Hilda M. Richards, "Woman and her Job" The Evening Sun (July 14, 1919): 4. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  16. ↑ "Prof. Richards Marries; Director of Cooper Institute Weds Miss Muhlhauser, Labor Expert" New York Times (December 28, 1917): 11. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  17. ↑ "On Page Seven Today" Courier-Journal (March 26, 1919): 3. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
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