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Honors and Awards

 

American Political Science Association prize for the Best Scholarly Work on Women in Politics, (for Politics of Women's Liberation) 1975.

Awarded at the annual meeting held in September 1975

"The decision of the American Political Science Association to offer a prize for the best scholarly work on women in politics to mark International Women's Year brought its committee a dozen varied and interesting books and manuscripts from which to make a selection. In judging them, the committee used four criteria: The originality of the research, in terms of topic and methodology; the quality of its level of analysis; the effectiveness of its communication; and the recognition by the author of the limitations of the data used, and of possible biases in its use.
On this basis, the entry selected to receive the prize for the best scholarly work on women in politics was Jo Freeman's The Politics of Women's Liberation: A Case Study of an Emerging Social Movement and Its Relation to the Policy Process, published by David McKay Co. Ms. Freeman analyzes the evolution and character of the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s with clarity and verve, effectively exploring the interaction between group action and public policy. In addition to using a wealth of background material, she has extensively interviewed a large number of individuals who were directly involved in women's movements, as well as people in government, the press and elsewhere who had an effect upon these movements. While she demonstrated a healthy awareness of the limitations of her data, she provided new insights and a useful framework within which to continue to analyze the relation between women's movements and public policy.
Two works which were both concerned with women in state legislatures were selected for honorable mention: Jeane J. Kirkpatrick's Political Woman, published by Basic Books, and Irene G. Diamond's unpublished dissertation for Princeton University, entitled Women and the State Legislatures: A Macro and Micro Analysis.
The Committee -- Gwendolen M. Carter of Indiana University, James David Barber of Duke University, and Dorothy Buckton James of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, congratulates all three authors on their work, and particularly Ms. Freeman who received the prize Their excellent studies push ahead our knowledge and understanding of the character and role of women's movements and women in electoral politics in the United States, and their relation to public policy."


Brookings Fellow
Office of Research and Development, Employment and Training Administration,
Dept. of Labor. 1978-79


Congressional Fellows Program,
American Political Science Association, 1978-79.


Root-Tilden Scholar,
New York University School of Law, 1979-82.


Mary Lepper Award,
from the Women's Caucus of Political Science, 1993.

Citation: On Behalf of the Women's Caucus for Political Science The Mary Lepper Award Committee is delighted to present The Mary Lepper Award - 1993 to Jo Freeman whose blend of political activism and scholarship typifies the spirit of Mary Lepper. Ms. Freeman worked in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, was a founder of the Women's Liberation Movement and active in it for many years and is currently involved in Brooklyn politics. Her scholarship revolutionized the study of women and politics. Currently she is working on a book on women and political parties.

The Mary Lepper Award Committee
Marianne Githens, Chair
Susan Mezey
Melissa Haussman


United Independent Democrats,
Brooklyn, New York, 1994.

The United Independent Democratic Club
Proudly Honors Jo Freeman.
A Creative Idealist, Talented Public Speaker
and Ardent Worker for Justice
in our Community and Country

Jim Brennan,
Assemblyman;
Lori Citron Knipel,
Jacob Gold,
District Leaders

May 12, 1994

Susan B. Anthony Awards
The New York City Chapter
of the National Organization for Women
February 24th 2000

Presented by Adele Cohen, Member of the New York State Assembly from Brooklyn, New York.


Citation:
It is my very great honor to be here today and I thank NOW for this privilege. Being asked by NOW to present this award today is important to me -- because it validates my credentials as a feminist. And I am grateful.
I am presenting this award to Jo Freeman - who surely has earned it. Jo is a true feminist. Not only does she believe in our ideals -- but also she has made the examination of feminism her life's work.
Jo Freeman is a scholar, lawyer, activist and feminist. You name what has happened in the woman's movement and Jo was somehow there.

  • She was one of the first people to recognize the need for a women's movement.
  • She went to the South for the Freedom Marches.
  • She was a part of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
  • She led the troops at the American Political Science Association to move their convention from Chicago because Illinois hadn't ratified the ERA.
  • You name the fight - Jo was somehow always there.
  • Her life parallels the women's movement - she came of age with it.
  • Jo has put her energy and her money where her mouth has been.
  • Jo Freeman is special. She was an early theorist and an early activist in the women's movement.
Jo has a newly published book - it is called A Room at a Time and it is about how women entered party politics - party politics - you know - Democrats and Republicans - political clubs and the like. And she makes a convincing argument that the Republicans welcomed women first.
Yes, we pay homage to her here as a feminist - but Jo is very skilled in the nuts and bolts of day to day political life.
I have a vivid picture of Jo in my mind; a snapshot of her in my memory. Where was she? She was standing in the back of a Brooklyn political clubhouse. You know -- the back near the door. She was counting. Why was she counting? Because she had helped - maybe it was her idea - to pack the club. I was one of the pakees. Jo understands how political clubs work.
Her book, "The Politics of Women's Liberation" published in 1975, won an award from the American Political Science Association as the best book on women published in that year. It is a contemporaneous account and analysis of those events that changed the course of history.
Not only was Jo participating in these events, but she was running home and writing it up. Thanks to Jo these events have not been lost to history - the way so much women's history has been.
From her graduate days at the University of Chicago in the late 60's and early 70's - where her apartment became a center for feminist activity in the Chicago area, she has been an organizer, theorist and historian of the women's movement.
Jo Freeman is well deserving of this honor.

Social Security Administration
presented to
Jo Freeman

in appreciation of your contribution towards enrichment of the worklife of the employees of the Northeastern Program Service Center

August 24, 2000
Ann Jacobasky
Assistant Regional Commissioner
Processing Center Operations

 
 

 


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