Fifty years ago: Remember the ladies

Barbara R. Stewart, Ph.D., CPA
Professor of Accounting, Towson University
MACPA History Committee

As the MACPA prepared for its 50th anniversary, the role of women in the Association, as reported in the minutes and roster books, was meager. The 1949-50 Yearbook lists four officers, six directors, the auditor, and 122 members of twenty committees. The only women are Florence Skinner Myers serving as the auditor and Mary H. Bacon as a member of the Library Committee. The minutes of October 10, 1950 include a list of thirteen chairmen and twenty initial members of committees for the 50th Anniversary Celebration. The only women included are on the Ladies Committee. Chaired by Mrs. H. L. Langrall (wife of Association president Herbert L. Langrall), the members are Miss Penn and Miss Bishop.

Some members of the Association were apparently sensitive to the scant role played by women members. With the list of celebration committees are some "Suggestions for Chairmen," developed by the Celebration Administrative Committee, reported by Ernest E. Wooden, Secretary of Meeting. The first of these suggestions is:

Each Chairman should pick at least one lady for his Committee from among the membership. The list consists of:
Ruth Howard Bishop
Mary E. Leete
Mildred L. Penn
Mary J. Kaltenbach
Josephine Shyers
Elsie Young Meledin
Florence S. Myers
Ruth A. McEvoy
Mary H. Bacon
Catherine M. Koch
Belle M. Heywood

This early attempt at affirmative action was apparently of very limited success. The committee members listed in the subsequent Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration Program show some changes and the addition of several members, but all of these are male except one: Belle M. Heywood was added to the General Committee.

One other change, however, seems to reflect a growing recognition of the female members as professionals. The Ladies Committee, originally constituted of Mrs. Langrall, Miss Penn and Miss Bishop, is reported in the Program to consist of 25 wives, without the members, Miss Penn and Miss Bishop. This is in keeping with the apparent function of that committee to plan the spouses' program (identified, of course, as the "Ladies' Program"). The celebration banquet was included as part of the Ladies' Program, which explains another of the suggestions to chairmen reported by Wooden:

No accounting or "serious" speech at banquet. May have humorous speech or entertainment pleasing to ladies.

Female membership in the Association had actually grown to 15 at this time. The 1949-50 Yearbook and the 50th Anniversary Book also list Miss Clarissa M. Knight, Mrs. Sophia Miller, Mrs. Shirley Throckmorton Moore and Miss Frances Woodward Sturgeon as Association members. It is easy to identify the women members because references to women during this period usually include "Miss" or "Mrs." As professionals, however, the married women are identified by their own first names, while the wives of members on the Ladies Committee are identified with their husbands' first names.

The1950-51 Association committees include women only in their traditional roles: Myers on the Education committee, Bacon and Leete on the Library Committee, and 10 of the women (and no men) on a new committee, the Hospitality Committee!

Forty-one years earlier, at the 1910 Association banquet, Max Teichmann, holder of Maryland CPA certificate #1 and the Association's first president, is reported to have said that "the accountants' profession presented a large field for the ladies." In 1910 there were two women members in a total membership of 27. By 1951 their numbers had grown to only these 15 pioneer women in a total membership of 570. It would take another 30 years for Teichmann's prediction to be fulfilled.

NOTE: The author is continuing to research the history of women in the Maryland accounting profession. This material will be included in the MACPA's centennial celebration publication. She would very much appreciate hearing from members, family or friends with any information regarding the role of women in Maryland accounting.

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