The League of Women Voters of Dallas Education Fund
is pleased to announce the selection of
Julie Lowenberg
as the 2010 recipient of the
Susan B. Anthony Award
Julie exemplifies the model characteristics of Susan B. Anthony's productive and positive life by speaking out to ensure individual and civil rights and to enhance the lives of women, children, and families.
She and her late sister Nancy Todes grew up in Dallas where their "Roosevelt New Deal" parents, Marian and Irving Goldberg, instilled in them core beliefs + that all, regardless of race, creed or country of origin, are entitled to equal rights and opportunities and individual liberties. Their parents' influence, their religious background in the tradition of Reform Judaism, and their Hockaday educations all encouraged the "Goldberg girls" to aspire to high goals and consider striving to "repair the world" as a moral imperative.
Moving on to Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, Julie learned she could compete with the best academically but, as one of only 25 women in her law class of over 500, she saw and felt firsthand the sex discrimination that was then pervasive in the traditionally "male" legal profession. After law school, Julie returned to Dallas with her husband Michael. Although she again encountered gender discrimination in law firms' hiring and employment practices, she was fortunate to eventually find a professional "home" in a firm that gave her freedom to practice on a part time basis as she and Michael began their family.
In the early 1970's, Julie accepted the challenge of teaching the first-ever classes in "Gender Discrimination and the Law" at SMU Law School. This was an exciting and gratifying time to be teaching the course: Ground-breaking decisions granting women unprecedented opportunities were being handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, rendering the textbooks almost obsolete.
Even as Julie appreciated the dawning of a new era for women professionals, she decided around this time to leave the workforce to spend more time with her growing family. But also around this time, she joined the League of Women Voters and began her deeply satisfying "second career" - and informal but definitely in-depth education as a fulltime community volunteer. Through LWV, National Council of Jewish Women and other community organizations which she has served in leadership roles (including president of LWV-Dallas and LWV-Texas and NCJW Greater Dallas), Julie has gained deep satisfaction working to improve lives and secure civil liberties, the imperatives learned from her parents and her religion.
For NCJW, Julie currently co-chairs With One Voice, a coalition of community groups working for comprehensive reform of immigration laws and policies. Julie's interest in immigration and immigrants has also inspired her ongoing volunteerism as an ESL civics teacher at Vickery Meadow Learning Center, and her current service on the board of Human Rights Initiative of North Texas. As LWV-Texas program chair for women's heath/reproductive choice for the past 15+ years, she has had many opportunities to hone her advocacy skills.
Julie and Michael are proud parents of three and grandparents of five (with #6 due soon!)
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