 In
1951 the LEB.P.W. came of age and Dr. Lena
Madesin Phillips, looking back to 1930,
made this appraisal: "Common danger
had not then, as it has now, taught the
peoples of all nations the necessity of
international understanding and cooperation.
. . To be world minded, then, made one seem
to be slightly odd. . . But we had enthusiasm
and faith, youthful energy, and most important,
a cause whose hour had struck. With such
equipment, meagre to those who value only
material things, sufficient for dreamers
such as find castles in the clouds, we organised."
Quite unconsciously, with these words, Dr.
Lena Madesin Phillips had also appraised
herself.
She
had the courage to be world-minded; she
believed that women were capable of creating
international understanding and cooperation;
she had enthusiasm, faith and energy in
such abundance that sagging spirits were
rejuvenated in her presence; she knew by
instinct when time was ripe for action;
she was a dreamer who found castles in the
clouds yet kept her feet firmly on the ground.
Admitted
to the bar in 1917, the first woman to earn
a law degree from the University of Kentucky,
she practised first in her hometown, then
in New York City in whose teeming streets
she came face to face with the injustice,
despair and social ills which had never
touched her sheltered youth. The urge to
serve her fellow man, rising from her deep
Christian roots, pervaded her whole being.
Dr.
Lena Madesin Phillips quickly sensed what
power could be generated by a national movement
to organise all women who had a business
or a profession. Together they could mould
public opinion, set new working standards,
improve economic and industrial conditions,
and lay enduring foundations for peace for
the benefit of all mankind. To get such
an organisation on its feet became her consuming
passion.
In
the late 1920s, to make soundings for an
International Federation, she crossed and
recrossed the Atlantic finding like-minded
European leaders, and inspiring them to
give their all for the same cause. She did
not know the meaning of the word barrier.
In 1955, (having founded the International
Federation of Business and Professional
Women in 1930), she was on her way to the
Middle East, the meeting point of three
continents, to ignite more fires for the
cause of women's equality, when the end
suddenly overtook her.
In
Holland, once, she had said to women younger
than herself: "You are now pioneers
in the dream of peace and social justice,
of international understanding and goodwill.
This dream will come to pass. It matters
little whether you or I live to see the
day. It is only important that each of us
struggle without pause towards that day."
She enriched us with a legacy and pledged
us to fulfill a mandate.
Lisa
Sergio
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