Swartz, Maud O'Farrell (1879–1937)

views updated

Swartz, Maud O'Farrell (1879–1937)

Irish-born labor activist. Born May 3, 1879, in Co. Kildare, Ireland; died Feb 22, 1937, in New York, NY; dau. of William J. O'Farrell and Sarah Matilda (Grace) O'Farrell; m. Lee Swartz (printer), 1905 (sep.).

Became secretary of National Women's Trade Union League (1916), then president (1922); became secretary of International Congress for Working Women (later International Federation of Working Women, 1919), then American vice-president; appointed secretary of New York State Department of Labor (1931), where she expanded its activities among female workers and served as referee in compensation cases.