Genevieve B. Earle

Genevieve Beavers Earle (1885 – March 7, 1956) was a New York City politician. She was the first woman elected to the city council of New York City and the first woman to be involved in a New York City Charter Revision Commission. She was also a feminist.

Personal life Earle was born in Blythebourne in 1885 and attended Erasmus Hall High School. Earle graduated from Adelphi University in 1907. She had worked in the field of sociology while in school and showed interest in becoming involved in New York politics immediately after graduation. They had two children, Mary and William, Jr. Earle's husband died in 1940 of an "abdominal ailment."

Career Earle began working in politics in 1907.

Earle served as the first woman on a New York City Charter Revision Commission during 1935 to 1936. The charter created by the commission was adopted in 1936 and initiated the use of proportional representation in the city’s elections. She was awarded a gold medal of service to Brooklyn, partly because of her work on the commission, which was presented by Mayor La Guardia in 1936.

Earle was the first woman elected to the New York City Council in 1937, and she was the only woman to serve as a council member in the city for some time. She was one of a pool of 99 candidates for council, out of which 9 were voted in. Earle ran as a member of the City Fusion Party, and also had the support of many African American voters in Brooklyn. Earle also appointed a black woman, Emily V. Gibbes, to a job in the city as a secretary. While on the council, she promoted the creation of recreational centers and playgrounds in the city. In 1953, she was appointed to a five-year term on Suffolk County's Planning Board. Earle was a vice president of the board of the Bellport Memorial Library.

Adelphi University honored Earle with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1942. Another honor was her election as an "honorary life member" of the Women's City Club of New York in 1951.