Mary Dublin Keyserling

Mary Dublin Keyserling (1911–1997) was a liberal economist and federal employee noted for her sometimes contrarian views on issues faced by working women. Her time as an economist is largely linked to her time as a federal employee by her career and positions in the United States government. During her career as head of the United States Women's Bureau, Keyserling and her husband Leon Keyserling faced loyalty allegations during the Red Scare that impacted their governmental careers.

Early years Mary Dublin Keyserling was born in New York City, New York on May 25, 1911, to a Jewish family. Both of her parents, Augusta Salik, her mother, and Louis I. Dublin, her father, were immigrants to the United States. Mary Dublin Keyserling was influenced by various social reforms that took place in the United States since young age due to her parents' positive interactions and open minds with many of these social reforms, such as women gaining more rights, that took place during the United States Progressive Era.

Career

Economist Mary Dublin Keyserling was a Keynesian economist. She then pursued graduate studies at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, the London School of Economics, and ultimately at Columbia University to gain a doctoral degree that she did not finish. While in college, Mary Dublin Keyserling was taught by economist Wesley Clair Mitchell.

While head of the Women's Bureau she fought for women to be included in the War on Poverty Program. The War on Poverty Program was being created to help combat poverty in the United States by giving those eligible job training and further work opportunities backed by the United States Government. Many of these work opportunities were jobs paid for by the American Government. Before intervening in the War on Poverty Program, women were excluded from the program. Keyserling was of the opinion, that women being excluded from the workplace had a negative impact on the economy. Women would not have been eligible under the original wording of the document outlining the War on Poverty Program to have been a part of the program. While head of the Women's Bureau, Keyserling's actions led to the War Poverty Program including women. Being included in the War on Poverty Program gave women the same benefits as men concerning jobs and job training men gained from the program. She also worked with already formed Business and Professional Women's Clubs while head of the Women's Bureau to create and implement other such clubs in every state. By 1967 all fifty states had a Business and Professional Women's Club. Keyserling oftentimes had to go to individual states to help the programs to be implemented. State governors, such as in Texas, were educated on women's clubs, leading to organizations getting recognized in their state. Keyserling became an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority in 1970. In the last few decades of her life, she was a part of Radcliffe's Women in the Federal Government Oral History Project. After becoming a feminist in the 1930s, Keyserling remained one until her death on June 11, 1997.