Sonia Pressman Fuentes, pioneering women’s rights lawyer, dies at 97
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Apr 25
Sonia Pressman Fuentes, pioneering women’s rights lawyer, dies at 97
6 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Apr 25
Fuentes died on December 20 in Sarasota, Florida, with her death confirmed by friend Nancy Gold.
She was the first female attorney in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s general counsel’s office in 1965, helping enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Fuentes inspired the creation of the National Organization for Women and chronicled early resistance to women’s rights in her 1999 memoir, highlighting the challenges women faced in the workplace.
Why is the agency Fuentes helped build now limiting some gender protections?
How does a 1960s feminist's legacy shape today's workplace rights?
After recent rulings, what is the future of workplace gender identity rights?
Is the 'glass ceiling' now just invisible 'second-generation bias'?
A law was passed in 1964, so why did it take a fight to enforce it?
What can the 'lavender menace' controversy teach modern social movements?
Sonia Pressman Fuentes: From Holocaust Refugee to Architect of Modern Women's Rights
Overview
Sonia Pressman Fuentes, born in Berlin in 1928 and a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany, became a pioneering lawyer and feminist leader in the United States. After excelling academically, she worked for the Department of Justice and the National Labor Relations Board before volunteering with the ACLU, where she helped pass the Equal Pay Act of 1963. In 1965, she became the first woman attorney at the EEOC, drafting landmark rulings against workplace discrimination. Frustrated by slow progress, she urged Betty Friedan to found the National Organization for Women in 1966. Fuentes also co-founded other key feminist groups and left a lasting legacy through her activism, writings, and preservation of her family's refugee history. She passed away in 2025, honored for her lifelong fight for equality.