Hermine Tobolowsky was born on January 13, 1921, in San Antonio, Texas. As a teenager, she started working with her mother in the family store, helping to run the business. Hermine, like her mother, often got into arguments with men who at the time were skeptical of women as entrepreneurs. Noticing his daughter’s militant spirit and her persuasion skills, her father offered the girl to enter the law faculty after school. What came out of this we will tell on dallaska.
Studying law
From 1938 to 1939, she studied at Incarnate Word College. Then she entered Trinity University in San Antonio and later the University of Texas for a law degree. There were only 11 women among 350 applicants, including Hermine Tobolowsky. She graduated from the university with distinction in 1943.
In the same year, she became a member of the Texas Bar.
Employment difficulties
Tobolowsky had her first job interview at a law firm in Houston. The employer said that he would hire a woman on the condition that Hermine would work behind closed doors and clients would be told that the job was done by a man.
She also tried to get a job as a clerk for the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. However, here she encountered sexist remarks as well. Hermine was told that women were not smart enough to perform the duties of a judicial clerk.
Finally, she got lucky when she was offered a position as an attorney at a law firm in San Antonio. Moreover, the woman managed to insist on working on equal terms with her male colleagues. After four years of law practice, Hermine decided to start her own business.
Combating gender discrimination
In 1951, Tobolowsky married and moved with her husband to Dallas, where she continued to practice law. There she joined the Texas Federation of Business and Professional Women club, which intended to outroot gender discrimination in the city and across the country. In particular, one of the major projects of the club was the Texas Amendment.
Within two years, Hermine conducted extensive research to reveal gender discrimination hidden in the laws of the United States. It was her studies that became the basis for the submission of the Texas Equal Rights Amendment. As a starting point, she ensured that women were given the opportunity to serve on juries, which was prohibited under Texas law until 1953.
In 1967, she petitioned the Texas State Legislature for a bill. Under that bill, married women were entitled to independently control, without the consent of their husbands, the private property they owned before marriage or received during one as a gift or by inheritance. During the presentation of the bill, Tobolowsky faced opposition and derision from several legislators. It stimulated her to engage in a more important project, drafting an equal rights amendment to the Texas constitution.
In 1959, she submitted an amendment to the Texas State Legislature. At numerous legislative sessions, Hermine and other proponents of the amendment defended their position until it was ratified on November 7, 1972. The new changes guaranteed equality before the law for all Texans, regardless of sex, race, color, confession or national origin.
In 1959, Tobolowsky was appointed president of the Federation of Business and Professional Women club. Following that, she began traveling around the United States, promoting the idea of an amendment so that women from other American cities could also achieve equal rights.