Honoring the pioneering women of the Boston City Council

Dorchester’s Maureen Feeney was the second woman ever elected president of the Boston City Council. She served one two-year term as president in 1997. She has been City Clerk since 2011.   File photoDorchester’s Maureen Feeney was the second woman ever elected president of the Boston City Council. She served one two-year term as president in 1997. She has been City Clerk since 2011. File photo

When school children come through City Hall on a tour of the fifth floor, many of them stop in the lobby of the entrance to the City Council offices to gaze at the photos of Council presidents along the wall. Often, says Councillor Ayanna Pressley, they ask: “Where are the women?”

In its 106-year history, only ten women have served on the City Council, and just two of them have their pictures on the lobby’s wall of presidents.

On Wednesday, as Women’s History Month comes to a close, Pressley and fellow At-Large Councillor Michelle Wu honored the eight women who preceded them in office. “Myself and Councillor Wu wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate local sheroes and heroines and to do that for those that have served on this body,” said Pressley said.

City Clerk Maureen Feeney, the first woman to represent Dorchester as its district city councilor and the body’s second woman president, will also be recognized at the meeting as will the first woman to head the council, Louise Day Hicks of South Boston. “I was first person of color to top the ticket and the only woman before me to top the ticket was Louise Day Hicks,” said Pressley.

When Feeney was sworn in in 1994, she was in a class with three other women: Diane Modica, Peggy Davis-Mullen, and Maura Hennigan. “It was history-making,” Feeney said in an interview with the Reporter this week.

Hicks, who served on the council from 1969 to 1971 and again from 1974 to 1977, was a leading opponent of the court-ordered desegregation of the Boston Public Schools and its busing component. “I think it shows the evolution of the city in the last 30 years,” said Pressley. “She was a woman of firsts as well. Her own life was an example of progress even if I personally feel many of her ideologies were not progressive.”
Louise Day Hicks was the first woman elected president of the City Council.         File photoLouise Day Hicks was the first woman elected president of the City Council. File photo
For Feeney, the presence of females on the council proved to be progressive: “I think we brought a different dimension and different perspective. The fact that there were four of us made us a force to be reckoned with. I’d like to think we had an impact on the council.”

One of those impacts was a push for televised meetings for those who couldn’t make it to City Hall for council sessions.

“It was just a fabulous adventure,” Feeney said. She left the council in 2011 to become city clerk, a position that is filled by the council. “I do think even socially, we spent a lot of time together. It was a great bond.” Modica and Hennigan are expected to attend Wednesday’s event.

The event also will pay honor to Mildred Harris, the first woman elected to the council (1939) to replace her late brother. She served only one term. Some 30 years later, Katherine Craven became the second woman to join the council and the first-ever female at-large councillor. Rosemarie Sansone served from 1979 to 1981 and later joined Mayor Ray Flynn’s administration. She is now president of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District.

Feeney said that two of this year’s group of female candidates for the council, Annissa Essaibi-George, an at-large candidate, and Andrea Campbell, who is running for the District Four seat, have reached out to her for advice.

Pressley said she also hopes to give a nod to the women who have run for council and who are considering runs. “I do think there is a victory in the run. We do want to encourage that so we get closer to gender parity in the body.”


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