PRLog (Press Release) - Mar. 19, 2014 - ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Business and Professional Women of Maryland (BPW/MD) has announced that BPW/MD member, Carolyn A. Cook, CEO/Founder of United 4 Equality, LLC, has been selected as one of six recipients of the 2014 Alice Paul Equality Award.

Presented by the Alice Paul Institute, the award recognizes individuals who honor the spirit of Dr. Alice Paul and whose contributions support her work of advancing women’s equality in America . Cook is the author of legislation which seeks to remove Congress’s deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), along with Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), introduced Cook’s bill in the Senate in 2013.

The awards are named in memory of Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977) who led the final campaign for women’s right to vote. After the 1920 victory, she authored the Equal Rights Amendment and initiated gender equality principles in the United Nations Charter and in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“BPW/MD is thrilled that Carolyn Cook is being recognized for her efforts to ensure the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment,” said BPW/MD President Susan Horst of Rockville.

“BPW has a long history of supporting the ERA. In 1937,” Horst noted, “BPW endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment and adopted passage as its number one legislative priority. It remains so today. BPW was just the second national women’s organization, after Dr. Alice Paul’s National Women’s Party, to support the ERA.”

BPW/MD President Horst and First Vice President Theresa Foster will attend the 2014 Alice Paul Equality Awards ceremony on Thursday, March 20 at 6 p.m. at The Westin Hotel in Mount Laurel, NJ where Cook and the other recipients will be honored.

"It's a tremendous honor to be recognized as embodying even a tiny space within the immense spirit that is Dr. Alice Paul," said Cook. “Her lifelong dedication to women's equality inspires me at a deeply personal level. By redressing the constitutional omission of women, we will advance a new reality in America : One that recognizes the economic, business and social imperative of investing in the 21st-century workforce; half of whom are women."

Cook is a graduate of the American University's School of Communications. Her career spans Special Education, Marketing, Network Operations and most recently as HR Manager in Work/Family Initiatives for the Discovery Channel’s media enterprise. There, Cook offered programmatic solutions to employee challenges around health and well-being, family life, flex work and service-learning. Cook was a key contributor to establishing Discovery’s award-winning reputation as “100 Best Company for Employees and Families.”

Cook co-founded United 4 Equality, LLC, in Washington, DC, with her mother, Maureen Gehrig Cook, and works to prioritize working women's policy initiatives by removing structural barriers to implementation. Cook’s work is known today on Capitol Hill as SJR 15/HJR 43 that would remove Congress’s deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. One-third of the Senate and one-quarter of the House have co-sponsored this initiative.

The Maryland Federation (BPW/MD), founded in 1929, is affiliated with BPW Foundation and with local BPW organizations throughout the State. The Maryland Federation, consisting of seven local organizations in the State, is a not-for profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian, self-governing and member supported organization.

BPW promotes equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education, and information. Membership is open to women and men who support the mission of BPW. With members throughout the state, BPW/MD is the leading advocate for the workingwomen in Maryland .

For more information about BPW/MD, visit www.bpwmaryland.org or contact BPW/MD President Susan Horst at 240-498-8434.

Contact

Susan Horst

***@bpwmaryland.org

Photo:

http://www.prlog.org/12298023/1

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