This week our spotlight shines on Shirley Troyan Joseph, a Jewish women’s rights leader who worked in community organizations and advocacy groups at local, national, and international levels. Deeply invested in women’s rights, and efforts to both include and support poor and marginalized women, she worked on policy and programs to provide work opportunities and early childhood education. Outside of these broader aims was a strong bifocal interest in feminist and Jewish identities, and the issues of antisemitism in the women’s movement that she identified and highlighted from the 1970s.

Born in Buffalo in 1925 as Shirley Mildred Troyan to Louis and Betty Troyan, both emigres from Eastern Europe, she studied Political Science at the University of Michigan and was awarded a BA in 1947. She was a charter member of the 1950s rebirth of the Buffalo Section of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and worked in an NCJW project that established libraries on inner city public schools. This led to further leadership roles within NCJW at regional levels. She served as president of the Northeastern District from 1968 to 1970 and as national vice president from 1975 to 1983. Shirley Joseph went on to serve as vice chair of the United States National Commission for UNESCO from 1975 to 1977.

From the 1980s to the 1990s, Shirley participated in three United Nations’ World Conferences on Women. In 1980 she was a journalist for the NCJW Journal covering the UN World Conference on Women in Copenhagen, Denmark. She went to the UN World Conference on Women in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya for Moment magazine as a correspondent. In 1995 she attended the World Conference on Women in Beijing, China as Chair of the Jewish Women’s Caucus, and as a member of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Beijing Conference Circle.  Interwoven with these activities were leadership roles on the Status of Women Committee of the International Council of Jewish Women from 1984 to 1990 and from 1999 to 2002.

In 1985, Shirley Joseph joined the Erie County Status of Women Task Force and became the executive director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women in 1988 for nearly five years.

In addition to her advocacy roles, Shirley  served as president of Jewish Federation Housing, and chaired the Commission on Aging under the Buffalo Jewish Federation. From 1989 to 1993, she served as vice chair of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (later renamed JCPA) and also served as a chair of the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Fund campaign among other local leadership positions.

Over her fifty years of service, Shirley Joseph was recognized with several awards locally, notably the Hannah G. Solomon award from the Buffalo section of National Council of Jewish Women and the Nathan Benderson Community Service award,  presented by the Buffalo Jewish Federation.

Excerpts from today’s Spotlight were written by historian Dr. Chana R. Kotzin, former director of The Jewish Buffalo History Center.