Katharine
Dexter was
born on 27th August, 1875. One of the first women to study at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she received a degree
in biology in 1904. Later that year Katharine married Stanley McCormick,
the son of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the mechanical harvester.
However, two years later Katharine's husband was diagnosed as suffering
from schizophrenia.
An active supporter of women's rights,
McCormick worked with Margaret Sanger in
her campaign to give birth control advice to women. A prominent member
of the American Woman Suffrage Association,
McCormick served as vice president and treasury of the organization.
McCormick was one of the main opponents of Alice
Paul and the militant wing of the American
Woman Suffrage Association that wanted to introduce the methods
used by the Women's Social and Political Union
in Britain. Eventually this group split to form the Congressional
Union for Women Suffrage (CUWS).
In 1919 McCormick joined with Carrie Chapman
Catt to establish the League of Women Voters. McCormick used the
wealth she inherited from her husband to fund projects such as the
research that led to the discovery and development of an oral hormone
contraceptive.
Katharine McCormick died on 28th December, 1967. She left $25 to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and wrote in her will: "Since
my graduation in 1904 I have wished to express my gratitude to the
Institute for its advanced policy of scientific training which has
been of inestimable value to me throughout my life."
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