Louise DeKoven Bowen
With Julia Lathrop, other reformers, and the Chicago Bar Association, Bowen “successfully lobbied for a new juvenile court in Chicago,” the first of its kind which opened in 1899. This court was founded on two basic principles — that "juveniles were not ready to be held accountable for their actions" and "that they were not fully developed and could rehabilitate easier than adults.” The Juvenile Court Committee of Chicago helped monitor this new court system and Bowen was long involved in the Committee’s leadership. In 1913 she wrote a report entitled “The Colored People of Chicago,” in which she detailed "racial prejudice and discrimination in education, employment, housing, law enforcement, and entertainment.”
Bowen was also a leader in the women's suffrage movement in Illinois and eventually began touring and speaking on behalf of suffrage legislation throughout the country. Bowen's role as leader and spokesperson helped give the movement legitimacy and was an important factor in the passage of the Illinois Suffrage Act of 1913. This law made Illinois the first state east of the Mississippi River to give women the right to vote for President. After ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, Bowen worked hard to register women voters and encourage women’s participation in government through voting and running for office.
Bowen also used her influence to improve treatment of workers. In her autobiographical account, “Growing Up With a City”, she recounts how she "collected all my arguments regarding women working at night" and personally appealed to International Harvester Company president Cyrus H. McCormick regarding problematic working conditions for women and the need for a minimum wage for women in his company's twine mills.
In her own words, Louise DeKoven Bowen continually focused her tireless energies on "the welfare and betterment of women, children, and their families."