Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972) was an American industrial engineer, consultant and educator who spent her life improving the welfare of workers and opportunities for women to work and study.
The fight for education. In 1900, when graduating with a teaching certificate and BA in English Lit from UC Berkeley, Lillian was the first ever female commencement speaker. She wanted to continue her studies with an MA degree at Columbia, but found out that the English professor did not accept female students and so turned to Psychology. She later earned a PhD in Applied Psychology in 1915 from Brown University and with that became one of the first female engineers and the first ever industrial psychologist with a doctorate.
An industrious career. Together with her husband Frank, Lillian pioneered the application of psychology to studies of work efficiency. Using a camera to film machines and their operators, the Gilbreths redesigned machinery and work processes to suit human movements better, improving efficiency and the comfort for workers. This field of study later evolved into what we now know as ergonomics. Introductions into workplaces by the Gilbreths include improved lighting, regular breaks, suggestion boxes and free books for all employees.
Battling inequality. The Gilbreths authored many scientific papers and books on their observations and interventions in industry settings – as sole authors and together. Despite having a PhD, Lillian was sometimes never mentioned as an author at all, due to concern from publishers about her being a female science writer. Her husband was much more widely accepted and trusted in the field, even though he had not attended college.
Following Frank’s death in 1924, Lillian continued to run their joint business and engineering consulting firm Gilbreth Inc. on her own while also taking care of her children. She incorporated aspects of her motherhood into her work and with the discrimination in the engineering community drifted toward domestic management and home economics. To encourage and enable women to seek employment outside the home, she endeavoured to simplify household tasks via scientific study. While working with General Electric she interviewed thousands of women to establish proper working heights for stoves, sinks and other kitchen fixtures and she invented the foot-pedal trashcan, refrigerator door shelves and wall light switches.
Working for women. Lillian also took over Frank’s visiting lectureship at Purdue University after his death and in 1935 she became America’s first female engineering professor at their School of Mechanical Engineering. She devoted her time there to working with the dean’s office on furthering careers for women and in 1950 Purdue awarded its first PhD in engineering to a woman. The same year Lillian was made the first honorary member of the Society of Women Engineers. Every year they award the Lillian Moller Gilbreth Memorial Scholarship to female engineering undergraduates.
Like ScienceGrrl Glasgow, Lillian also recognised the value of engaging with a younger audience to further science careers for women. She joined the Girl Scouts in 1929 and was active in the organisation for over 20 years.
Policy. As a friend of Herbert Hoover’s wife, Lillian became engaged with government and policy during the presidential campaign. Hoover appointed her head of the Women’s Branch of Engineers for the campaign and during his administration she became the head of the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment. She worked with women’s groups to reduce unemployment and during WWII advised government groups like the War Manpower Commission, Office of War Information and the U.S Navy on education and labour issues, in particular championing women in the workforce. Later she also served on the Chemical Warfare Board, Harry Truman’s Civil Defence Advisory Council and the Defence Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
Never give up! At the age of 86, Lillian became a resident lecturer at MIT and a year later (1965) she became the first woman to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering. The following year she also became the first ever female recipient of the Hoover Medal.