Photo: Past presidents of the Arkansas Federation of Business & Professional Women organization include (seated from left) Rita Ivie-Murray of Mountain Home, Mary Beth Sudduth of Fort Smith, Denise Tarter of North Little Rock and Bea Lewis of Mountain Home. (Standing from left) Sarah Akin of Jonesboro, Winifred Stamps of Benton, Tracy Evans of Conway, Carol Barnhill of Jonesboro, Sue Chaich of Greenbrier, Robin Powell of North Little Rock, Kristina Croslin of Conway, Diana Shelton of Walnut Ridge, Debbie Briscoe of Augusta and Nellie Murphy of Jonesboro.
Two former Business and Professional Women state presidents from Mountain Home joined others who have served in the same role in a special centennial event at Arkansas State University. Rita Ivie-Murray and Bea Lewis are both past presidents of the Arkansas Federation of Business and and Professional Women.
The organization has endowed a scholarship at ASU with a gift of $25,000 to mark the centennial of the organization’s founding.
The Arkansas Federation of BPW is composed of 13 local organizations with members who are active in their communities across the state. BPW’s mission is “To achieve equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information.”
The Wilson Memorial Scholarship funds, the source of the endowment funding, are managed by the past state presidents of the Arkansas Federation of BPW.
Anita J. Marshall, a member of BPW for almost 20 years and treasurer in 2018-19, is founder of Business & Professional Women at Arkansas State University, a registered student organization.
After membership in other chapters, she transferred to Jonesboro BPW when she moved there to pursue a Master of Arts in Sociology degree in 2015.
As a graduate student, she founded the registered student organization at Arkansas State and worked closely with the group even after she graduated and became a staff member in the A-State Department of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography.
Jonesboro BPW, including Sarah Akin, a local member and 2018-19 state president, has guided the new organization in its growth on the A-State campus.
In celebrating the centennial, BPW is still championing the push for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and the group often works with other organizations in support of equal pay.
BPW at A-State hosts an Equal Pay Day bake sale each year on Equal Pay Day to call attention to the continuing pay gap. Baked goods are sold to women for the current percentage pay gap while men pay $1. In 2019, that was 80 cents for women and $1 for men. The bake sale funds are designated for scholarships and are added to the endowment each year.
The Arkansas BPW leadership believes endowing a scholarship would create a permanent marker in line with the mission of BPW as well as the intent of the Wilson Sisters in funding the Wilson Memorial scholarship. It was also a significant way to accent the importance of 100 years of achievement in the work of equality for women.
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