WHC Advisory Board Member

Dorothy Young Sale

Feminist Activist, Seattle

Almost 50 years ago, Dorothy Young Sale and her family moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, where she joined the League of Women Voters (LWV) when invited by her next door neighbor. She learned about local government issues and LWV history, and has been a member ever since. She transferred her membership when the family moved to Seattle in 1962 where her husband, Roger, started teaching at the University of Washington. She was soon doorbelling for initiative elections and joining the growing civil rights movement. In 1964-65, she co-chaired the Education subcommittee of the Seattle LWV study of Equal Opportunity in Education, Employment, and Housing in the Seattle Area. For her, this work was only a short step to work for equal rights for women. From 1971-74, she worked on the LWV of Washington study of women's status in Washington, worked for passage of the state Equal Rights Amendment (HJR 61) in 1972, and lobbied for the state legislature's ratification of the national Equal Rights Amendment in 1973. During this time she also worked for independent status for the Seattle Women's Commission and the Seattle Office of Women's Rights.

In 1972, Dorothy joined the National Organization for Women's Seattle Chapter, and became active in the larger women's movement. She chaired Seattle NOW's Equal Employment Opportunity Task Force in 1973, was Seattle NOW Co-President in 1974 and 1975, and was Washington State NOW's Western Washington Vice-President in 1978-79. In 1978-79, she became a field organizer in the national NOW ERA Countdown Campaign, working in Oregon, Wyoming and North Dakota. In March 1979, she was elected NOW Northwest Regional Co-director/National Board Member, serving until July 1983. Until July 1982, she worked for extended periods for the ERA Countdown Campaign in Illinois and Oklahoma. As Co-director of the Northwest Region during this period, she also supported existing NOW state organizations and local chapters, and organized new ones in Alaska and Wyoming.

Dorothy became active again in the League of Women Voters on Seattle's Women's Issues Committee from 1991-1993, and was elected to the Seattle LWV Board of Directors in 1992, serving as Voter Service chair. She was elected a Vice-President in 1993, and President for 1995-97. She was LWV Seattle Development Director from 1997-1998. From 1997-2005 she was the LWV of Washington's representative on ProChoice Washington, and Reproductive Rights Chair from 2004-2005.

Dorothy Young Sale was born in New York City, raised on Long Island, New York, graduated from Swarthmore College where she met her husband of 51 years Roger Sale, and received a Master of Library Science degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Her son Tim Sale is a cartoonist, and her daughter Maggie Ostara is a Clarity Breathwork therapist.