Long before “feminism” became a potent political movement in the U.S., Carmen Warschaw cracked glass ceiling after glass ceiling.
She served on California’s first coastal commission and was the first female chair of the State’s Fair Employment Practices Commission, established in 1959 to enforce California civil rights laws regarding discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
The long-time doyenne of the California Democratic Party attended her first national party convention in 1948 and was a California delegate to just about all of them from then on. She served on her party’s National Committee, representing the Golden State, and as Southern California Democratic Party chair.
Her philanthropic activities were recognized by the Los Angeles Times, which named her Woman of the Year in 1968. Carmen remained a “powerhouse” in California’s Democratic politics for more than half a century. Author and political columnist Bill Boyarsky labeled her “one of the indomitable forces in California political life.” Her adversaries nicknamed her “The Dragon Lady”—a sobriquet she gleefully embraced and even named the family yachts The Dragon Lady.
