Year Honored: 1987
Birth: 1919 -
Born in: Minnesota
Biography
Elizabeth H. Ryan was an ardent advocate for the improvement of the criminal justice system and the correction system in Delaware. She served on the Sentencing Reform Commission and the Delaware Council on Crime and Justice, which assisted the Bureau of Juvenile Corrections in developing a treatment and classification system, training staff, and implementing the new system. Ryan also worked directly with the inmates of the women’s correctional facility I Claymont and the boys at the Ferris School.
Ryan lobbied for the Equal Right Amendment and was a strong supporter of women’s participation in Government. She conducted workshops on lobbying and spoke to school and community groups about the importance of becoming involved in the political process. She herself also lobbied for increased gun control and the bottle bill.
She was also a member of the League of Women Voters, serving as President during the uproar over school desegregation in the 1970s. Ryan was instrumental in making the process a peaceful one. She also edited ‘Delaware Government,’ published by the League of Women Voters as the first low cost, widely circulated, book on Delaware Government available to schools.
Ryan held leadership positions in the Association of University Women, Head Start, Planned Parenthood, the Delaware Energy Conservation Committee, and Common Cause.
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Sources and Additional Readings
Delaware Commission for Women. (2006). Twenty-Fifth Anniversary: Hall of Fame of Delaware Women: The Legacy Endures.
