Barbara Bergmann

Barbara Bergmann died by suicide at her home in Bethesda, Maryland on 5 April 2015. She was a longtime member of the Hemlock Society and advocate for assisted suicide. She is survived by her son, David Martin Bergmann, and her daughter, Sarah Nellie Bergmann, as well as three grandchildren. Her husband, Fred H. Bergmann, a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health, whom she married in 1965, died in 2011.

Barbara Bergmann received the 2004 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award for increasing the status of women in economics and creating an understanding of how women can advance in the academic field.

Bergmann was also involved in numerous national and international organizations that promote advancement and equality. She served as chair of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in Economic Professions, and president of the Eastern Economic Association, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, the American Association of University Professors (1990-1992), and the International Association for Feminist Economics (1999-2000).

In 1965 she joined the University of Maryland, teaching there until 1988. From 1988 until 1997 she taught economics at American University.

Bergmann received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1959 and developed an interest in computer simulated economics, realizing that economics should be based more on observation and field research than solely theorizing. Research and experience has led Barbara Bergmann to develop theories and ideas about government policy, the implementation of observation into economics, and racial and gender equality.

After Bergmann graduated with a B.A. in 1948, the recession, discrimination against Jews, and workplace sex segregation made it difficult to find a job that was interesting. Bergmann took a job with the federal government in the New York Office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics where she fielded public inquiries; she was head of the inquiries unit after a year. A firsthand experience with the discrimination of a black employee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics illuminated how real and pervasive race discrimination was at the time. Harvey Purdy was the only black employee at the New York office and, when Barbara managed to get him promoted, he was demoted shortly after and the job was given to someone else.

Barbara Rose Bergmann (20 July 1927 – 5 April 2015) was a feminist economist. Her work covers many topics from childcare and gender issues to poverty and Social Security. Bergmann was a co-founder and president of the International Association for Feminist Economics, a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security, and Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Maryland and American University.

Barbara Rose Bergmann parents and grandparents, fled anti-Semitism, immigrated to the United States from Europe in 1914. She was born in 1927 to a Romanian-born mother and Polish-born father in the Bronx. Her parents worked instead of finishing school, but they expected Barbara to adhere to the standards and traditions of American life and eventually go to college. At the age of five, she started formulating ideas about feminism, pursuing equality for men and women, because she wanted to be an independent person when she grew up, and that required money and equality. During the Great Depression, Bergmann developed a strong belief that the government should provide resources and help to individuals who faced uncontrollable circumstances or did not have the resources and knowledge to provide for themselves.