Anne Hecker and the Women’s Movement

Anne Hecker

In the 1970s Women in Communications was torn over how deeply the organization would get involved in the women’s movement. The issue had to do with members who had fought all their professional lives to be looked at as ”journalists,” not “women journalists” and were afraid that any hard earned professional recognition would get lost in being considered “feminists.” While other members insisted that an organization that was begun by women who campaigned for the right to vote should not be hesitant about plunging full-force into the fray. Members on both sides were not shy about vocalizing what they expected their organization to do—at meetings, via letters and sometimes angry phone calls—I discovered when I became national president. I can just imagine what my in-box would have looked like if we had e-mail at the time. With all this cacophony ringing in my ears if I had any doubts about WICI’s stance and involvement it all came into clear focus with an incident, in of all places, in the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel guest laundry room.

The national convention in 1977 was in Honolulu at the Sheraton. As usual I had waited to the last moment (a bad habit left over from newspaper days) to prepare remarks for that evening’s event and was holed up in the laundry room drafting away as I waited for the machine to give me clean clothes. A couple entered and while she piled their clothes in a basket, he turned to me, took in the pad and pen and belligerently said, “Are you one of those women libbers?” “All we want,” I replied, “is a fair shake at jobs, salaries and promotions.” He turned without a word, picked up the laundry basket and the two headed out. At the door he turned. “We have two daughters,” he said. “Right on!”

Meet Anne Hecker

Anne Hecker joined the Association for Women in Communications (then called Theta Sigma Phi ) in 1944 at the University of Oregon. She was president of the student chapter and also editor of the student newspaper, The Emerald.

She is a longtime member of the Seattle Professional Chapter and is part of the lineage of our organization. Founding member Georgina MacDougall Davis entrusted Anne with personal papers and memorabilia. In turn, Anne spearheaded efforts to fund and create an exhibit in Davis’ memory at the University of Washington School of Communications in 1982.Anne was elected AWC (then called Women in Communications, Inc.) national president in 1977 and 1978 after serving four years as national treasurer. She is a recipient of the AWC Lifetime Achievement Award and twice received the prestigious Georgina MacDougall Davis Award.After graduation, she began her career as a staff correspondent for the United Press (now known as United Press International) in Portland where she spent several years writing and editing for the news and radio wires. She later edited national and regional trade publications and was an investigative reporter for The Argus, a Seattle weekly published between 1894 and 1983. Thereafter, Anne joined the Washington Dental Association where she spent the next 25 years in their service first as public relations director and then as executive director. She was honored for her distinguished service to the dental profession by the American College of Dentists before retiring in 1994.Anne is on the board of the Matrix Foundation, AWC’s educational arm and has served as vice chair and secretary/treasurer. Her most recent endeavor has been co-developing the Matrix Foundation’s Certification Program for Professional Communicators.