Hermine Dalkowitz Tobolowsky (1921-1995), the "Mother of the Texas Equal Rights Amendment" engaged in a relentless campaign beginning in the 1950s to enact legislation to ensure equal legal rights of Texas women and repeal discriminatory Texas laws based on gender. Tobolowsky attended law school at the University of Texas School of Law in 1943 and became one of only two women to graduate in her class. After graduating, Tobolowsky experienced discriminatory practices firsthand as she sought employment in the legal profession. One such instance was when a law firm offered her a position on the condition that she would not ever be able to see clients as they would be instructed that a male attorney would be handling their cases. She refused the offer. Tobolowsky eventually accepted an offer from a San Antonio office on the condition of equal treatment and opened her own practice four years later. In 1951, she married Hyman Tobolowsky and relocated her practice to Dallas, Texas. Soon after, Tobolowsky began a relentless campaign targeting "antiquated" Texas laws that established discriminatory practices based on gender. Initially focusing on separate property and acknowledgement laws, Tobolowsky widened her scope to include a push for a blanket equal legal rights amendment to the Texas Constitution. Through an extensive letter writing campaign, numerous speaking engagements, and garnering support from across the state and nation, Tobolowsky finally realized her goal with the passage of the Texas Equal Rights Amendment in 1972.

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