Jane is a feminist.
Jane became a feminist in the wake of controversy about the portrayal of women as sex objects in advertisements. In 1964, at the beginning of the women's movement, Jane created an ad for a New York Department store which displayed twenty-eight products and a blond woman in a bikini. The headline read "From Germany" and the ad implied that all items pictured were available for sale at the store. The ad created quite a stir and was protested by an industry group. Advertising legend, David Ogilvy told Jane, "It was very naughty, but it was also very witty."
Years later, when Jane had embraced the women's movement, she lectured against such ads, even going so far as to use a slide show to demonstrate the ways in which the media had treated women as things. She spoke on the importance of individually protesting objectionable advertisements by refusing to buy a brand and writing or calling the company in order to raise corporate awareness and the standards of the advertising industry.
Jane has been an active member of NOW for many years and still serves as the vice-president for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Funds. She was a founder of the First Women's Bank of New York and spoke frequently on the subject of equal pay for equal work. Jane Trahey On Women and Power was critically acclaimed as one of the best advice books on women in business during the 1970's and 80's. In her advertising and writing she found outlets to raise women's issues and present her own actions and work as an example.
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