Background
Rawalt was the oldest of three children, and was born in Prairie City, Illinois.
Rawalt was the oldest of three children, and was born in Prairie City, Illinois.
She attended the University of Texas in Austin for one year, then taught high school math in Lorena, Texas.
She worked for the Internal Revenue Service for 30 years, and served on the board of directors for numerous interest groups relating to women"s rights issues. Her family eventually moved to Texas and settled there. From 1921-1924 she worked as secretary to Texas governor, Pat M. Neff.
She received her bachelor"s law degree in 1933 and her master"s law degree in 1936 from George Washington Law School.
In 1933, she started working as an attorney in the office of chief counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. In 1943, Rawalt was elected as president of the Federal Bar Association, the first woman to hold the position.
During 1943 she also served as president of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Rawalt became involved with President Kennedy"s Commission on the Status of Women under the invitation of Esther Peterson.
In 1972, Rawalt founded the Marguerite Rawalt Legal Defense Fund, a group focused on funding legal cases involving women"s equity, particularly relating to financial equity.
She retired from the Internal Revenue Service in 1965, having been employed by them for 30 years.
In 1966, Rawalt became a member of the National Organization for Women, and acted as their first legal counsel In 1964, Marguerite Rawalt wrote to members of Business and Professional Women and Zonta International, asking them to lobby for the passage of provision VII of the Civil Rights Acting of 1964, which prohibited discrimination by employers on the basis of sexual