Susan Catania

Born in Chicago on December 10, 1941, Susan Kmetty grew up in the Beverly neighborhood in the city's South Side.^[1][2] She was an only child. Her father, John Kmetty, made supplies for heavy industrial equipment, and her mother, Helen Giffrow Kmetty, taught home economics at Chicago Public Schools.^[3] Susan attended Catholic schools, including Mother McAuley High School. In 1962, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry from Saint Xavier University. She later did one year of graduate studies in chemistry, including work as a teaching assistant, at Northwestern University.^[1][2][4]

In 1963 Kmetty married Anthony E. Catania, whom she had met during an intercollegiate glee club event.^[3] They had seven daughters, three of whom were born during Susan's tenure as a state representative.^[5] They were married for 58 years before Anthony died in 2022.^[6]

Catania's education, and the fact that both of her parents worked, motivated her to work full-time in an era when many men assumed women were to stay at home. In 1963, she joined Walter C. McCrone Associates, a microscopy consulting firm in the South Side, as information director, technical writer, and publicist. She hired a babysitter and lived near her workplace, allowing her to nurse her baby during her break. By the end of 1970, Catania quit that job after she did not receive a promotion she had expected. The following year, she filed a sex discrimination lawsuit after her employer allegedly hired a man with less experience but offered him twice the pay. Her claim to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was the first by an Illinois woman for unemployment benefits based on sex discrimination, and included a claim for being denied dependent benefits for her children. Catania connected with the National Organization for Women, which was recruiting women to testify at the General Assembly for a bill expanding access to unemployment benefits for pregnant women. Catania would become one of the women to testify with the organization. By 1972, she worked freelance as a technical publications consultant.^[2][7]

Amid her advocacy for legislation protecting pregnant women, in 1972 Catania decided to campaign for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 22nd district.^[2] She was vying for the Republican seat in her district that was available under the state's cumulative voting system,^[4] in which each district elected three members.^[8] Her district was predominantly African American and Democratic.^[9]

Three other candidates ran for the Republican nomination, including incumbent Genoa Washington. The Chicago Tribune reported that Catania was running "one of the most vigorous campaigns of the year", in contrast to the other candidates. Washington was confident of his reelection and led a relatively quiet campaign. Catania ran on a platform to mitigate pollution, promote consumer protection, improve public education, promote small business, regulate insurance practices in the inner city, and combat racial and sex discrimination.^[10] Washington battled cancer and died a few weeks before the election, leaving his seat vacant.^[5][11] Catania won the election, having secured endorsements from Independent Voters of Illinois and Gloria Steinem, an activist and journalist.^[5]

Catania has been described as a liberal,^[7] feminist, and maverick.^[12] She often defied her party's leadership, supporting gun control and abortion, but faced few repercussions as there is no Republican organization in the South Side of Chicago.^[13] Throughout her tenure, she sponsored over 50 bills that became law, addressing topics that included domestic violence, child support, joint custody, school bus safety, grandparents' visitation rights, state income tax reform, a rape shield law, and public aid.^[3][14]

Cumulative voting was abolished by the Cutback Amendment in 1981, and Catania lost any chance to retain her seat in the House going forward.^[4] She ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1982. It was also a form of retaliation against George Ryan, who had opposed her reappointment to the Commission on the Status of Women and was also running for lieutenant governor.^[21] As the only candidate to openly support the ERA, Catania collected donations from feminists nationwide who were hoping to get Illinois to ratify the amendment.^[12] At the time, Illinois was the only northern industrial state that had not ratified, and national ERA leaders viewed the election as a potential referendum on the amendment. The National Organization for Women supported Catania, while Phyllis Schlafly, an ERA opponent, recognized the importance of the race and opposed her.^[21] Governor James R. Thompson backed Ryan in the race, and mainstream Republicans in Illinois regarded Catania "as radical as Leon Trotsky".^[31] Catania lost the primary, coming in second place to Ryan.^[8] Afterwards, she continued lobbying on women's rights issues.^[4]

Starting in December 1982, Catania was a member of the women's committee of the Chicago 1992 World's Fair. She also served on the advisory committee, formed in July 1983, of Harold Washington, who by then had been elected mayor of Chicago.^[32] In spring 1983, Catania was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics for six months, studying women in politics.^[9][33] Her activities included giving lectures, leading seminars, and rowing along the Charles River as part of a rowing crew team.^[2] On June 7, 1984, she testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations during a hearing regarding the role of women in the economic development of the Third World.^[34] During the 1984 Republican National Convention, Catania gained national attention as the only delegate who refused to support the Reagan–Bush slate.^[4][7] In 1986, she ran in the at-large election to be a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners representing Chicago, succeeding in the primary to be one of ten Republican nominees, but losing the general election.^[35][36] During Chicago's mayoral election in 1987, she was mentioned as a potential candidate for the Republican primary,^[37] though she ultimately opted not to run.^[2]

By 1992, Catania ran her consulting firm.^[38] She helped open a daycare center for state employees in Chicago.^[7] During the 1992 elections in Cook County, she was the Republican nominee for recorder of deeds, losing the election to Democratic nominee Jesse White.^[39]

In 1993, Governor Jim Edgar assigned Catania to the Department of Children and Family Services, where she was responsible for establishing and licensing foster-care homes in Cook County.^[2][7] In 1997, Catania earned a Master of Social Work degree at the University of Chicago.^[2] By 1998, she worked for the Department of Human Services, overseeing the state's program for preventing and responding to sexual assault.^[8][14] She worked for that department until her retirement.^[3]

Catania survived bouts of breast cancer and bone cancer.^[40] In 2016, she supported Democratic nominee Tammy Duckworth for the United States Senate election in Illinois, and also Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the presidential election.^[8] She eventually moved to Buffalo Grove, Illinois, then to Eagle River, Wisconsin, for permanent retirement.^{[note 2]} In Eagle River, Catania lived in a family cabin at Cranberry Lake that had been purchased by her parents when she was young, and where her children would spend their summers. Catania died from injuries during a fire at the cabin on November 27, 2023, at age 81.^[2][40]