The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW) was one of the earliest British women's organisations. The society was established in 1859 by Jessie Boucherett, Barbara Bodichon and Adelaide Anne Proctor to promote the training and employment of women. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography says Maria Rye was also a founding member. In its early years it was affiliated to the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, though formal connections between them were severed in 1889. The society's journal was the English Woman's Journal published by Emily Faithfull's Victoria Press.