Simon founded the Women Citizens' Association in Manchester, a local branch of the National Women Citizens' Association. Her husband was
Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1921 to 1922. As Lady Mayoress, Simon caused a stir by refusing to attend a function at
St Mary's Hospital for Women because there were no women on the Board or among the medical staff. She devoted much energy to planning the
Wythenshawe housing estate, but her recommendations were not always practical. For example, she fought for glazing bars in windows since they would make the housing more cottage-like in appearance, although the windows would be harder to clean. She accepted the conventional division of labour between men and women, at least for the working classes, where the woman minded the home. She became Chairperson of the Education Committee 1932–1933. From 1933 she was actively involved in the
Spens Report on secondary education reform, serving as a representative of the Local Education Authorities. On the committee she argued forcefully for abolition of fees in secondary schools, although she could not always get her way. In 1933 Simon, her husband and
Eva Marian Hubback co-founded the Association for Education in Citizenship. Her husband was knighted in 1932. He became chairman of the council of
Victoria University of Manchester in 1939, was a sponsor of construction of the
Jodrell Bank Observatory, and from 1947 to 1952 was chairman of the BBC. Lady Simon became a member of the
Labour Party in 1935, and was appointed to the Departmental Committee on Valuation of Dwelling Houses in 1938. She was Chair of the Further Education Sub-Committee for seven years. In 1946 she became Chair of the Education Advisory Committee of the Workers Educational Associations. In 1964 she was made a freeman of the city. Speaking at that occasion, she said: ::"Happiness, a much more fundamental conception than mere enjoyment or pleasure, depends upon the existence of life and liberty, but it cannot be pursued by the individual unless he has had a chance to develop, first as a child, and then as an adult, all his interests and faculties, varied as they are between each member of society. I do not for a moment suggest that we are even yet in sight of that goal, but that it must be our "guiding light" has been my belief for the forty years that I have been a member of the Education Committee". Shena Simon died on 17 July 1972. The
Shena Simon Campus of
The Manchester College is named after her. ==Publications==