Public Employee Press

Book review
Sisters break into male-dominated trades in the 1970s

By SUSAN BAILEY

Emboldened by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited sex discrimination in employment, women in the 1970s began to splinter the barriers that blocked entry to well paid, blue collar jobs. Jane LaTour’s new book, “Sisters in the Brotherhoods,” is rooted in interviews with 23 of the first women who broke into the historically male-dominated trades in New York City.

LaTour’s women tell of the daunting challenges they had to overcome to get training and succeed as construction tradeswomen, plumbers, elevator mechanics, and firefighters. They came from varied racial and ethnic backgrounds, and many had education beyond high school. They sought better pay and the enjoyment of working with their hands.

None were prepared for the resentment, isolation, sexual discrimination and harassment that showed them they were unwelcome on the job and in the “brotherhoods.” Electrician Evan Ruderman tells of being locked in a changing shack on a Friday, at the end of the workweek. Some reported that male co-workers posted pornographic pictures on the job, relieved themselves in view of the female workers and even urinated on the women’s tools.

Employers and most union leaders were no help. Worksites provided no bathroom or changing facilities for the women. Women who complained or filed grievances were transferred, given extremely difficult assignments or laid-off. One union leader said pornography wasn’t sexual harassment since it is “common in the industry.”

By persevering and challenging the sexism they faced and the inadequateresponses of their unions, these women show us their unbreakable determination to succeed. They created grassroots organizations to help each other cope with hostile working environments. Against all odds, some became shop stewards, eventually rallying their male co-workers to support them in their fights to improve working conditions.

In “Sisters in the Brotherhoods,” Public Employee Press Associate Editor JaneLaTour has filled in a giant gap left by traditional historians and made a major contribution to women’s and working class history.

“Sisters in the Brotherhoods” is in the DC 37 Library. It is currently sold only as an expensive hardcover, but many admirers of the work are pressing publisher Palgrave Macmillan for a paperback version that would be more affordable for working people, unions and classrooms.