| Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City |
| By Jane LaTour |
| Sisters in the Brotherhoods |
Sisters in the Brotherhoods, by Jane
LaTour, is an oral-history of women who,
against considerable odds, broke the gender
barrier to blue-collar employment in various
trades in New York City beginning in the
1970s.
LaTour, is an oral-history of women who,
against considerable odds, broke the gender
barrier to blue-collar employment in various
trades in New York City beginning in the
1970s.
It is a story of the fight against deeply
ingrained cultural assumptions about
what constitutes women's work, the
middle-class bias of feminism, the
daily grinding sexism of male co-
workers, and the institutionalized dis-
crimination of employers and unions.
It is also the story of some gutsy
women who, seeking the material
rewards and personal satisfactions of
skilled manual labor, have struggled to
make a place for themselves among
New York City's construction
workers, stationary engineers,
firefighters, electronic technicians,
plumbers, and transit.
ingrained cultural assumptions about
what constitutes women's work, the
middle-class bias of feminism, the
daily grinding sexism of male co-
workers, and the institutionalized dis-
crimination of employers and unions.
It is also the story of some gutsy
women who, seeking the material
rewards and personal satisfactions of
skilled manual labor, have struggled to
make a place for themselves among
New York City's construction
workers, stationary engineers,
firefighters, electronic technicians,
plumbers, and transit.
Each story contributes to an important unifying theme: the
way women confronted the enormous sexism embedded in
union culture and developed new organizational forms to
support their struggles, especially the United Tradeswomen.
way women confronted the enormous sexism embedded in
union culture and developed new organizational forms to
support their struggles, especially the United Tradeswomen.
| Praise for Sisters in the Brotherhoods |
| Photo by Jon Bloom |
Photo by
Clarence Elie-Rivera
Clarence Elie-Rivera
Yvone Maitin
Elaine Ward
Janine Blackwelder
Margarita Suarez
Joi Beard
Brenda Berkman
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| Read about the spiritual lives of these pioneering women: |
| The New York Anglicans: Twenty Who Shaped the Twentieth century |
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