| Department of History, Purdue University |
| and The American Women’s Movement, 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents |
"Jane LaTour's book.is a great reminder that when we have equal
opportunities in every line of work we thrive. When women change the
way work is done, they make lasting change in the culture of the
workplace."
opportunities in every line of work we thrive. When women change the
way work is done, they make lasting change in the culture of the
workplace."
| Pioneering Tennis Pro |
| Sisters in the Brotherhoods |
| A new book by Jane LaTour |
| Every purchase via this website supports human rights work worldwide. Learn more. |
Working Women Organizing
For Equality in New York City
For Equality in New York City
| Jane LaTour is a journalist and labor activist living in New York City. She has written for various union publications and managed the Women's Project of the Association for Union Democracy. She is a two-time winner of the Mary Heaton Vorse Award, the top labor journalism award in New York City. |
The Anglican Examiner
| JaneLaTour.com is hosted by |
Here's what they're saying about Sisters in the Brotherhoods:
| First Lady of the World Eleeanor Roosevelt |
| Mary H. Rumsey Founder The Junior League |
| Frances Perkins Mother of Social Security |
| Daisy Harriman Founder Women's National Democratic Club |
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 coworkers,
and the institutionalized
discrimination 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
against deeply ingrained
cultural assumptions about
what constitutes women's
work, the middle-class bias of
feminism, the daily grinding
sexism of male coworkers,
and the institutionalized
discrimination 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
Sisters in the Brotherhoods is an
oral-history of women who have, against
considerable odds, broken the gender barrier
to blue-collar employment in various trades in
New York City beginning in the 1970s.
oral-history of women who have, against
considerable odds, broken the gender barrier
to blue-collar employment in various trades in
New York City beginning in the 1970s.
| struggled to make a place for themselves among New York City's construction workers, stationary engineers, firefighters, electronic technicians, plumbers, and transit workers. |
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,
including and especially the
United Tradeswomen.
important unifying theme:
the way women confronted
the enormous sexism
embedded in union culture
and developed new
organizational forms to
support their struggles,
including and especially the
United Tradeswomen.
| About the Author |
| Where you can read about the spiritual lives of: |
And other women who shaped
public life in the 20th century.
public life in the 20th century.
| Billie Jean King |
| Author, In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in Twentieth Century America |
| Alice Kessler-Harris |
| JaneLaTour.com was designed by: |
Jane Latour's engaging oral histories reveal the diverse routes women traveled to claim these jobs, the
alliances that sustained them, and the strategies they developed to master their crafts in the face of
employer hostility, co-worker harassment, union corruption, and a government that all but abandoned
them in the 1980s. Tradeswomen, feminists, labor and civil rights activists, historians, and social
scientists will all find wisdom and inspiration in these pages."
alliances that sustained them, and the strategies they developed to master their crafts in the face of
employer hostility, co-worker harassment, union corruption, and a government that all but abandoned
them in the 1980s. Tradeswomen, feminists, labor and civil rights activists, historians, and social
scientists will all find wisdom and inspiration in these pages."
"Sisters in the Brotherhoods profiles the indomitable women who
fought their way into some of the best-defended male monopolies
in the U.S. labor force: the skilled trades of New York City.
fought their way into some of the best-defended male monopolies
in the U.S. labor force: the skilled trades of New York City.
| Nancy MacLean Author |
punishing ordeals of female pioneers in male dominated
industries . . . What makes the interviews so compelling is
the author's own on-the-job experience in a series of blue
collar occupations and academic positions. The
camaraderie makes her questions harder in substance by
more sensitive in the asking."
industries . . . What makes the interviews so compelling is
the author's own on-the-job experience in a series of blue
collar occupations and academic positions. The
camaraderie makes her questions harder in substance by
more sensitive in the asking."
| Scott Molloy, Ph.D. Schmidt Labor Research Center University of Rhode Island |
| JaneLaTour.com, Copyright by Jane LaTour, 2008 |
"This is a bitter tale of
courage, told for the first
time. In the words
courage, told for the first
time. In the words
| Betsy Wade Former President Local 3, Newspaper Guild of New York |
| Named Plaintiff Boylan v. New York Times 74 CIV. 4891 |
"Women on the job, they learned, were viewed as an affront to the masculinity of their fellows:
supporting a family was men's work. They have told their colleague Jane LaTour, often reluctantly, the
details of their daily struggle. What we see about us today underlines the painful truth of this book:
unions built by fathers and sons would make no space for mothers and daughters. This is an important
part of a lost history."
supporting a family was men's work. They have told their colleague Jane LaTour, often reluctantly, the
details of their daily struggle. What we see about us today underlines the painful truth of this book:
unions built by fathers and sons would make no space for mothers and daughters. This is an important
part of a lost history."
"Sisters in the Brotherhoods is one of the most exciting books that I've read in years. It is nothing less
than a history of the late twentieth century movement of women into non-traditional jobs as recalled by
and through the voices of the women who opened the doors. Jane Latour seamlessly melds the
aspirations, experiences, doubts and achievements of the courageous women who earned their livings in
trades reserved for men into a persuasive analysis of generational change. Every young woman should
read this resonant and moving book."
than a history of the late twentieth century movement of women into non-traditional jobs as recalled by
and through the voices of the women who opened the doors. Jane Latour seamlessly melds the
aspirations, experiences, doubts and achievements of the courageous women who earned their livings in
trades reserved for men into a persuasive analysis of generational change. Every young woman should
read this resonant and moving book."
| First woman to complete the carpentry apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Local 1260 in Iowa City, in 1975 |
| Dale McCormick |
"Jane LaTour tells the history of the tradeswomen movement by focusing on events in New York City.
She captures the real lives of tradeswomen through stories that are poignant, raw, and uplifting. It
brought back to me the frustration of trying to engage the Women's Movement in seeing tradeswomen
as more than role models for our daughters. In our sex-segregated economy tradeswomen are on the
front line in the battle for economic justice."
She captures the real lives of tradeswomen through stories that are poignant, raw, and uplifting. It
brought back to me the frustration of trying to engage the Women's Movement in seeing tradeswomen
as more than role models for our daughters. In our sex-segregated economy tradeswomen are on the
front line in the battle for economic justice."
| Freedom Is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace |
| Nancy Gabin |
building trades in New York City over the last several decades. The interviews are enormously rich
sources, filled with stunning stories of male resistance, abuse, and hostility toward the integration of
women and equally stirring tales of women's determination to survive this treatment. Even as they were
subjected to various hair-raising and harrowing forms of harassment and intimidation, the women whose
oral histories form the heart of this compelling and moving book sought to challenge and reform the
system.
Reform could be incredibly hard and scary work; it took one woman fourteen years to find the courage
to speak at her own local. But they did speak out and by their individual and collective efforts, they
organized women and sympathetic men and empowered them to fight for their rights. Sisters in the
Brotherhoods illuminates an aspect of women's and labor history that has been understudied and
overlooked. In the women's challenge to existing union arrangements and their own deployment of labor
movement principles and practices to achieve their ends lies a fundamental contradiction of post-World
War II labor history. Jane LaTour's book compels a reassessment and revision of the view of
post-World War II unions as inimical to working women's interests and as vehicles for conservatism
rather than progressive change."
sources, filled with stunning stories of male resistance, abuse, and hostility toward the integration of
women and equally stirring tales of women's determination to survive this treatment. Even as they were
subjected to various hair-raising and harrowing forms of harassment and intimidation, the women whose
oral histories form the heart of this compelling and moving book sought to challenge and reform the
system.
Reform could be incredibly hard and scary work; it took one woman fourteen years to find the courage
to speak at her own local. But they did speak out and by their individual and collective efforts, they
organized women and sympathetic men and empowered them to fight for their rights. Sisters in the
Brotherhoods illuminates an aspect of women's and labor history that has been understudied and
overlooked. In the women's challenge to existing union arrangements and their own deployment of labor
movement principles and practices to achieve their ends lies a fundamental contradiction of post-World
War II labor history. Jane LaTour's book compels a reassessment and revision of the view of
post-World War II unions as inimical to working women's interests and as vehicles for conservatism
rather than progressive change."
"In Sisters in the Brotherhoods, Jane LaTour
draws on extensive interviews and oral
histories with women who broke into the
draws on extensive interviews and oral
histories with women who broke into the
"LaTour rips aside
the bromides of
superficial victories
to explore the
the bromides of
superficial victories
to explore the
of the women themselves, we hear the gut-wrenching
experiences of pioneers who toughed their way into
apprenticeships and on to strenuous blue-collar jobs that
civil rights laws in the 1970s were designed to open to them.
"These women, mostly without allies, learned a cruel lesson:
you could fight to cling to the job that would support a
family, but you could not at the same time fight the hostility
of the shop steward, the connivance of the union with the
contractor.
experiences of pioneers who toughed their way into
apprenticeships and on to strenuous blue-collar jobs that
civil rights laws in the 1970s were designed to open to them.
"These women, mostly without allies, learned a cruel lesson:
you could fight to cling to the job that would support a
family, but you could not at the same time fight the hostility
of the shop steward, the connivance of the union with the
contractor.
| g |
| A portion of the purchase price of all books ordered from via this website supports human rights work worldwide. |