Repost: Oregon tradeswomen archive their blue-collar career histories

By Andrea Castillo, The Oregonian on November 10, 2012 at 6:25 PM, updated November 10, 2012 at 7:20 PM

Betty Kendall, 83, holds her grandmother's volt-ammeter while being recorded by Vivian Jones, a California State University Dominguez Hills associate professor, as part of her international Tradeswomen Archives Project. Women were invited Saturday to contribute virtual and material artifacts of their experiences to help build a comprehensive record of women in non-traditional jobs. Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian

Betty Kendall was the only mechanic at Ed's Auto Electric to wear pearls underneath her coveralls.

It was 1976. Kendall, now 83, had just received her Associate of Arts degree from Portland Community College in auto mechanics. Just one year earlier, she had been named the first woman in the country to become certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence as a master mechanic.

She had a knack for fixing things that not everyone in the male-dominated trade appreciated. But Kendall said her drive to be self-sufficient was more overwhelming than the anger of those who thought it was too counter-cultural.

"In those days, a woman complained once and then she was a troublemaker," she said.

Kendall was one of 12 tradeswomen who took part in an archiving event to document their history. The international Tradeswomen Archives Project hosted the Saturday event at Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., a Northeast Portland nonprofit that helps women access careers in non-traditional blue-collar work.

Vivian Price, an associate professor at California State University Dominguez Hills, runs the archiving project. She called it a "grassroots movement" to document tradeswomens' lives, now that many are just beginning to retire.

"Their records and stories could be lost," said Price, a former electrician. "We're trying to make sure that doesn't happen."

Penny Painter started working construction in 1980. She was a single mom and needed to make more money than her $5 an hour receptionist position allowed.

Painter, 55, started out cleaning construction job sites. Her income immediately doubled.

She knew the job would come with opposition from her male counterparts, but she earned respect by being a hard worker with a no-nonsense attitude.

And with her hair braided under a hard hat, Painter blended in.

"You couldn't tell I was a female except for my nails, which were nice and pretty," she said. "They were always blood red – the same color as my Harley."

Painter said the view of women in the construction field is changing.
 "It doesn't matter who you are," she said. "Most contractors don't care as long as you can do the job and will try hard."

As for Kendall, she found that many people didn't understand why a woman would ever want to be a mechanic. On the job hunt, she was called a "starry-eyed idealist" and told to go back to being a housewife. She got kicked out of boot shops and ran into trouble buying coveralls that fit.

Her interest in the trade stemmed from growing up in the country. Life there contrasted with the city, she said, where the aftermath of the industrial revolution had deepened gender segregation.

On the farm, Kendall watched her grandmother fix their tractor. She still wore a dress, quilted and made award-winning angel food cakes, but when something needed fixing, she could do it.

"These are things women have been doing for years," said Kendall, who also raised three children with her husband, a professor of medicine.

That explains the pearls hidden under her coveralls: a few times a week, Kendall would rush after work to meet her husband at evening receptions, when she'd quickly wipe the grease off her hands and swap the coveralls for a dress.

-- Andrea Castillo

Accidental Trailblazers for Tradeswomen

By Tunisia L. Riley*

On January 25, 2011 Women’s eNews sponsored a panel discussion of female electricians, moderated by Francine Moccio, author of Live Wire: Women and Brotherhood in the Electrical Industry. The event was standing room only with guests filling each seat and lining the walls of the Women’s eNews office. Panelists included Melinda Hernandez, Laura Kelber, Cynthia Long, and Susan Eisenberg. The women were all featured in Live Wire and were from Local Union 3.

The all-woman panel discussed the many hurdles female electricians face. Their stories were both painful and inspiring as the theme of sexual harassment threaded throughout each of their experiences. Beyond the harassment, the women also recounted the pride they felt in the work they were doing. No one signed on the be a trailblazer for tradeswomen but in the midst of their struggles, they became the mouthpiece of women electricians, a sisterhood that bore the scars of sexism, racism, and homophobia.

Melinda Hernandez spoke of growing up in NYC and standing in line on the cold streets of Queens waiting for an application to join Local 3’s apprentice program to become an electrician. She said she spent her 22nd birthday camped out for hours and ultimately became a Journey Woman. She would refer to her male colleagues as “haters and harassers” as many of the men vehemently opposed her presence as a female electrician. “I was invading the boys club and they were going to the do their best to get me out…I’d had to fight the fight for the right to be there.” When Hernandez received her “journeyman” card, she made it a point to have the language changed to reflect the women electricians in the field. She won that battle as her next card said “journey woman.”

Laura Kelber beamed with pride as she spoke of the electrical work she’d done at various high profile buildings across the New York City metropolitan area. But while she took pride in her work, she still encountered ample resistance from co-workers. She recounted one job where the foreman followed her around with a pornographic magazine while making lewd comments towards her. Kelber and other panelist recalled break rooms and locker rooms lined with pornography, and portajohns that would not lock. In the midst of these conditions, the women electricians banded together by giving each other emotional support by listening to each other’s stories and encouraging each other in the hostile environment. They also banded together to familiarize themselves with sexual harassment laws, OSHA, and letter writing to improve their working conditions.

Like Melinda and Laura, Cynthia Long faced the uphill battle of trying to do her work in spite of the hostile environment. She noted feeling let down by the union she paid dues to.  If she knew she would face such severe verbal backlash as a woman electrician, she said she would not have gone through it. Melinda echoed this sentiment: "You spend so much time and energy fighting and working, you forget how to be nurturing and kind. Everything becomes a battle and you lose a bit of yourself and peace of mind."

Susan Eisenberg, author of We’ll Call You When We Need You (a book that came out in 1998), interviewed women who were pioneers as electricians and carpenters. She used their narratives to share stories from the field. Eisenberg collected stories and artifacts from these pioneering women to create “On Equal Terms: Women in Construction, 30 years and still organizing” an art exhibit at Brandeis University.

Each woman spoke of the bittersweet fruit that is the life of a tradeswoman. While they took great pride in their work and enjoyed the financial compensation for the hard work, they also faced an uphill battle against sexism from co-workers and unions that was unchanged from their first day to their last. They worked tirelessly and risked their lives as electricians, carpenters, and construction workers. It was clear they didn’t want a handout; they just wanted the respect of their colleagues as they worked to provide better lives for themselves and their families.

For more information about supporting or learning more about Women Electricians in the New York City area contact Cynthia Long.

For more information on the electrician field:

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
• Deptartment of Labor Definition of Electrician

*Tunisia L. Riley is a frequent guest blogger on The Real Deal. She holds a BA in English and Women’s Studies from the College of William & Mary and an MA in Women’s Studies from the University of South Florida. Her interests are on Black women’s use of creative expression as a means of healing, empowerment, and activism. She believes “when we tell our stories, we empower those around us to agitate injustice, inspire change, and create activism.” Tunisia currently serves as the editor of Under the Microscope, a site for women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to tell their stories. Under the Microscope is for, by, and about women in STEM. Consider submitting your story today!

Retrieved from: http://www.ncrw.org/trackback/2596

Website for "Sisters in the Brotherhood," a book by Jane LaTour.

http://www.talkinghistory.org/sisters/index.html

The women's movement of the mid-20th century inspired many women to seek new opportunities in the workplace. Beginning in the mid-1970s, pioneering young women sought to break down gender barriers in traditionally male, blue-color jobs. They faced daunting obstacles to entering these occupations. On the job they endured unrelenting, often vicious harrassment. They also received support from men who taught them their trades and helped them navigate unfamiliar territory.

Twenty years ago journalist and labor activist Jane LaTour began an oral history project dedicated to preserving their remarkable stories. The focus of her work is a group of women who entered the blue-collar workforce in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sisters in the Brotherhoods is their story, told in their own words and voices.

Have you seen this movie?

Hammering it Out: Women in the Construction Zone (2000)

Director Vivian Price

You can find it online at a page named movieflix.com. It is about the Century Freeway Pre-apprentice Program and contains a lot of good information, shots of the kind of training, and information on the numbers.
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Links for more info:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/labor_studies_journal/v029/29.4laporte.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory/documentary/labor/hammering.php

A great PDF, including additional resources
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Prefer to read? Here you go!