Two longitudinal studies examined the effects of explicit intention, as described in Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior, on preschool teachers' success in enrolling in college. In the first study, 88 low-wage female teachers and teachers' aides who represented 85 child care centers were surveyed about their intentions to pursue college…

A survey of 202 Massachusetts union leaders received 94 responses indicating that women are overrepresented as union secretaries and underrepresented as presidents. They rarely chair grievance or negotiation committees. Both male and female leaders would like to see more women leaders, but males felt that women's issues were adequately represented…

The Massachusetts court held that the exclusion of pregnant women from a disability program was facially discriminatory because pregnancy alone was the determinative criterion. Available from Suffolk University Law Review Office, 41 Temple Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114; sc $3.50. (Author/IRT)

This collection of essays and short stories is designed to provide a glimpse of life in the factory for the women who worked in the cotton mills of Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1840s. The book, which contains two primary sources (i.e., materials written by contemporaries), and three secondary sources, begins with a brief introduction to the…

A study was conducted jointly by Women in the Building Trades (WIBT), and the Wellesley Center for Research on Women to learn about the experiences of women in the building trades. A questionnaire was distributed at a state conference and mailed to the mailing list of WIBT. All told, 431 questionnaires were distributed, and 131 (30%) were…

Describes a program that aims at increasing the number of women technicians in computer and other electronics industries. Discusses how more women are entering the computer field in Massachusetts, the stigma of technical work, typical assignments, lack of short-term courses, and recent responses to needs. (CT)

Examines a primary source-based kit that describes the life of a young woman factory worker in early 19th-century New England. The kit includes five document sets, utilizing maps, newspaper articles, deeds, letters, poems, and other artifacts. The document sets illustrate various topics including mill life and personal life. (MJP)

This historical study of divorce practice has only recently begun. Using Worcester County, Massachusetts as a test case, a preliminary hypothesis that explains the increasing frequency of divorce in terms of basic changes of American life, particularly the increased economic independence of women brought about by industrialization, is presented.…

This paper describes a model providing a framework through which communities can work to meet the critical shortage of adequate quality child care facilities and services in rural as well as urban areas. This CETA program model, called the Fresh Start Approach, offers skills training and supportive services to economically disadvantaged women…

Presents a lesson plan using material from a primary source-based curriculum kit titled "The World of Barilla Taylor." The kit uses personal letters, maps, hospital and work records, and other primary sources to document the life of a young woman working in the textile mills in 19th-century Massachusetts. (MJP)

Documents history of Lowell, Massachusetts, from the careful planning of town, the recruitment of farm family daughters into the labor force, the demise of the town, and Lowell's subsequent regeneration as a high technology center in the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests that the study of this town's history can illuminate the study of current U.S. urban…

The Women in Machining (WIM) program is a Machine Action Project (MAP) initiative that was developed in response to a local skilled metalworking labor shortage, despite a virtual absence of women and people of color from area shops. The project identified post-war stereotypes and other barriers that must be addressed if women are to have an equal…