Based on an analysis of oral history interviews, this paper examines the events and consciousness surrounding a 1979 strike initiated by 53 female office employees of the Wisconsin Education Association (WEA) Insurance Trust. Faced with sex-discriminatory working conditions, the women at the Trust responded by initiating a strike. For many of the…

Trends concerning women working in industry are discussed. Although women make up a majority of the workforce in most manufacturing industries in both developed and developing nations, they have little say or consideration in the decisions that affect their lives. Following a brief introduction in chapter 1, the second chapter, "The Rise of…

The numbers of women entering the workforce have steadily risen since the mid 1950s. The nature of the family unit has correspondingly changed; the family in which the man was the husband and breadwinner and the woman was wife and mother devoted full time to home and family is a rarity. The attempt on the part of working family members to…

Covers women's labor history in the United States and in industrialized nations from the early 1800s to the present. Provides primary source documents from New England workers in the 1830s and 1840s and from women workers on global assembly lines in the 1980s. Includes discussion questions. (LS)