Women's Equality Journal

The case of the EEOC against AT&T continued through hearings in California, New York, and Washington. Passionate testimony as well as statistical studies filled the hours. And finally, the case was settled by a Consent Decree. To find out how this case ended, read Women, Power, and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace by Lois Kathryn Herr.

The EEOC and AT&T were joined in a battle over equal opportunity in the early 1970s. Too proud to admit its failure to provide equal opportunity for the women in its workforce, AT&T was willing to share all its data and records. AT&T's records, file after file, were provided without objection to the EEOC and thus built the case. AT&T even renovated a floor of a building in DC to provide a place for the EEOC lawyers to review those records. And in those files, the EEOC found documentation of just what it was trying to prove.

As the EEOC built its case, the lawyers discovered that AT&T's own data showed exactly how women and men were treated differently. They used that data to build their case, entitling it "A Unique Competence: A Study of Equal Employment Opportunity in the Bell System." When AT&T officers saw that document, they were shocked. When AT&T's women saw it, they were ready to organize.

NOW played a major role in making sure the phone company took sex discrimination seriously!

It was not enough for a company like AT&T to have good intentions when their numbers and rules stood in the way of equal opportunity. Even changes that the company saw necessary were difficult to make happen. It took the shock of a government challenge and the ensuing public hearings to bring the reality home.

A hint about chapter two of Women, Power, and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace

Notes from the second wave of feminism as we began to change our workplace rules.

Memoirs demand that you revisit the glorious and the traumatic times of your life.

Thoughts about coming out of isolation and revisiting priorities.

The pandemic workforce problems hit women especially hard.

Pennsylvania has an election coming up on Tuesday, May 18th. VOTE!

Women holding municipal office - are there many? And women in the air, specifically as stewardesses for PAN AM in the 1960s and 70s. Interesting statistics to ponder.

Even if you've never been involved in politics at any level, you can (and maybe should) run for office in your local municipality. Important decisions are being made every day in cities, townships, and boroughs and in school boards across the state. The process is not secret but it is obscure. Here are the five basic steps.

People who want to join their local government need to know the ins and outs of getting elected. But more than that, they need clues about how the political culture works.

Spring break - a time to see a blooming world around us here in the northern hemisphere. It's a new beginning in so many ways wherever we live - a time to connect with friends and make new ones, a time to enjoy the natural world around us.

Fighting voter suppression and winning with activists, corporate pressure, and a Federal law.

Honoring the women in my family. 

Post-covid, women face challenges in "returning" to the workplace.

When in difficult or hostile environments, we need ways to change them and to empower ourselves.

Comparing the fight for women's rights in the 70s and today

What we remember about where we lived helps us remember who we were.

Remembering where we lived helps us remember who we were.

Not so random thoughts on a cold March morning in Mt. Gretna