SPEAKER: HON. NANCY PELOSI OF
CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TEXT:
Text that appears in UPPER CASE identifies statements or
insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the House on the floor.
[*E1359] MS. PELOSI. MR. SPEAKER, I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO THE
ATTENTION OF MY COLLEAGUES AN IMPORTANT ARTICLE BY OUR ESTEEMED COLLEAGUE AND
DEAN OF THE CALIFORNIA DELEGATION, REPRESENTATIVE DON EDWARDS. THIS ARTICLE
APPEARED IN THE APRIL 28, 1988, LOS ANGELES TIMES. IT FOCUSES ON THE NEED TO
ENFORCE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN THE TRADE BUSINESS. I THANK
CONGRESSMAN EDWARDS FOR BRINGING THIS ISSUE TO THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION AND FOR
RECOGNIZING THE FACT THAT WOMEN SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY
TRADE THEY CHOOSE WITHOUT FACING UNNECESSARY DIFFICULTIES AND/OR HARASSMENT IN
THE WORKPLACE.
I ENCOURAGE MY COLLEAGUES TO READ THIS ARTICLE ON THE VITAL ROLE OF WOMEN IN
AMERICA'S WORK FORCE.
[From the Los Angeles Times, Apr. 28, 1988]
ENFORCE EQUALITY IN THE TRADES
(By Don Edwards)
Rosie the Riveter never wanted to quit her job. A 1944 survey showed that most
of the 2.9 million women in the high-paying, non-traditional work force during
World War II wanted to stay. But when the war had been won, women who had been
an essential part of wartime production were channeled back to "women's
work" -- clerical jobs, domestic service and the like.
Today, apart from program in professions such as law and medicine, women remain
overwhelmingly concentrated in low-paying occupations. More than one-third of
all employed women work in clerical jobs. Full-time women workers earn a median
income of $16,000, compared to full-time men workers' $25,000.
A House subcommittee recently held hearings on women in the skilled blue-collar
trades. Women who had pioneered in such trades as carpentry and heavy equipment
operation in the 1970s testified that when they first entered their field, they
believed many more women would follow.
They had good reason for their belief. In 1978 the Department of Labor
established regulations requiring goals and timetables designed to increase
women's participation in the trades; an immediate 20% goal for women was set for
apprenticeship. (Apprenticeship is paid, on-the-job training, the pathway into
most of the skilled trades.) A more modest 6.9% goal was set for women in each
craft on federally funded construction sites.
But there was no second wave. The Reagan Administration refused to enforce the
regulations. By 1987 women in the skilled trades were practically invisible,
less than 2% of the work force in most of these highly paid jobs.
It is not that there are no women ready to do the work. Advocacy organizations
like Vermont's STEP-UP for Women, Boston's Women in the Building Trades and
Trades-women of Philadelphia prepare women stuck in low-paying, dead-end jobs to
enter the trades. They report that they have to turn away applicants. In New
York City, NEW (Non-traditional Employment for Women) has helped hundreds of
women -- more than 80% of the women "hard hats" in the city -- go from
welfare to the hiring hall.
It's not that there is no work. Construction is booming in Los Angeles, Boston,
Maine and in many other cities and states. About 119,000 mason jobs will be
vacant over the next five years.
The few women who make it through the door suffer from the effects of job
isolation and sexual harassment. In job interviews, they are asked insulting
questions about what their husbands will think of their working in construction,
who will mind their children, or why they can't find something else to keep them
busy.
A member of the Laborers' Union, recently off welfare and
delighted at the chance to support her six children, testified, "You must
always do everything the hard way. Even though everyone was always working in
teams, I almost all the time had to work alone. Instead of being able to use a
dolly as the men did to move Masonite, I had to lift and carry it from one end
of the hall or to other floors by myself."
Sexual harassment is common, including insults about a woman worker's sexual
preference, sexually explicit graffiti and peepholes in the women's locker
rooms. Unequal training and job-rotation opportunities also plague the few women
who finally are hired.
A California study shows that one-third of women who leave the trades do so
because of sexual harassment. In San Francisco, organizations have had to
institute occupational-stress counseling to help women stay on the job. The 1978
Department of Labor regulations required trade employers receiving federal
funding to hire at least two women when possible, and mandated a working
environment free of harassment, intimidation and coercion. These regulations,
like the ones establishing goals and timetables, have never been enforced.
The Department of Labor's own studies prove that goals and timetables have
worked in the maritime and coal-mining industries and were exceeded on the
Alaskan pipeline, where more than 2,500 women worked as operating engineers,
Teamsters and laborers. Yet an official told the subcommittee
the labor department still preferred the "glove" to the
"bat" approach.
It's time to take the gloves off. The history of our equal employment
opportunity efforts shows that employers respond to serious enforcement efforts,
not to the kid-glove treatment. It is outrageous that the Administration is
still not planning to enforce 10-year-old regulations. It is unconscionable to
ask women to wait any longer. The 20% goal for women in apprenticeship should be
implemented immediately and updated annually. The 6.9% goal for women on
federally-funded sites must be raised.
Women should not have to put up with insulting interviews, poor-quality training
or energy-draining harassment while on the job. They should not have to choose
between a paycheck and freedom from intimidation. It's been 45 years since Rosie
the Riveter was sent home. It's time to break down the barriers that keep women
from [*E1360] full participation in the work force. They need the
work and the country needs them.