Existing comment:
Women in the IBEW
Women have always been important members of the industrial electrical business. As skills diversified, women increasingly took to the shop floor. Here, Bettie Jane King of LU 1041 in New Jersey makes condensers at Cornell Dublier Electric.
In 1891, the word "brotherhood" was considered an all inclusive word like "mankind." In 1892, NBEW sisters became a reality in the electrical industry. Electrical manufacturing and telephone companies hired more women, and the new union reached out to organize some of them. Local 1A, Boston telephone operators, joined the Brotherhood in 1912 and was the third largest local union with 2,500 members. The fight for equality would continue well into the 20th century, but today, opportunities for women abound in all branches of the IBEW.
[Having said that, they've never had a female president.] |