We'll call you if we need you : experiences of women working construction / Susan Eisenberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eisenberg, Susan, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women construction workers--United States--Interviews.

Women construction workers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 pages)

Edition:

With a New Preface

Place of Publication:

Ithaca ; London : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 1998.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Susan Eisenberg began her apprenticeship with Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1978, the year president Jimmy Carter set goals and timetables for the hiring of women on federally assisted construction projects and for the inclusion of women in apprenticeship programs. Eisenberg expected not only a challenging job and the camaraderie of a labor union but also the chance to be part of a historic transformation, social and economic, that would make the construction trades accessible to women. That transformation did not happen. In this book, full of the raw drama and humor found on a construction site, Eisenberg gracefully weaves the voices of thirty women who worked as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, painters, and plumbers to examine why their numbers remained small. Speaking as if to a friend, women recall their decisions to enter the trades, their first days on the job, and their strategies to gain training and acceptance. They assess with thought, passion, and twenty years' perspective the affirmative action efforts. Eisenberg introduces this new edition with a preface that shows how things have changed and how they have stayed the same since the book's original publication. She ends with a discussion of the practices and policies that would be required to uproot gender barriers where they are deeply embedded in the organization and culture of the workplace.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface to the 2018 Printing

Acknowledgments

Thumbnail Sketch

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE. Footings

Pioneering

CHAPTER TWO. Doors, Windows, Locks

CHAPTER THREE. Crossing the Threshold: First Days

CHAPTER FOUR. Ain't Got to Show You Shit

CHAPTER FIVE. Marking Gender Boundaries: Porn, Piss, Power Tools

CHAPTER SIX. (and yet) Passions

CHAPTER SEVEN. Exceptional Men

CHAPTER EIGHT. Balancing Alone across an I-Beam

Settling In

CHAPTER NINE. Bucket or Bathroom ?

CHAPTER TEN. Carrying Weight

CHAPTER ELEVEN. Customized Treatment: Women of Color

CHAPTER TWELVE. Ceilings and Access Panels: Economics

CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Ceilings and Access Panels: Leadership

CHAPTER FOURTEEN. Expansion Joints

CHAPTER FIFTEEN. Punch List

The Tradeswomen. Who̕ s Where

Record of Interviews

Notes:

A reissue of the 1998 ILR Press edition, with a new preface by the author.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501724930

1501724932

9781501719783

1501719785

OCLC:

1022980449