Blue-collar Women at Work With Men: Negotiating the Hostile Environment

Title VII of the 1963 Civil Rights Act specifically prohibits gender-based discrimination, and over the past 40 years women have made astounding progress in breaking down barriers in the workplace. Nevertheless, discrimination is still widely practiced in both overt and subtle ways, denying women access and opportunity, particularly in blue-collar occupations that have long been dominated by men. In Blue-Collar Women at Work with Men, Jeanie Ahearn Greene brings the experiences of blue-collar women vividly to life through interviews and analysis that expose the challenges they face on a daily basis. From Peg the police officer to Angela the trade union president, these women describe the negative situations they encounter in every facet of their work lives--from the hiring process to socializing with co-workers to relationships with supervisors--and discuss the coping mechanisms they have developed for navigating in an often-hostile environment. Greene then takes the discussion to the next level, exploring the social, political, and economic implications of enduring gender discrimation. She concludes with a series of recommendations for employers, policymakers, social workers, lawyers and other advocates, human resource professionals, and women themselves, designed to promote workplace equality in both spirit and practice.

Jeanie Ahearn Greene is founder of Ahearn Greene Associates, a social science research and consulting firm, specializing in social welfare issues, policy, and advocacy. Previously serving as a process evaluator for the Montgomery County Homeless Families Initiative and as a Faculty Research Associate at the University of Maryland's Bureau of Governmental Research, she has conducted numerous studies and promoted programs in substance abuse treatment and health care policy, with a particular emphasis on disenfranchised groups, including women and children. She has published her research in a wide variety of reports and journals.