Working Women's Organizations

Women of the women's rights movement worked together and separately on a diverse range of issues that affect women of all ages. One of these issues was working women's organizations. Small groups of women in communities across the United States worked on grassroots projects such as establishing woman-owned businesses, newspapers run by women, feminist bookstores, and restaurants. These women created battered women's shelters and rape crisis hotlines to tend to the needs of victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. These women came together to form child-care centers and babysitting cooperatives so other women could work outside their homes for pay. Women's clinics were opened by women health-care professionals to provide services, such as birth control and family planning counseling, for women of all ages and socioeconomic levels and especially for low-income women. Naturally, working women's organizations were formed to address the needs of various career paths and the needs of specific populations of women. These organizations meet formally or informally, according to the needs of the women. Some of these organizations meet in large convention centers, and others meet in churches or other community facilities.

In 1920, the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor was formed to address the needs of working women and to gather data on the world of women at work. Suffragettes actively lobbied for changes to make the world of work a safer, fairer place for women. During the 1940s, women entered the workforce due to the shortage of men, who were off fighting World War II. Working women's organizations are a result of the changing work environment that women faced in the 1960s. During the 1960s and before, help wanted ads were segregated according to gender. Certain jobs were simply not offered to women, and certain jobs were not offered to men. There were jobs for which women simply could not apply, solely because of their gender. In 1968, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the practice of advertising for jobs based on gender was illegal. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has little power, so a majority of newspapers decided to ignore the ruling and continued the discriminatory practice of advertising for jobs by gender. Working women's organizations helped to stop this discriminatory practice by lobbying for legal, effective change. The National Organization for Women (NOW), founded by Betty Friedan, took this issue all the way to the Supreme Court. Due to the efforts of this working women's organization, we now can see women in just about every job imaginable. Conversely, men have also been afforded the same rights and hold jobs different from those held by the previous generation. In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote the book The Feminine Mystique, which offered hope and a glimpse of life that included work other than housework to many American women.

While working women's organizations lobbied for legal changes, they also advocated for women's rights on the home front. Many women simply wanted respect for the work they were doing both inside and outside of the home. Many women also wanted equal pay for equal work. Women still have not achieved that goal today. For some women, working women's organizations offered help and advice regarding child care, promotions at work, family leave time, and information about financial issues. Working women's organizations also provide information about options women have including leaving an abusive relationship, facing sexual harassment, or other discriminatory practices. These organizations provide women with information and empowerment that will allow them to choose the life they want to live. For some women, working women's organizations provide a sense of camaraderie that may be missing at the women's place of employment or at home.

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