Report of theCWANational Women's Committee

to the72nd Annual Convention

Communications Workers of AmericaJuly 26-28, 2010Washington, D.C.

Introduction

The National Women's Committee is deviating from our usual reporting formatthis year to celebrate and acknowledge two historic anniversaries in the women'ssuffrage movement.

First, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendmentto the Constitution, granting women full voting rights.

The committee members are wearing gold, white and purple sashes like the onesworn by the suffragettes in parades and demonstrations. The color gold signifiescoming out of darkness into light, white stands for purity and purple is a royalcolor which represents victory.

The committee members will now introduce you to six courageous women whofought to obtain equal rights and one which continues that fight today.

1

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm

INovember 30, 1924 - January 1, 2005

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born Novem-ber 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, to Barbadi-an parents. Chisholm was raised in an atmospherethat was both political and religious. Chisholmreceived much of her primary education in herparents' homeland, Barbados, under the stricteye of her maternal grandmother. Chisholm, whoreturned to New York when she was ten yearsold, credits her educational successes to the well-rounded early training she received in Barbados.

She attended Girls' High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a section of the city with a growingpoor black and immigrant population. She wontuition scholarships to both Oberlin and Vassar,but at the urging of her parents decided to live athorne and attend Brooklyn College. While train-ing to become a teacher she became active in

several campus and community groups where shedeveloped a keen interest in politics.

After graduating cum laude from BrooklynCollege in 1946, Chisholm began to work as anursery school teacher and later as a director ofschools for early childhood education. In 1949she married Conrad Chisholm, a Jamaican whoworked as a private investigator. She continued toteach but her political interest never waned. Aftera successful career as a teacher, Chisholm decidedto run for the New York State Assembly in 1964and won the election.

Chisholm served in the Assembly until 1968 andthen decided to run for the U.S. House ofRepre-sentatives. Her opponent was the noted civil rightsleader James Farmer. Possibly because Chisholm

2

was a well-known resident of Bedford-Stuyvesantand Farmer was not, she won easily. Thus beganher tenure as the first black woman to serve inthe United States Congress. Always consideringherself a political maverick, Chisholm attemptedto focus as much of her attention as possible onthe needs of her constituents.

Chisholm protested the amount of money bud-geted for defense while social programs suffered.She would not agree that money should be spentfor war while Americans were hungry, ill-housed,and poorly educated.

Early in her career as a Congresswoman, she sup-ported legislation legalizing abortions. Chisholmworked to expand the career choices for womenbeyond the traditional female professionals of sec-retaries, teachers, and librarians. She argued thatwomen were capable of entering many other pro-fessions and they should be encouraged to do so.Black women, too, she felt, had been shunted intostereotypical maid and nanny roles from whichthey needed to escape both by legislation and byself-effort. Her antiwar and women's liberationviews made her a popular figure among collegestudents, and she was besieged with invitations tospeak at college campuses.

She served as the representative for the 12th Dis-trict of New York from 1969 until 1982. In 1972,she became the first black woman to actively runfor the presidency of the United States. GeorgeMcGovern won the presidential nomination at theDemocratic National Convention, but Chisholmcaptured ten percent of the delegates' votes. As aresult of her candidacy, Chisholm was voted oneof the ten most admired women in the world. .

After her unsuccessful presidential campaign,Chisholm continued to serve in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives for another decade. As a memberof the Congressional Black Caucus she was able

to watch black representation in the Congressgrow and to welcome other black female Con-gresswomen. In 1982, she announced her retire-ment from the Congress.

From 1983 to 1987, Chisholm served as PuringtonProfessor at Massachusetts' Mt. Holyoke College,where she taught politics and women's studies. In1985, she was the visiting scholar at Spelman Col-lege. In 1987, she retired from teaching altogether.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ch-isholm as Ambassador to Jamaica, but due todeclining health, she withdrew her name fromconsideration.

Chisholm says she didn't want to be rememberedonly for being the first black Congresswoman, orthe first woman and black to seek a major party'spresidential nomination, but as a black womenwho lived in the 20th century and dared to beherself. She said, "1 want to be remembered as acatalyst for change in America."

Chisholm died after suffering a series of strokeson January 1,2005, in Ormond Beach, Florida.She was 80.

Before Hillary and Barack in 2008, there wasShirley in 1972. Let no one ever forget the paththat Shirley blazed.

ACTION: Trailblazers and the progress andchange they bring about remind us that we mustnot let the rights we fought for yesterday go unno-ticed. We still need change and must continue tospeak out on issues everyday to help support ourwomen and working families. Our struggle con-tinues, we must mobilize and utilize our politicalresourcfs to let our voices be heard.

3

Dorothy Height

March 24, 1912 - April 20, 2010

A powerful voice in American culture, who hadthe ear of Presidents, Dorothy Height was a free-dom fighter for all of us. As the "God Mother ofCivil Rights," she sat through tense Whitehousemeetings and witnessed every significant victoryin the struggle for racial equality. Yet, she wasthe sole woman among powerful, charismaticmen, and was someone whose personal ambi-tion was always secondary to her passion forher cause.

Dorothy Irene Height was born in Richmond,Virginia, on March 24, 1912, to Fannie Bur-roughs and James Height. At an early age, shemoved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania,where she attended integrated schools. Althoughshe taught bible stories to white children, shewas told that she could not play with them be-

cause she was black. As a high school student,Height made a speech about slavery amendmentsto the U.S. Constitution that won her a scholar-ship to the college of her choice. Height wasadmitted to Barnard College in New York City.Upon arrival at Barnard, she was denied entrancebecause the school had an unwritten policy ofadmitting only two black students, and the col-lege had met that quota. Height then enrolled atNew York University, where she earned a Bach-elor's degree in social sciences and a Master'sdegree in education psychology.

Following Heights graduation, she became awelfare caseworker for the New York WelfareDepartment. At the age of 25, she began a ca-reer as a civil rights activist when she joined theNational Council of Negro Women; where she

4

became President and held that position for 40years. She also served as National President ofDelta Sigma Theta sorority from 1946 to 1957.

Height remained active throughout her life. Shefought for civil rights for both African Americanwomen and women in general. By the 1960's,she was in the forefront of the Civil RightsMovement. In 1965, Height founded the YWCACenter for Racial Justice and directed it for 12years.

Following major civil rights victories in the1960's, Dorothy Height served on many commis-sions and boards connected to women and civilrights. Most recent was the Executive Committeeof the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,the largest civil rights organization in the USA.

In 1993, Height was inducted into the NationalWomen's Hall of Fame. Her accomplishments in-clude receiving more than 20 honorary degrees.She once told people, "I want to be rememberedas someone who used herself and anything shecould touch, to work for justice and freedom. Iwant to be remembered as one who tried."

ACTION: The work for justice and freedomtakes many paths. Many potential leaders andunsung heroes are in our midst. CWA is an orga-nization that can continue to lift up the voices ofwomen and minorities and promote their leader-ship at every level of the union.

5

April 6, 1882 - August 11, 1972

Rose Schneiderman was a polish immigrant inNew York's Lower East Side whose enormouspassion and organizing talents changed the livesof American workers.

At a young age, she took a job in the garmentindustry as a cap maker making $5 a week. Dis-tressed by the lack of pay and working conditions,Rose organized the first female local of the UnitedCloth Hat and Cap Makers' Union and emerged asa promising organizer and labor leader.

She joined the Women's Trade Union League(WTUL), an organization dedicated to unionizingwomen and lobbying for protective legislation,which she later referred to as "the most importantinfluence in my life." She had a long career inthe WTUL and the International Ladies' Garment

Workers Union (ILGWU), holding a variety ofleadership positions in both.

Rose was instrumental in the "Uprising of TwentyThousand," a general strike of garment work-ers from 500 sweatshops in New York. Womendemanded dignity, living wages, shorter workhours, and union recognition. Strikers protested atthe Triangle Shirtwaist Factory months before thehorrific fire broke out killing 146 workers, whowere mostly women. There was no longer anyquestion about what the strikers had meant whenthey talked about safety and sanitary reform, andabout social and economic justice.

In a speech, Rose expressed her anger that thelives of working people were not valued andthat those responsible for the poor conditions of

6

workers' lives were not held accountable. Re-sponses to the fire ultimately spurred the creationof more effective fire and safety regulations forthe workplace and raised awareness within Rosethat nothing and no one would help workingwomen but a strong union.

She continued to organize women workers in NewYork City and devoted energy to matters concern-ing protective legislation for women, particularlyeight-hour and minimum-wage laws. Rose alsolent her voice to suffrage, which she saw as a fightfor economic rights.

When a state legislator warned in 1912 that "Getwomen into the arena of politics .... and you emas-culize women," she replied:

" .... Surely these women won't lose any moreof their beauty and charm by putting a ballot ina ballot box once a year than they are likely tolose standing in foundries or laundries all yearround .... "

Rose became a nationally-known figure and was apersonal friend and political influence to Franklinand Eleanor Roosevelt, serving as the only wom-an on the National Labor Advisory Board. Shewas regularly consulted on labor and women'sissues, helping to shape much ofthe New Deallegislation. She later served six years as Secretaryof Labor for the State of New York, enacting andenforcing further protections for workers.

Rose Schneiderman sought to improve the livesof working-class women through education, thevote, and legislative protection such as the eight-hour day and minimum-wage laws. She left alasting legacy of legislation that protects workersand clearly articulated ideals such as comparableworth laws.

ACTION: The CWA National Women's Com-mittee strongly recommends that delegates com-mit individually and collectively to continue thework of Rose Schneiderman by ensuring their lo-cal women's committees focus on improving thelives of women through education and legislativeprotections such as the Paycheck Fairness ActS.182/H.R.12. We further recommend delegatescontact their respective Senators to ensure theirsupport with this important legislation.

7

Alice Paul

January 11, 1885 - July 9, 1977

Alice Paul spent the majority of her life fight-ing for women's rights. Born to Quaker parentsin New Jersey, her mother was a member of theNational American Woman Suffrage Associa-tion (NAWSA) and brought Alice to associationmeetings and held gatherings in their home. Herparents made Alice's education a priority. She at-tended Swarthmore College from 1901-1905, andafter earning her Masters Degree in 1907, traveledto England to work on her PhD.

While overseas, Alice met Lucy Bums and to-gether were jailed several times in England andScotland while fighting for women's rights. Afterreturning to the United States in 1910, Alice im-mediately became active in the fight to obtainWomen's Right to Vote.

In 1912, Alice was appointed by NAWSA to chair

the Congressional Committee in Washington,which was to work for the passage of the amend-ment that Susan B. Anthony helped draw up.Alice and Lucy were instrumental in mobilizingan estimated 10,000 women in support of suf-frage, from all over the country, to march fromthe Capitol to Constitution Hall in 1913, one dayprior to President Wilson's inauguration. It wasthe largest action of its kind, and though dis-cussed at the 1912 suffrage convention, most be-lieved it could not be done. The women traveledgreat distances at their own expense, and wereable to organize the event through U.S. mail andword of mouth. A subsequent march was held thesame year in New York.

Alice and Lucy severed their ties with NAWSAaltogether in 1916 and fanned the Women's Na-tional Party (NWP). NAWSA believed the vote

8

for women should be won state by state, whileNWP rnove.d forward more vigorously with theirwork on a Federal Amendment.

After being jailed in Virginia on bogus chargesfor picketing the President, Alice began a hungerstrike for better conditions and food for herselfand the other suffragists in jail. Alice and otherswere force fed, which was leaked to the public;this drew much needed attention, sympathy andsupport for the 19th Amendment. Soon thereaf-ter, President Wilson called for the release of thewomen, and began to speak in favor of givingwomen the vote, stating that women's suffragewas urgently needed as a "war measure." The 19thAmendment to the Constitution was passed onAugust 26, 1920.

It took 72 years from the 1848 Seneca Falls Con-vention to the passage of the 19th Amendmentgiving women the right to vote. In 1923, Alice au-thored the "Lucretia Mott Amendment" calling forabsolute equality stating "Men and women shallhave equal rights throughout the United States andevery place subject to it's jurisdiction." The EqualRights Amendment (ERA) was introduced in ev-ery session of Congress from 1923 until it passedin 1972 and went to the states for ratification.

Alice worked tirelessly for the ERA in the UnitedStates & internationally. She led a coalition thatwas successful in adding a sexual discriminationclause to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Though the ERA only passed in 35 of the 38states needed for ratification by 1982, it is still nota Federal Law today; Alice Paul never stoppedworking toward truly equal rights for women untilshe died in 1977, only a few miles from where shewas born.

Ms. Alice Paul is just one of many women that -helped get us where we are today. We stilluse many of her basic organizing, mobilizing& lobbying/political action skills today in our

work in CWA, in fact those are two of the threefounding principles that our CWA triangle isbuilt on.

Since the passage of the 19th Amendment, thepercentage of women voters has continued to in-crease with every Presidential election. Accordingto the census bureau, 52 percent of US Citizensover age 18 eligible to vote in the 2008 electionswere women;72.8 percent of those women areregistered to vote (compared to 69.1 percent ofmen); 90.19 percent of those women registeredexercised their right to vote (compared to 88.99percent of men); 53.69 percent of all votes in 2008were cast by women.

CWA Historical Note: Though many unions fearedthe ratification of the ERA would jeopardize con-tract language, CWA strongly supported ERA bypassing several motions during Executive Boardmeetings and Conventions including: February1978 - Moved that CWA Conventions be held instates that ratified the Equal Rights Amendment tothe Constitution of the united States of America,and that the President of CWA give due consider-ation to the ratification situation as other meetingsof CWA are planned. (meaning to boycott stateswhere ERA was not ratified) and again January1979 - Moved that CWA Conventions he held instates that ratified the Equal Rights Amendment tothe Constitution of the United States of America,and that the President of CWA give due consider-ation to the ratification situation as other meetingsofCWA are planned. CWA continued to lobby inattempts to move at least 3 additional states fromJune of 1972 until 1982.

ACTION: CWA National & Local Women'sCommittees must continue to ensure our mem-bers are registered to vote and participate incampaigns to make sure all Union members votein Federal, State & Local elections.

We must also recognize the individual talentsand interests of each of our members and active-ly encourage them to participate in mobilizing,organizing, & political action like lobbying forworkers' rights and contributing to COPE.

9

Doris Stevens

October, 26 1892 - March 22, 1963

Doris Stevens was an American suffragist andthe author of "Jailed for Freedom."

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Doris Stevens gradu-ated from Oberlin College in 1911. She worked asa teacher and social worker in Ohio and Michiganbefore she became a regional organizer with theNational American Woman Suffrage Association(NAWSA).

Doris Stevens joined with Alice Paul, Lucy Bums,Mabel Vernon, Olympia Brown, Mary RitterBeard, Belle Lafollette, Helen Keller, MariaMontessori, Dorothy Day, and Crystal Eastman toform the Congressional Union for Women Suf-frage (CUWS) in 1913.

In 1914, Stevens became a full-time organizer,

as well as executive secretary, for the CUWSin Washington, D.C. After working on the EastCoast, including Newport, Rhode Island, in1913-14, she moved west to Colorado (1914),and then to California (1915). In 1916, theCUWS became the National Woman's Party(NWP). She organized the first convention ofwomen voters at the Panama Pacific Expositionin San Francisco in 1915 and the NWP electioncampaign in California in 1916.

Over the years, Stevens held several importantNWP leadership positions, including member-ship on the executive committee. She served asvice chair ofNWP's New York branch, spear-headed the NWP Women for Congress campaignin 1924, and worked in states where femalecandidates were contenders for office. She also

10

served as Alva Belmont's personal assistant.

Stevens, arrested for picketing at the White Housein the summer of 1917, served three days of her60-day sentence at Occoquan Workhouse beforereceiving a pardon. She was arrested again in theNWP demonstration at the Metropolitan OperaHouse in New York in March 1919. Stevenspublished the quintessential insider account ofimprisonment ofNWP activists, "Jailed for Free-dom," in 1920.

Stevens continued to be a member of the NWPfor the next thirty years and served the party invarious capacities: as a vice president, as chair ofthe Committee on International Action, and as amember of the National Council. From the mid-1920s until her death, Stevens's main residencewas in Croton, New York, a bohemian colony ofartists and activists. From 1928 to 1939, Stevensserved as chair of the Inter-American Commis-sion of Women, an advisory group created by thePan American Union (later the Organization ofAmerican States).

Stevens's personal life, richly documented in herpapers, shows extensive correspondence with alover and her two husbands, illustrating changingsocial mores of heterosexual relationships in thefirst decades of the twentieth century.

ACTION: Encourage all CWA members to edu-cate their membership about how hard womenfought to obtain the right to vote. Educate wom-en about the importance of organizing and mo-bilizing within their locals on issues that affectwomen and their families. Support all women'scommittee activities that embrace registration ofvoters involvement in legislative action, par-ticipation in COPE, GOTV, phone banking andwalking precincts.

11

Amelia Earhart

July 24, 1897 - January 5, 1939

Amelia Earhart Remembered For Her Strength

Amelia Earhart was a strong, successful womanand a real pioneer.

As most everyone knows, Amelia is known forher dedication to flying and her final flight. Thelast flight she ever took was attempting to flyaround the world. She knew that no one had eversuccessfully done it, and she wanted to be thefirst. She disappeared during her trip never to beheard from again, but that single attempt made hera role model for young girls for years to come.

In 1932, she was the first woman to ever fly soloacross the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, she was thefirst female ever to receive the Air Force Distin-guished Flying Cross. Only a few women preced-

ing her had been able to receive the same honor.

Amelia is easy to identify with her cropped hair,which was almost unheard of at the time, hertomboy appearance, and usually always picturedaround an airplane or a runway. She also alwayshad on a leather flight jacket which would keepher warm during flights in her small aircraft.

Airstrips, also know as runways, were not theonly thing she was known for during that timeperiod. Amelia was in the news for more than herflights. She appeared in fashion spreads, was palswith Eleanor Roosevelt, and even hawked herown line of clothing and, unlike today's celebswith fashion labels, actually made it on her ownsewing machine.

12

Her clothing line was a complete failure, and shebegan selling personal items that she had used,or at least claimed to have used, to her fans.People could not get enough of her memora-bilia, even before her incredible attempt at flyingaround the world.

She was very aware of the "power of publicity"and understood that flying alone wasn't goingto keep her in the public eye. Clearly AmeliaEarhart's legend is not just in her mysteriousdisappearance, but in her stylish appearance,too. Before World War II, most flying was donein three-quarter length jackets. The World WarII fighter planes had smaller cockpits, so jacketsbecame cropped. Long coats would bunch up andprevent pilots from flying the planes correctly.

Amelia Earhart made it three-quarters of the wayaround the world by herself. She set the stage forwomen to follow their dreams; not only in theaviation field, but in all fields. She made womenrealize that if they are determined and confident,they need not listen to all the "NO's," but only totheir own personal determination to say "YES."

ACTION: Support and encourage those with hugedreams. Only through seeing possibilities will wedevelop the agents of change who will build up theunion's future; it takes mavericks to chart a bravenew course for modem day social change. We mustembrace new ideas that may guide workers in thestruggle for justice and equality.

13

Sonia Sotomayor

Born June 25, 1954

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is the first Latina Su-preme Court Justice and only the third femaleJustice. Her parents were immigrants and herfirst language is Spanish. She was born andraised in Bronx, New York, and was diagnosedwith type-one diabetes at the age of eight. Shebecame fluent in English and read Nancy Drewbooks and watched Perry Mason. She knew bythe time she was ten that she wanted to be alawyer.

Sonia was the Valedictorian of Cardinal Spell-man High School. This won her a full scholar-ship to Princeton University. There were veryfew women and fewer Latinos at Princeton. Shebecame the co-chair of the "Accion Puertor-riquena" organization, which looked for moreopportunities for Puerto Rican students. She

focused on the hiring of Latino faculty and La-tino curriculum, wrote a letter to the President ofPrinceton University, and filed a formal com-plaint alleging the school was discriminating inhiring and admission practices. Soon afterwards,the University began to hire Latino faculty andbegan to teach Latino seminars.

She began Yale Law School in 1976 where therewere very few Latino students. She was theco-chair of a group of Latin, Asian, and NativeAmerican students and advocated for the hiringof more Hispanics to the law school faculty.

Sonia began her career as an Assistant DistrictAttorney in New York. She soon went to workin private practice and began to get involved inpublic service roles. She was appointed to many

14

positions from both Democrats and Republicansand is labeled an Independent.

Sonia was nominated to be a Federal Judge byPresident George H. W. Bush in 1991, and be-came the first Hispanic Judge in New York State.She was nominated by President Bill Clinton tothe Court of Appeals in 1997.

Sonia has been involved with some interestingcases:

She upheld the Bush Administration's rightto have the United States no longer contrib-ute to separate nongovernmental organiza-tions which perform and actively promoteabortion as a method of family planning inother nations.

She dissented in a free speech case where adesk employee of the police department sentracist materials through the mail on their per-sonal time. She argued that no matter howoffensive the material was, it was protectedby the first amendment.

Sonia allowed an employer to search an em-ployee's computer.

She was involved in the 1995 Baseball dis-pute and her decision ended the strike. Sheissued a preliminary injunction against MajorLeague Baseball, preventing it from unilater-ally implementing a new collective bargain-ing agreement and using replacement players.

She was also involved in a high profile dis-crimination case involving promotion teststhat were overturned by the Supreme Courtright before she became a member.

During her time as a judge, she has given almosttwo hundred speeches. She attributes some of her

success to affirmative action. Her most contro-versial quote is "I would hope that a wise Latinawoman with the richness of her experienceswould more often than not reach a better con-clusion than a white male who hasn't lived thatlife." She clarified this during the confirmationby stating "while life experience shapes who oneis 'ultimately and completely,' a judge followsthe law regardless of personal background."

ACTION: CWA Local and National Women'sCommittee's will encourage the confirmation ofwomen to Supreme Court positions as well as allwomen to positions that make and impact our laws.

15

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Hernandez, ChairExecutive Vice PresidentCWALocall031

Claudia Cole, Vice PresidentCWA Local 2336

Kim Ball, Vice PresidentCWALoca13204

Angie Miller, Executive Vice PresidentCWALocal4108

Virginia Anderson-Dunbar, TreasurerCWA Local 6300

Shari Wojtowicz, PresidentCWA Local 7250

Gayle Crawley, PresidentCWA Local 9410

Mary Behling, Vice PresidentCWA Local 13301

16