A Spontaneous Loss of Enthusiasm”

Workplace Feminism and the Transformation of Women's Service Jobs in the 1970s

Bibliographic Data

ID11212484
AuthorsDorothy Sue Cobble (0000-0002-9943-8226, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume56
Pages23-44
Publication date1999-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Labor and Working-Class History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0147-5479 • E-ISSN: 1471-6445
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0147547999002823
OpenAlexW2076339763
LanguageEN
Citations received14

In 1972, a group of tired stewardesses tried to explain their concerns to the incredulous male transit union officials who led their union. No, the primary issues were not wages and benefits, they insisted, but the particular cut of their uniforms and the sexual insinuations made about their occupation in the new airline advertisements. Their words fell on deaf ears. Despite their commonalities as transportation workers, the gender gap separating the two groups was simply too wide to cross. Indeed, male subway drivers could not understand why the stewardesses would object to their glamorous sex-object image. Deeply held gendered notions of unionism and politics also stood in the way of communication. For even if the complaints of stewardesses were accepted as “real,” to many male union leaders they seemed petty: matters not deserving of serious attention, let alone concerted activity

Business · Economics · Enthusiasm · Fell · Feminism · Labour economics · Object (grammar · Political science · Politics · Service (business · Sociology · Trade union · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Marketing · Psychology · Social Psychology

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