fyi
Volume I Issue i
Female. You. Inner. Fuck. Your. Institution. Feminist. Youth. Information. Female. You. Inner. For You. and I. Femini ne. Yell . Insi de.
Marry Harris
Spotlight “Mother” Jones
(1837-1930)
"Pray for the dead, and
fight like hell for the liv-
ing". These are the famous words of this
issues spotlight individual Marry Harris
Jones. Jones, also known as Mother
Jones, was one of the most influential
labor organizers of
the late 19th and
20th centuries, but
to the public she
was seen as “the
most dangerous
woman in Ameri-
ca”. In many dif-
ferent ways she
broke the mold of
a female activist
and organizer. She
was a woman who used her age and ex-
perience as a rallying point. She claimed
to be older than she actually was and re-
ferring to the male workers she advocat-
ed for as „her boys‟. Most often she is
associated with organizing the United
Mine Workers and Pennsylvania silk mill
children laborers. In Pennsylvania many
of these children working in silk mills
were young girls who were constantly
under dangerous conditions while receiv-
ing much less than their adult coworkers.
In 1903 she led many of these young mill
workers on a March from Philadelphia to
the home of Theodore Roosevelt in Long
Island to demand change. Her legacy
lives on through the magazine, Mother
Jones and in her inspiring words used by
union organizers nationwide.
The Labor Movement
Wal-Mart doesn’t look so Smiley right now…
Dukes vs. Wal-Mart
The Wal-Mart issue isn‟t new; it‟s been 11 years in-the-making. Wal-Mart has a po-
tential class action lawsuit addressing the wage gaps between male and female em-
ployees along with the lack of promotional opportunities for women. Not only do we
have personal testimonies of women‟s experience with discrimination with the compa-
ny, but the facts speak for themselves. Just a quick example, in 2004 Amy Joyce of the
Washington Post reported that “ there are 561,000 male accountants and 784,000
women. Yet male accountants earn $1,041 on average per week, while female ac-
countants make an average of $756 per w e e k .”
Again in 2004, “According to statistics gathered by an expert for the plaintiffs in the
Wal-Mart case, women from the most menial positions up to top levels make less
than men in the same positions. The numbers also found the number of women de-
crease as the level of job increases. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say Wal-Mart women
were not told when higher level job opportunities opened, or they were told not to ap-
p ly f o r c e r t a in jo b s b e c a u s e t h e y b e lo n g ed e ls e w h e r e . ”
Obviously numerous jobs and connecting companies will be affected heavily by the
decision in the Supreme Court. If the suit goes through and Wal-Mart loses, they are
looking at potentially paying damages in the billions which could effect multiple peo-
ple (including women), jobs, potential jobs and numerous other companies. A decision
from the Supreme Court isn‟t expected until late June. The case is Dukes v. Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc, and if it passes through the Supreme court, it will be the largest class ac-
tion lawsuit in U.S history.
What the #$%^ is happening in the cheese state?
Cheese. Women. Teachers. Gender. Mobs.
In February, a so-called “mob” (as referred to in most sources) took over the cheese
state‟s capital. Why are they so angry?
In Wisconsin, an anti-union bill is being pushed to the state supreme court that…
well…obviously affects unions. The bill would cause government workers to have a
7% pay-cut and it would compromise collective bargaining…hence the angry “mob.”
The loss of bargaining rights affects many people including teachers, highway work-
ers, nurses and other public employees that have been hap-
pily enjoying these bargaining rights for 50 years. As the
mob and debate heated on the discussion, some media out-
lets attacked teachers and made statements like “they get
off at 2:30, they have great benefits what can they com-
plain about it.” But, according to a report from the Ameri-
can Federation of Teachers, in 2007, the average teacher
salary just reached over
50,000. However, the re-
port says that despite this
increase, “teachers still
earn about 70 cents on the dollar to these similar
professions ($51,009 versus $72,678).”
How do any of these issues deal with women or gen-
der? Well, the mere fact that women make up a large
majority of the K-12 teaching professionals says it all.
According to the United Nations Statistics Division, in
2008 women comprised 60% of secondary education
and a large 86% of primary education with percent-
ages increasing each year in the primary sector. The
gender gap is a problem in-and-of-itself, but with
women already composing such as a vast majority of
the K-12 teaching real, the bill in Wisconsin is a huge
problem especially when they comprise the majority
of the nursing profession as well.
Also the AFL-CIO, a national trade union center, re-
ports that union members earn almost 28% more than
non-union members, but union women earn almost
34% more than non-union women. The proposed
bill would weaken bargaining power for everyone but
union women would be unequally disadvantaged.
 A look at: labor through time
We Can Do It!
A woman who already is...
America has made great strides in working toward equal pay for
equal work, but the fact remains that gender-based occupational
segregation is still a prevalent issue. Many jobs are dominated
by either men or women, and those individuals who cross the
gender divide often face significant struggle.
Dana Tillman, a transportation field Army veteran who now
works at a major auto service center in Williamsburg, talked
about her experience as a woman in a male-dominated field:
auto mechanics. Ms.Tillman is a customer advisor, so she does
not actually work on the automobiles that come into the shop,
but her job as liaison between customer and auto mechanic
makes it imperative that she have a working knowledge of cars.
Tillman describes the gender discrimination she faces some-
times from customers, who are unwilling to listen to her advice
about their car problems. “I have had people ask if they could
speak to a man because they just automatically assume that
because I am a woman I don’t know what I am talking
about,” she says, smiling about the fact that “the man tells them
the same exact thing I just told them but I guess it makes them
feel better for some reason.”
Tillman is not alone in her situa-
tion, as more Americans are enter-
ing jobs that are traditionally oc-
cupied by members of the oppo-
site gender. These individuals try
to slip innocuously into the role,
trying not to disrupt the order,
simply feeling lucky that they are
able to participate in this field.
Instead of reconfiguring and re-
examining their occupation in a
way that is more adapted to their
gender, these individuals antici-
pate negative reactions and so try
to adapt themselves to their occupation.
Tillman seems resigned to her relationship with customers, ex-
plaining that “we just have to learn to deal with it; there is noth-
ing that we can do about it.” This may however not be as cyni-
cal as it sounds, as a study published Journal of Applied Psy-
chology, shows that women who succeed in male-dominated
careers are often seen negatively. Madeline Hielman, a pro-
fessor at NYU says that “success is okay for a woman if it's in
an area that is not [seen as] off limits to them. What we are see-
ing is a reaction to their violation of stereotyped norms.”
However, women like Dana Tillman show that there may still
be hope for individuals in occupations that are typically taken
by members of another gender. She explains how she estab-
lished herself at work, demanding respect from her colleagues,
“sometimes as a woman you have to be more assertive in cer-
tain fields, instead of getting my feelings hurt, and going and
crying about it, I had to confront my coworkers and say „look
you know this isn‟t going to work.‟ After a while they know
that they cannot mess with me.”
To see articles in full and references, check out
fyiwam.blogspot.com
Want to get involved? E-mail fyiwam@gmail.com
Find us on Twitter and Facebook!
Q&A With Margie Cook, Co-Director of the Cen-
ter for Student Diversity
Q: What contributes to the wage gap seen between men and
women?
A: "Women don't ask. Men are trained to ask for what they
want and that makes them better wage and benefit negotiators
[when being interviewed and hired for jobs]. It's related to how
women are trained through gender
roles to preserve relationships. They
place a higher value on that than on
their own needs and asking for what
they want. Women are quicker to ac-
commodate. This gender difference can
contribute to the gap in pay because
men are more assertive and likely to
start the negotiation in a job asking for
more money."
Q: Why do you think this wage dis-
crepancy hasn't been addressed?
A: There is a combination of unawareness of gender inequali-
ty and stigma attached to feminism, or one who cares about
gender equality. I think it's important that we have sources and
media that look at these gender issues and continue to educated
people about them. When we're lucky, we see things like Mother
Jones magazine that look at some issue correctly and evaluate the
gender implications of it. Having the existence of and access to
those voices in our media is very important because if we don't
have that then we have the constant reproduction of the dominant
voice writing the story.
Q: Have you ever felt the impact of the gendered wage gaps?
A: There are all sort of implications that people don't realize
[with low wage jobs]. I was working three part-time jobs at my
university to create full-time employment. Because I was working
three part-times, I simply was not making enough. When you start
at a lower wage, you have less immediate cash flow for present
expenses and also less money to put into your retirement
funds. I was starting at a disadvantage from the get go. Eventual-
ly, I became a director in one of my positions with increased re-
sponsibilities but with no additional compensation. It had imme-
diate effects but also long term outcomes. The amount the institu-
tion put into my retirement package was small and I could not
spare much of my own money to contribute myself. The gender
gap in wages has lifelong implications because it puts females
behind in terms of being able to plan for retirement.
Letter from the editors:
We hope that you‟ve enjoyed our very first issue. We just wanted
to take a quick second to give you our mission statement.
We are an organization, publication and news source at the Col-
lege of William and Mary, dedicated to showing how current is-
sues relate to women's and gender issues. With this scope we
hope to bridge the gender divide and provide an alternative to
mainstream media by highlighting how issues affect us all.
Stay on the look out for our next issue!
- Love fyi
Nicole Brown, Sam Johnson, Arielle Pak, Kelsey Powell, Purvi Sarup