Live Wire: Women and Brotherhood in the Electrical Industry

admin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Live Wire provides a full and exhaustively detailed history of the presence of women in the construction electrical trade, discussing and illustrating the enormous challenges that female electricians still face. By also discussing the mechanisms and impact of the Civil Rights struggle of the 1970s on the racial integration of the electrical industry, Moccio highlights the elements unique to the integration (or lack thereof) of women in that field. The book is capped by some theories on how more effective recruitment and retention of female electricians could be attained.

Skilled trades lack a certain societal transparency that other, more white-collar careers have; I suggest that most people could guess off the top of their heads roughly how one goes about becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but have no idea what the training and job description of an electrician or pipe fitter might look like. A good measure of the fascination of this book flows from the sheer novelty of the subject matter, which is due largely to the structure and traditions of the various unions associated with the electrical industry. Moccio deftly peels back the layers of history one by one, so that the reader is left with a solid grasp of the entire industry, its unions, and how they have evolved together, while still highlighting the thread of female experience throughout.

I would have preferred a much more in-depth exploration of specific ways to open doors for women with the industry than only the two final pages, but perhaps that may be outside the intended scope of this particular work. Although Moccio does indeed attempt to describe the basis of male electricians' overwhelmingly negative reactions to the entrance of women in the trade, her solutions don't seem to address those issues specifically. This leaves me wondering if any resolution can succeed that doesn't directly counter the underlying reasons why women are perceived as threatening to the industry's very existence.

Do not let the jazzy cover art fool you—this book is first and foremost a labor studies textbook, and it reads like one. Except for the short and uncomfortably pompous “Personal Background” section of the “Introduction,” Moccio's writing is very dense yet clear and illuminating. This is no relaxing beach or bedside read; the reader must do the work of paying close attention and assimilating all the complex networks, associations, and histories carefully laid out by the author. Your reward is a competent and empowering understanding of the struggles of women in a field that would rather you remain ignorant.

Written by: Kirsten Cook, January 30th 2010

Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants

admin — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:57:00 +0000

By Kathleen M. Barry

Duke University Press

Young, white, educated, and pretty: these were the most essential job criteria early flight attendants (then called “stewardesses”) were required to meet. As a selective few catering to the affluent traveler, flight attendants in the early days of aviation held a seemingly glamorous job, one that was coveted in an era when a white women’s work often extended only to the front door of her home. In Femininity in Flight, Kathleen M. Barry examines the rise of flight attendants from their initial inception in aviation in the 1920s through second-wave feminism in the 1970s. Through a feminist lens, Barry discusses the unique position of women whose job entails essential knowledge of flight safety, but whose image has long been constructed, first as a “bride-in-waiting” and, later, as a sexual playmate.

Barry spends considerable time examining the progression of flight attendant unions throughout the decades, and her thoroughness is a challenge for non-historians, not as a matter of accessibility, but as one of length. However, laboring through the pages on the relationship between flight attendants and the labor movement pays-off. Barry successfully relates a sympathetic portrait of flight attendants while tactfully maintaining an objective analysis of their particular position within aviation. Her comprehensive portrait of flight attendants as safety professionals taken for granted by abusive passengers, exploited by air carriers with an eye on the bottom line and subjected to standards of appearance (including weight control, former age caps and marriage bans) makes the reader care about them and their long history for recognition and change within the profession, even when one picks up the book unenthusiastically (as I initially did).

The greatest shortfall is Barry’s decision to subsume the changing job expectations and job description flight attendants face after September 11th when security standards and tighter federal regulations have created new complexities for a work force that still remains predominately female, and was only granted federal safety certification (despite a nearly fifty year struggle) after 9/11. Despite this, Barry aptly exposes the conflicted status of flight attendants as both women of privilege and woman whose exploitation traditionally has been as high as the sky. While not a page-turner, Femininity in Flight is effective in handling the labor and feminist history of an individual group who are rarely given a second thought.

Written by: Lacey Dunham, May 2nd 2007