[ International Women’s Day is next week, when we celebrates the
achievements of women in numerous walks of life–individual women who
broke the proverbial glass ceiling and achieved success in careers and
professions from which they had been excluded.]
[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A FEMALE UNION ELECTRICIAN – A REVIEW OF
WIREWOMEN: LIGHTING IT UP  
[[link removed]]


 

Kurt Stand
March 1, 2023
Portside
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ International Women’s Day is next week, when we celebrates the
achievements of women in numerous walks of life–individual women who
broke the proverbial glass ceiling and achieved success in careers and
professions from which they had been excluded. _

Hard Ball Press,

 

There is an importance to that, for women, for society and especially
for young girls who can imagine a future for themselves that would
have been inconceivable 50 years.  Children’s books feature
heroines, successful entrepreneurs, singers, athletes, engineers, kids
independent in thought, able to navigate the world.  

“Wire Women come from many different backgrounds and are of all
diverse groups.  It doesn’t matter what type of family you belong
to or whether you’re younger or older – we are all sisters.
We’ve been afterschool teachers and childcare workers; we’ve
worked in offices, as graphic artists, in food service and as clerks
in stores – all kinds of jobs that women typically hold. But we
wanted to do something different and more exciting.  And...that paid
us a lot more.”

Sharon Szymanski

 
 

WireWomen: Lighting It Up
[[link removed]]
by Sharon Szymanski, Setare Arashloo (Illustrator)
Hard Ball Press; 42 paages
Paperback:  $13.50
August 15, 2022
ISBN-13:  9798985097948

 

 

 

Yet something basic is missing in that representation – and that is
stories of women who work with pride in craft and trades, women who
are union members and who see the connection between the skilled labor
they perform, the union and sisterly solidarity they share while
working on a job traditionally performed by men.  WIREWOMEN is a book
that helps fill that void as the quote above indicates.  Written by
Sharon Szymanski, professor of political economy and labor economics
at the State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College with
the assistance, quite appropriately, of nine electrical apprentices,
whose observations ground the text in real experience.  The short,
poetic riffs are easily read and understood, giving a picture of the
various places electricians work, and what that work means in everyday
life whether it be subway signals, ballpark lights or the elevators in
skyscrapers.  A sense of the creativity of “journey wire
women,”  of the beauty in labor, is conveyed in language that can
draw early readers as is evident in this passage:

“Wire Women work in the sky, where we help build skyscrapers.  We
have the best “office views.”  We’re right up there with the
gargoyles. We see falcons fly (really), and we can wave to people in
airplanes. We can see forever. We can even see the tallest ferris
wheels around the world.  Sometimes we even hang outside these
buildings.”

Colorful illustrations by Setare Arashloo bring the words to life,
opening up space for a child’s imagination to take off.  For some
girls, perhaps, becoming a wire woman might be added to a list of what
they hope to be when grown – a list that may include teachers or
nurses, but should also include firefighters and truck drivers.  When
we think of that, it is quite rare to see picture books with the
pictures showing people at work, even less common to see women as the
ones doing the work – especially in jobs which remain overwhelmingly
male.  It is wonderful to see books about women astronauts, doctors,
pilots, or scientists – but why not books that show those who build
the spaceship or airplanes, build the platforms and laboratories, make
sure that electrical connections that provide the necessary power
without which nothing would be airborne (apart from those falcons and
other birds). 

Our culture tends to denigrate work done by hand, seeing it as
something to escape from, rather than recognizing that manual labor
has its own unique value, worthy of aspiration.  Countering that
sensibility is thus a particularly valuable feature of WIREWOMEN for
it can help young people – and especially young girls – see a job
as an electrician or any other skilled trade can be a source of
pride.  How often are children presented with descriptions of labor
such as this:

“Wire Women are artists. We like to make our work look good because
we take pride in what we do and are committed to doing a good job –
it’s a reflection of who we are as union-trained. What we think and
what we do blend together – we choreograph bending pipes, splicing
wires and landing fuses. We use our brains, eyes, ears, and touch to
make sure everything is just right. And then...the magic happens.”

Of course, key to both the image and reality of making a job -- any
job, be it blue collar, white collar, pink collar, uniformed, you name
it – an occupation that has dignity, is treated with respect and is
fairly compensated is it being unionized.  And WIREWOMEN notes over
and again that we are talking about unionized electricians.  Too
often, individual achievement is presented as rising above others,
whereas, in truth, individual achievement always flows from a
collective effort.  After all International Women’s Day became a
holiday out of the struggles of working women as part of the wider
socialist and labor movement.  That should never be forgotten – any
day of the year.

WIREWOMEN is published by Hard Ball Press as part of its series of
Little Heroes children’s books all of which present aspects of
working people’s lives.  For more information about purchasing it
or other titles, go to:
[link removed].

* Women
[[link removed]]
* International Women's Day
[[link removed]]
* working women
[[link removed]]
* glass ceiling
[[link removed]]
* women workers
[[link removed]]
* children's book
[[link removed]]
* Children's literature
[[link removed]]
* literature
[[link removed]]
* Working Class
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]