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                  Get to know your Business Agent today!  Find out how the union makes a difference on the job. |
Women at Work Trailblazers and Role Models in a Man's World For decades after the New York City Housing Authority was founded in 1934 to oversee the city's public housing program, certain jobs were "for men only." Many of them -- fireman (now called heating plant technician), supervisor of caretakers, maintenance man, assistant superintendent and superintendent, assistant manager and manager, for example -- were more skilled and higher paying. It wasn't until the late 1970s and '80s that women began to break into these fields. In skilled trades such as cement mason, plasterer, and elevator mechanic, there are still no women. Following are excerpts of interviews with two Local 237 retirees who were among the first women to break through the barriers. Anne Giudice started as a clerk-typist in 1970 and worked her way up to become the Housing Authority's first-ever woman superintendent, in 1982. Doris Welch also began as a typist, in 1972, and inspired by Guidice, took the "nontraditional" route and rose through the ranks to become the Authority's second woman superintendent, in 1992. Giudice retired in 1990 at the age of 62. She is active in her local senior center and belongs to a golf league that started as all women but now also includes men. Recently, she was elected a vice-chairperson of the Retiree Division's Brooklyn community group. Her son Charles is a superintendent at the Housing Authority. Welch took the HA's early retirement incentive package and retired on December 28, 2000, at the age of 50. She's planning a Mediterranean cruise in August and a five-day trip to Las Vegas this spring. She intends to be active in the Retiree Division and has offered to help in any way she can. The women explain, in their own words, what it took to survive the challenge they faced going in as women in a man's world and how the union empowered them. Ann Sabatino Giudice, HA Superintendant Doris Welch, HA Superintendant |
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