December 3, 1969 - Protest for Equal Jobs and Equal Pay for Women
Pacific Telephone, San Francisco
Pacific Telephone, San Francisco
Pacific Telephone, one of the largest employers in California, discriminated against women long after it was illegal. Women were only hired for low-paying jobs: clerks, phone operators and secretaries. All the better-paying openings, like those involving installation, repair or management, were the exclusive domain of men.
When several women applied for positions as telephone installers, advertised under the heading Man Wanted, they were told that those jobs was closed to women for their own safety. A few weeks later, a collation of feminist groups banded together and picketed outside Pacific Telephone's corporate headquarters. It was the first time anyone at the phone company had seen women demanding equal access to all jobs.
There were many reactions to the protest that day. Some employees hid behind the large glass doors. Others stood near the picketers and turned their backs. But most people who worked there - from operators to installers to management - watched, transfixed, calculating what this protest might mean for them.
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