December 3, 1969 - San Francisco: It was illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender, but that didn’t stop the phone company from shunting women into low-paying work as clerks and operators years after The Civil Rights Act of 1964 went into effect. When a dozen feminists tried to apply for open positions as telephone installers, they were told not to bother. Yes, these jobs paid well, but they were closed to women.
An assortment of feminist organizations banded together and, for the first time, women's rights groups picketed Pacific Telephone.