WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: CELEBRATING UNION WOMEN

During Women’s History Month, we are celebrating the accomplishments of all women.

Throughout the past century, women have come a long way. way. There is still a lot of work to do to ensure equal rights — and pay — for women, but union women are helping lead the way toward this goal.

A century ago, there were few opportunities for women to work outside the home. The jobs that they did hold were often low-paid and sometimes done under perilous conditions, as evidenced from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that took the lives of more than 150 people, mostly young women.

However, years before the 1911 fire that would spur Frances Perkins to fight for workers’ rights, women made inroads into the labor movement. Kate Mullany formed the Collar Laundry Union, an all-female union, in the 19th century — and led a strike for better pay and working conditions.

Thull

Beulah Bailey Thull served as our union’s first-ever female President during the mid-1930s and was key to numerous decisions at the highest level of our union. Thull also had the ear of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who appointed Perkins as the first female Secretary of Labor. Perkins helped pass numerous laws that protect worker rights to this day.

Carr

As the 20th century progressed, job opportunities began to open to women, largely thanks to trailblazers such as CSEA Statewide Secretary Irene Carr, who worked to secure training opportunities for office workers and secured worksite child care for members. She also mentored and inspired numerous CSEA women to hold leadership roles of their own.

In 2019, Mary E. Sullivan became the union’s second female president, leading our union during an unprecedented worldwide pandemic that has forced us all to make quick changes to keep our union strong.

CSEA’s statewide team also includes Executive Vice President Denise Berkley, the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office, and Statewide Treasurer Nicole Meeks.

In addition to fighting for equality for all workers, unions have served as a way to lift working women out of poverty. Union women are paid more than nonunion women in similar jobs, and women in unions are far more likely to have comprehensive health benefits and a pension.

Women have also gone far in politics.

In 1921, women had just won the Constitutional right to vote after a years-long campaign that cost many people their lives and freedom. Women of color would not get to use their right to vote for many more years.

A century later, women of color were the difference makers in the 2020 elections, with Kamala Harris, a Black and South Asian woman, being elected Vice President of the United States. Helping change the country’s political landscape was another Black woman, Stacey Abrams, whose efforts to get out the vote in Georgia are credited with major changes in that state and the country.

Below, we feature just a few CSEA women who are key to making positive change in our union. They are groundbreakers, strong leaders and dedicated activists. We are proud to celebrate them — and all women.

— Janice Gavin