Author Susan Eisenberg Discusses "We'll Call You If We Need You"

66 Front Street,Ashland MA 01721

20 March, 2023

Description

Susan Eisenberg began her apprenticeship with Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1978, the year President Jimmy Carter set goals and timetables for the hiring of women on federally assisted construction projects and for the inclusion of women in apprenticeship programs. In this book, full of the raw drama and humor found on a construction site, Eisenberg gracefully weaves the voices of thirty women (including her own!) who worked as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, painters, and plumbers to examine why their numbers remained small. About the book: When Susan Eisenberg began her apprenticeship, she expected not only a challenging job and the camaraderie of a labor union but also the chance to be part of a historic transformation, social and economic, that would make the construction trades accessible to women. That transformation did not happen. In this book, speaking as if to a friend, women recall their decisions to enter the trades, their first days on the job, and their strategies to gain training and acceptance. They assess with thought, passion, and twenty years' perspective the affirmative action efforts. Eisenberg introduces this new edition with a preface that shows how things have changed and how they have stayed the same since the book’s original publication. She ends with a discussion of the practices and policies that would be required to uproot gender barriers where they are deeply embedded in the organization and culture of the workplace. About Susan: Susan Eisenberg is a poet, oral historian, visual artist, and policy analyst who was among the first women in the country to become a licensed journey-level electrician in union construction. The shifting vantage point of history and position, and conversation across generations -including to oneself-are recurring investigations in her nonfiction and poetry. Learn more about her HERE. Registration is requested for this event. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library. Sign Up for the Library's Newsletter!