Closing a Door on Working WomenBy Camille
Colatosti
|
Only two weeks after Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment went before the Senate Judiciary Committee and captured the nation's attention, Michigan Gov. John Engler quietly closed down the state office that assisted women workers with claims of harassment. On Oct. 18, the Michigan Office of Women in Work shut its doors as a result of budgetary cutbacks. The Office of Women in Work, a part of the Department of Labor, provided phone counseling for women with problems on the job and often directed them to the appropriate state or private agency. The office also assisted in forming legislation on women's issues including sexual harassment and provided a program for helping unemployed women reenter the workforce. Officially, the responsibilities of the Office of Women in Work were turned over to the Women's Commission, a state organization that fights domestic violence, which was in turn placed within the Department of Civil Rights. The administration says these changes cut costs while maintaining protections for women's rights. However, the directors of the respective programs say Engler's move is a political, not economic, decision that disadvantages women workers. "The Office of Women in Work was only advisory in nature and performed a duplicative effort to the Women's Commission," says John Truscott, the governor's press secretary. "We eliminated it and transferred the Women's Commission to the Department of Civil Rights to help make it more efficient. This will also eliminate bureaucracy and allow the Women's Commission to perform the same job with less cost." But Patricia Curran, director of Women in Work, says the closure amounts to abandoning women wholesale. "For the first time since 1897, there is no one in the Michigan Department of Labor who will specialize in the problems of 48 percent of the workforce, that part that is made up of women. This is a tragedy." She says Engler was willing to cut the office, while maintaining protections for businesses. "He chose to limit the options for workers, but not for business. While he closed the one office that provides advice directly to workers, he left open the Ombudsman's office, the agency businesses turn to for help." Curran says the fact that neither she, nor Mary Addison, the executive director of the Women's Commission, were consulted on the closure shows "the utter contempt the administration has for women." Previously, the Women's Commission dealt with questions of women's health and referred work-related problems to Women in Work. Since the office opened in 1977, Curran, a social worker and community organizer, built networks with labor unions, university programs in women's studies and labor studies, and health and safety experts to advocate for working women. Curran also developed close ties to the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) which promotes education, legislation and contract issues of particular concern to women workers. Olga Madar, former president and a founding member of CLUW, credits Women in Work as "the most effective agency in the state and the single office working women experiencing problems could turn to." "Every week," Curran says, "we had calls from women workers, from unions and even from employers, from anyone who had a question about sexual harassment or on-the-job discrimination." The office had a three-member staff and an annual budget of $159,000. Although sexual harassment was a common problem for women calling the office, Curran says often the discrimination was elsewhere. "Sometimes a woman will call and say, 'My boss is harassing me.' But after 10 minutes with her on the phone, I realize that the problem wasn't sexual harassment but, rather, that her boss hadn't paid her." Women in Work was in the unique position of knowing the state labor laws and public health statutes, and having a strong network of advocates, Curran says. "This combination allowed the office to quickly refer calls to the appropriate agency, something no other office is equipped to do." In addition to direct advocacy for women, Women in Work also coordinated a displaced homemaker program that helped recently divorced or widowed women adjust to the world of work. "Most of the women who enter this program have an extremely limited knowledge of the job market," says Curran. "They don't know how even to apply for a job, let alone decide which jobs they are qualified for or how to get the training they need. And most of them are scared." Last year, the program helped find training and jobs for 716 Michigan women. The office also conducted research on issues such as sexual harassment and pay equity (equal pay for equal work). The Michigan Pay Equity Network, a group advocating state legislation that would increase the wages of types of jobs dominated by women, formed as a result of a Women in Work study proving salary discrimination. In the early 1980s, Women in Work assisted in creating state laws against sexual harassment. And, in a coalition with women's and workers' organizations, the office fought pregnancy discrimination, and helped get a law passed requiring Michigan employers to treat pregnant workers the same as they treated other disabled workers. More recently, in a joint effort with the state's Women's Commission, Women in Work researched the problems faced by part-time workers, a majority of whom are women. With the elimination of the office, many women in the network fear that women will begin to accept discrimination. "They may try to grin and bear it," Curran says. "Something women have done since the beginning of time." The small part of the workforce that is unionized may be able to use grievance procedures to combat discrimination, but the vast majority of women who work in small nonunion workplaces will find it difficult to gather the information to fight harassment. Curran says women ready to file complaints can still do so through the Department of Civil Rights, but the process is slow and the level of evidence needed to prove a case can be daunting. Women can also hire attorneys and pursue their cases through the courts, but this requires money and usually takes longer. "At a point in time when the number of women workers is increasing," says Madar, "when help is needed for child care, and training is needed for women workers, the governor removed Women in Work, leaving women in the position Pat Curran tried to take women out of: earning less than men and experiencing more discrimination and on-the-job harassment."
|