"The unionization of women, even in occupations like the needle trades where they predominated, had scarcely yet begun. Equal opportunities, equal pay, and the right to be organized, were the crying needs of women wage-earners then and unfortunately these demands remain with us today. Many union leaders, like Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, did not consider women workers organizable or dependable. "They only work for pin mon-ey" was the usual complaint. An outside job was considered by the woman worker herself as a temporary necessary evil-a stop-gap between her father's home and her husband's home. Fathers and husbands collected women's wages, sometimes right at the company office. Women did not have a legal right to their own earnings. There was no consideration for the special needs and problems of working mothers, though they were numerous and pressing. Even the clothes of women hampered them-the long skirts that touched the ground, the big unwieldy sleeves, the enormous hats. You were still "a girl" if your skirt was above your shoe tops."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1955)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Gompers
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (27 January 1850 – 13 December 1924), sometimes known as "Samuel L. Gompers", although he had no middle name, was a British-born American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history.
23 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Samuel Gompers →
Related Quotes
"We will stand by our friends and administer a stinging rebuke to men or parties who are either indifferent, negligent…"
"What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less …"
"So long as we have held fast to voluntary principles and have been actuated and inspired by the spirit of service, we…"
"No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. If we seek to force, we but tear apart that which united, is invincibl…"
"The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit."
"What does labor want? We want more school houses and less jails. More books and less guns. More learning and less vic…"
"There are about 8,000,000 negroes in the United States, and, my friends, I not only have not the power to put the neg…"
"And what have our unions done? What do they aim to do? To improve the standard of life, to uproot ignorance and foste…"
"The Soviet scheme of compulsory labor is being applied on such a broad scale and is so boldly presented as a ‘proleta…"
"The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand dollars a year, and the man who owns eight or ni…"