Working Women United

The founding of the group was inspired by the case of Carmita Wood, who quit her job at Cornell University due to sexual harassment and became one of the first women in the US to sue her employer on such grounds.[2]

In 1975, Carmita Wood quit her position at Cornell University due to harassment from her supervisor, Boyce McDaniel, and the University's refusal approve her request for a transfer. Subsequently, Wood filed for unemployment benefits from the university. Cornell refused to approve the benefits, stating Wood had quit for "personal reasons." Working Women United was active in response to the incident and Wood's subsequent lawsuit. Cornell instructor Lin Farley, a key organiser in Working Women United, used the phrase "sexual harassment" at a hearing, and The New York Times reported on the hearing and the phrase used, helping to introduce the concept and phrase "sexual harassment" into the national lexicon.[3]

On April 15, 1975 Ane Becker filed a complaint with the New York State Human Rights Commission against her employer, Borg Warner, an international automotive supply corporation, alleging sexual discrimination. She did this on her own.

Shortly thereafter the WWU hearing of her situation in the local media reached out to offer their support and guidance. With no resources she gratefully accepted their support.

Following on July 24, 1975 with the support of the WWU she filed suit against Morse Chain division of Borg Warner in Ithaca NY alleging sexual discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Ms. Becker an employee of 17 years said she’d been denied equal opportunities protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Ms. Becker had worked as a purchasing in clerk for 13 years. She claimed that her responsibilities were virtually the same as the buyers making $30-$96 more per week. “If I had been a man, and done exactly what I have, the same thing, I would’ve been promoted 13 years ago”

Ms. Yacknin of the WWU agreed that Ane Becker’s case met many criteria for a discrimination case. Ms. Yacknin said “there are no women buyers at the Morse Chain Ithaca plant, and there has not been for at least the past 18 years.”

“Working women United believes that this situation indicates discrimination in hiring, promotion, wages, training, and titles,” she said.

Ms. Becker said that she had been “terribly nervous” for a long time to take that first step.

“I didn’t have the guts for a long time, but I have a small son, and my finances were (less) drastic.”

“So I dared,” Becker said. (Ithaca Journal, July 24, 1975)

In November 1975, with the support from the WWU Becker was victorious in her lawsuit. Although Borg Warner automotive denied any wrongdoing, Ms. Becker was promoted to a Buyer classification, given a pay raise and two years of backpay. (Ithaca Journal, November 8, 1975)

Ane Becker retired from Borg Warner in 1988 after 30 years of service. Following her retirement she was routinely called back to work as a buyer for many years.

Ane Becker died in 2015 at the age of 89 and is remembered as a loving, feisty and independent spirit who championed change in the workplace to help women become more valued.

In the mid-1970's, the feminist movement created social and conceptual spaces where women could speak out on the job about sexual harassment. As women had done previously with abortion, rape, and domestic abuse, identifying and speaking out about the violation legitimized their feelings of violation.[4]  This time, they focused on sexual harassment in the workplace, and the case of Carmita Wood inspired the movement. She was declined unemployment benefits when resigning as an administrative assistant to a professor at Cornell University because she had been physically ill from the pressure of avoiding his unwanted sexual advances.[4]

The first organized response to sexual harassment grew out of the women's movement, arising at the intersection between protests against sexism in jobs and feminist opposition to violence against women.[4] The problem of sexual harassment placed together complaints about women working in the workforce with opposition to male sexual violence. Two groups founded in the mid-1970's to concentrate specifically on sexual harassment — Working Women United in Ithaca, New York, and the Cambridge, Massachusetts Alliance Against Sexual Coercion.[4] On a Sunday afternoon, 4 May 1975, 275 women gathered for the country's initial speech opposing sexual assault at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. Working Women United (WWU), as well as the Human Affairs Program at Cornell University and the National Organization for Women's Chapter in Ithaca.[4]

This campaign developed out of the wider women's movement, which provided the leaders of the fight against sexual assault with an institutional foundation, contact networks, policies, and philosophy.[4]