Executive Director’s Note Women and the Movement for Economic Justice
LAANE Executive Director
Madeline Janis
This is an amazing time for women in leadership. The Speaker of the House is a woman for the first time in our history. A leading candidate for president is also a woman.
While having these women in high-profile leadership positions represents a real step forward, it is the unsung heroines of our movement who provide me with the greatest inspiration.
There is Sharon Hechler, a veteran Albertsons grocery store employee, who is willing to go on strike to make sure that new hires in Southern California don't have to wait 30 months for family health insurance, even though she and her family have health insurance.
Yazmin Ortiz and Enedina Alvarez are working mothers who engaged in a seven-day, water-only fast to demand a living wage for the workers at the LAX Hilton and other hotels near the airport, even though they knew their own jobs were on the line.
And there is Juanita Burroughs, a security officer, who works full time and lives in a Single Room Occupancy hotel on skid row in downtown Los Angeles, and yet still has the vision to fight to transform her industry.
The fact that these women are so courageous in the face of intimidation, indifference, and neglect is astonishing. But their bravery should really come as no surprise. Women have always been at the forefront of the movement for civil rights and labor justice. The passing of Rosa Parks in 2005 made us reflect on the quiet courage it sometimes takes to move mountains.
Here in Los Angeles, we should remember the crusading African American journalist and civil rights firebrand Charlotta Bass, who fought against job and housing discrimination and police brutality and for immigrants’ and women’s rights throughout most of the last century. Another local hero is Rose Pesotta, a Russian-Jewish organizer from New York, who bucked the conventional wisdom of the 1930s that said that L.A.’s Mexican immigrant garment workers could not be organized. Both women were trail blazers for today’s progressive movement in Los Angeles.
And, of course, it is with great pride that I work side by side with powerful women at LAANE. Our annual women’s lunch represents an opportunity to reflect on our collective power—the power that we exercise every day and the power yet to be realized—to make a more just society for all of us. So let’s get to it.
Click above to watch a short video— featuring honoree Jane Fonda—from LAANE's Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon.
Recommended Reading Special women’s edition selection of books on labor history, democracy and the progressive movement
in America
L.A. Story By Ruth Milkman
Sociologist and labor expert Ruth Milkman explains how Los Angeles, once known as a company town hostile to labor, became a hotbed for unionism, and how immigrant service workers emerged as the unlikely leaders in the battle for workers’ rights.
Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics From the Politicians By Laura Flanders
The feminist Air America radio host and successful author explains how progressives are coming after the conservative establishment with new talent, new ideas, new media and new cash, and they have their sights set on building a new progressive movement, whether or not the Democratic Party is ready.
Femininity in Flight By Kathleen Barry
This book argues that the way flight attendants have seen themselves, been marketed and have organized reflects shifting views of the role of women in American society.
Gendering Labor History By Alice Kessler-Harris
A leading historian articulates gender’s fundamental importance in the shaping of U.S. history and working-class culture in this book of essays.
On the Picket Line Mary E. Triece
Working-class women developed their own tactics and leadership styles to challenge economic injustice and discrimination during the Great Depression. This book looks at the way female organizers often used a more personal speaking style to connect with audiences.
Sociologist and labor expert Ruth Milkman explains how Los Angeles, once known as a company town hostile to labor, became a hotbed for unionism, and how immigrant service workers emerged as the unlikely leaders in the battle for workers’ rights.
The feminist Air America radio host and successful author explains how progressives are coming after the conservative establishment with new talent, new ideas, new media and new cash, and they have their sights set on building a new progressive movement, whether or not the Democratic Party is ready.
This book argues that the way flight attendants have seen themselves, been marketed and have organized reflects shifting views of the role of women in American society.
A leading historian articulates gender’s fundamental importance in the shaping of U.S. history and working-class culture in this book of essays.
Working-class women developed their own tactics and leadership styles to challenge economic injustice and discrimination during the Great Depression. This book looks at the way female organizers often used a more personal speaking style to connect with audiences.