The DC 37 Women’s Committee celebrated Women’s History Month at its annual dinner at union headquarters March 29. The evening’s theme, “The Progress of Women is the Progress of All,” emphasized the monumental steps women have made toward equality since Sojourner Truth first made women’s rights an issue 150 years ago.

“We’re here to honor women because they have played a leading role in all the struggles fought in this country,” said DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders. “In civil rights and social issues, they have led the way. Without the support of women, DC 37 would not be where it is today.”

At DC 37, women compose 60 percent of the membership; 11 are local presidents; nine sit on the Executive Board and many more hold offices in the union’s 56 locals.
Although women represent 50 percent of the earth’s population and have risen above the glass ceiling in every field, the basic issue of pay equity remains unresolved. Women earn just 72 cents for every dollar men earn, a wage gap that costs America’s working families a staggering $200 billion of income annually.

“Our time has come,” said Jeannette Gadson, Brooklyn’s deputy borough president, as she was honored that evening. “The waters are troubled, but we have learned to swim.” Ms. Gadson thanked DC 37 for leading the fight for “good jobs and good health care for people of all backgrounds who want a part of the American Dream of equality and justice.”

Public Advocate Mark Greene issued a proclamation making March 29, 2001, DC 37 Women’s Committee Day; Fred Lewis, his representative at the dinner, presented a plaque to Committee Chair Louise DeBow. “As we reflect on women’s history, it’s sad to realize one of the biggest threats to women’s continued advancement is violence,” she said. “It must end.”

Keynote speaker and honoree Josephine LeBeau, a vice president of AFSCME and executive director of Council 1707, paid tribute to unionists who paved the way for women to be organizers in the labor movement. “When men said we couldn’t do it,” Ms. LeBeau said, “leaders like Lillian Roberts took us by the hand and showed us the way.”

The Rockaway Review Dancers, a troupe of retired seniors, entertained the audience and Local 420’s choir lifted their voices in stirring songs dedicated to Local 420 Executive Vice President Sarah Kennedy, the first woman elected to that position.

The evening’s honorees included several generations of women labor leaders: City Council member Mary Pinkett, a former Local 371 president who sponsored the Medicare Part B bill; Retirees Association President Alma Osborne; Local 372 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa; Local 436 President Gloria Acevedo; Local 1219 President Magda De Jesus; Local 1597 President Edna Williams; Local 2054 President Joan Reed and Local 371 Vice President Faye Moore, who recalled picketing with her grandmother, a welfare worker, during the month-long 1965 strike.

The committee also honored Local 1549 Women’s Committee Chair Laura Lewis; Vice President Audrey Iszard and advocates Laura Pearson and Arlene Tuff of the Retirees Association; Administrator Barbara Kairson and Assistant Director Beryl Major of the Education Fund and PEP Art Director Alyce Archer.