Katrinell M. Davis - Hard work is not enough gender and racialinequality in an urban workspace

Hard Work Is Not Enough

Hard Work Is Not Enough

Gender and Racial Inequality in an Urban Workspace

Katrinell M. Davis

The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill

2016 The University of North Carolina Press

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Set in Espinosa Nova and Alegreya Sans by Westchester Publishing Services

Cover illustration: iStockphoto.com/DarioEgidi

The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davis, Katrinell M., author.

Title: Hard work is not enough : gender and racial inequality in an urban workspace / Katrinell M. Davis.

Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016008487 | ISBN 9781469630472 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469630489 (pbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469630496 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Transport workersCaliforniaAlameda CountySocial conditions. | Race discriminationCaliforniaAlameda County. | Sex discrimination against womenCaliforniaAlameda County. | African American womenEmploymentCaliforniaAlameda County. | Work environmentCaliforniaAlameda County.

Classification: LCC HD 8039. T 72 U 4425 2016 | DDC 331.13/30979465dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016008487

To the memory of the family members who transitioned

while I wrote this book, especially my mother ,

DONELLA M. SWAN .

I love you .

Contents

Tables

Rank of top jobs and mean incomes of high schooleducated Black women by year, 1970 and 2000

Percentage of Blacks in AC Transit by classification and year, 19731976

Percentage of State of California and Alameda County transit operators by gender and race, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 20062010

Employment by race and sex in the urban transit industry, 19401960

Employment by region, race and sex in the urban transit industry, 19401960

Urban transit industry African American operators in selected cities and other occupations, January 1945

Percentage of African Americans employed by urban transit industry by sex and occupational group, 1966

Changing status of transit companies by size of city and type of change, 19551969

Percentage of transit operators in hiring class by race, gender, year, and division, 19721978

Number of workers absent by type, division, and year, 1983 and 1986

Variations in discipline by division, 1984

Infraction variations by average discipline score and division, 1984

Workers excused from random drug and alcohol testing in 1997, 1998, and 20002001

Percentage of random drug and alcohol testing participation by job title and year, 20032009 135

Acknowledgments

Over time, many have contributed to this book. I have been fortunate to meet people during my undergraduate and graduate years who have become long-term mentors and supporters of my work. Since my time as an undergraduate Social Relations major at James Madison College, a residential college at Michigan State University, Dr. Katherine OSullivan See has motivated and supported me. I am very grateful to have met such a kind and caring guide. From graduate school in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley to this day, I have benefited from the support of mentors who encouraged the development of my theoretical perspectives and my efforts to produce this analysis. I wish to thank the following people for choosing to support me throughout the years as well as those who played pivotal roles at crucial times throughout the journey of completing this manuscript: Drs. Margaret Weir, Sandra S. Smith, Michael Hout, Martin Sanchez-Jankowski, Barrie Thorne, and Steven Pitts. My home while in Berkeley eventually became the Institute for the Study of Social Change, now the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues. To my ISSC/ISSI family including David Minkus, Deborah Freedman Lustig, and Christine Trost, who guided me through some really tough times, thank you for being there to pull me out of my shell and to motivate me to produce sound scholarship, while maintaining an authentic voice and a commitment to social justice.

Much of the research and insight in this book was developed during my time as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan between 2011 and 2013. In this space, I was able to sort through the archival data I gathered since 2008 and focus on this manuscript with excellent resources and mentors at my disposal. While a good share of my time was spent in local restaurants where hot coffee and decent snacks were available at a modest cost, I also had the privilege of joining workgroups within the University of Michigan where I felt supported and had the opportunity to present research and receive helpful feedback from seasoned and emerging scholars. Throughout my time as an NPC Postdoctoral Fellow, I have to thank the following people for their guidance, kindness, and support: Drs. Sheldon Danziger, Sandra Danziger, Howard Kimeldorf, NPC staff and colleagues, in addition to my Emerging Scholars Interdisciplinary Network colleagues, including Drs. Sean Joe, Maria Johnson, Brandon Respress, and Ola Rostant. I also have to thank colleagues that I met through my participation in write-ins hosted by the Women of Color in the Academy Project, a campus-wide faculty network at the University of Michigan that is committed to promoting the work of women of color scholars.

My leave at the NPC was supported by the Joan Smith Faculty Research Support Award that I secured from the University of Vermont. I also benefited from the support of colleagues within the Department of Sociology at the University of Vermont as well as colleagues within this academic community who read segments of this manuscript and provided key insight and guidance. Big thanks to Drs. Beth Mintz, Elaine McCrate, and Stephanie Seguino for their help during crucial phases throughout this project.

While I had great guides and abundant support throughout the process of writing this book, this book would not exist if I hadnt met the women who chose to share their stories with me and who motivated me to take a closer look at their working conditions. I cannot be more thankful for their time, honesty, and kindness. I also wish to thank the archivists and staff at the following research centers, who helped me gather data: Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State University; Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York State University; the Bancroft Library and the Institute of Transportation Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley; and the National Archives and Records Administration at San Francisco in San Bruno, California. I gained a great deal of support from their respective suggestions, research assistance, and professionalism. I am also grateful to have worked with copy editors Abigail Carroll and Letta Page, a great staff at the University of North Carolina Press, especially acquisitions editor, Joseph Parsons, as well as the readers who reviewed the manuscript and provided invaluable observations and suggestions.

Finally, I am thankful for the support I received from family and friends who supported me throughout this process. In particular, I thank my maternal grandparents for providing a compass and my mother, Donella M. Swan, for teaching me how to work hard and for moving to the East Bay for one year to watch my children while I was busy conducting interviews and analyzing data. I want to thank my cousins Joe and Lisa, for their hospitality throughout my stay as an NPC Fellow in Southeastern Michigan. To Dr. Libby Lewis, thank you for your valuable suggestions and persistent support. I appreciate your encouragement throughout this journey. To my kids, Kaitlyn and Elijah, thank you for your patience, kindness, and love. You guys motivate and challenge me to offer my best. And to Taj, my husband and partner of many years, who has supported and covered me through it all, thank you for being you and being there for me.