Institute for Education and Research on Women and Work records

The Institute of Education and Research on Women and Work grew out of the Trade Union Women’s Studies program, founded in 1973 and operated out of the NYSSILR Metropolitan office in New York City. In 1971, the Metropolitan office began responding to the growing needs of working women by offering experimental seminars like “Womanpower: A New Voice in Union and Community.” A Ford Foundation grant in 1972 funded a pilot study conducted by the Metropolitan office, which revealed educational and social barriers to women’s participation in unions. Consequently, Trade Union Women’s Studies was established in 1973 with Barbara Wertheimer and Anne Nelson serving as the program’s first Director and Associate Director, respectively.

Trade Union Women’s Studies became a research center and resource for working women, organizing workshops, short courses, seminars, and conferences in New York City, Rochester, and Buffalo. A year-long reserve credit program designed for union women, an alternate first-year track in Cornell’s two-year Labor/Liberal Arts Certificate Program, launched in fall of 1974, offering courses in communication, labor history, and leadership. In 1975, the program renamed itself Working Women’s Program for Research and Education and expanded their reach, developing a statewide education network linking business and labor unions with two and four-year institutions and planning a national training program in arbitration and mediation for women and minorities with Professor Jean McKelvey. In 1977, NYSSILR approved Wertheimer and Nelson’s proposal to establish the Institute for Education and Research on Women and Work to continue the program. The Institute remained active into the mid-1980s.