The Bay Area chapter of 9to5 National Association of Working Women functioned as the traditional organizing component of the Sisterhood model. The Bay Area 9to5 was established in 1999 and is 75 paid members strong. Its mission is “to work for economic justice, calling for an end to job discrimination and harassment, and for immigrant rights, equal pay, and better conditions for temporary workers throughout the country [14].” To test the Sisterhood model, 9to5 used Equivalent during a four-week campaign (referred to as Campaign Equivalent) to raise awareness about the value of women’s work and explore ways in which public policy could better support women’s needs. This chapter describes why 9to5 was invited to test the model, describes how its leadership structure was modified for the campaign, and provides an overview of Campaign Equivalent, 5.1 9to5, A Hybrid Model of Alinsky and Identity-based Organizing 9to5 was invited to test the Sisterhood model because it satisfies several assumptions, goals and principles of the Sisterhood model set forth in Chapter 4. Specifically, Bay Area 9to5:
- practices a nearly-balanced blend of Alinsky and identity-based organizing
- has little funding
- has a membership base that possesses the minimum computing skill set Equivalent was designed for (Section 4)
- attracts members from diverse economic backgrounds
Moreover, the issue of women’s unpaid work addressed by Equivalent is within the purview of 9to5’s economic justice mission. Bay Area 9to5’s biggest practice of Alinsky community organizing methods is its consistent promotion of legislation as a means of instituting social change. The chapter often endorses public policy campaigns initiated by 9to5 National or those led by groups and elected officials with greater authority and access to resources. 9to5 members support “family-friendly” public policy by volunteering their time to coordinate meetings, attending community events, educating the public about a problem and its proposed legislative or contractual solution, collecting signatures on petitions, and participating in marches and rallies. Most recently they have been involved in supporting universal healthcare in California, the rights of Wal-mart employees to organize, and the Vons/Safeway strike. The chapter’s Alinsky flair is balanced by its commitment to providing women with educational and advocacy resources. As an identity-based strategy, chapter members regularly volunteer to attend community events for the purpose of educating women about available resources and current public policy debates affecting women. They distribute leaflets and answer questions. They attempt to influence social change by influencing the opinions and beliefs of women and men in the community. Its most dramatic and impressive support of personal change is its practice of providing personal support to women who find themselves the victim of a workplace or economic injustice. Through storytelling and dialogue, women of the group provide one another with emotional support. In-line with identity-based organizing traditions, 9to5 provides women with social service support by allowing business meetings to be a safe place. Women are given the space to transform themselves from victims of economic injustice to champions of women’s rights. For example, if a woman was sexually harassed at the workplace and decided to take legal action against the company, 9to5 would provide her with referrals to legal services. One or more members of the group would keep close contact to the woman to help her explore her options. They do not pretend to be professionals in legal or psychological services, instead giving women space to challenge social, economic and political issues tied with their experience. They encourage her to attend monthly meetings for the purpose of having her share her experience with other members of the group. 9to5’s slight preference for identity-based practices can be partially attributed its lack of funding. The organization generally has less than $1,000 available to it. It raises funds through car washes, ad hoc donation requests to members and the public, and funds passed on from the national office. The Alinsky framework depends on the skills and knowledge of professional organizers who dedicate a majority of their time to advancing political change. Organizations such as Bay Area 9to5 do not have sufficient funding to professionally train members in community organizing or lobbying techniques. Members are unpolished and often do not have the savvy to negotiate their way through complex political exchanges with government officials. Although the organization recognizes the value in both top-down and bottom-up organizing, there are practical limitations to their involvement in promotion of policy change. Another reason the organization slightly prefers identity-based practices over Alinsky ones is its commitment to a flat leadership structure and making decisions by consensus. All members of the group have the potential to act in an official capacity as organizers without an official title. They go out into the community as official representatives of the organization and mobilize women to support specific events. The open nature of its leadership structure encourages members to question gender relations, capitalism, the economic impact of technology,3 and political strategy. In theory (and from what I have seen in practice), all members have an equal voice in guiding the organization. While some community groups become crippled by open-leadership structures, 9to5 has thrived because of it. During a meeting held in February of 2004, the chapter president described the rule by consensus by stating everyone in the group does not have to agree. If someone has a strong objection the group must address and resolve it. Whenever practical, ideological conversations are followed by group decision-making where workloads are delegated. The chapter president is generally responsible for diffusing political discussions that evolve into personal conflict. She asks involved members to reflect on the issue and then she mediates the conflict outside of monthly meetings. The parties are not asked to agree with one another. They are asked to respect one another’s differences and find common ground. Unlike any other group in Silicon Valley that I am familiar with, 9to5 has brought together an economically diverse group of women. Active members of the chapter include women on welfare, women who perform administrative work, working mothers, and professional women. The chapter is rapidly growing and it is developing a reputation as being reliable, trustworthy organization with the capacity to effectively participate in social change despite its small membership base and scant resources. I first began conversations with the Bay Area chapter of 9to5 about its potential involvement in implementing a hybrid traditional/online community organizing model in the summer of 2003. I was in the process of developing the concepts behind Sisterhood and Equivalent. No details of the model or project had been finalized. I had been a member of 9to5 since the late 1990’s, but my membership was mostly a symbolic gesture of solidarity. I sporadically volunteered my time to the group – mostly helping to raise money through car washes and occasionally attending business meetings. I felt as though I had to gain the group’s trust and be sure their ideas serious considered and incorporated whenever possible. I wanted their participation to meaningful and sincere. I approached the group in January 2004 and asked them if the concepts were interesting enough to work on. They were excited by the ideas I had put forth and decided to officially endorse the concept by agreeing to hold a four-week campaign to raise awareness about the value of women’s work. There was an explicit understanding that the campaign would serve a dual purpose: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Sisterhood model for the purpose of completing this project and (2) to allow the Bay Area chapter of 9to5 to promote its agenda of economic justice for women. 5.2 The Social Implementation of the Sisterhood Model Campaign Equivalent’s message, goals, and overall strategy incorporated the perspectives and suggestions made by members of 9to5 over the months leading up to its endorsement of the campaign. The message the group wanted to convey was “Value all work women do.” The campaign’s goal was to “get women involved in a friendly, effective way.” The strategy was two-pronged: “Personal: having conversations” and “Public policy: develop list of recommendations [15].” To implement the proposed Sisterhood model, two new levels of participation were added to Bay Area 9to5’s otherwise flat leadership structure. A strength of Alinsky’s rigid leadership structure is its ability to hold people accountable. Because 9to5’s activities are volunteer-driven there are times that volunteers simply do not follow through or do a poor job because they did not prepare for an event. Although they may feel strongly about an issue, there is no extrinsic incentive for them to do more than the minimum. I assigned official titles to volunteer members and asked them to make a concrete measurable commitment to the campaign, believing this would increase the likelihood that Campaign Equivalent would be a success. I fulfilled the position of campaign manager. I invited members of the group who felt especially committed to volunteer to become official campaign organizers. Two members volunteered and I recruited two more women to both become members of the organization and fulfill the role of organizer. As campaign manager, responsible for the overseeing the daily/weekly activities of the campaign. Specifically, I:
- had full administrative rights over Equivalent, the website
- was primarily responsible for overseeing the daily/weekly activities of the campaign
- trained 9to5 members on how to use the website and how to best talk to other women about purpose of the campaign
- worked closely with each organizer to ensure they felt supported throughout the process
Members who volunteered to be official campaign organizers had to orally commit to getting three women to produce three invoices each and then follow-up with each of them to document their experience with the site. For purposes of this project, they were asked to journal of their experiences and thoughts throughout the campaign. Only one of the four volunteers had any experience or training in traditional organizing. The other three were told to rely on their experiences and knowledge from volunteering in the community. They were encouraged to build a list of all of the women they felt most comfortable with (for example, sisters, friends, co-workers, and neighbors) and approach them in a time and space that was comfortable and appropriate for their personalities and lifestyles. 5.3 An Overview of Campaign Equivalent With clearly established campaign goals, I set out to train member of Bay Area 9to5 on how to use the website in the scope of the larger campaign. In March of 2004 I trained ten members of the group. I demonstrated to them the five steps a user must go through to effectively use the site:
- Register
- Login
- Submit an Invoice
- Bill someone
- Share their experiences with others
Registering and logging on were relatively straight-forward processes for the group. Creating an invoice caused a stir. The women were fascinated by the service catalog used in creation of a regular invoice. They discussed and debated the titles and values of many tasks, particularly those around food. Billing someone was equally entertaining. I asked members to pair up. They were asked to present one another invoices in character. The women explored how an invoice could be presented and reactions users could possible receive. Organizers were reminded of the commitment they had made. I emphasized that as campaign manager I was always available to provide access to a laptop computer, answer questions, resolve problems and support anyone who needed assistance. (Download this section)