Living in NY and working as a "clerical" employee in an education system, I belong to the New York State United Teachers Union. Under this umbrella, clericals are sub-divided into a smaller sect. ALL our clericals are women. The pay is minimal (thanks to job classifications), and promotion is NIL. Civil Service doesn't help by accomodating any inequities by keeping classifications stagnant and outdated. ALL the top staff is male. I came from Wall Street where harassment was an everyday issue, but at least it was out front. This subversive inequity is mind numbing and insidious. Can you recommend a way for us to start another battle? I know this sounds simplistic, but the battle a few of us have been fighting has died. Our worst enemy are the clerical women. I don't totally blame them, a lot is ignorance fanned by fear of unemployment. Can we read something that would give us a logistical head-start? Anything is appreciated. Apathy is rampant. THANK YOU.

Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM and I'm so sorry to hear about all that you are going through. Did you know that clerical jobs (like teaching and nursing) used to be 99% male? As these jobs got "devalued" it became a 99% female profession. I guess that's not very comforting, but there is comfort to be found in the fact that 1.) more and more men are becoming nurses and teachers and thus these are becoming higher paid jobs---clerical jobs may be next; and 2.) with the "advent" of the computer---clerical now means so much more in the eyes of those not doing it and hopefully, will soon be respected as such.

About places to go---I would contact 9to5, National Association of Working Women. They function as a union of sorts for clerical workers. They do good work and have produced good results.

I hope this helps--good luck.

—Amy