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Special Event on May 2: North Country film and Lois Jenson
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Equal Rights Advocates and Tradeswomen, Inc. present
"North Country with Lois Jenson"
Join us for a special event on Friday, May 2nd featuring Lois Jenson,
the inspiration for Charlize Theron's "Josey Aimes" in the film, North
Country. Ms. Jenson is the courageous steelworker whose class action
lawsuit forever changed the American workplace for women. Afterwards,
we will have a special showing of the film.
This event is free and open to the public.
Details:
Friday, May 2, 2008
PG&E Conference Center - Room A
245 Market Street, San Francisco
Steps from Embarcadero BART Station
4:30 pm Reception with appetizers
5:30 pm Conversation with Lois Jenson
6:15 pm Film Begins (length is 126 minutes)
Feel free to join us for all or part of the evening's event.
Suggested donation at the door of $10 benefits ERA and Tradeswomen,
Please RSVP in advance to events@equalrights.org or 415-575-2382.
Co-Sponsors: Pacific Gas & Electric and San Jose City College Labor
Studies
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Can't make it on May 2nd?
Lois Jenson and the film, North Country,
will also be part of Reel Work Film Festival (see
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?
EqualRightsAdvocates/ad08f09804/c702bb122f/cb1bb0bae3
on April 28th at CSU Monterery Bay and April 30th at the San Jose City
College - along with many other great films.
For additional
information, email Dee Dee Kost at deedee_k@comcast.net.
About Lois Jenson
Lois Jenson, portrayed by actress Charlize Theron, filed and brought
forward Jenson v. Eveleth Mines, the first successful harassment class
action lawsuit of its kind in U.S. history. This case forever changed
the American workplace for women.
She and other women first entered the traditionally all-male world of
mining when giant steel corporations agreed to hire women to offset
past hiring discrimination of minorities and thus comply with Civil
Rights legislation. The women went to work in the iron mines of
Minnesota to get better paying jobs, but they did not realize they
were entering a hostile workplace. Ms. Jenson, a single mother, and
the other women were met with verbal insults, physical and verbal
threats, degrading graffiti, groping and other physical assaults that
worsened after she complained to management. She went to court and
filed a lawsuit.
This case is a landmark decision citing the legal responsibilities of
employers to not only provide equal employement opportunities for
women, but to ensure that their work environments are free of
harassment. Those changes were made as a result of Ms. Jenson's long,
twisted legal journey that allowed women to stand together as a class.
As knowledge of the case grew, many companies put policies and
training into place in order to avoid liability and embarassment, as
well as to protect their employees even before Jenson v. Eveleth Mines
was successfully resolved.