THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Harriet E. White

February 13, 1920 – November 15, 2009

“I wish I had a quarter for every time someone asked me what feminists really want. ‘Do women really want a world without men? Don’t women like being taken care of? Isn’t it flattering to be called a girl when the woman is clearly middle-aged?’ They are missing the point. None of these things are issues. Feminists are really talking about options and choices. We want our own identity, not one coming from the men we are associated with.” – Harriet White, Urban Affairs Specialist and EOO coordinator, Illinois Bell Telephone Co., October 1973

Director of personnel for Illinois Bell. Helped women at Bell Laboratories understand the situation for women throughout the Bell System and encouraged networking during the 1970-73 EEOC major challenge to the Bell System’s treatment of women and minorities. Within Illinois Bell supported women by convening the Women’s Advisory Committee with a dozen management women.  Committee studied company policies, practices and attitudes hampering upward mobility for women and petitioned the personnel AVP to reduce barriers and define timetables for their affirmative action program. Bachelor’s Degree, Bates College, Maine. Master’s Degree, Ohio University.