Working Women

In the early 1970s, the U.S. federal government implemented affirmative action measures designed to promote equal employment opportunity among women and ethnic minorities. The "new law" mentioned in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) flier more than likely refers to U. S. Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson's December 1971 announcement requiring firms with federal government contracts to make "good faith" efforts to end discriminatory hiring practices against women and people of color.

Among its numerous functions, the Portland YWCA acted as a placement agency for women seeking employment. Employers and women looking for jobs filled out informational forms and the staff helped match the two. Job banks like the one advertised in the YWCA flier helped provide career counseling, access to jobs and necessary job skills, and support for non-traditional careers for women.

The Portland YWCA was founded in 1901. Its commitment to help women through employment assistance came early. In 1903, it took over the Portland School of Domestic Science to better assist young women secure jobs within the domestic service sector. Later in the decade, the Portland branch held business classes through its Commercial Department, teaching stenography, typewriting, and other basic office skills. In the process, it offered recommendations and training certificates, which benefited women candidates in the job market.

While they were, in fact, committed to helping women find employment prior to World War II, the Portland YWCA began to focus more actively on issues of civic engagement in the 1960s and 1970s. This shift reflects both the change in public consciousness and in the composition of the YWCA’s board of directors. After World War II, an increasingly diverse and professional group of women replaced the economically leisured and politically prominent women who had dominated the early organization. It was at this time that the Portland YWCA started to work less from an ethic of “Christian protection” and more from an awareness of social activism. The Job Bank was one of several programs that reflect this shift in focus.