Women's Programs

Kathy Yager: One of the things with the Women’s Program- it’s now called Career Awareness Program- because the men had problems with them calling it a “woman’s program.” The whole concept of getting that program off the ground without district manager was that they wanted parody for women in the upper echelons, higher levels, postmasters. We had plenty of-of ladies in EAS elevens and the EAS thirteens, but when you got to the higher levels and, unfortunately, that still is true today, you have mostly men. And, our whole reason for existing and having these conferences and things was to, um, get women to come to conferences and to learn about the opportunities that were out there for them. Unfortunately, we’re a very very large corporation and, in order to move up in this corporation, you have to move quite a bit. And, most women, especially in the early days- in the seventies, were tied to their husbands’ jobs. And, if they had children, um, a lot of times, people would not be willing to make the move that it took to advance on up. I do have a friend, uh, Susan Warren, whose husband became, almost, the hosehusband to raise their five children so she could do that.

Dianne Williams: I’ve been involved in several women’s programs both in the union and with the post office. I was on a diversity team, where on this particular diversity team we would address women’s issues but they weren’t the only issues we would address, we would address issues on the working floor because the postal service is kind of like a melting pot of different cultures and different personalities, so we would address issues of that nature.

Marge Oehlke: For the last ten years, I have in one primary position or another,have been very active in what’s called the Women Putting Their Stamp on Metro Milwaukee awards, which isactuallyreceived nationwide recognition, for the National Diversity award in 2007. Each year we have women from the metro Milwaukee area, outside the Postal Service, as well as, oneto two employees from within the Postal Service that we recognize for their, achievements, public and private achievements.