Description
This collection documents the academic and professional life of Dr. Lynn Shaw, a professor of electrical technology at Long
Beach City College who has been a key figure in the labor and nontraditional women's occupation movement in Southern California
as well as in national tradeswomen's groups. Materials include: professional organization and conference materials; materials
concerning career development, including apprenticeship and curricular programs; reports; periodicals; Dr. Shaw's Master's
thesis and other academic materials; flyers and brochures; newspaper clippings; and ephemera. Other materials concern organizations
in which Dr. Shaw has played a leading role, including Women In Non-Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER); Tradeswomen Now
and Tomorrow; the Southern California Tradeswomen Network; and Electric Women, along with other tradeswomen organizations;
U.S. Department of Labor materials; and subject files concerning gender, employment, labor and labor unions, and policies
and programs such as affirmative action and welfare. For digitized material related to all tradeswomen archives collections
please consult the
Tradeswomen Archives Project .
Background
Lynn Judith Shaw, who is currently a professor of electrical technology at Long Beach City College, has been an advocate for
women working in careers that pay a living wage since the mid-1970s. She has worked as miner, steelworker, longshore worker,
and journey-level electrician, and has been an active union member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW) since 1982. She received her Doctorate in Educational Policy from the Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State
University in 2001, and her Master's degree at California State University-Long Beach in 1995. Her vocational and research
interests include issues of women in nontraditional careers; the development of educational and apprenticeship programs that
support the entry of women in skilled trades; bringing to the fore the voices of diverse women and men who work in the trades;
and the study of gender, race, class, and work.
Along with her teaching, Dr. Shaw has played a key role in many organizations devoted to women in nontraditional jobs. She
is the founder of WINTER, Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles, a nonprofit advocacy and training organization, and of
the Long Beach City College Soroptimist Women in Trades and Technology Center. Her work also includes networking, training,
and founding or holding leadership roles in other organizations, including the national tradeswomen group, Tradeswomen Now
and Tomorrow; the Southern California Tradeswomen Network; Electric Women; and the Redlands-San Bernardino Chapter of the
National Organization for Women. Dr. Shaw is also a visual artist who in 1992 co-produced with Vivian Price and Neshtey Crudup
the film In My Own Words: Against All Odds, 1992. With these activities, Dr. Shaw has sought to promote increased opportunities
for women to enter the skilled trades. Her work has also aimed to increase awareness of gender and racial discrimination in
the workplace and in education, as well as of legal and educational means to foster equal opportunity in these areas.
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.