No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Systems of Male Privilege: The Industrial Relations Policies of the Ford Motor Company in the 1940s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2021
Abstract
This article examines the industrial relations systems constructed by Ford and United Automobile Workers (UAW) leaders for the Ford Motor Company in the 1940s. Ford’s industrial relations systems extended privileges to men and male-dominated groups to the detriment of their female counterparts and women seeking employment and advancement. Systemic male privilege was integral to Ford’s operations throughout conversion to military production for World War II and reconversion back to civilian production.
Keywords
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.
Footnotes
My thanks go to Ellen Durban and Alex Goodall for their advice and support.
References
Bibliography of Works Cited
Anderson, Karen. Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations, and the Status of Women During World War II. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Bates, Beth Tompkins. The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Harry. Ford: We Never Called Him Henry. As told to Paul Marcus. New York: Gold Medal Books, Fawcett Publications Inc., 1951.Google Scholar
Campbell, D’Ann. Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Chafe, William Henry. The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Policital Roles, 1920–1970. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Cobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Ford, Henry. My Philosophy of Industry. Interviewed by Fay Leone Faurote. New York: Coward-McCann, 1929.Google Scholar
Ford, Henry.
Moving Forward
. In collaboration with Samuel Crowther. London: William Heinemann, 1931.Google Scholar
Gabin, Nancy F. Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Gould, Jean, and Hickok, Lorena. Walter Reuther: Labor’s Rugged Individualist. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972.Google Scholar
Halpern, Martin. UAW Politics in the Cold War Era. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Klein, Jennifer. For All These Rights: Business, Labor, and the Shaping of America’s Public-Private Welfare State. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Meier, August, and Rudwick, Elliott M.. Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Meyer, Stephen. The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908–1921. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Milkman, Ruth. Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex during World War II. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Nevins, Alan, and Hill, Frank Ernest. Ford: Decline and Rebirth, 1933–1962. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Sugiman, Pamela H. Labour’s Dilemma: The Gender Politics of Auto Workers in Canada, 1937–1979. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Civilian Production Administration. Industrial Mobilization for War: History of the War Production Board and Predecessor Agencies 1940–1945. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1947.Google Scholar
Boris, Eileen. “‘You Wouldn’t Want One of ’Em Dancing with Your Wife’: Racialized Bodies on the Job in World War II.” American Quarterly 50, no. 1 (1998): 77–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromsen, Amy. “‘They All Sort of Disappeared’: The Early Cohort of UAW Women Leaders.” Michigan Historical Review 37, no. 1 (2011): 5–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabin, Nancy. “‘They Have Placed a Penalty on Womanhood’: The Protest Actions of Women Auto Workers in Detroit-Area UAW Locals, 1945–1947.” Feminist Studies 8, no. 2 (1982): 373–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabin, Nancy. “Women Workers and the UAW in the Post-World War II Period: 1945–1954.” Labor History 21, no. 1 (1979): 5–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kossoudji, Sherrie A., and Dresser, Laura J.. “The End of a Riveting Experience: Occupational Shifts at Ford after World War II.” The American Economic Review 82, no. 2 (1992): 519–525.Google Scholar
Lewchuk, Wayne A. “Men and Monotony: Fraternalism as a Managerial Strategy at the Ford Motor Company.” The Journal of Economic History 53, no. 4 (1993): 824–856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Link, Stefan. “The Charismatic Corporation: Finance, Administration, and Shop Floor Management under Henry Ford.” Business History Review 92, no. 1 (2018): 85–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloney, Thomas N., and Whatley, Warren C.. “Making the Effort: The Contours of Racial Discrimination in Detroit’s Labor Markets, 1920–1940.” The Journal of Economic History 55, no. 3 (1995): 465–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, Martha. “The Historical Problem of the Family Wage: The Ford Motor Company and the Five Dollar Day.” Feminist Studies 8, no. 2 (1982): 399–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.” Working Paper No. 189, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley, MA, 1988.Google Scholar
Meyer, Steve. “Workplace Predators: Sexuality and Harassment on the U.S. Automotive Shop Floor, 1930–1960.” Labor 1, no. 1 (2004): 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norwood, Stephen. “Ford’s Brass Knuckles: Harry Bennett, the Cult of Muscularity, and Anti-Labor Terror–1920–1945.” Labor History 37 no. 3 (1996): 365–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atlantic Monthly
Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times
Google Scholar
Monthly Labor Review
Google Scholar
New York City Sunday Worker
Google Scholar
New York Times
Google Scholar
Personnel
Google Scholar
Rouge News
Google Scholar
United Automobile Worker
Google Scholar
Automotive Council for War Production. Accession 84. National Automotive History Collection. Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan (Automotive Council for War Production Records).Google Scholar
Billups, Joseph. Interview of by Herbert Hill on October 27, 1967, in Detroit. Used by permission of Herbert Hill. Blacks in the Labor Market Oral Histories. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.Google Scholar
Bombard, Owen W. Interviews Series. Accession 65. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Bombard Interviews Series).Google Scholar
Cameron, William. Records. Accession 2004.1.1866. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Cameron Records).Google Scholar
Ford, Edsel B. Office Papers. Accession 6. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Edsel Ford Papers).Google Scholar
Ford Company Files. National Automotive History Collection. Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan (Ford Company Files NAHC).Google Scholar
Ford Motor Company Production Reports. Accession 221. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Ford Production Reports).Google Scholar
Ganley, Nat. Collection. Accession 320. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Ganley Collection).Google Scholar
Hill, Frank Ernest. Papers. Accession 940. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Hill Papers).Google Scholar
Industrial Relations Policies. Accession 935. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Industrial Relations Policies).Google Scholar
La Croix, Charles C. Records. Accession 435. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (La Croix Records).Google Scholar
UAW Local 600 Records. Accession 176. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Local 600 Records).Google Scholar
Madar, Olga. Oral History. Accession 2000.136.1. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Madar Oral History).Google Scholar
Martindale, C. L., and Husen, Otto H.. Files. Accession 157. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Martindale Files).Google Scholar
Press Releases Subseries. Accession 536. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Press Releases Subseries).Google Scholar
Reports of Management Meetings. Accession 422. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Reports of Management Meetings).Google Scholar
Reuther, Walter P.
UAW President’s Office. Accession 261. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Reuther Records).Google Scholar
Sorensen, Charles E. Records. Accession 38. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Sorensen Records).Google Scholar
Tappes, Shelton. Interview of by Herbert Hill on October 27, 1967, in Detroit. Used by permission of Herbert Hill. Blacks in the Labor Market Oral Histories. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. J. UAW President’s Office. Accession 115. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Thomas Records).Google Scholar
Ward, Willis Franklyn. Papers. Accession 527. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Ward Papers).Google Scholar
UAW Ford Department Collection. Accession 105. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Ford Department Collection).Google Scholar
UAW Research Department Records. Accession 350. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Research Department Records).Google Scholar
Anderson, Karen. Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations, and the Status of Women During World War II. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Bates, Beth Tompkins. The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Harry. Ford: We Never Called Him Henry. As told to Paul Marcus. New York: Gold Medal Books, Fawcett Publications Inc., 1951.Google Scholar
Campbell, D’Ann. Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Chafe, William Henry. The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Policital Roles, 1920–1970. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Cobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Ford, Henry. My Philosophy of Industry. Interviewed by Fay Leone Faurote. New York: Coward-McCann, 1929.Google Scholar
Ford, Henry.
Moving Forward
. In collaboration with Samuel Crowther. London: William Heinemann, 1931.Google Scholar
Gabin, Nancy F. Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935–1975. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Gould, Jean, and Hickok, Lorena. Walter Reuther: Labor’s Rugged Individualist. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972.Google Scholar
Halpern, Martin. UAW Politics in the Cold War Era. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Klein, Jennifer. For All These Rights: Business, Labor, and the Shaping of America’s Public-Private Welfare State. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Meier, August, and Rudwick, Elliott M.. Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Meyer, Stephen. The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908–1921. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Milkman, Ruth. Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex during World War II. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Nevins, Alan, and Hill, Frank Ernest. Ford: Decline and Rebirth, 1933–1962. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Sugiman, Pamela H. Labour’s Dilemma: The Gender Politics of Auto Workers in Canada, 1937–1979. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Civilian Production Administration. Industrial Mobilization for War: History of the War Production Board and Predecessor Agencies 1940–1945. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1947.Google Scholar
Boris, Eileen. “‘You Wouldn’t Want One of ’Em Dancing with Your Wife’: Racialized Bodies on the Job in World War II.” American Quarterly 50, no. 1 (1998): 77–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromsen, Amy. “‘They All Sort of Disappeared’: The Early Cohort of UAW Women Leaders.” Michigan Historical Review 37, no. 1 (2011): 5–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabin, Nancy. “‘They Have Placed a Penalty on Womanhood’: The Protest Actions of Women Auto Workers in Detroit-Area UAW Locals, 1945–1947.” Feminist Studies 8, no. 2 (1982): 373–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabin, Nancy. “Women Workers and the UAW in the Post-World War II Period: 1945–1954.” Labor History 21, no. 1 (1979): 5–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kossoudji, Sherrie A., and Dresser, Laura J.. “The End of a Riveting Experience: Occupational Shifts at Ford after World War II.” The American Economic Review 82, no. 2 (1992): 519–525.Google Scholar
Lewchuk, Wayne A. “Men and Monotony: Fraternalism as a Managerial Strategy at the Ford Motor Company.” The Journal of Economic History 53, no. 4 (1993): 824–856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Link, Stefan. “The Charismatic Corporation: Finance, Administration, and Shop Floor Management under Henry Ford.” Business History Review 92, no. 1 (2018): 85–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maloney, Thomas N., and Whatley, Warren C.. “Making the Effort: The Contours of Racial Discrimination in Detroit’s Labor Markets, 1920–1940.” The Journal of Economic History 55, no. 3 (1995): 465–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, Martha. “The Historical Problem of the Family Wage: The Ford Motor Company and the Five Dollar Day.” Feminist Studies 8, no. 2 (1982): 399–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies.” Working Paper No. 189, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley, MA, 1988.Google Scholar
Meyer, Steve. “Workplace Predators: Sexuality and Harassment on the U.S. Automotive Shop Floor, 1930–1960.” Labor 1, no. 1 (2004): 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norwood, Stephen. “Ford’s Brass Knuckles: Harry Bennett, the Cult of Muscularity, and Anti-Labor Terror–1920–1945.” Labor History 37 no. 3 (1996): 365–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atlantic Monthly
Google Scholar
Los Angeles Times
Google Scholar
Monthly Labor Review
Google Scholar
New York City Sunday Worker
Google Scholar
New York Times
Google Scholar
Personnel
Google Scholar
Rouge News
Google Scholar
United Automobile Worker
Google Scholar
Automotive Council for War Production. Accession 84. National Automotive History Collection. Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan (Automotive Council for War Production Records).Google Scholar
Billups, Joseph. Interview of by Herbert Hill on October 27, 1967, in Detroit. Used by permission of Herbert Hill. Blacks in the Labor Market Oral Histories. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.Google Scholar
Bombard, Owen W. Interviews Series. Accession 65. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Bombard Interviews Series).Google Scholar
Cameron, William. Records. Accession 2004.1.1866. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Cameron Records).Google Scholar
Ford, Edsel B. Office Papers. Accession 6. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Edsel Ford Papers).Google Scholar
Ford Company Files. National Automotive History Collection. Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan (Ford Company Files NAHC).Google Scholar
Ford Motor Company Production Reports. Accession 221. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Ford Production Reports).Google Scholar
Ganley, Nat. Collection. Accession 320. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Ganley Collection).Google Scholar
Hill, Frank Ernest. Papers. Accession 940. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Hill Papers).Google Scholar
Industrial Relations Policies. Accession 935. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Industrial Relations Policies).Google Scholar
La Croix, Charles C. Records. Accession 435. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (La Croix Records).Google Scholar
UAW Local 600 Records. Accession 176. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Local 600 Records).Google Scholar
Madar, Olga. Oral History. Accession 2000.136.1. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Madar Oral History).Google Scholar
Martindale, C. L., and Husen, Otto H.. Files. Accession 157. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Martindale Files).Google Scholar
Press Releases Subseries. Accession 536. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Press Releases Subseries).Google Scholar
Reports of Management Meetings. Accession 422. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Reports of Management Meetings).Google Scholar
Reuther, Walter P.
UAW President’s Office. Accession 261. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Reuther Records).Google Scholar
Sorensen, Charles E. Records. Accession 38. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Sorensen Records).Google Scholar
Tappes, Shelton. Interview of by Herbert Hill on October 27, 1967, in Detroit. Used by permission of Herbert Hill. Blacks in the Labor Market Oral Histories. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. J. UAW President’s Office. Accession 115. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Thomas Records).Google Scholar
Ward, Willis Franklyn. Papers. Accession 527. Benson Ford Research Center. The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan (Ward Papers).Google Scholar
UAW Ford Department Collection. Accession 105. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Ford Department Collection).Google Scholar
UAW Research Department Records. Accession 350. Walter P. Reuther Library. Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (Research Department Records).Google Scholar