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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

BRETT THEODORE MORRITT
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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

genderlabor relationsUS 20thwomen
Type
Article
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 1019 - 1046
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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Footnotes

My thanks go to Ellen Durban and Alex Goodall for their advice and support.

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

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Cobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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