On Sale: Mar 2, 2027
Publisher: Hachette Audio
ISBN-13: 9781668662410

$24.99

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Women’s work is calling. Will you answer the phone?

In the 1960s, women telephone operators did more than simply connect calls. These female voices soothed the anxieties of the modern age—charming infatuated suitors, informing curious residents, and saving lives ahead of natural disasters. But when automation replaced their jobs, a courageous former telephone operator made waves by breaking into the male-dominated labor force, transforming women’s work forever.

Bellwether tells the story of the tenacious and determined Lorna Weeks, who launched a revolution in 1965, when she applied for a “switchman” job, leading to a landmark court ruling that smashed the blue-collar workforce’s glass ceiling. Journalist Kim Kaniewicz’s offers the first narrative history of telephone operators, and spotlights how one woman’s courage shifted the labor market for hundreds of thousands of women. The women of Bellwether courageously carved pathways to higher-paying and more fulfilling careers and laid essential groundwork for the second-wave feminist movement, as well as modern efforts for gender equity.

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Kim Kankiewicz is an acclaimed journalist covering social history and under-the-radar cultural topics for NPR, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, O Magazine, and Salon, among many other publications. Her narrative writing has appeared in Creative Nonfiction and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing and American Studies from the University of Kansas.