NT-4201

Countdown on slate

From New York. WNET Presents. Fade out

Slate: Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Grant for program by announcer.

Bugle blower at racetrack playing the classic "First Call".

Starting gates goes up, horses come flying out and race begins.

Audience standing up in the stands at race track. Older woman, gray hair and glasses yelling and waving her hand up and down.

Tilt down wide shot horses running on turf (grass) race track.

shot from behind, men watching from fence as horses race by on dirt track.

Horse number 5 with jockey being led off race track by trainer.

Talking head middle aged woman with short dark hair (looks Asian or multi-racial) speaking with unseen interviewer states she observed girls working at the race track and wished she could work there.

Woman Alive! Presents - show graphic overlay talking head woman with red hair and "First Call" on bugle is heard.

Same talking head older, red haired, lady still talking about being turned down for a job at the track because they couldn't have "...one woman here with a thousand men"...

Talking head women including the red haired lady from before and short haired blond lady, sitting outside talking with unseen interviewer about the unfairness of the race track's hiring practices.

Slow pan in on Sherr as she continues speaking and talking about the four women (from before) who filed a sexual discrimination case against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a class action suit against the New York Racing Association.

Blond hair lady talking head, one of the four who filed suit, talking with unseen interviewer stating that her disillusionment is what inspired her to take action and file suit against the race track.

Back with Sherr she continues to talk about sex discrimination and laws against it although it continues to happen.

Cutaway to clip from the 1970's management training program film by Boomerang, entitled "A Matter of Facts". The film enlightens employers about job discrimination practices especially geared toward women and depicts a typical situation where a young girl attempts to get a factory job and is met with resistance and disbelief.

Back with Lynn Sherr - she sums up the specific regulations and laws against discrimination particularly, the broadest law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Wide shot the Statue of Liberty in the distance, taken from shoreline or boat

B&W Very early 1900's footage of immigrants, men and women, crowded together moving slowly (some looking straight at camera).

B&W vintage clip immigrant woman with white scarf around her neck and holding the most adorable baby in her arms. Baby wearing a big sweater with lace collar and head scarf. Woman holds up small American flag on a stick and shows it to baby.

B&W early 1900's clip - huge pile of rubbish in the city street along the curb. Man in white shirt and tie, arms crossed looking. Very partially seen - a wagon parked along the curb. Narrator states blatantly, "...who could imagine (immigrants) could ever organize against their employers?"

Tilt down b&w clip of the busy streets of old New York turn of the century, many many people and kids milling about in the streets, hustle bustle, tenement buildings, antique cars, commerce, life.

B&W historic clip, fresh fruit market on streets of New York, kids buying fruit, men in hats looking on.

Historic footage two small children about 8 years old sitting working - large sheet of paper or fabric in front of them, looks like they are inking fabric

Exterior large factory building, many windows - name on building obscured.

Wide shot large room of many women working at sewing machines, male supervisors looking on. Narration by unseen unknown immigrant male talking about how they worked 7 days a week and had to come in on Sundays during busy season.

Large group of women sitting in big room and hand sewing fabrics.

Wide shot unbelievable crowd of workers in sewing room of factory, everyone moving, working hard like bees.

Various historic footage - shots of workers in sewing factory, folding fabrics, sewing on vintage foot peddle sewing machines.

Several b&w photos of striking women factory workers in the early 1900s, marching arms linked, crowds of women holding signs, riding in open horse drawn wagon holding protest signs, "Working Women Unite!", "Union Contract" . With narration.

z'in on large protest sign, "Union Contracts have been signed for 15000 workers"

Still photo interior of packed full government building, z'in on male union official at podium.

McPike speaking to unknown unseen interviewer from her office overlooking the City states that unless women joining together collectively you never get at the "root problem"

McPike sitting with panel of other folk, further states to the panel that if it were a desk calculator belonging to an engineer nobody would be allowed to use it except that person. She stresses that their equipment is as important to them as the engineer's equipment is to them.

Back with Lynn Sherr speaking to viewers about the various women's working groups around the country that have become their own vehicles for power.

Tilt up on train on elevated tracks ('L' Train) in Chicago on the downtown loop, peds walking below.

Downtown Chicago, older man in business suit with cigar hanging out of his mouth on street corner, woman hands him a newspaper. He takes the paper and walks off amidst lots of other peds on busy Chicago street.

Big U-Shaped conference table with women seated around it, large banner behind them reads: "Women Employed"

Talking head young woman speaking at Women Employed meeting states that women have basic employment rights, and should be treated with respect and equality. applause is heard.

Var women of different ages and backgrounds discussing issues and their various experiences in the workplace.

Camera following Harriet S. Rabb, Assistant Dean Columbia Law School New York, as she walks with purpose past the Law School building.

Harriet Rabb siting on plush red sofa and speaking with unseen unknown interviewer. She discusses the reasons women workers may have a discrimination case against their employer such as, no salary raises , no promotions, and other people getting training and other opportunities enhancing their careers.

Pan in and up on the Newsweek building in New York. Narration about the magazine's promotional campaign that used to claim the magazine separated fact from opinion, and also separated men from women when it came to salaries, job titles and promotions.

Lynn Young, the magazine's only female senior editor out of six, sitting with another unknown woman, at work at cluttered desk discussing the magazine articles spread out before them. Narrator details the two separate discrimination suits against the magazine before they changed their discriminatory policies. Lynn Povich (who married and divorced Jeffrey Young) is an American journalist. She began her career as a secretary in the Paris Bureau of Newsweek magazine, rising to become a reporter and writer in New York in the late 1960s. In 1970, she was one of a group of women who sued the magazine for sex discrimination. Five years later, she was appointed the first woman Senior Editor in Newsweek's history. Povich is the daughter of journalist Shirley Povich and the sister of Maury Povich.

Wide shot four '70's women in office sitting at desk. They discuss the discrimination complaints they had filed against Newsweek in detail.

Discussion about discrimination complaints and their negotiations continues.

Back with Harriet Rabb still talking with unseen unknown interviewer giving helpful information on how to file a complaint using the formal legal process in retaining a lawyer and how lawyers help prepare a charge of discrimination.

Male construction workers in hard hats at construction site.

Close up railroad tracks switching.

Man with white hair, glasses, sitting at desk - train dispatcher, mics on desk, controls and paperwork.

Close up as passenger train speeds by.

Same talking head red haired woman, Dorothy Varga, walking along train tracks. She narrates about her problems began when she applied for a promotion as a Train Dispatcher.

shot of same woman walking along desolate train tracks.

Back with host, Lynn Sherr, she talks about how to find a good lawyer for a sexual discrimination case by going through certain organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, the Women's Legal Defense Fund, and many others.

Partner of the firm, Joan Graff, explaining the firm's caseload - assuring women have equal opportunities to employment, training and careers.

Female "Deckhand" in white jumpsuit walking on passenger ferry boat and entering the cabin. Passengers on ferry are seen.

Wide shot Tucson, Arizona landscape. The city against dry arid dessert and mountainous bkgd.

Tilt up palm trees. Pan down on the many palm trees on the college campus, students walking on paths amidst the trees. With narration about the sex and racial discrimination complaints against the college by 17 women and two men (Mexican Americans) - six of the women have been fired.

Rita Fincham - one of the women fired from Pima, walking up to front door of home. Male answers door and she introduces herself. Fincham narrates about becoming involved in politics since she was fired by Pima.

Gloria Steinem, circa 1970's, Editor Ms Magazine, speaking with unseen unknown interviewer about the Pima College discrimination case and how illegal it was for the women to be harassed and fired during the process.

Fincham and Cecelia Vindillo(?) another woman who was fired from Pima for filing the discrimination complaint, sitting poolside, legs dangling in the water and talking to each other about the case, the harassment and retaliation they suffered.

Close up Gloria Steinem's face.

Fade out to Blank.

Credits over scenes from the program.