Biography
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.
From the guide to the Inventory of the Lynn Shaw Collection, 1937-2010, 1950-2005, (California State University, Dominguez Hills Archives and Special Collections)
