Exhibit celebrates women triumphing over struggle

Date: 9/8/2009

By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor



HOLYOKE -- The struggle for equal rights in the workplace is an ongoing global battle, particularly for women. A new exhibit, "Celebrating Women's Struggles: An International Poster Exhibit," at Heritage State Park is dedicated to illustrating such battles and triumphs over adversity.

The exhibit -- on display through Oct. 24 -- was made possible because of one man's participation in the labor movement and his commitment to documenting the worldwide struggle for equal rights. Stephen Lewis, curator, and COPE chair of the Service Employees International Union, Local 509, has spent 15 years collecting 2,700 posters from all over the world, a small selection of which are on display at the park.

"I want [viewers of the exhibit] to appreciate the art because some of them are quite beautiful," Lewis told Reminder Publications. "I want them to understand what some of the issues for women workers are and the universality of it."

He added that women in the First and the Third worlds face the same battles against domestic violence, safety on the job, sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace. Lewis noted that socioeconomic classes and geographical location have little to do with the differentiation between women's struggles for equality in any country.

Many of the posters were created by trade unions to promote equality in the workplace. Posters in the exhibit also feature works from the Women's Bureau that were produced by the Department of Labor during Bill Clinton's presidency as well as works from the Working Women Organization in Pakistan, according to Charlie Lotspeich, supervisor at Heritage State Park.

"I hope visitors [to the exhibit] will gain a deeper appreciation of the struggles that workers, particularly women, [who] have had to [work to] gain better working conditions in industrial settings. That certainly was the experience in the textile and paper mills in Holyoke," Lotspeich said.

He added that permanent exhibits chronicling the history of immigration, migration and local industry have also been installed recently.

"Celebrating Women's Struggles: An International Poster Exhibit" at the Heritage State Park Visitor's Center, 221 Appleton St., is open to visitors from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free.