[1] The founding of the group was inspired by the case of Carmita Wood, who quit her job at Cornell University due to sexual harassment and became one of the first women in the US to sue her employer on such grounds.
Wood was McDaniel's administrative assistant who was a nuclear physicist working on the Manhattan Project prior to joining the team at Cornell.
[4] McDaniel constantly made sexual gestures and remarks causing Wood to develop extreme anxiety that led to severe neck pains and numbness in the shoulders and arms.
Years after Wood, Farley, and many other women coined the term "sexual harassment," the legal system made a big change.
Wood spoke about the changes in law that needed to be made in order for women to be able to work in a safe environment.
[7] On April 15, 1975, Ane Becker filed a complaint with the New York State Human Rights Commission against her employer, Borg Warner/Morse Chain, an international automotive supply corporation with a facility in Ithaca, alleging sexual discrimination.
Following on July 24, 1975, with the support of the WWU she filed suit against Morse Chain division of Borg Warner in Ithaca NY alleging sexual discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission.
"Working women United believes that this situation indicates discrimination in hiring, promotion, wages, training, and titles," she said.
Although Borg Warner automotive denied any wrongdoing, Becker was promoted to a Buyer classification, given a pay raise and two years of backpay.
She died in 2015 at the age of 89 and is remembered as a loving, feisty and independent spirit who championed change in the workplace to help women become more valued.
In the mid-1970's, the feminist movement created social and conceptual spaces where women could speak out on the job about sexual harassment.
She was declined unemployment benefits when resigning as an administrative assistant to a professor at Cornell University because she had been physically ill from the pressure of avoiding his unwanted sexual advances.
[8] On a Sunday afternoon, 4 May 1975, 275 women gathered at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center for the country's initial "Speak Out" testifying about personal experiences of sexual harassment.
[8] This campaign developed out of the wider women's movement, which provided the leaders of the fight against sexual assault with an institutional foundation, contact networks, policies, and philosophy.
Farley testified in 1975 for New York City Human Rights Commission Hearings on Women and Work to define sexual harassment.
The first protest occurred on May 4, 1975 as a "Speak Out" where women gave testimony of personal experiences of sexual harassment at work.
The women speaking out broke the silence of sexual harassment, while also bringing awareness to the newly identified term.
[9] This campaign developed out of the wider women's movement, which provided the leaders of the fight against sexual assault with an institutional foundation, contact networks, policies, and philosophy.
In doing so, Working Women United continued to make attempts in implementing sexual harassment policies such as pieces of training within the workplace.
This survey, in particular, had drawn closer attention to organized advocacy groups located in the dimensions of governments, academic settings, and other federal workplaces.
The efforts of Working Women United helped spread sexual assault awareness and resources to citizens all across the country.
In the late 1970s there was much discussion of the oppressive structures behind the sexual harassments of Women in the workplace, all rooted in feminist theory.
Klein argues that Farley's analysis is too simplistic and overlooks the role capitalism, race, and class play in sexual harassment.
[15] Farley responds to Klein in Aegis magazine, affirming her argument that patriarchy is the root of sexual harassments arguing that in capitalism women can now compete with men in a free labor market but not possible if male trade unions segregate training and job opportunities, making it rooted in patriarchy.
[16] All in all, Freada Klein acknowledged Lin Farley's ground breaking work and its role in discussion of sexual harassments.