WORKING-CLASS WOMEN AND CIVIC ACTION: A CASE STUDY OF AN INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY ROLE*

This paper focuses on working-class women who are assuming public responsibility in voluntary organizations aimed at the maintenance and improvement of their city neighborhoods. Forty women were interviewed in-depth regarding their civic concerns and voluntary activities in a case study of Carondelet, a predominantly white working-class neighborhood of St. Louis. Overall, activism is well-organized and widespread with women playing a major contributing role. If the experience of Carondelet is typical, then future urban policy analysis must seriously take into account extensive female input at the grass-roots level.