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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-07-24 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 4
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[Header] [drawing of a dollar sign resembling a snake] from the heart C.W. The Chicago Women's Liberation Union is an organization of women who see the oppression of women as a significant crippling factor in our lives and the lives of other women, and as part of the generally oppressive socio-economic system under which we live. We have united to struggle against our common oppression, as well as to join in the fight against the oppression of others. The CWLU is composed of chapters of varying types in the Chicago metropolitan area, and functions through a steering committee composed of one representative from each chapter. The CWLU is consciously attempting to develop a humane non-manipulative organization; in practice this means that we are attempting to function through democratic, decentralized structure in which all chapters are consulted on policy decisions. The CWLU office is staffed by two unpaid, nearly full-time women plus volunteers from the chapters. The Union has a number of important functions. One is that of facilitating communication, both in the city and nationwide, by means of the Union Newsletter and of the information exchange occurring through the office. It serves as a mechanism by which ideas and resources from groups across the city can be pooled to work on common actions and new analyses. It provides a central place to which interested women can be referred and through which new groups can be organized. The Union also provides a mechanism for meeting certain demands in a unified way, such as requests for speakers and requests from the mass media for interviews, etc., which are dealt with through the Union Speakers’ Bureau and media committee. Union chapters are varied in nature, including neighborhood organizing projects personal discussion groups, study groups, and other types of action groups. Chapters have virtually total autonomy in their actions, and thus may choose to carry out activities on their own, to cooperate in Union-wide projects, or to do both. Women’s liberation groups have been meeting in Chicago for approximately two and one-half years. Out of the experience of groups meeting in relative isolation from each other and attempting sporadic cooperation on specific actions or projects came the general feeling that a city-wide organization was essential to facilitate communication and cooperation. A conference and a series of mass-meetings were held this past fall, leading toward the ultimate founding of the CWLU. Membership in the CWLU is open to all women agreeing with the substance of the Union statement of principles. Members are encouraged to affiliate with existing chapters or to create new ones in the belief that group work is more beneficial than work in isolation, but one can be a member-at-large if she so desires. Work with the WLU is NOT limited to members; non-members are welcome to work with the Union and the chapters on actions and projects, and are invited to get in touch with the chapters (this can be done through the office). Membership building is not a concern of the Union; reaching out to women is. Dues are not assessed on Union members, but members are encouraged to give whatever they can afford. Contributions from non-member supporters are welcome. The CWLU believes that people are oppressed by the economic and political institutions of contemporary American society. This oppression is felt around us every day: through the war and the involvement of big business all over the world; through the state, which pours the resources of the people into protecting those business ventures through foreign aid, military expenses, and government contracts, which the basic institutions of American society---health, education, transportation, welfare---decay; through the deterioration of the environment caused by profit-dominated corporate policies; through the discriminatory practices which cause suffering for blacks, Puerto Ricans, the aged, women, American Indians, and other segments of the American population. This oppression is exercised in numerous ways, some of which affect women in particular. Although capitalism exploits virtually the entire work force in one way or another, women form one of the major oppressed work groups. Women are hired for the lower skilled, lower paying jobs and are promoted less often than men, often standing by while less qualified men are promoted over them. Women seldom reach policy-making positions, and in fact are often systematically excluded from them. At all levels, women are often paid less than men for the same work, sometimes through the device of having two job classifications for the same work. In the family, women are oppressed by the role of wife and mother. Women are expected, whether they have an outside job or not and whether they have one child or five, to be entirely responsible for the cleaning, repairing, cooking, shopping, washing, ironing, health, education, and child-care for their family. Whether they actually do the work themselves, are expected to hire and supervise others, or whether their husbands “help out,” the primary responsibility remains layers, and problems or crises are left to them to deal with. What this means is that tremendous amounts of socially necessary labor is performed free by women who are unpaid and unrecognized. It also means that children often don’t have the chance to benefit from any intensive contact with men, and that men are deprived of significant contact with their children. The present family pattern, in conjunction with discrimination against women in the labor force, also penalizes women economically. If a married woman chooses to work, she must either do all or almost all the housework in addition to her outside job, or must pay out of her (already low) wages to have part or all of that work done. If she has children, the cost of child-care must come out of her earnings, and she must face the problem of inadequate and expensive child-care facilities. Women with children who, through divorce, widowhood, or whatever, must support both themselves and their children face even greater difficulties and surviving. (Continued on page 5…) [hand drawing of some kind of emblem] The Chicago Women’s Liberation Union has been working since the first of the year to open a free women’s health center. Part of the services offered will start the first of August; other things will follow as community support and funds are built up. The center (not called a clinic for licensing reasons) will open with a series of informal educational meetings covering six general topics: (1) Sex education for teenagers, (2) Infant care, (3) First Aid, (4) Nutrition and diet, (5) Preparation for childbirth, and (6) Female physiology (including birth control and VD). All of the people organizing the classes are nurses, public health workers, medical technicians, or nursing students. The class leaders have been working with groups of six to eight women from the Union to plan the course and to teach them to be teachers. Each class will meet four times a month, on the same day of the week, and then the 4-week series will start over again the next month. We expect other groups to develop out of these broad classes, and will help women from the community set up other classes to meet their needs. As we have been lining up these meetings, we have been recruiting other people to volunteer medical services for when other parts of the center open. We have about ten doctors willing to give between one-half day and a whole day each week. Some are women, some are men; about half are gynecologists. The medical services we will offer a pregnancy testing, VD testing and treatment, diagnosis and treatment of other vaginal infections, routine prenatal care, practical lessons in natural childbirth, routine infant immunizations, and abortion counseling (not advertised as such). We have located a hospital and a laboratory which will serve as back-up institutions, taking patients we can’t help. Another important function of the center will be to provide patient advocates---women who help other women cut through red tape, find out what services are available elsewhere in the city, and actually help them to get them. Legal and financial advisors will be available, too, working with the patient advocate. This alone will make the center radically different from all the city clinics. We are working on getting large grants from corporations, foundations, and churches; and this, as usual, is proving to be the hardest part of the work. We have had to write and rewrite proposals to iron out our vague points and polish everything up to meet incredibly high standards of superficial perfection. We have had to bull-shit a lot, which is an interesting experience when [you-ve] spent long months or years trying to get that tendency out of your system. So far we have a guar- 4 Vol.1 No.3 [hand drawn arm] Ain’t I
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[Header] [drawing of a dollar sign resembling a snake] from the heart C.W. The Chicago Women's Liberation Union is an organization of women who see the oppression of women as a significant crippling factor in our lives and the lives of other women, and as part of the generally oppressive socio-economic system under which we live. We have united to struggle against our common oppression, as well as to join in the fight against the oppression of others. The CWLU is composed of chapters of varying types in the Chicago metropolitan area, and functions through a steering committee composed of one representative from each chapter. The CWLU is consciously attempting to develop a humane non-manipulative organization; in practice this means that we are attempting to function through democratic, decentralized structure in which all chapters are consulted on policy decisions. The CWLU office is staffed by two unpaid, nearly full-time women plus volunteers from the chapters. The Union has a number of important functions. One is that of facilitating communication, both in the city and nationwide, by means of the Union Newsletter and of the information exchange occurring through the office. It serves as a mechanism by which ideas and resources from groups across the city can be pooled to work on common actions and new analyses. It provides a central place to which interested women can be referred and through which new groups can be organized. The Union also provides a mechanism for meeting certain demands in a unified way, such as requests for speakers and requests from the mass media for interviews, etc., which are dealt with through the Union Speakers’ Bureau and media committee. Union chapters are varied in nature, including neighborhood organizing projects personal discussion groups, study groups, and other types of action groups. Chapters have virtually total autonomy in their actions, and thus may choose to carry out activities on their own, to cooperate in Union-wide projects, or to do both. Women’s liberation groups have been meeting in Chicago for approximately two and one-half years. Out of the experience of groups meeting in relative isolation from each other and attempting sporadic cooperation on specific actions or projects came the general feeling that a city-wide organization was essential to facilitate communication and cooperation. A conference and a series of mass-meetings were held this past fall, leading toward the ultimate founding of the CWLU. Membership in the CWLU is open to all women agreeing with the substance of the Union statement of principles. Members are encouraged to affiliate with existing chapters or to create new ones in the belief that group work is more beneficial than work in isolation, but one can be a member-at-large if she so desires. Work with the WLU is NOT limited to members; non-members are welcome to work with the Union and the chapters on actions and projects, and are invited to get in touch with the chapters (this can be done through the office). Membership building is not a concern of the Union; reaching out to women is. Dues are not assessed on Union members, but members are encouraged to give whatever they can afford. Contributions from non-member supporters are welcome. The CWLU believes that people are oppressed by the economic and political institutions of contemporary American society. This oppression is felt around us every day: through the war and the involvement of big business all over the world; through the state, which pours the resources of the people into protecting those business ventures through foreign aid, military expenses, and government contracts, which the basic institutions of American society---health, education, transportation, welfare---decay; through the deterioration of the environment caused by profit-dominated corporate policies; through the discriminatory practices which cause suffering for blacks, Puerto Ricans, the aged, women, American Indians, and other segments of the American population. This oppression is exercised in numerous ways, some of which affect women in particular. Although capitalism exploits virtually the entire work force in one way or another, women form one of the major oppressed work groups. Women are hired for the lower skilled, lower paying jobs and are promoted less often than men, often standing by while less qualified men are promoted over them. Women seldom reach policy-making positions, and in fact are often systematically excluded from them. At all levels, women are often paid less than men for the same work, sometimes through the device of having two job classifications for the same work. In the family, women are oppressed by the role of wife and mother. Women are expected, whether they have an outside job or not and whether they have one child or five, to be entirely responsible for the cleaning, repairing, cooking, shopping, washing, ironing, health, education, and child-care for their family. Whether they actually do the work themselves, are expected to hire and supervise others, or whether their husbands “help out,” the primary responsibility remains layers, and problems or crises are left to them to deal with. What this means is that tremendous amounts of socially necessary labor is performed free by women who are unpaid and unrecognized. It also means that children often don’t have the chance to benefit from any intensive contact with men, and that men are deprived of significant contact with their children. The present family pattern, in conjunction with discrimination against women in the labor force, also penalizes women economically. If a married woman chooses to work, she must either do all or almost all the housework in addition to her outside job, or must pay out of her (already low) wages to have part or all of that work done. If she has children, the cost of child-care must come out of her earnings, and she must face the problem of inadequate and expensive child-care facilities. Women with children who, through divorce, widowhood, or whatever, must support both themselves and their children face even greater difficulties and surviving. (Continued on page 5…) [hand drawing of some kind of emblem] The Chicago Women’s Liberation Union has been working since the first of the year to open a free women’s health center. Part of the services offered will start the first of August; other things will follow as community support and funds are built up. The center (not called a clinic for licensing reasons) will open with a series of informal educational meetings covering six general topics: (1) Sex education for teenagers, (2) Infant care, (3) First Aid, (4) Nutrition and diet, (5) Preparation for childbirth, and (6) Female physiology (including birth control and VD). All of the people organizing the classes are nurses, public health workers, medical technicians, or nursing students. The class leaders have been working with groups of six to eight women from the Union to plan the course and to teach them to be teachers. Each class will meet four times a month, on the same day of the week, and then the 4-week series will start over again the next month. We expect other groups to develop out of these broad classes, and will help women from the community set up other classes to meet their needs. As we have been lining up these meetings, we have been recruiting other people to volunteer medical services for when other parts of the center open. We have about ten doctors willing to give between one-half day and a whole day each week. Some are women, some are men; about half are gynecologists. The medical services we will offer a pregnancy testing, VD testing and treatment, diagnosis and treatment of other vaginal infections, routine prenatal care, practical lessons in natural childbirth, routine infant immunizations, and abortion counseling (not advertised as such). We have located a hospital and a laboratory which will serve as back-up institutions, taking patients we can’t help. Another important function of the center will be to provide patient advocates---women who help other women cut through red tape, find out what services are available elsewhere in the city, and actually help them to get them. Legal and financial advisors will be available, too, working with the patient advocate. This alone will make the center radically different from all the city clinics. We are working on getting large grants from corporations, foundations, and churches; and this, as usual, is proving to be the hardest part of the work. We have had to write and rewrite proposals to iron out our vague points and polish everything up to meet incredibly high standards of superficial perfection. We have had to bull-shit a lot, which is an interesting experience when [you-ve] spent long months or years trying to get that tendency out of your system. So far we have a guar- 4 Vol.1 No.3 [hand drawn arm] Ain’t I
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