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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-07-24 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 5
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of the monster [hand drawn snake] L.U. antee of enough money from Union members to allow us to sign a lease for a year, and that isn't enough to do much. Other people are trying to root out supplies, equipment and drugs, and we have a few good leads on these things. The general concept of the center is a humane group of people treating each other in dignified, personal ways, and trying to recognize problems involved in getting medical care in a monstrous place like Chicago. We see the center as a highly political project, because it demonstrates a counter-institution; it shows how people can work together to meet their own needs; it debunks a lot of prefessionalism; and it shows women acting together for substantial changes. The community chosen for the location is full of enormous challenges--it is Chicago's Southwest side, a fairly poor, mainly white working-class community, heavily Polish and Catholic, and is changing rapidly with patterns of Black and Mexican moving. Businesses are leaving, new things are opening, churches have a lot of influence, many women work, many men have two jobs, families are tight, everyone is overweight and in chronic need of dental care, abortion is a dirty word, there are no day-care centers, and the American Nazi Party isn't far away. We are trying to be realistic about the possibilities of actually operating a health canter that does more than have educational meetings; some people think we will only stay open a month, others guess we could make it for a year. Harrassment is expected, probably in the form of frequent disruptive police and fire checks. Some of the sisters working on the center live on teh Southwest side, and have been working to arrange speaking engagements at church groups and PTA's and to get things in the community newspapers. For the rest of the Union women working on the center, the experience of learning about the problems of women from different backgrounds is greatly broadening our understanding of our oppression and making us identify with ALL women. We've done this intellectually for a long time, but it takes personal involvement to believe it and feel it down there. For those of us committed to the center project, this may be the most important thing that comes out of it. Details of the class plans, materials used, and summaries of the discussions will be available to other women's liberation groups in early September. We will report regularly on the developments here and would like to be in touch with all the women's groups working on medical problems across the country. Please send questions, information, or other ideas to Women's Liberation Health Center, 2875 W Cermak, Chicago, Illinois. POWER to the SISTERS! If a married woman chooses not to work, she then becomes economically dependent upon her husband for household expenses, clothing and personal expenditures, pocket money, and in fact, for physical survival. Not only does this oppress her by putting her physical welfare in her husband's control, but it oppresses her husband by requiring his full-time participation in the work force in order to "bring home the bacon." A final major way in which women are oppressed is by the distorted and narrow definitions of women current in American culture. Women are seen as emotional, irresponsible and incompetent in relation to occupational, political, and sometimes educational achievement (although they are considered supremely capable of the socially crucial work or child-rearing and housekeeping). Women are treated as sexual objects by the mass media and especially by the advertising industry, which uses their bodies to sell cars, beer, cigarettes, deodorant, and a host of other consumer goods (while social necessities like hospitals, schools, and clean air are neglected because of the fact that they are not "profitable"). At the same time, the exploitation of women as sexual objects leads many women to view themselves as inferior models who must continuously spend money on an always changing stream of the latest in wigs, cosmetics, and clothes in an effort to "shape up" to the media-promoted image of the desirable woman, This supports the profit-oriented, capitalist corporations, and at the same time adds to the problems of psychic survival women experience in our male-oriented, competitive society. The CWLU sees this oppression of women as linked to the oppression of other powerless groups in society -- blacks, Puerto-Ricans, American Indians, youth, and the aged, for example. We see it as stemming from basic economic and political structures in American society, such as the fact that the entire economy functions according to what is most profitable rather than what is socially necessary or desireable, and the fact that the wealthy control such things as the major political parties and the media. Revolutionary social change is necessary to fully end the oppression of women as well as of other subordinate groups. In order to work toward this massive social change, and to lessen our present oppression, we are currently raising these issues: 1) the demand for voluntary pregnancy, that is, for the ability of women to have children if they want, when they want, and as many as they want, and to refrain completely from bearing children if they so desire. This entails the demand to provide free abortions unregulated by law (there are no laws governing tonsillectomies; we see this as an analogous situation, but further demand that abortions be given free in accordance with the of all to high quality medical care free of charge). This also includes the demand for significant research into the problem of safe and effective birth control, and for free and open access to complete information about the merits of various means of birth control, for men as for women. Finally, it includes the demand that no person ever be forced to submit to involuntary sterilization, and that persons wishing a permanent means of birth control can obtain sterilization at their own request. 2) Connected with the issue of voluntary pregnancy is the broader question of the nature of medical care in America. We challenge the profit-orientation of the drug companies; the elitest, hierarchical organization of the medical profession; the refusal of many medical specialists to give information to their patients and in other ways to deal with them hontestly; the direction of of a research establishment which develops heart transplants but not safe birth control; and above all the failure of the American medical establishment to provide decent health care for all. We will work to develop programs calling this establishment into question, and raising the demand for good, free medical care for all. 3) Also linked with the demand for voluntary pregnancy is the demand that child-care be recognized as a social responsibility. The provision of free child-care centers open seven days a week, 24 hours a day (so as to be accessible to women who work nights, weekends, etc.), staffed by well-paid men and women, and in control of the parents whose children are in those centers is our major demand at present. Ultimately, however, this point entials the demand that all children participate equally in the wealth of our society; a recognition that all children are social wealth, not the private property of their parents, and are thus entitled to an equal share of the wealth of society; and the sharing of what is now virtually the mother's sole responsibility for her child, not only by the child's father, but by the community. 4) An end to economic discrimination against women. This means, obviously, equal pay for equal work, fair hiring and promotion policies, equal access to training programs, and, in order to make equality a reality, provision of such things as maternity leave with no loss of seniority, maternity benefits, and company supplied (but parent controlled) child-care. It also means dealing with the problems of the unpaid, unrecognized nature of women's work in the home, the accompanying economic dependence of the woman on her husband, and the often desperate situation of the woman without a husband -- for whatever reason -- who must support herself and her children. We see our struggle as part of a struggle for freedom going on all over the world. We feel the need to unite with all those who seek control over their own lives, and particularly with women. CHICAGO WOMEN'S LIBERATION UNION a Woman? [hand drawn arm] July 24, 1970 5
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of the monster [hand drawn snake] L.U. antee of enough money from Union members to allow us to sign a lease for a year, and that isn't enough to do much. Other people are trying to root out supplies, equipment and drugs, and we have a few good leads on these things. The general concept of the center is a humane group of people treating each other in dignified, personal ways, and trying to recognize problems involved in getting medical care in a monstrous place like Chicago. We see the center as a highly political project, because it demonstrates a counter-institution; it shows how people can work together to meet their own needs; it debunks a lot of prefessionalism; and it shows women acting together for substantial changes. The community chosen for the location is full of enormous challenges--it is Chicago's Southwest side, a fairly poor, mainly white working-class community, heavily Polish and Catholic, and is changing rapidly with patterns of Black and Mexican moving. Businesses are leaving, new things are opening, churches have a lot of influence, many women work, many men have two jobs, families are tight, everyone is overweight and in chronic need of dental care, abortion is a dirty word, there are no day-care centers, and the American Nazi Party isn't far away. We are trying to be realistic about the possibilities of actually operating a health canter that does more than have educational meetings; some people think we will only stay open a month, others guess we could make it for a year. Harrassment is expected, probably in the form of frequent disruptive police and fire checks. Some of the sisters working on the center live on teh Southwest side, and have been working to arrange speaking engagements at church groups and PTA's and to get things in the community newspapers. For the rest of the Union women working on the center, the experience of learning about the problems of women from different backgrounds is greatly broadening our understanding of our oppression and making us identify with ALL women. We've done this intellectually for a long time, but it takes personal involvement to believe it and feel it down there. For those of us committed to the center project, this may be the most important thing that comes out of it. Details of the class plans, materials used, and summaries of the discussions will be available to other women's liberation groups in early September. We will report regularly on the developments here and would like to be in touch with all the women's groups working on medical problems across the country. Please send questions, information, or other ideas to Women's Liberation Health Center, 2875 W Cermak, Chicago, Illinois. POWER to the SISTERS! If a married woman chooses not to work, she then becomes economically dependent upon her husband for household expenses, clothing and personal expenditures, pocket money, and in fact, for physical survival. Not only does this oppress her by putting her physical welfare in her husband's control, but it oppresses her husband by requiring his full-time participation in the work force in order to "bring home the bacon." A final major way in which women are oppressed is by the distorted and narrow definitions of women current in American culture. Women are seen as emotional, irresponsible and incompetent in relation to occupational, political, and sometimes educational achievement (although they are considered supremely capable of the socially crucial work or child-rearing and housekeeping). Women are treated as sexual objects by the mass media and especially by the advertising industry, which uses their bodies to sell cars, beer, cigarettes, deodorant, and a host of other consumer goods (while social necessities like hospitals, schools, and clean air are neglected because of the fact that they are not "profitable"). At the same time, the exploitation of women as sexual objects leads many women to view themselves as inferior models who must continuously spend money on an always changing stream of the latest in wigs, cosmetics, and clothes in an effort to "shape up" to the media-promoted image of the desirable woman, This supports the profit-oriented, capitalist corporations, and at the same time adds to the problems of psychic survival women experience in our male-oriented, competitive society. The CWLU sees this oppression of women as linked to the oppression of other powerless groups in society -- blacks, Puerto-Ricans, American Indians, youth, and the aged, for example. We see it as stemming from basic economic and political structures in American society, such as the fact that the entire economy functions according to what is most profitable rather than what is socially necessary or desireable, and the fact that the wealthy control such things as the major political parties and the media. Revolutionary social change is necessary to fully end the oppression of women as well as of other subordinate groups. In order to work toward this massive social change, and to lessen our present oppression, we are currently raising these issues: 1) the demand for voluntary pregnancy, that is, for the ability of women to have children if they want, when they want, and as many as they want, and to refrain completely from bearing children if they so desire. This entails the demand to provide free abortions unregulated by law (there are no laws governing tonsillectomies; we see this as an analogous situation, but further demand that abortions be given free in accordance with the of all to high quality medical care free of charge). This also includes the demand for significant research into the problem of safe and effective birth control, and for free and open access to complete information about the merits of various means of birth control, for men as for women. Finally, it includes the demand that no person ever be forced to submit to involuntary sterilization, and that persons wishing a permanent means of birth control can obtain sterilization at their own request. 2) Connected with the issue of voluntary pregnancy is the broader question of the nature of medical care in America. We challenge the profit-orientation of the drug companies; the elitest, hierarchical organization of the medical profession; the refusal of many medical specialists to give information to their patients and in other ways to deal with them hontestly; the direction of of a research establishment which develops heart transplants but not safe birth control; and above all the failure of the American medical establishment to provide decent health care for all. We will work to develop programs calling this establishment into question, and raising the demand for good, free medical care for all. 3) Also linked with the demand for voluntary pregnancy is the demand that child-care be recognized as a social responsibility. The provision of free child-care centers open seven days a week, 24 hours a day (so as to be accessible to women who work nights, weekends, etc.), staffed by well-paid men and women, and in control of the parents whose children are in those centers is our major demand at present. Ultimately, however, this point entials the demand that all children participate equally in the wealth of our society; a recognition that all children are social wealth, not the private property of their parents, and are thus entitled to an equal share of the wealth of society; and the sharing of what is now virtually the mother's sole responsibility for her child, not only by the child's father, but by the community. 4) An end to economic discrimination against women. This means, obviously, equal pay for equal work, fair hiring and promotion policies, equal access to training programs, and, in order to make equality a reality, provision of such things as maternity leave with no loss of seniority, maternity benefits, and company supplied (but parent controlled) child-care. It also means dealing with the problems of the unpaid, unrecognized nature of women's work in the home, the accompanying economic dependence of the woman on her husband, and the often desperate situation of the woman without a husband -- for whatever reason -- who must support herself and her children. We see our struggle as part of a struggle for freedom going on all over the world. We feel the need to unite with all those who seek control over their own lives, and particularly with women. CHICAGO WOMEN'S LIBERATION UNION a Woman? [hand drawn arm] July 24, 1970 5
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