Views on Feminist Future

Washington Journalism Center in Washington, D.C. hosted a conference for women journalists from throughout the country in December. It featured some of the most influential feminists and leaders of the women's movement examin. ing questions such as: is the movement still growing? Is it strong? Is it an idea whose time has come and gone? What is its future? Is there a future for it?

There was general agreement on the picture of today's women's movement: it has passed its period of lively creativity which captured headlines and excited feminists old and new. It has instead settled in to the hard work of combating the injustices and discrimination which prevail on the local and national level. Establishing precedents in the courts and enforcing the laws already enacted is consuming much of the time and energy formerly devoted to demonstrating. It no longer takes innumerable clever, eye-catching ideas to put across the essential message of women's rights, although much creativity is still given to such endeavors. Gradually legislation is being pushed and shoved through to combat the wrongs against women in every segment of American society.

FACING

Twenty-five thousand people marched on December 14th against racism in Boston. Busloads of people from all over the eastern and southern parts of the country participated.

Cleveland sent two buses.

This is an interview with a young mother of two who went from Cleveland.

What were the reasons for the march?

The march was organized to show the number and strength of those who are against racism, which has been violently whipped up in Boston by groups such as ROAR led by Louise Day Hicks, and the KKK. These groups have been attempting to prevent Black students from taking buses into South Boston in order to try to obtain their equal rights in education. The racist groups had been capturing the news media's attention, giving the impressior. that most people supported them. The turnout at the march was so great that not one racist showed up although they had threatened to violently disrupt the march. Who organized the march?

The march was called by the Emergency Committee for a National Mobilization Against Racism, and the chairperson of the Committee is State Senator Bill Owens, the first Black State Senator of Massachusetts.

The marchers were denied the use of Boylston Street, the main business avenue of Boston, despite the fact that it had always been open for right-wing demonstrations. Why was this so? The millionaire merchants whose businesses line Boylston Street demanded that the march be

Ti-Grace Atkinson, however, held that the movement was stuck in the mud and was quite pessimistic about its future. "When money is tight," she said, "the average woman in the movement is going to have to look harder just for survival" and thus have less time to give to women's causes. She also expressed concern that we could lose one of the few "real achievements" of the movement the legislation of abortion. "We can lose those abortion laws just like that," she said with a snap of her fingers. "The church will bide its time."'

Wilma Scott Hei Je, former NOW president, spoke of women's problems with the media, resulting in them founding their own presses, publishing houses, film and record companies. "Women are finding that the media generally does not serve us, or the whole of society." She was highly critical of broadcasting for its sexist portrayals and underemployment of

women.

Other comments on the media ranged from Betty Freidan's pointing out the "dramatic change" in women's pages, away from food, engagements and fashion exclusively. Then Mary Louise Smith, the Republican party chair-

RACISM

barred. Senator Owens, in his speech that day denounced Mayor Kevin White of Boston for acceding to the demands of the big businessmen. He said, "Mayor White had the audacity to turn loose his militia on us this morning. The Mayor of the city of Boston was willing to sacrifice all of us in favor of capitalism and big business. They were willing to trample us with horses. Big business did everything in its power to stop this march."

How did the march proceed?

Negotiations to use Boylston Street continued till the time of the march. However, when the first marchers reached Boylston Street there was a police barricade. Cars and trucks filled the street for a whole block and the mounted police using their clubs did attack some people and prevented the marchers from going down Boylston. The march then proceeded down Commonwealth Avenue.

The day was cold and drizzling, but spirits were high. I was selling buttons to help defray the cost of the march. The march was so huge that even after the rally had begun people were still marching onto the commons,

Who spoke at the rally, and what groups were represented?

Ralph Abernathy, Dick Gregory, Ellen Moves Camp representing the American Indian Movement, the president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, a Black high school student and a White high school student, a representative of Women United for Action, and Senator Bill Owens were among the many speakers. All conlemned racism, and many placed the blame on the ruling business interests who profit by keeping the poor black and white – divided and fighting among themselves.

person, related how offended she was when a fashion reporter was sent to interview her. Eve non-fashion reporters "ask me time and time again if I'm happily married, whether I buy my

clothes off the rack, if i dye my hair, even my measurements."

Mary Ann Largen, NOW rape task force national coordinator, emphasized the "sensational and bizarre" approach given to coverage of rape. It was a crime never before allowed to be discussed in newspapers until it was legitimacized by the women's movement, she said.

Rep. Martha Griffiths (D. Mich.) thought the press would not long remain unsympathetic to the women's movement. "Many young men in the press have wives who work," and "they know that their wives are taking a real beating."

Job opportunities, which seemed to have improved in the past few years, are narrowing in the face of the depression, Carmen Maymi, director of the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau, said the depression has made it "much more difficult for us to find open doors in many fields where men are getting laid off." Women who have entered small business ventures and faced credit problems due to sex discrimination will find the depression "is going to mean a crunch in credit to women," said Nancy Polikoff, legal assistant to the codirector of the Center for Women Policy Studies. Econ. omist Barbara Bergmann said, "Prosperity hasn't really brought women any further. We've had some very tight labor markets where jobs have been easy to get. The amount of labor turnover is always large in a depression; there are just too many people applying for them. But if the ideology of reserving jobs for men prevails we're in trouble."

Passage of the ERA could offset some of the job problems, particularly in the area of forcing compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Patricia Sullivan Lindh, special assistant to the Presidential Counsellor for Women's Programs at the White House, said "Hopefully ERA will finally nullify a lot of these court battles for women." General agreement was discovered among both speakers and attendants at the conference that 1975 will see the ERA become law. Further optimism was expressed by Ms. Lindh, who believes that Pres. Ford "wants to get out front on the women's issue." This just may be the year for women's rights to make great strides ahead... has our time really come??

page +/What She Wants/February, 1975. .....