UPDATES:

Norma Jean Serena

New York (LNS)-A jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania struck an important blow against arbitrary and racist removal of children from Native American homes in mid-January, but upheld what Norma Jean Serena had charged was an equally artibrary and racist sterilization (see WSW, February issue). Serena's case against hospital and welfare officials had finally come to trial almost eight years after she charged that Welfare Department social workers placed her children in foster homes and had her sterilized against her will.

The verdict, arrived at by an all-white jury of six men and two women, declared that the two social workers were guilty of misrepresenting Serena's case and placing her children in foster homes under false pretences. As compensation for that injustice and the three years Serena spent battling to get her children back, the court awarded her $17,000. It was the first decision of its kind ever handed down and was hailed by the press in Pittsburgh as a victory for Serena. According to Carol Rogers of Women Against Sterilization Abuse, however, "It was a loss. On the issue of sterilization abuse, the jury said that Serena gave consent and acquitted both the doctors and a male social worker. They said she gave informed consent, although the paper she had signed was dated the day after the operation. The doctor said that he had explained the operation to Serena before, and she had agreed to it. Serena was very disappointed with the ruling."

Documents presented in evidence at the trial showed that the doctors had accepted the social workers' assessment and cited "socioeconomic reasons" as the medical grounds for sterilization.

Yvonne Wanrow

(Her Say)-The Washington State Supreme Court has ordered Yvonne Wanrow, a Colville Indian woman, to stand trial once again for the second degree murder of a man she says she killed in self defense.

Wanrow shot and killed William Wesler, a convicted child molester, in August of 1972, after he broke into her house and attempted to molest her children. In 1973 she was convicted of second degree murder and second degree assault by an all-white jury. The assault charge was lodged because she wounded another man who had broken into the house with Wesler at the same time:

Wanrow had maintained that Wesler had already attempted once before to molest her children, and that she was only protecting herself and her children in the best way she could at the time. She was in a leg cast at the time of the incident, and maintains she could not run for help or get away from Wesler.

Her conviction was later overturned by the Washington State Supreme Court on several technicalities, but attempts by her lawyers to have all charges dropped have failed.

She is expected to stand trial sometime in March.

Michigan Dribblers

(Her Say)-A U.S. District Judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has issued a restraining order preventing Michigan State University from treating members of its women's varsity basketball team differently from members of its men's squad. Judge Noel Fox said that MSU must allow the women players the same amount of money for meals on road trips and the same sleeping accommodations afforded nien.

A complaint filed by the women's basketball team (see February WSW) charged, among other things, that the women were forced to sleep two to a bed while on the road for away games, and that they had to travel by car; the men, on the other hand, flew to their games, and were allowed to sleep one to a bed,

Fascists Destroy Radio Donna

(Her Say) The only women's radio program in Italy, Radio Donna, was burned to the ground recently by a handful of men who identified themselves as fascists in telephone calls to Rome newspapers.

When the attack began, women were heard over the air offering to leave the station peacefully. However, before the men left, the transmitter was shot up, molotov cocktails were tossed around the station, and when the women tried to escape the fire by running for the door, they were met by bullets.

None of the women was killed. All, however, ended up in the hospital with wounds ranging from broken legs to burned skin and bullet wounds.

The attack on Radio Donna was one in a series of recent attacks on the liberal and leftist media in Rome. Radio Donna was created two years ago by feminists to provide women with information on topics not generally dealt with openly.

Report on Battered Women

(Her Say)-The U.S. Civil Rights Commission has released a comprehensive report on the problem of battered women. The 706-page volume, titled Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy, estimates that more than two million women annually are victims of wife battery. The handbook cites the "violent" American society as a possible cause of the problem. According to one researcher, in the U.S., the hitting of family members is "legitimized" and is an unwritten rule which is "operating and powerful”.

The report also contains a national listing of women's organizations, combating the wife-battery problem. It is available from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1121 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. For more information call (202) 254-6697.

Miami Beach Loses Again

(Her Say)-For the second time in two weeks, Miami Beach has lost a major convention because of the state's failure to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The American Federation of Teachers says it will now hold its 1982 meeting in Hawaii, rather than in Florida's ocean resort area. Al Shanker, President of the 2500-member organization, said the teachers will meet in Honolulu because they strongly support the ERA, which Florida has not yet ratified.

The AFL/CIO also recently cancelled its plans to hold a 10-day convention in Miami next October because of the state's anti-ERA stance.

It'll Make You Feel Better...

(Her Say)-The Director of California's Substance Abuse Office is urging women to join in class action suits to force the Federal Government to provide more drug abuse treatment for them. Dr. Josette Mondanaro, a prominent and outspoken pediatrician, said some state governments are already apologizing for not being able to find money to assist drug-dependent women. Mondanaro claims this is not enough. She says that the states should reallocate existing funds to help women, and that if they don't these same women should join in a class action suit against the states and Federal Government.

Mondanaro has suggested that it is the "gay abandon" with which physicians prescribe drugs, particularly tranquilizers, that is largely responsible for the drug problem among women. Most of these women, she says, are not addicted to illegal drugs, but instead to drugs which doctors have "prescribed for them, told them how to use...." Mondanaro adds, "They've been led to believe that what they're doing is right and, most often, these women do not believe they have a problem with drugs."

Pill Use Declines

BITS& PIECES

(Her Say)-Johns Hopkins University reports the number of American women using birth control pills has dropped. In a study prepared for the Population

Bird/cpf

Information Program at the Hopkins Hygiene and Public Health School, university researchers said that fewer than 6 million U.S. women used the pills in 1977, a drop of more than 2 million from 1975. The decline in birth control use is attributed to an increasing popularity in surgical sterilization.

Mayor Arrested for Rape

(Her Say)-Demonstrations by South American mothers have resulted in the arrests of five policemen and the Mayor of Santa Rosa, Paraguay, for rape. The women took to the streets in protest after an 18-year-old women was allegedly assaulted by the of ficials at a town hall Christmas party. The victim had attended the party to pick up a good conduct award.

Under pressure from Santa Rosa's women, the provincial governor on New Year's Eve ordered the Mayor and officers arrested.

J.P.Stevens Loses Again

(Her Say)-J.P. Stevens and Company, which has been found for the 17th time to be in violation of federal labor laws, says it will appeal part of the decision. The National Labor Relations Board last week ordered the textile company to stop interfering with a nationwide union organizing campaign.

Many of the J.P. Stevens Company employees, especially those on the low end of the pay scale, are

women.

No ERA-No Convention

(Her Say)-The American Association for the Advancement of Science made history this year on two counts, at least for feminists. The Association for the first time switched the location of its annual meeting from Chicago to Houston, because Illinois has not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Association also held its first session specifically devoted to women and science. In that session, Barbara Dubois, Professor of Psychology and Feminist Studies at Goddard College, told visiting scientists that women are losing out badly. because the scientific world is so "androcentric," or male-centered. She predicted that the women's movement "will overthrow the androcentric world view.”

March, 1979/What She Wants/Page 5