}

Women Farmworkers Unite(continued from page 5)

Chicano National Immigration Conference, and Mexican labor unions.

Virginia Rodriguez, a mother of 10, detailed the difficulties caring for a family while working all day in the onion fields with her children. Another farmworker, 55 years old, explained that she had to go to work in the fields after her husband died. The experience of the onion strike opened her eyes to the importance of organizing to gain strength and independence-a crucial need of women.

Other women told of getting sick and vomiting while working because of the chemicals in the irrigation water and the pesticides on the crops. The farmworker women were concerned especially about the long-term effects on their children who accompany them to the fields.

Forced sterilization is another concern of farmworker women. "It's a problem for all minority women," said Serrano, "but it's worse for farmworker women who, because they often can't read or speak or write English, get sterilized without their consent."

Undocumented women face all the problems of undocumented men, but they also have the extra trauma of leaving their children in Mexico to feed them with U.S. wages. A highlight of the conference was a visit to the citrus groves outside Phoenix, where the women shared a meal with undocumented workers and talked about the need for united struggle.

One continuing theme of the conference was that women are kept out of leadership roles and union

Gloria Trem (continued from page 9)

filled with photos of couples, first communions and family portraits. Currently, she employs five free| lance photographers and the secretary from the former studio, whom she is training to become a photographer.

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Gloria possesses a uniquely personal approach to photographing a wedding. She feels satisfied if by the day's end, everyone feels that she's an integral part of the family. She prides herself on exerting a calming influence over the frenzy of a wedding day. Most of her business comes from personal recommendations from brides and grooms whom she has photo-

participation by their husbands and existing male leadership.

"We need to educate the men," said Serrano, "because they sure can't do everything alone. They need us but they haven't let us develop and get the skills we need. We have to be real careful, though, because men aren't the main problem; they're oppressed by the same system. We need to educate them and work together as a family of workers--women and men.

The women from Texas Farmworkers will host the next conference. Meanwhile, women at the Phoenix conference said they will work to create statewide grassroots organizations of women.

"We want to include all working women in our organization, because one of the problems of the farmworker movement has been that we've been isolated from other workers and other types of women," said Serrano. The organizers have hopes of building a national movement of grassroots women with strong farmworker involvement.

A special focus of continued organizing will be the border areas. Women from Mexico noted that the border states have many of the same runaway plants and agribusiness. They also experience the same low wages and lack of unionization.

Organizers of the conference expressed optimism about the progress of the movement of farmworker and grassroots women. "Each year in Phoenix we now celebrate International Women's Day," said Serrano, "and each year it's getting bigger and stronger."

graphed.

Even so, she has encountered some special problems because of her sex. After years of being asked by the bride's father, "Did you remember to put film in the camera?" she now loads her camera in front of the family.

The demands on her time and energy as businesswoman, wife and mother are staggering, but as she sits in her office, down the street from her former boss's studio, she has a gleam of pride in her eye. She explains that even with the dishes, the laundry, and the business, "I feel like Wonderwoman when I walk into the bride's house and start shooting."

D.C. Area Feminist Alliance (continued from page 2) strike at Washington Hospital Center, and producing a performance of "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf'"' at the Alderson, W. Va. women's prison. Much of our internal political discussion has been used as the basis to produce position papers on class, race, lesbianism and heterosexism, and the family. The Alliance has also participated in a number of actions and coalitions to raise feminist and gay issues in local government politics.

and projects, are the mechanism for doing most of the political work. Since one of our goals is to continuously develop new leadership, we set limits on how long any individual can serve as an officer.

Our structure reflects our attempt to balance the goals of effectiveness and a reasonable amount of efficiency with those of consensus type of decisionmaking. In practice, nearly all of our decisions are made by consensus, although our bylaws provide for a 2/3 majority vote to be binding. The Alliance has one meeting per month, attended by members and representatives of affiliate groups and open to all women. In addition, the steering committee meets once monthly to plan the agenda, discuss overall direction and handle administrative matters. The steering committee is made up of the officers-two coordinators, two treasurers, a recorder and a publicity person--and representatives from the task forces. The task forces, focusing on various issues

In closing, we want to build a network among compatible feminist groups throughout the country for many of the same reasons that we started the Alliance among local D.C. area groups: to create both a larger, broader voice to express our politics and a forum for our particular groups to communicate with each other. Our goal now is not-to form a new national organization but simply to make a way for locally-oriented groups to share our political work. We ask women who are part of such organizations to contact us. For a beginning, we can exchange minutes, position papers, and newsletters. If we share our problems and our strategies, we can all benefit in the process.

D.C. Area Feminist Alliance c/o 1225 Newton Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20017

Or call Nan Hunter

(202) 783-3410 (days)

or (202) 529-6405-(evenings)

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