LOCAL

NEWS Women at Work Exposition a Draw

By Carol Epstein and Loretta Feller

Nearly 600 women attended the Women at Work Exposition at the Bond Court Hotel on September 29. Sponsored by WomenSpace, the workshops. covered a variety of topics from women in nontraditional jobs to recruiting in the $40,000 plus category.

A great deal of networking and information exchange took place among women browsing around. tables set up by about 50 women's organizations. Few if any of the corporate representatives ventured into this open communication area, preferring to remain in the more controlled environment of the conference workshops and dining area. Further, no actual recruitment took place. The self-imposed isolation of these representatives gave the impression that their glowing descriptions of how well they treated their women employees rang somewhat hollow.

At the Women and Banks workshop, three dif ferent bank representatives, the Area Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, and Duane Salls, Public Relations Officer for National City Bank (moderator) took turns presenting their respective views on affirmative action. It took Carol Kurtz from Cleveland Women Working to point out from the audience that 3 out of the 4 banks represented had serious discrimination suits based on race and sex against them. "What is your view," she asked, "of some of the problems and how do you analyze them?" With an acknowledgement of the banks' "shortcomings," the issue was effectively skirted. "The case," smiled Duane Salls, "is in attorneys' hands." It was gratifying, however, to observe him wriggle in his seat and smile apologetically.

The Sex Discrimination Update workshop presented an overview of new areas which are being addressed under anti-discrimination laws, including segregated job classifications, equal pay for work of comparable value, pregnancy disability leave, sexual harassment, and toxic substances in the workplace. In the Affirmative Action Up Close workshop, those in attendance were subjected to the myopic sob story of an affirmative action officer for a local bank. She told of the bind companies are in when government regulations and laws "force" them to pit different minority groups against each other (a contention of an unsuccessful Sears lawsuit). She also complained about a woman who turned down a lucrative job offer at her bank for a lesser-paying job elsewhere. When women did this sort of thing, she lamented, it mades affirmative action programs (and women) look bad. She apparently did not view the woman's decision as reflective of a a general sophistication women are showing around career choices. She did concede, however, that a man doing the same thing would not have had an adverse impact on company programs or on attitudes toward men in general.

Fortunately, Dr. Mary Ann Huckabay was present to offer another perspective. Dr. Huckabay noted that equal employment opportunity poses a threat to the system which, in turn, reacts like a living organism. The system, she said, attempts to innoculate itself against changing relationships between men and women that occur when job classifications cease to be segregated by sex. It sets up the personnel department as a buffer zone and isolates the affirmative action function in it. Not surprisingly, studies have shown that corporations which were really successful in implementing affirmative action programs had involved the whole organization, not just the personnel department, and made it accountable from top management through front line supervision.

When we see that National City Bank had only 3

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people sitting at its 10-place luncheon table (which it had purchased for a $1,000 donation to WomenSpace), we must wonder if NCB might not still be in the buffer zone of equal employment opportuni-

ty. When "A Company Called TRW" admits it spends only two-tenths of one percent on women's issues, we are both angry and amused that they expect us to listen to their words and swallow them whole, But seeing Duane Salls squirm under the

threat and force of the women's movement showed us that the Women at Work Exposition, in a certain measure, succeeded. It let us know that whatever our differences in perspective and goals, women organized have power.

The Women at Work Exposition physically brought together a diverse group of individual women and organizations, and brought in some money to stave off, at least temporarily, the end-offunding spectre that looms before so many women's organizations. Yet WomenSpace is facing still more crises in finances and in direction. An unexpected last-minute resignation of a staff member right

before the Exposition leaves the organization with only two CETA workers, a staffer, and an executive director working full-time. Also, because different groups vary in their expectations of WomenSpace, it often suffers from a lack of active participation from its member organizations and has difficulty reaching new ones. Unfortunately, WomenSpace finds itself in the vulnerable and paradoxical position of being responsible to the women's community in all its diversity, while at the same time being dependent on funds available through corporations and foundations. It must inherently be torn by competing interests. Riding such Cross-currents makes a dangerous voyage.

In the past, WomenSpace weathered the resistance from potential funders when it took a pro-choice stand on the issue of reproductive rights. It also resisted pressures from corporations which wanted WomenSpace to cease its advocacy role and expel the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) during its activities in support of the J.P. Stevens boycott. Now, several corporations have decided to stipulate that the future funding of WomenSpace depends on whether it expels the activist Cleveland Women Working (CWW) from membership. WomenSpace is again standing firm in refusing to censure CWW. With this history, however, we wonder if activities such as the Women at Work Exposition will realistically serve to promote the kind of dialogue needed to make changes and to advance the cause of women's equality. Perhaps the battle lines have already been drawn in Cleveland, and the various women's rights groups would be better served by a re-examination of priorities and a formulation of a more cohesive women's plan of action.

We cannot bury our differences and pretend they're not there. Critical dialogue keeps the women's movement honest and alive, and the WomenSpace coalition is a part of that process. What is accomplished depends on the input it receives.

Gays Win Immigration Victory?

Suspected gay aliens will no longer be subject to probing interrogation on their private sexual life by immigration authorities under a new policy announced by the Department of Justice on September 10. The new policy replaces the parole procedure in effect since August 1979.

Henceforth, only those individuals who selfidentify themselves as homosexual to immigration personnel will be subject to exclusion. Wearing political buttons, T-shirts or other symbols expressing support for the gay rights movement will not be sufficient to trigger inquiry into an alien's sexual orientation. However, a button or other sign which states that the wearer is a homosexual or the identification of an individual as homosexual by a traveling companion would lead to specific inquiry. If the suspected alien answers "No" to the question "Are you a homosexual?" he or she will be permitted to enter the United States without further inquiry.

"This decision is the culmination of years of work to bring about more enlightened and sensitive enforcement of the 1952 Immigration Act," commented NGTF Co-Director Charles Brydon. "Combined with Carter Administration support for Senator Cranston's bill to remove the infamous antigay language from the Immigration Act, it is an important practical political victory for the gay rights movement.'

"I want to commend the Department of Justice for the humanitarian approach implicit in this decision.

From a situation in which immigration officers were free to ask any question that came to mind about an individual's private sexual life to establish that person's sexual orientation, the field of inquiry has been dramatically limited to a single question.... We believe the decision has created a standard that should be a hallmark for all government policies concerning gay people.'

"This does not mean that we are satisfied with the provision which permits the exclusion of those who choose to identify themselves as homosexual," cautioned Brydon. "However, the decision does establish a narrowly focused area of disagreement and creates a basis for litigation on the merits."'

Swimmer Triumphs

(HerSay)-Mary Ann Cleveland recently became the first person ever to swim across California's chilly Monterey Bay. Cleveland, a 25-year-old Santa Paula, California woman, completed the 30-mile swim in 15 and a half hours. During her crossing in the 56 to 60 degree waters, 13 blue sharks were counted near her, but none attacked.

Cleveland, who worked as a waitress, a swim coach and a lifeguard to raise money for her longdistance swim, described her experience in the choppy bay as "like swimming in a washing machine”.