LOCAL NEWS

Conference for Radical Women

The Cleveland women's community has blossomed and grown since the first Cleveland Radical Feminist/Lesbian Conference in November, 1975. In the five years of our collective "coming of age," the community has created and supported such institutions as Oven Productions, the Women's Growth Cooperative, the Three of Cups and a women's coffeehouse.

Despite our achievements, we are still faced with the issues of survival of our community. Our need for clear analysis and planning is paramount, particularly in view of the conservative political mood of the city and country. For this reason, a group of area women is planning another Conference for Radical Women, to be held May 15-17 at Camp Yakewi in Austinburg, Ohio.

The conference planners are women who wish to encourage and support new initiatives, ideas and leadership. We encourage local women to attend because we feel that our need to solidify our concept of the community is an important goal. Open discussion of issues and space for new ideas has always created energy and we hope that this conference will be no exception.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of our planning is sharing the vision of a woman-defined future for ourselves and the next generation. Too often, our work leaves us with no time or energy to nourish a feminist vision. For this conference, we ask participants to "suspend disbelief" for a few days and dare to think about the ideal community for

Cleveland women and its potential impact on the world. We will ask each woman to write down her highest aspirations for herself and all women to share at a group session the final day of the conference.

Daytime Saturday will be devoted to workshops on health and healing, women's houses, economic empowerment for women, chemical dependency, radical feminism, land, fat liberation, lesbian unity, issues around work, battered women, spirituality, women's music and culture, ecology, social spaces, women against pornography, and feminist media. Participants will have time to relax and socialize at

a coffeehouse Friday night and a campfire Saturday night.

Cost of the conference is $30 per woman in advance and $35 at the door. The price includes all meals, which will be gourmet vegetarian. Child care is available. Advance registration and child care arrangements will be accepted through May 1. Include a check or money order made out to Feminist Conference and send to Feminist Conference, c/o 2953 Berkshire Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118. For further information, call Jamie at 932-0977 or Catherine at 321-5333.

Demonstrate for Choice May 6!

By Harriet Tramer

Mark Wednesday, May 6, on your calendar. On that day feminists will show their strength and numbers. Hundreds of persons concerned about a woman's right to choice will converge on Columbus, expressing to lawmakers their concern about the issue. The event is being sponsored by the Ohio Chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League.

"We want to show people that this issue is extremely important," said Sue Wall, Cleveland Area Abortion-Rights Action League coordinator. "We hope to make a real show of force."

All-legislators will be contacted regardless of their

CWW Convention in May

By Judy Donner

Cleveland Women Working's first Working Women's Convention will be held on Saturday, May 16, at Cleveland State University, giving women office workers the opportunity to meet in large numbers. Over 600 women are expected to attend the convention, entitled "Office Workers Meet the Challenge of the 80's."

Since its beginning five years ago, CWW has become a highly visible and respected leader in the struggle for rights and respect for women office workers. Although the organization has made significant gains, it faces difficult challenges in the 80's. Women who work in Cleveland's offices continue to be undervalued, underpaid and denied equal access to training and promotions.. In addition, the Reagan administration may try to decrease the enforcement power of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action laws. These are but a few of the issues to be addressed at the Working Women's Convention.

Among the speakers at the event will be Bella Abzug and Congresspeople Louis Stokes, Mary Rose Oakar, and Dennis Eckart.

Bella Abzug served three terms in Congress, was presiding officer of IWY National Women's Conference and is former co-chair of the National Advisory Committee for Women. Abzug is currently active with Women USA, a national organization which provides a strong lobbying voice for women's issues in Washington to ensure Congress and the White House respond to the needs of American

women.

Congressman Louis Stokes is serving his seventh -term in Congress. He currently serves on three Congressional committees: Appropriations, Budget, and Standards of Official Conduct. He is the former Chair of the Select Committee on Assassinations and the Congressional Black Caucus. Congressman Stokes has long been a proponent of equal rights and

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is a strong supporter of the hard work and efforts of Cleveland Women Working.

Besides the speakers, the Convention will offer workshops on such topics as legal rights, job survival skills, office automation, stress, crime prevention, financial planning, discrimination against older women workers, and issues for the 80's.

If you would like more information on the Working Women's Convention, write to. Cleveland Women Working, 1224 Huron Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, or call 566-8511.

Dinner Party Update

By Pat O'Malley

May 10, 1981 is the day planned to welcome Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party to Northern Ohio for its midwestern premiere. The Dinner Party is a monumental work of art celebrating the achievements and contributions of women to western civilization.

The Dinner Party requires a large amount of money to exhibit, to ship, to install, and to staff. Approximately $60,000 must be raised before the exhibit opens. To date, committed and received amounts total $32,675.

Judy Chicago, creator of The Dinner Party, is coming to Cleveland April 11. While here she will view the site of the exhibit and attend an informal party at 8:00 p.m. at 3130 Mayfield Road. There will be refreshments and entertainment for a $5.00 donation. Tickets are available at Arabica or Coventry Book Store. For reservations, call Ohio-Chicago Art Project at 375-7325 in Akron or 371-2222 in Cleveland.

Volunteers are needed for site preparation, public relations, exhibit staffing, installation, office work, education and fund raising. Call OCAP at 371-2222 for more information.

CALLI

stand on the abortion issue. Individuals from every part of the state will join in the effort. However, participants will speak only to legislators from their own county in hopes of making them aware that their constituents are concerned about the issue.

Rides to Columbus and back on a chartered bus will cost $10.00 per passenger. Buses will leave from the municipal parking lot across from Burke Lakefront Airport. Return buses will leave from the State House in Columbus at 3:30 p.m.

Persons who cannot participate are asked to contribute $10.00 to help others meet the expense. No child care will be provided in Columbus. However, it is possible that sitters can be found who will care for. several children in Cleveland.

Of particular concern to those participating in the May 6 effort and others are three laws pending in the Ohio Legislature. H.B. 92 would mandate that a girl under 16 obtain parental consent before having an abortion. The terms "fetus" and "embryo" in the Ohio Revised Code would be replaced by "unborn child" if H.B. 93 passes. H.B. 94 places registration and reporting requirements on abortion facilities.

For more information contact Sue Wall, 522-0169.

Editorial (continued from page 1)

filiate, 9 to 5, in conjunction with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are helping to form a new clerical union, District 925. Based here, in Boston, and in Washington, D.C., District 925 is remarkable as a "national local", a local comprised of office workers across the country. John Sweeney, president of SEIU, believes that this. "may be the first time a union will be run and controlled by women".

Whatever the results of the District 925 unionization effort, Working Women will not serve as a collective bargaining agent. Instead, the association will continue to research the conditions for working women and publicize that information, initiate policy. changes in the business community, and organize working women to improve their situations through its 12-member nationwide local affiliate network.

Working Women employs other strategies in the struggle for women's economic rights. Cleveland Women Working, the WW local affiliate, has sought to have the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Office of Federal Contract Compliance enforce anti-discrimination laws and regulations in the Cleveland banking industry. CWW, a third party intervenor in the May, 1980 Department of Labor complaint against National City Bank, compiled the 1978 study on sex and race discrimination in employment practices. As a result, the Department of Labor charged the bank with past and present discrimination against women and minorities. The complaint is awaiting decision by an administrative law judge. In an early February, 1981 decision which may affect (continued on page 7).

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