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Conscious Consuming

By Judy Gregory

The feminist movement in the United States has developed in a climate of plenty, a plenty that is owned, controlled, and used by men. All of us-unless we never drive a car, ride a bus, visit a supermarket, watch TV, or read a book-contribute to this male-dominated system.

Even with a constant effort, there are limits to how much of our earnings we can keep within the community of women. For every dollar we spend at a woman-owned business, that woman has to pay about 95 percent for goods and services to keep her business going. Even if she is fortunate enough to be able to buy her merchandise from a woman distributor or artisan, eventually the sources of raw materials are owned or controlled by men.

However, at least at some levels, we do have choices as to what, how, when, and with whom we consume. One approach is to redefine what our consumer needs really are: how much of what we have (or want) do we really need to maintain our "quality of life" and how much of our consumer disposition is a product of cultural values? Another approach, with which this article will deal, is to make a more conscious effort to support feminist enterprises and to develop businesses, services and industries that will serve as many needs as possible without having to deal with institutions that do not value women.

The Cleveland feminist community is bound together by a common shared identity and, more loosely, by a physical area. We are individuals and organizations who recognize our position as women in this society, who work to improve that position, and who see ourselves as part of a local and global movement with shared beliefs. One of those beliefs is the necessity of independence and strong economic security.

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The feminist community in Cleveland, and in the rest of the world, does not provide its members with an economic base but is very dependent on resources outside itself for sustenance. It does not produce goods for export; it must import most goods and many services. For the most part, members of this community have not learned how to recycle resources within the community to the best advantage of all participants. For example, most women's income is earned at institutions outside the community and is spent outside the community for food, rent, clothing, and other necessities.

However, this community does provide social, informational, and professional (such as legal and medical) services for itself. The community is more skilled, at this point, at producing and recycling intangibles, although there have been efforts by women to provide goods for each other. Some efforts have been more' successful than others; many organizations have been serving women for a number of years. What are the accomplishments of the Cleveland feminist community and what do we still need?

In general, the feminist community is strong in terms of providing services such as medical, legal, financial, crisis, and psychological help and property counseling. Organizations which provide these services include Rape Crisis Center, Women's Law Fund, Templum House, Women Together, WomenSpace Help Line, and many more. These organizations are becoming more skilled at information sharing.

What She Wants, a monthly journal, has been publishing for 10 years. It provides a forum and a source of information for all the diverse elements of the feminist community.

Another commodity that the women's community is able to provide for itself is entertainment and cultural events, such as dances, concerts, poetry

readings, art exhibits and parties. These events serve several purposes. Women spend money they might otherwise spend outside the feminist community to support a feminist organization. In return, they are entertained, educated, and affirmed. The gathering itself strengthens. the community economically and socially.

Although feminists, individually and as a group, have virtually no control over and little access to land, raw materials, or manufacturing or transportation processes which would make the women's community self-sufficient, there are several womenowned businesses in the Cleveland community which fulfill some of the needs of the community, such as Coventry Books in Cleveland Heights and Plants Plus, a plant store in Lakewood. However, women have not become active in business extensively enough to enable these retailers to buy exclusively from women-owned distributors, although women in business may be able to do business with alternative organizations or businesses sympathetic to feminist goals which are not specifically feminist or womenowned.

There has been little organized effort by feminists to patronize women-owned busineses, especially since they are scattered. There is no women-owned gas station, car dealership, grocery store or drug store in the Cleveland area. Efforts have been made, however, to compile lists and directories of womenowned businesses and services available to women. These include the Women's Skills Exchange, prepared by WomenSpace in 1978, which listed women with expertise in many areas, from the arts to

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car repair and real estate. The Cleveland Women's Handbook, a more extensive project, listed and compiled nonprofit services available to women in 10 categories including housing, employment, law and health.

The Handbook is an example of a clustering together in one area (in this case informationsharing) of activities and the conservation of resources that can result. Publication of 8,000 copies of the 150-page book was funded by various foundations and sponsored by four women's social service organizations-Cleveland Women's Counsel, WomenSpace, Rape Crisis Center, and Women Together. The directors of these organiztions served as the editorial board. The editors and the editorial assistant were women paid for what had in the past been unpaid volunteer work. The funds supporting all four service organizations were working double time in the feminist community. In addition, art and articles for the handbook were solicited from community women. The handbook fell short of expectations; however, it was a first attempt and many important lessons were learned by the women who

pooled their time, money and energy to produce it..

The 1982 Working Women's Guide to Greater Cleveland (3rd issue) was compiled by Cleveland Women Working as a service. It lists businesses and services owned by women in the area. For the benefit of women who use it, the guide also includes a list and explanation of equal opportunity laws and a description of sex discrimination.

The Cleveland feminist community has very limited access to economic and political power. Many of the women who hold political office or are high up on the corporate ladder are not part of this community. Women who identify themselves as feminists and are active in politics, the legislature or judiciary, or the business world are few and have limited success in distributing the benefits of their positions to other feminists.

However, this is beginning to change. For example, politically active women in Cuyahoga County who worked for Dick Celeste, a gubernatorial candidate who supports the rights of working women, were largely responsible for his winning the Democratic nomination. "When he's in that office in Columbus, we'll remind him that he owes us some favors," declared one worker. Cleveland Women Working, a part of a national advocacy group which has its offices in Cleveland, has made getting women involved in local politics its top priority for 1982 and 1983. Other organizations which are working to educate feminists about and involve them in politics, not as volunteers, but as office holders, decisionmakers, lobbyists, and self-interested voters are Cuyahoga Women's Political Caucus, N.O.W., Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice, and WomenSpace.

Sharing space, or occupying a visible location, has been a problem for the feminists in Cleveland. Various attempts have been made, but feminists have. never owned a building in which to house women's and/or feminist organizations. WomenSpace, a coalition of women's groups, with a suite of offices downtown, realized the value of visibility. When the offices opened in 1975, they were besieged with calls from women who had heard or read about the organization and who had never before had any place to turn to for help with their problems. Cleveland Women's Counsel, an advocacy group for women in divorce, the Growth Co-Op, which provides feminist counseling, and Oven Productions, a group that produces women artists, were at one time located in a house rented from a sympathetic church in Cleveland Heights. However, since these organizations did not own the house, they had no control over it and the rent money was exiting the community. Several years later, after exhausting effort, some of the same groups have negotiated for space in a more permanent location.

In general, the feminist community. needs to become more self-sufficient in terms of tangible goods and services. More well-paying jobs for women could be provided by community organizations. Participants in the community need to become more aware of their clout as consumers in order for the community as a whole to become more

autonomous.

A greater degree of self-sufficiency could be achieved by establishing such services as a clothing exchange, a tool-sharing cooperative, or a service which offered automotive repair classes. These goals could be accomplished without the major changes in the status of women that would be necessary to establish a woman-owned railroad, transit system or automobile factory. Other projects which would create self-sufficiency and recycle resources are cooperative housing, training programs for nontraditional jobs, community gardens and car pools. Pro jects such as these would spread the benefits of a few women's accomplishments to more women and

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September, 1982/What She Wants/Page