-t

शु

Women Win Elections (continued from page 3)

said, "people count more than money. Members can walk into a candidates's office and set up a phone bank, which is one of the cheapest and best ways to get out the vote. They can organize mailings and do a lot of other grassroots work. Volunteers also organized fundraisers and recruited money for fund-. raisers.

་

In addition to helping out candidates who will support women's issues and building influence with candidates in office, Link said, working on campaigns provides women with a training ground. It's a step toward a long run goal of getting around the dilemma of voting for the lesser of two evils by developing "our own" candidate. "I see one of our critical, really critical, tasks for women is to build up leadership, push women into thinking and using political analysis," Link said. "This year, we've seen people move up into the campaign director's positions. There are women who are better at campaign organizing than most of the campaign staffs in this town. They're self-taught. Even better is that after two campaigns, some of the members are thinking of running for office. They're women who can stand for something..I think there's a difference between a woman who's involved in polities because she's a feminist and women who are involved just to be involved in politics."

NOW also encourages members to get involved in political campaigns. Like CARAL members, NOW workers prove valuable, Frano said. "We use our expertise in organizing to help with campaigns. It's not always how much money's involved; it's the work by campaign workers that counts. We supplied the expertise in campaign work that a lot of candidates didn't have. We've worked on ERA and other issues, and the things we've picked up in NOW are useful to campaigns, such as using telephone trees to get out the vote...

P

1

101

Like Link, Frano wants to see women use their campaign experience to learn how to run for office themselves. "Unless we get to the positions of power, we're not going to change anything," she said. She also sees that training starting with-city, council and state legislative candidates. "If we can do it on a local level and develop power there," she said, "we »'can move to ́higher levels.” In the interim, women should work to educate themselve more on the important issues, and should write and call their representative about issues that concern them, "Once

your consciousness is raised, then you have to do something about it. Too many people expect the other person to do it. People have to stop making excuses for their apathy."

Both Frano and Link emphasized that women's organizations have to start working together, at least by sharing information. That is crucial if women are to build any real political power. However, Link warns, it won't be an easy task. "There's a failure built into single-issue politics, particularly for women, and that's been the inability to build coalitions. CWW has a plan for candidate action, CARAL has a plan, but single-issue organizations are very limited and the ideal would be to have those groups in coalition. The fact is that it's almost an impossible task. There's too much turf protection, and there's too much of a worry that your membership is directed only toward that one issue. CARAL doesn't know how its membership feels toward other issues such as pay equity and ERA. They only know about abortion." Other single issue groups have the same problem

Women have to develop an overall feminist agenda, Link said, and see that it's put into action, even if it means organizing a coalition within the Democratic Party or looking toward third party politics. "The only possible solution I see," she said, "is that people are going to have to move past a single-issue analysis, or even past an issues analysis on an incremental basis to an economic analysis of the whole problem, because that's where women's political clout has really got to be directed."'

According to the ABC "exit polls" done on election day, Link may be right from more than a theoretical standpoint. The election day polls showed that a good number of Democratic winners owe their victories to, women, voters. In 1982, women voted heavily Democratic. The major reason, according to what the women told their interviewers, is economics. It's not the war vs. peace issue; women are split about 50-50 on Ronald Reagan's foreign policy Overwhelmingly, women voted on economics. It makes a lot of sense: under Reagan, the economy is sinking and it's been women and children first for decreased benefits, school lunches and education, and increased unemployment.

Ronald Reagan may be just what we've needed to bring us together.

Promote Tension Release & General Body Relaxation with

Serious Massage Work

Maggie

Gift Certificates Available

231-4771

$15/12-hr. session

A Nonprofit CLEVELAND CENTER

Medical Clinic

FREE PREGNANCY TEST

FIRST TRIMESTER ABORTION THRU 14 WEEKS AWAKE OR ASLEEP EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

1195$ Shaker Blvd.

Cleveland, Ohio 44120

VISA & Mastercharge

earth api

Appointment

(216) 421-8600

for

Reproductive

Health

seafood and

salad bar extraordinaire. omelettes, vegetarian dinners and luncheon. Sunday Brunch; Cedar and Lee 371-1438

Superlatie Neufood and Vegetarian (uisine

Ja

do A

my 84☆

ISIS

1400.W.6.ST

CELEBRATE THE SEASON WITH NEW WOMEN'S MUSIC!

هره

OLIVIA PROUDLY

PRESENTS

BLUE RIDER

Cris Williamson's finest LP ever in a soothing blend of love ballads and songs in the tradition of Changer and the Changealready a classic!

These and other titles available at:

POLLY NEAP

PEEL OF LK 1

REDWOOD RECORDS BRINGS YOU THE SPEED OF LIGHT Holly Near's new LP and national tour — a fine fusion of hearty vocals, upbeat tempos and great new music by an all-time favorite. Don't miss it!

-

Coventry Books, Melody Lane in Lakewood, Record Rendevous (Public Square Richmond Mall, Randall Park Mall), Record Revolution (Parmaton Mall, Cleveland Heights), Six Steps Down, Hemming-Hulbert Inc. in Beachwood, Camelot Music in Randall Park & Westgate Malls, Good Karma Food Co-op and Camelot in Southern Park Mall, Grapevine in Akron.

HELP KEEP WOMEN'S MUSIC IN YOUR COMMUNITY BY SUPPORTING STORES THAT SUPPORT WOMEN'S MUSIC. LOOK FOR THE STORE NEAREST YOU!

༔་

sxei Décambori 1983WVkcia Šht/VasPage 15