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with lit candles and Mary Ellen Fleming read the proclamation which was posted on the door.
December, 1975 / IWY Commentary
The ideas of the women's movement have spread to many countries of the world. In recognition of this fact the United Nations has designated 1975 as International Women's Year (IWY). In Cleveland the 'feminist movement inspired a local IWY Congress in October. The giant event attracted 40,000 people and in this sense it was a success. Unfortunately, a true feminist consciousness did not characterize IWY
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weekend which was organized mainly by the Junior League and the Cleveland Foundation.
There were numerous excellent workshops on the status of women in the U.S.; however, the issue of women's liberation was all but lost on the Convention Center floor which resembled a county fair with its carnival atmosphere. The planners' encouragement of numerous commercial displays and booths that had nothing to do with women's liberation disgusted some women. Other women were angered at the military booths and at the many mandatory. motherhood displays. There were six booths committed to anti-abortion ideas, including a huge Catholic shrine to fetal tissue which one could view by stepping inside a school bus. There were two antiabortion workshops but only one free-choiceabortion workshop.
How would true feminist perspective have changed the conference? The emphasis would have been on a total reorganization of society, granting equality, justice and full social, legal and economic acceptance of women; with no pre-ordained notions as to roles, with full control over our reproductive lives, with equal control over the economic means of production and material wealth, and with our due share of rights, responsibilities, leadership and power. Such a perspective would have made the conference much more radical-as true feminism really is.
The closing ceremony of the Congress provided the final ludicrous distortion of the weekend, and a little more opium for the people. A paternal male voice intoned the popular hit "You are a Child of the Universe," accompanied by slides and mystical lights. The message seemed to be-Women, this is your weekend. The rest belong to the establishment, so don't rock the boat.
February, 1976 / Cleveland Women Working Cleveland Women Working (CWW) is a group of
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women working together to win fair and legal treatment for working women. They formed in May 1975 because they were concerned about the problems women face on the job, women's lack of information about their rights, and because they wanted to do something about the things we've all been grumbling about for years.
February, 1976 / Oven Productions
Women's music is alive in Cleveland! For those of you who aren't familiar with Oven Productions, they are a group of women committed to making feminist culture available in Cleveland. They are particularly interested in producing women locally and have so far brought women musicians to two clubs in Cleveland....
Feminist songs and feminist musicians aren't always found together with appreciative audiences. Oven Productions realizes that feminist culture must evolve from the hearts and minds of women, who are struggling every day with survival, much less feminist vision. Oven Productions wants to encourage and promote that process through a culture that identifies both the struggle and the confirmation of alternatives.
March, 1976 / Project Eve
Project EVE, located at Cuyahoga Community College Metro Campus, is a counseling and referral service for women interested in continuing education, volunteer work and employment.
EVE's concern originally was for women whose home responsibilities had diminished and who were ready to return to new activites in the EVE areas. The program has evolved into one which provides services for the wife and mother, the widow, the divorcee, the unwed mother, and the single woman.
April, 1976/ Wages for Housework
The Cleveland Wages for Housework Committee is part of a network of women organizing for wages for housework for all women from from the government....
We in Cleveland Wages for Housework are just beginning to get off the ground. Right now there are only two of us, but already women are expressing interest in what we are doing and are offering support.
December, 1976 / Women Together
The Women Together House officially opened on December 1, 1976. The house is Cleveland's first emergency shelter for battered women and their children. It got started with grassroots support by a group of aware women who were concerned about the problem of women having a place to go during a period of emotional crisis "and going on to become self-sufficient. These women were so determined to get the house open that they pledged to do it with or without funding, and in the beginning rent on the house was paid with personal donations....
April, 1977/ The Three of Cups
This is "a special place"❞—the social alternative for Cleveland area women who [are fed up] with having no sanctuary (alone or with friends, after women's activities or just anytime)....
Three of Cups is important as a women's business. It is an active education for the womanagement, one which they will be willing to share-perhaps in workshops and training opportunities in the future. It will serve as a model for other women and other businesswomen working with and for other
women....
May, 1977 / Gay Community Center
On April 1, the GEAR Foundation signed a lease
for the Gay Community Center of Cleveland....Ideally the GCCC will be a common facility having office space and serving as a center for gay activities in Cleveland. We of the planning committée are hopeful that some of the old-line factions which have existed within the Cleveland area gay community will dissipate. We realize the need for separatist groups, but in the interest of the broader spectrum of gay politics, it is essential for all of us eventually to come together if progress is to be made. This also means involvement and awareness on the part of the straight community....
October, 1977 / Safe Space Station
The Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland is happy to announce the opening of the Safe Space Station, a residential treatment program for runaway youth.... The Station is a voluntary and non-coercive program with no fees or requirements for the services provided.
June, 1978 / Gold Flower Defense Fund
...The Gold Flower Defense Committee is an ongoing organization formed to support all women who defend themselves against violence. Currently, the committee's energies are going into the defense case of Kathy Thomas, who is being tried for murder....The committee's stated purpose is to "affirm women's right to defend themselves against violent attack by providing financial, political, personal, community and legal suppport."
October, 1979 / Displaced Homemakers
The Cuyahoga Community College Displaced Homemakers' Program is the result of legislation passed by the Ohio General Assembly. It is a new program for homemakers who are over 35 years old, who have worked without pay as homemakers for their families and who have lost their source of income due to death, divorce or other circumstances. The College Pilot Program began operating in March 1978. (By Roslyn Talerico)
November, 1979 / Hard Hatted Women
Hard Hatted Women is a group in Pittsburgh formed by a few women in the building trades....Inspired by the Pittsburgh group's success and feeling a great need to talk to other women in non-traditional jobs, a number of us in Cleveland would like to start a similar group. We encourage women seeking nontraditional jobs to come (to our meetings]. (By Sandy Pope)
February-March, 1981 / Rape Crisis Center
...On February 4, '1974, with seed money from Cleveland NOW and CWRU Women's Law Caucus, a rape hotline was started in space donated by the Free Medical Clinic. A training program was designed and volunters were recruited. A dedicated group of women began organizing and planning ways to provide the best possible support for rape victims. In September 1974, the Rape Crisis Center moved to its present location in the Metropolitan YWCA, For one and a half years the YWCA provided a room for the hotline free of charge....In the spring of 1976, the Rape Crisis Center received grants from the Cleveland and Gund Foundations and at that time was able to open its telephone lines on a 24-hour basis.
The Crisis Center now has a full-time Executive Director, four paid staff and 55 volunteers. (By Janice Rench).
(continued on page 13)
April-May, 1983/What She Wants/Page 9