Our Next Meeting
Tuesday Sept 19, 2000

Gender & Corporate Globalization

Presented by Roz Dean: Within all countries females are the most exploited, particularly women of color and the poor. "The majority of the world's women and girls are adversely affected by the unequal power relations created at the national, regional an international levels by the new trade regime... We believe the WTO undermines major international agreements that women have worked to get their governments to commit to." (From the Women's Caucus of organizations from North to South attending the Third Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Seattle.) The corporate form and its national and international institutional protectors is especially damaging to the lives of women, who compromise the majority of the poor in every country.

Meeting Place: African American Community Services Agency, 304 N. 6th Street (at Julian) in San Jose. Call (408) 297-4NOW for directions and information.

Plus, a Book Exchange at each meeting throughout the year 2000.

The Rebel Girl: Feminism and the WTO

by Katherine Smith
Originally published in 'Against the Current' Jan/Feb 2000

What's Feminism got to do with it?

The well-organized and publicized protests at the WTO meetings in November have inspired activists from a wide array of movements hungry for precisely the kind of multi-issue organizing and solidarity that blossomed in Seattle.

While much had been mad of the labor and environmental bridging, little has been reported of any feminist presence at the protests. But if any issue is a feminist issue, it's free trade.

Who, after all, comprises the work force in sweatshops around the world? And of the jobs being decimated at home, many have at least a fifty percent female workforce.

"I see this as an issue that hits women really hard," says Madelyn Elder, president of Portland's Communication Workers of America, Local 7901. "In a lot of Southeast Asian countries affected by free trade, many of the low wage workers are women, many who don't have rights at home or in the streets."

Nancy Haque, an organizer with Portland's Jobs With Justice, echoes Elder. "The women in the sweatshops are often young women, many supporting families with these jobs."

While women workers across overseas face exploitive working conditions, women workers in the United States are seeing their jobs disappear. Says Elder, "In the needle trades, women are the majority of workers, and these jobs went overseas. I'm in a union that's fifty percent women. Many of them do keyboarding.

"Companies whipsaw us all the time. With a flick of the switch, they can move to Dallas, Texas. I represent people in AT&T. The last AT&T in the Pacific Northwest with a union presence closed its office last January 18. Boom, it's shut down, all that work shipped to Texas.

"That's the way it's going. What are the chances of these workers finding jobs with the same pay and benefits?"

I asked Elder if the particular concerns of women were addressed in the protests. "Certainly, there were some signs saying that the people hit the hardest are women. But most of the speakers were men, because most of the national labor leaders are men. But the civil disobedience was organized mostly by women," said Elder.

Haque, who spent five days in the King County Jail for civil disobedience, said there were many women in jail. "The women in jail were amazing. I was in jail with Starhawk the whole time, and she was just amazing."

The WTO protests have clearly solidified and united social movements unlike any struggle in recent history. Women are participating at all levels of organizing: as workers, heads of families, and activists.

Women's concerns will remain at the heart of ongoing anti-WTO organizing, as female-dominated jobs in the U.S. continue to disappear and women's lives in sweatshops around the world are sold down the road.

Opportunities for feminist organizing - particularly international, multi-racial and cross-class - will be rich as corporate "free trade" continues to unravel the lives of women around the world.

From your editor-

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to sister activist Sandy Spaulding who died on June 30. I took a few extra days in finishing this Newsletter to create the extra insert devoted to her. From the many lessons I learned from her passing, I am most inspired by her dedication to actively supporting the issues she felt most strongly about. All of our lives are busy, but I believe we must stop just wishing and start acting to change our world for the better. Ask yourself: "What can I do today?"

A great big Thank You to Rosemary Cornish for her outstanding job as Newsletter Mailer. According to my records, she's been in charge of this awesome responsibility since June of 1996. She is moving on to a new full-time job, and we wish her the best!...Okay now, who is waiting in the wings to fill her shoes? We could sure use your help. If you're interested please call me at (408) 267-6020 or e-mail at JindaMulv@AOL.com.

This Is What A Feminist Looks Like

"This Is What A Feminist Looks Like" is a Monthly column dedicated to putting a Friendly face to the term feminist by featuring activists we all can be inspired by. This Month's featured feminist is Jim Bill.

I've been involved with Planned Parenthood, NOW, and the Pro Choice Coalition for a number of years now. I do like to think of myself as a feminist. It is astonishing to me that there are people who are against equal rights and fair treatment for women. I also find it surprising that the word "feminist" sometimes has very negative connotations and that people try to avoid the label. It's' a backlash, of course, against all the gains that women have made over the past 40 to 50 years.

In my lifetime, at least in some states, women were the legal property of their husbands. A married woman could not have a bank account in her own name, get credit or work without her husband's permission. Job opportunities were fewer for women and generally limited to the lowest-paying jobs.

I'm glad that there are groups like NOW who are fighting the reactionaries' attempts to turn the clock back and who are continuing to fight the battle for full equality for women (and others).

Conservatives blame all kinds of problems on feminism and feminists. "Wasn't it great back in the 50's when women knew their place in the home and before the feminist movement?" they say. We had great rock n' roll in the 50's . . . but those of us who lived through that era remember the cold war, that segregation of races was legally mandated in many states, in the South lynching of blacks were fairly comMon, homosexuals were hunted down by the police and FBI and exposed to lose their jobs and families, and women died horrible deaths because abortion was illegal in every state. On television it was "Father Knows Best." And later the era was portrayed as "Happy Days." It wasn't all negative, of course, but no one in their right mind would want to go back to the way things were in the '50s!

Lee Gorfinkel Passes

Unfortunately, we've lost another great pro-choice activist before her time. Lee Gorfinkel, of the Peninsula Democratic Coalition, died suddenly on Saturday, July 22nd. Lee was a longtime political, women's rights, and abortion right activist, and was married to Martin Gorfinkel, a former board member of Family Planning Alternatives.

CSW Has 3 Vacancies

The Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women currently has 3 vacancies, and is recruiting applicants. The CSW is a volunteer board which advises the Board of Supervisors on issues of concern and interest to the women and girls of Santa Clara County. The meetings are held on the second Monday of each Month, at 6pm, at 70 W. Hedding St. To have an application sent to you, please call the County Clerk's office, at 408-299-4321 x 5622. If you have any questions, please contact Gay Katilius at gay_kat@hotmail.com, who is a current Commissioner.

Sandy in 1995 as president of the San Jose/South Bay chapter of the Naional Organization for Women

Born: Dec. 2, 1961, in Montana.
Died: June 30, 2000, in Palo Alto.

Survived by: Mother, Juanita Spaulding; three brothers, Jim of Texas, Ken, of Montana and Ron of Pleasant Hill.

Services: A memorial service was held July 6 in Lafayette. A second was held on July 16 at the South Bay Labor Temple, 2102 Almaden Road, San Jose.

Memorial: The family requests that donations be made to a favorite charity or to the NOW Sandy Spaulding Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 611957, San Jose.

Sandy Spaulding Young Feminist Fund

The family and Friends of Sandy Spaulding wish to honor and remember her commitment to social justice by establishing the Sandy Spaulding Young Feminist Fund. Initially an award will be made annually to a Santa Clara County feminist under 30 years of age who is active in labor, peace, women's and/or other social justice issues. If sufficient funds are raised, the goal is to sponsor an annual summer service fellowship for a young Santa Clara County feminist to help continue Sandy's work to improve the lives of all Santa Clara county residents.

Planned Parenthood has agreed to serve as fiscal agent for the fund, which will be administered by a committee of Sandy's Friends. Tax deductible contributions payable to Planned Parenthood, with a notion on the check that it is for the Sandy Spaulding Young Feminist Fund may be sent to:

Planned Parenthood
c/o NOW
PO Box 611957
San José, CA 95161-1957

Consider This...

The state of Texas, under the leadership of Governor George W. Bush, is ranked:

— 50th in spending for teachers salaries
— 49th in spending on the environment
— 1st in percent of poor working parents without insurance
— 47th in the delivery of social services
— 42nd in amount of child support collections
— 5th in percent of population living in poverty
— 1st in percent of children without health insurance
— 48th in per capita funding for public health
— 1st in air and water pollution
— 41st in per capita spending on public education
— 1st in executions (avg. 1 every 2 weeks for Bush's 5 years)

Just think what he could do for the country if he were President....

New Resource Kit on Domestic Violence, Child Custody Available

A new legal resource kit, entitled Domestic Violence and Child Custody, is available from NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. It has been prepared to assist battered women and their advocates with child custody matters where domestic violence is an issue. Often courts, judges and attorneys lack an understanding of the complex dynamics of domestic violence and inadvertently jeopardize the safety of women and children by providing abusers easy access to their victims through custody and visitation.

Additionally, women who try to protect themselves and their children by seeking sole custody or modifications in custody arrangements or who flee with their children are often penalized by having custody taken away and given to their batterers.

You can order the kit by calling NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund at (212) 925-6635, faxing your order to (212) 226-1066 or writing them at NOW/ LDEF, 395 Hudson St. New York, NY 10014. There is a $5 fee for handling and postage.

Three Races to Watch

Three house races in California are highlighted in MS. magazine this Month:

District 15: Mike Honda (D)--Jim Cunneen (R)

"This race is being billed as the battle for Silicon Valley--the center of the new economy and a trendsetter in the arena of national politics. Both candidates are solidly pro-choice and neither supports the so-called "partial-birth abortion" ban. Both candidates oppose DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and support the Fair Pay Act. But Honda opposes the death penalty and supports affirmative action and the reauthorization of VAWA (Violence Against Women Act). Cunneen declined to comment on these issues."

Honda: PO Box 41205, San Jose, CA, 95160. 916-319-2023. www.mikehonda.com

District 38: Gerrie Schipske (D) -- Stephen Horn (R)

"Only the second open lesbian to run for Congress, Schipske is mounting a challenge to Horn, who is the incumbent. On the issues, Schipske is certainly left-leaning though she "reluctantly" supports the death penalty. She also supports legalizing same-sex domestic partnerships and believes that abstinence should be one aspect of sex-ed for teens. On the surface, Horn doesn't seem too different from his opponent. Both are pro-choice but Horn opposes affirmative action 'quotas,' and has voted against health insurance for domestic partners and the use of federal funds for both abortion and needle-exchange programs."

Schipske: PO Box 50038, Long Beach, CA 90815. 562-856-3351. www.schipske4congress.org

District 27: Adam Schiff (D) -- James Rogan (R) ((of impeachment infamy))

"Rogan has a difficult reelection battle on his hands against State Senator Adam Schiff. Schiff is by and large pro-choice and has supported legislation protecting women and children from violence. Rogan has a long anti-choice voting record. He has also voted against affirmative action programs, same-sex marriage and same-sex domestic partnership rights. Rogan is a strong supporter of the death penalty and has voted against increased funding for welfare initiatives."

Schiff: 35 S. RayMond Avenue, Ste. 206, Pasadena, CA 91105. 626-583-8581. www.adamschiff2000.com

Ireland on Abortion Rights and Gender Violence

Abortion Rights

"Five to four is too slim a margin for women's rights. Women's freedom hinges on one justice -- that's cause for alarm, not celebration," said NOW President Patricia Ireland in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart that struck down an anti-abortion law. "Today's decisions on abortion provide only temporary protection of women's reproductive freedom -- a right that has been seriously eroded by the conservative high court," Ireland said.

In Stenberg v. Carhart, the Court by 5 to 4 struck down Nebraska's abortion procedures ban. At issue were the remaining distinctions between pre and postviability standards and the requirement of an exception in postviability bans to preserve the woman's health. The justices ruled that the law created "an undue burden upon a woman's right to make an abortion decision.''

In its 6 to 3 decision in Hill v. Colorado, the Court ruled constitutional a Colorado law which restricts aggressive, threateningly close approaches by deMonstrators near the entrance of health care facilities. Prior to enactment of the statute, protesters blockaded clinics, physically assaulted women trying to enter the clinics, and subjected patients to intimidating behavior by surrounding, crowding, grabbing, pushing, shoving, hitting, and spitting on those seeking access to clinics.

"These decisions are only a reprieve. The real fate of legal abortion will be in the hands of the next president, who will appoint as many as three justices to the narrowly divided high court," Ireland said.

Ireland warned that the upcoming elections ultimately will determine the outcome of the abortion debate. Cautioning that abortion rights also are threatened in state legislatures and in Congress, Ireland calls on abortion rights supporters to get out and work for feminist candidates.

"Let these narrow decisions serve as a wake-up call to women who are toying with the idea of voting for anti-abortion presidential candidate George W. Bush in November. A vote for Bush is a vote against safe, legal abortion," Ireland said. ~

Gender Violence

"A woman should not have to plead with local law enforcement to be protected from vicious, gender-based violence," NOW President Patricia Ireland said. "The recent horrendous attacks in New York City's Central Park and the reports of outrageous police indifference must spur political action. Congress must pass the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act to extend hate crimes protection to women and pass the reauthorization and expansion of the Violence Against Women Act."

The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would improve access to federal resources to assist local and state law enforcement officials in better investigating and prosecuting bias-related crimes. It would also extend coverage to gender, sexual orientation and disability, and eliminate the requirement that the victim be engaged in a federally protected activity such as voting. The Violence Against Women Act would fund training for police and other law enforcement and court personnel, aMong other things.

"Conservative members of Congress are sitting in Washington tossing around rhetoric while every day women across the country face gender-based violence," Ireland said. "The Central Park attacks have received national attention, but the problem remains."

"Perhaps with enhanced resources and training, police on the scene in Central Park would have been better equipped to respond immediately to allegations of sexual assaults in progress," said Ireland, referring to reports that some victims were rebuffed when they sought assistance from the police.

"Women must turn our shock and outrage into political pressure and power," Ireland said. "We demand that members of Congress take immediate action to pass the anti-violence bills before them. We will be watching, and women will remember in November."

return to top