"1828a69f-d1d9-465f-8c77-9dbf1ddd5d93"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1213576"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "2013-08-15"@en . "1983-06-01"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/kinesis/items/1.0045800/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " WSIDM* 3 Joe Borowski is not the only person challenging the charter of rights and freedoms regarding abortion. , Two pro-choice challenges have come to light as well. Maxine Boag outlines the issues in this critical year for Canadian abortion rights. 4 Women in Ottawa recaptured the original intent of Mother's Day by protesting the proposed testing of the cruise missile in Canada. Maureen McEvoy and Julie Wheelwright were there. 6 Is this depression so different from the last one? Are 'hard times' aconvenient excuse to ignore women's rights? Sara Diamond and Susan O'Donnell spoke in Vancouver on Women and Work! 7 Pornography vs Sex- Oriented Products. Can Vancouver aldermen tell the difference? Kinesis prints Pat Fiendel's brief to City Council. 10 Vancouver's first public debate on prostitution resulted in a City Council vote that recommended criminal sanctions on hookers, but women are hopeful the issue is not yet closed. 14 For women, microchip technology is the opposite of liberating. Johanna den Hertog takes a look at the way the chip has affected women at B.C. Tel. 18 For rural women, the overwhelming reality is creeping poverty. Jane Evans gives Kinesis some facts about country life. 20 Penny Goldsmith reviews 'Wanted Alive', by local poet Erin Moure, and finds it a vivid portrayal of Canadian life. COVER: Photos by Laurie Meeker. Design by Claudia MacDonald. km urn news about women that's not in the dailies SUBSCRIBE TO KJMESIS Published 10 times a year by Vancouver Status of Women 400A West 5th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1J8 \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 VSW membership - includes Kinesis subscription - $20 (or what you can afford) \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Kinesis subscription only - $13 D Institutions - $40 \u00E2\u0096\u00A1. Sustainers - $75 Name Address_ _ Amount Enclosed. Please remember that VSW operates on inadequate funding \u00E2\u0080\u0094 we need member support! B.C. Lesbian Conference: KMMSM Breaking down isolation The first ever B.C. Regional Lesbian Conference was held in Vancouver May 20-23. The first provincial conference to be held in Canada, its theme was \"Claiming Our Lives.\" Organizers say they believe it is \"a real milestone in lesbian visibility\". An estimated 600 women participated overall. The B.C. Regional is the result of momentum gathered from the successful National Lesbian Conference held in Vancouver in 1981, which drew more than 500 women from across the country. A wide range of workshops were organized in an attempt to appeal to the full spectrum of lifestyles, interests and needs among lesbians. Empty rooms were available at all times for spontaneous workshops or support groups around topics not covered on the formal schedule. Many of the workshops on topics around which women needed support continued throughout the weekend, and are hop ing to become ongoing support groups. Some will be soliciting new members who were not at the conference. An effort was also made to provide activities besides the workshops around which women could connect, such as the sports activities organized by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport(CAAW&S). The Lesbian Celebratory Pride Parade brought 200 women into the streets to march through the West End to a rally at Sunset Beach. Organizers made a visible ef fort to make the conference inviting to women with special needs: most of the events were wheelchair accessible; sign language interpretation was provided for most activities; information was printed in Braille; and excellent childcare was available throughout, including overnight care on Saturday night. Workshops, food, and field trips were incorporated into the daycare. The conference was aimed in part at breaking down the feelings of isolation many lesbian women experience, celebrating lesbian lives, sharing common experiences, and bridging the gaps between gay women. Some of the women had a more concrete goal in mind. Steps were taken to create a \"Provincial Connection\" - a formal network among lesbians/gay women throughout the province in both rural and urban areas. This embryonic network hopes to provide resource lists of lesbian groups and sympathetic professionals, connect individuals with groups and/or organizations to strengthen them, and extend urban resources to rural areas. There will be a meeting of representatives in six months time. Until then, women will be working: doing publicity; writing educational pamphlets; fundraising (to be shared on a provincial basis); finding seed money for lesbian projects(in recognition of the economic disparity in different areas of B.C.); and discovering a way to give ongoing safety to lesbians suffering dangerous harassment, especially in isolated areas. i*6!5TIICTion Red Hot Trial: Feminist analysis ignored Borowski challenges choice by Jan DeGrass A court decision is still pending regarding Joe Borowski's legal challenge to Canada's abortion law at the close of a two week hearing in Regina. Queen's Bench Justice W.R. Mathe- son has called adjournment of the case until June 6th but is not expected to hand down a decision until the fall. A prior attempt by pro-choice supporters to intervene in the hearings was refused by Justice Matheson causing some dismay in women's groups across the country who feared that the Federal Justice Department's legal representative, Edward Sojonky would not adequately defend their interests. The dismay deepened during the trial when Borowski's attorney, Morris Shumiatcher, brought forth nine medical expert witnesses to testify that life begins at conception and that abortion could not be counselled under any circumstances, even in cases of rape or incest. Defense lawyer Sojonky announced that he would be calling no witnesses and indicated that the opposition's testimony was irrelevant to the real issue - the constitutional rights of women and the unborn. Sojonky's cross-examination of the witnesses was limited to questions concerning their religion, their personal values and whether they felt there were ever instances when a mother's life would be at stake if an abortion were not performed. Regina pro-choice supporter Abby Ulmer of the Concerned Citizens for Reproductive Choice (CCRC) still feels that defense witnesses would have been useful to the trial', but that Sojonky's summation of the legal, constitutional wrangle was fairly good. \"The Justice Department was concerned with arguing the law; not the moment at which life begins,\" said Ulmer. continued on page three Ironic but true. The very trial that resulted from the prolonged efforts of women organizing against pornography, rendered these same women and their analysis of the issue completely invisible throughout the two- week proceedings. Not a single women's groups was invited to give testimony regarding the material before the court. Although Judge Darrall Collins found Red Hot Video Ltd. guilty of possessing obscene material for the purposes of distribution on three counts, nothing in his seventy-minute judgment reflected the concerns of women organizing on the issue. Focusing almost entirely on the sexual explicitness of the three films, he did not deal with the degradation, humiliation and violence against women that forms the basis of women's objections to the material. Indeed, Judge Collins only mentioned one of the rape scenes in passing. The Victoria case is the first to come to trial after police seized a number of tapes early in the new year. The tapes had been pulled off the shelves following several months of active protest and intense lobbying efforts by women's organizations and anti-pornography groups. According to Theresa Sankey of Women Against Pornography(WAP) in Victoria, very little was mentioned about public protests in the courtroom, despite dis- sion of \"community standards\" and when they were, Red Hot's defense challenged the validity or significance of such protest. Nonetheless the judge's decision is the first to hold that movies viewed at home are subject to the same laws governing -those screened in public theatres. Unfortunately it is not clear how the decision will affect Red HOt's inventory. Charges are pending against the Red Hot Video outlet on Main Street in Vancouver. WAP representatives, who were present throughout the trial, saw it as being \"a bit of a circus\". They believe much of the testimony, most notably the views of Michael Walsh (Province film critic), was a mockery of the entire issue and to make that point the group has planned a \"Mock Trial\" for June 4. Using the words of witnesses testifying during the trial to the Barnum and Bailey circus theme, the group will stage their spoof outside Red Hot Video's Douglas Street store and move to the courthouse for a second performance. The group is currently preparing an anly- sis of the trial which they will make available to all interested organizations working on the issue. Despite Collins' clear verdict of guilty, Red Hot Video was only fined $100 for each charge although there is a maximum penalty of $500. 2 Kinesis June'83 MOVEMENT MATTERS by Ellen Frank for the WAVAW/Rape Crisis Centre Collective It has been almost a year since our decision to open a new Rape Crisis Centre. The Centre has been open since July '82. At the in- movement meeting we promised to keep women informed of what we were doing,- why we were doing it, etc. This is the first installment of that process. Our first priority wheh we opened was to get our 24-hour crisis line in operation. The agreement we negotiated with the government guarantees our right to protect the complete confidentiality of the women who call us. In July we got our office and our telephones. At,that point we had eight women in the Rape Crisis Centre Collective. Along with the logistics of answering the 24-hour line and setting up and staffing the office, our energies went into training new women to work with us. We started our first training session almost immediately (that is, after we re-trained ourselves), and by the end of August there were 13 women in the Collective. We started another training session in September, and by the end of November there were 26 of us. After the second training session the Collective decided to take some time to develop materials and to think about and plan the next training session. That took a few months of meetings. The third training session started in March and has just finished now. Between November and May the Collective shrank a bit (from 26 to 21), but with the third training session we are 27 again. WAVAW has become, during.the year, a large and diverse group of women. Another focus was publicity. In order for women to be able to use our services they need to know we exist (unfortunately, not all women read Kinesis yet). We printed and distributed a poster, stickers, and a pamphlet. We talked endlessly to Dominion Directory about getting our phone number in the yellow pages under \"women\", and to B.C. Tel to get it in the front of the book. And we talked to lots of people! Then came the work that follows operating a crisis line: ongoing contact with women who phone us; accompaniment and advocacy for women who are dealing with community agencies and institutions (i.e. police, medical, legal); liaison with community groups to keep ourselves informed of what resources are available to women and to keep groups informed of our resources; and liaison with those institutions that women, we counsel are likely to be dealing with. While we realize these institutions are both oppressive to women and resistant to change, we have to keep trying to effect reforms in those institutions wherever and whenever possible. Making changes in the justice, social service, and health delivery systems does, in the short term, make it a lot easier for the women who are dealing with those systems. An accumulation of those changes does, in the long term, lead to some changes in those institutions. One place where a large change has occurred is in the medical system. Through the efforts of women doctors all the victims of sexual assault can now go to Shaughnessy Hospital Emergency where there is always a woman doctor on call. They are calling the project the \"sexual assault assessment project\". Cab companies, the police, and ambulances are all instructed to take women to Shaughnessy. The experience of the women who get medical attention from these doctors has been very positive. It is much improved from the days, not so long ago, when the ordeal in the hospital was referred to as a \"second rape\". By about September we were able to begin doing more direct public education work. Since then we have done many workshops, spoken to many groups, and participated in lots of radio, newspaper, and TV interviews about all aspects of violence against women. Until now our public education has been WAVAW mostly reactive: that is, groups phone us and ask us to speak and we go. We want to continue to do that, but also hope in the near future to be able to take more initiative in whom we talk to. Part of public education, of course, consists of protesting on an ongoing basis. So, we write letters and press releases objecting to pornography everywhere, sexist ads, unlit parking areas, judges' decisions, Ann Landers (sometimes), Jon Ferry (usually) etc. We sign petitions. We lobby. In September we participated in the Take Back the Night March. On November 11th we participated in the Remembrance Day ceremonies by reading a poem to remember the women who were raped and killed in all the wars. We laid a rose on the Cenotaph. The poem wasn't a new one. It originated from a woman in Ottawa and has been read by many women, over the years, at many Remembrance Day ceremonies. Considering all of that we underestimated how controversial the action would be. We thought we were just carrying on a tradition, and made the mistake of putting our phone number on the flyers we handed out. Although we waited until the final ceremony was over before we marched down to the Cenotaph and read our poem, the press did an excellent job of making it appear that fanatical women disrupted the solemn ceremony. On November 12th we received approximately 80 irate phone calls from veterans who said \"No, they hadn't been there, but had seen it on the BCTV news\". We learned to be more careful of the press and with our telephone number. After the experience of talking to all those people, and explaining why we were there, we would recommend that this year women demand to read that poem as a part of the ceremonies, instead of after they are over, as we did. Along with the irate calls were many supportive ones thanking us for being there, and there were those who started out irate and ended supportive. On November 25th we were involved in organizing the International Day Against Violence Against Women. We marched in I.W.D. We walked in the Peace March. We joined the picketting of Red Hot Video, and we have SOME STATISTICS FROM JULY 15 TO MARCH 31 Incoming Crisis Calls: 192 Incoming Information calls: 433 (does not include requests that were referred to another service after initial conversation.) Speaking engagements: 71 Media interviews: 74 Approximate volunteer hours gone into WAVAW: 11,400 Our phone numbers are: Mon to Fri 10a.m. to 5p.m. 875-1328 24 hour crisis line 875-6011 feel free to call and talk to us. added our voice to the protest against \"Playboy on Pay TV\".. In March our application for membership in B.C.F.W. was accepted. At present we have 3 full time paid workers, and 5 women working on a Community Recovery Program till June. We believe the government is responsible for providing social services to women. In July the budget we submitted with our funding application for an 8h month period was for $125,000. We received ,a grant in mid-July for $61,000 for that 8*g month period. Our press release that day said, and we continue to say, that we receive partial funding from the Attorney General. Five other centres, The Cowichan Rape As-* ' sault Society, the Thompson-Nicola Rape Crisis Centre, the North Peace Community Resources Society, KSAN House Society, and the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre, also receive funds. We share skills and information with these centres. In addition, WAVAW also received, for the 1982-83 year, $2,479 from the City towards operating costs, and $5,888.71 from C.P.Air Employee's Fund for Capital Expenses (typewriter, Gestetner, desks, etc.). The rest is made up by private donations and there is lots of volunteered labour. In the past year we have been spending time figuring out our internal structuring. We have a sincere desire to be, and continue to be, a healthy growing Collective. The Rape Crisis Centre is operated by the Collective. Collective members attend Collective Meetings, and work on the Crisis Line. All major decisions are made by the Collective. WAVAW is also a Society. The original WAVAW group had 19 women and the beginning RCC Collective had 8 women. Most of the others are in the Society. The Society is made up of those original women, and any woman who has been a member of the Collective for six months. If a woman has been in the Collective for six months and leaves the Collective, she can remain a member of the Society. The purpose of the Society is to ensure that the Rape Crisis Centre Collective continues to fulfill the purpose of the Society as stated in the Constitution. This mandate includes providing support, counselling, referral and advocacy to women and children who have been victims of sexual violence; working for the prevention and eradication of sexual violence; promoting legal, social and attitudinal change regarding sexual violence; encouraging and generating research related to sexual violence and providing public education on sexual violence. The Society has an Annual General Meeting where we elect a Board. The duties of the Board include approving changes to the Constitution and to Bylaws; working on contracts of employment for paid workers continued on page 24 June'83 Kinesis ACROSS CANADA Abortion rights under attack by Maxine Boag A major battle over the legality of abortion is under way in Canada. Three protagonists - two pro-choice, one anti - have mounted an all-out attack on the Federal abortion law. Sharing the limelight are: Dr. Henry Mor- gentaler from Montreal, remembered for challenging the abortion law in 1973 and successfully establishing abortion clinics in Quebec, and Joseph Borowski, once an MLA in Manitoba, now owner of a health-food store, a staunch Catholic known for flamboyant publicity-seeking anti-abortion activities. Morgentaler is openly defying the Federal law by establishing freestanding abortion clinics in Manitoba and Ontario. Borowski is trying to prove, in court, that the fetus is a person, and thus entitled to the \"right to life\" enshrined in the Constitution. The third protagonist is Norma Scarborough, President of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, challenging the law under the same charter of rights and freedoms for denying women the right to \"security of person\". Whatever the outcome of these challenges, there can be no doubt that the abortion law will be changed. As far as tfhe pro-choice lobbyists are concerned, the change is long overdue. The restrictions outlined in the 1979 amendments allow abortions to be done only in hospitals, after approval by a therapeutic abortion committee. Applications are received in writing; the woman is not allowed to present her own case or to challenge the committee's decision. Only 20% of eligible hospitals have such a committee, and all define \"health\" in different ways. As a result, Canada has the highest rate or second-trimester abortions in the world, and thousands of women have to travel to the U.S. or to Quebec to obtain a medical service denied them in their own communities. Dr. Morgentaler, who was acquitted by three juries when charged in 1973 for performing abortions in his clinic, has now decided to test the law again by opening clinics in Manitoba and Ontario. He believes that by offering a service far superior to that available in hospitals, he will be acquitted again when charges are laid. Backed by the strong, grassroots Coalition for Abortion Clinics in Ontario, he is ready to try to render the law inoperable across the country. His case is indirectly supported by the challenge issued by the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, our only national pro-choice organization. Citing Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (which reads: \"everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.\") CARAL President Norma Scarborough contends that the abortion committee system denies women security of person, and involves a process which is in contravention of the principles of fundamental justice. Women, she states, are discriminated against by this law which denies them the right to state their own case to a committee, to be represented by a lawyer and to appeal decisions the committee has made. This case goes to court later this year. Joseph Borowski, in a case presently being heard in a Regina court, is using the same section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in his attempt to render the 1979 amendments \"void and inoperative.\" His lawyer is presenting a range of \"experts\" - including Bernard Nathanson, author of Abortion America, Dr. William Lilley from New Zealand, a perinatal physician held responsible for perfecting amniocentisis; and a geneticist from France. All contend that life begins at conception and that the fetus is a person. If Borowski is successful (his case will be concluded in June), abotion will become totally illegal, as it was prior to 1979. CARAL attempted, unsuccessfully, to get intervenor status at the opening of his case, afraid that the defendant, the Federal government, would not defend the law adequately. Mark MacGuigan, Minister of Justice, is on record as expressing anti-abortion beliefs, and CARAL's concerns to date have been justified. Little croSs- examining of witnesses has occurred, and the defendent has made no mention of the degree of public support for abortions. Last year 6,000 women had legal abortions in Canada; a Gallup Poll in June 1982 showed that 72% of Canadians believe that abortion should be safe and legal. 1983 will go on record as a critical year for abortion rights in Canada. In view of this, CARAL is sponsoring a national Day of Action for Freedom of Choice on Abortion in early October. CARAL/Victoria and the Vancouver-based Concerned Citizens for Choice on Abortion will be coordinating this action. Watch forthcoming issues of Kinesis for more information. An anonymous Ottawa citizen set pro-lifers straight with a little \"direct action\" on this billboard, conveniently located two blocks from Parliament Hill. continued from page one . Sojonky argued that Section 251 of the Criminal Code, which allows for legal abortion when the 'life or health' of the woman is endangered, already gives statutory form to that which the law recognizes - that a decision to abort must be based on medical criteria, which strives to balance protection for both the woman and the unborn. \"I was very disappointed with Sojonky and the proceedings up until the point of summation,\" said Ulmer. \"At least he certainly seems to know his constitution.\" Ulmer, like other pro-choice supporters, managed to be present at most of the session, even though, as she reports, \"it was barely possible to sit in the courtroom considering some of the awful things that were said about women\". Abortion defenders sat alongside of Borowski fans in court, representing the many who could not appear, while the real representation was happening on the street. \"We weren't being heard in the court, so our position had to be heard somewhere\", said Ulmer. Upwards of fifty pickets turned out every day to demonstrate in contrast to one day of protest by Right To Life. At Wednesday's summation an organizing drive by a pro-choice coalition within the Regina community mustered 150 pickets. Groups as diverse as the United Church and Men for a Non-Sexist Society took turns organizing the picket lines. \"Really we've had a lot of support from the community,\" said Ulmer. \"When we asked for donations to place an ad in the newspaper people were very generous. I think that many of our supporters are realizing that it's time to speak up, donate money, and give their time. There hasn't been another case of this importance since Morgentaler was tried.\" The precedent setting nature of this case stems from Joe Borowski's victory in having the right to legally represent the fetus in court. The former NDP Minister of Highways and long-time militant opponent of liberalized abortion laws seeks to make it impossible for a woman in Canada to obtain a safe, legal, medical abortion. He argues that Canada's new Charter of Rights extends the guarantee of right of life to all 'persons', a right which should include human fetuses. Hence the importance of establishing a fetus as a person at the moment of conception. He is also attempting to obtain an injunction against the federal finance minister to stop the spending of public monies on abortions. These are the grounds on which Borowski has in the past refused to pay income taxes. The Borowski case is considered to be only one of many forthcoming constitutional challenges around abortion. CARAL, the national abortion rights league, plans future action and Un Winnipeg beleaguered supporters of Dr. Henry Morgentaler's nascent clinic are also preparing for a potential court ease in defense of Mor- genthaler. Local pro-choice organizations in your community would welcome financial contributions. Women are also asked to express their views to Mark McGuigan, Federal Minister of Justice. (Thanks to the and Rosemarie ial.) Show on Co-op Radio for background mater- 4 Kinesis June '83 ACROSS CANADA Women challenge CKVU by Emma Kivisild Media Watch is beginning the process of filing a complaint with the Human Rights Branch against CKVU television. The charge follows Doug Collins1 May 12th editorial on CKVU's Vancouver Show, in which he criticized Media Watch, saying, among other things, that \"if there is ever another convential war it is my hope that Media Watch and its army of snoops will be found in the front line where they can be raped by the Russians.\" Collins began the editorial by objecting to the recent funding Media Watch received from the Secretary of State but peppered the statement with what can only be seen as vitriolic and misogynist words: \"The usual hot eyed feminists who would look good sitting at the foot of the guillotine with their knitting just like Madame La- farge.\"...\"...there's discrimination afoot here since there is no minister responsible for men. That could be because there are so many lesbians loose in the world...\"... \"They won't be happy until there is not a bosom in the country worth looking at.\"... \"We already have human rights commissions on the prowl for newspaper advertisements that call men men and women women. Eventually, of course, we shall all be neutered and the race will die out and the looneys will have won.\"...\"I suspect that the real purpose (behind Media Watch) is to remove good looking women from television and from advertising. Remember all that fuss there was last year about the Sanyo ads that appeared on the buses. It showed a delightful looking gal lying on her stomach and showing a bit of bosom. Just the thing to cheer the chaps on their way to work in the morning.\" Media Watch went in to CKVU, viewed the tape, recorded it, and made a transcript. On May 16th, after a discussion with their Board of Directors, they sent a letter to John Meisal, chairman of the CRTC, asking the commission to intervene . on Media Watch's behalf. Meisal has not responded. On May 17th, Media Watch's lawyer wrote CKVU, stating that the station had violated Band needs help The Neskainlith Native Indian Band in Chase, B.C. has put out a call for food and supplies following the withdrawal of all their funding by the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) on April 1. The band had been putting DIA money towards work KIM\u00C2\u00A3SIJ KINESIS is published ten times a year by Vancouver Status of Women. Its objectives are to enhance understanding about the changing position of women in society and work actively towards achieving social change. VIEWS EXPRESSED IN KINESIS are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect VSW policy. All unsigned material is the responsibility of the Kinesis editorial group. CORRESPONDENCE: Kinesis, Vancouver Status of Women, 400 A West 5th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1J8. MEMBERSHIP in Vancouver Status of Women is $20/year (or what you can afford). This includes a subscription to Kinesis. Individual subscriptions to Kinesis are $13/year. SUBMISSIONS are welcome. We reserve the right to edit, and submission does not guarantee publication. WORKERS THIS ISSUE: Libby Barlow, Jan Berry, Frances Bula, Dorrie Bran- nock, Jan De Grass,jDole Dudley, Linda Field, Patty Gibson, Mich Hill, Nicky Hood, Emma Kivisild, Barbara Kuhne, Janet Lakeman, Cat L'Hirondelle, Claudia MacDonald, Janet Morgan, Rosemarie Rupps, Michele Wollstone- croft, Joan Woodward. DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: June 15 for July 1 publication. All copy must be typewritten and double-spaced. KINESIS is a member of the Canadian Periodical Publishers' Association. projects and salaries instead of using it for welfare. The band will be struggling to become self-sufficient. They have requested staple food, and especially need seeds and live chickens. Women are also urged to send a letter in support of the band to the DIA. Send food and supplies to: Neskainlith Indian Government, P.O. Box 608, Chase, B.C., VOE 1M0. For more information, call 679-3295. Send letters to: DIA, B.C. Regional Office, 700 West Georgia, Vancouver, B.C. Section 281.2 of the Criminal Code, which deals with hate propaganda, specifically \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 public incitement of hatred. The letter demanded a public apology from Collins, on his weekly editorial, where he would summarize the May 12th editorial, give accurate information as to the real role of Media Watch, and then apologize and retract the May 12th statement. Media Watch received a letter from CKVU president Peter Viner the next day in which no mention was made of the request for an apology. Instead, Viner talked about freedom of speech and the necessity of hearing both sides of a question. He invited Media Watch to appear on the show to present their position, and referred all further communication to his lawyers. According to Media Watch's Maureen MacDonald, CKVU's lawyers recommended to the station that a public apology take place according to terms negotiated by both parties. Apparently, CKVU has informed their lawyers they are choosing not to follow that recommendation. Media Watch's attempt to officially charge CKVU under Section 281.2 of the Criminal Code requires a police report and Crown Counsel approval. Crown Counsel refused to approve the charge. Media Watch's recourse then is to file a complaint with the Human Rights Branch. Initial steps have been taken. Pending a Board of Inquiry from Human Rights, women's groups in Vancouver have begun to formulate strategies to deal with CKVU's apparent endorsement of Collins' views. Media Watch urges women to write both Peter Viner, President, CKVU, at 180 W. 2nd Ave., Vancouver, as well as John Meisal, Chair, CRTC in Ottawa. Copies should be sent to Media Watch and VSW. Transcript^ off Collins' editorial, ^re available from both these groups. Ottawa mothers refuse the cruise by Maureen McEvoy and Julie Wheelwright \"I want to live and I want to grow up and I hate the (cruise) missile. It's a danger to the whole world I think.\" Ten year old Karen was only one of almost 3,000 women, their children and male supporters who demonstrated on Parliament Hill May 8 in the women's march for peace. The purpose of the march was to protest the proposed testing of the cruise missile in northern Alberta and to recapture the original intent of Mother's Day. Participants slipped past an RCMP barricade and clasped hands to form a human chain around the Centre Block despite RCMP's refusal earlier in the week to grant a permit. They claimed it would be too difficult to enforce security. Earlier the participants had formed the largest human chain on the lawn in front of the peace tower, braving freezing temperatures that brought a flurry of snow. Attendance exceeded the organizer's expectations with busloads of people from Montreal and representation from Kingston, Belleville, Hull, and other neighbburing cities. After the formation of the \"official\" chain, six women headed around the east side of the Centre Block. They slipped by several officers and once they started, the chain began to grow, spreading along the sidewalk until it was completed. It was a peaceful and orderly event. When the organizers had approached the RCMP for the permit earlier in the week, the officers had suggested the women form a symbolic chain instead by making a replica of the Peace Tower and encircling it on the lawn. The demonstration began at a nearby park and, singing in French and English, \"We are the women's march for peace, and we are singing for the earth,\" thousands wound their way to the Hill. The march was organized by a coalition of women's groups from Montreal, Ottawa and Kingston. During the rally, Kingston organizer Sheila Cook demanded the government declare Canada a nuclear weapons free zone. \"We call upon the Canadian Government to pursue the goals of nuclear suffocation set forth in Prime Minister Trudeau's speech to the United Nations in 1978\", Cook said. \"In that speech he called upon all nations to refuse to allow the testing, production, distribution and deployment of weapons- of mass destruction.\" The first Mother's Peace Day was celebrated 111 years ago, through songs, poetry and speeches. That day was organized by U.S. activist Julia'Ward Howe as an urgent appeal to end all wars. The symbolism of the march for peace on Mother's Day this year was not lost on the crowd. Barb Jackson came with her eight year old son Erin to teach him that if you disagree with the government there is something you can do. \"You have power\". Violet Quigley of Belleville, Ontario said she came because she has a 13 year old- son she wants to see grow up. \"This kind of demonstration is important, especially on Mother's Day.\" \"I think every holiday reminds us that the world's in a bad position,\" said Brett Mann also of Bellville who came with his five year old daughter. \"Every occasion to celebrate life is a chance to protest the cruise.\" June'83 Kinesis 5 WOMEN AND PEACE Umbrella Die-in On May 24 in downtown Vancouver, women demonstrated against nuclear war, marking the International Day for Women and Disarmament declared by European women working for peace. The theme of the Vancouver protest was umbrellas signifying both the inadequacy of the U.S. \"Umbrella of Defence\" and disagreement with the so-called \"Umbrella Agreement\" on weapons testing between Canada and the _ U.S. | Demonstators staged a series of die-ins at the Canadian -g Armed Forces recruiting office and major financial centres \u00C2\u00A3 and marched, chanting and singing, to the U.S. Consulate, * where they handed a symbolic cruise missile back to the 3 U.S. Government. a Report on Greenham On the morning of Wednesday, April 27th, at the highest point of the full moon (6:31a.m.) women from Greenham Common Peace Camp participated in a co-ordinated action - the locking of 13 gates to the American base with Kryptonite bicycle locks. The result was that all vehicles and people were locked out from the base. No business could transpire; no one could enter; the traffic was really backed up. The Americans were furious. They tried, unsuccessfully, to saw through the locks with a hacksaw, then with clippers and wire-cutters(the last pair being over three feet long). While this was going on, the women realized that they had missed one gate. They rushed around in a car to the open gate where a soldier was standing watch. Thinking the women were about to enter the base, he hurriedly began closing the gate. The women readily helped him, and then clipped on the last padlock. In desperation, the Americans went at the locks with chainsaws. The gates collapsed. Unpredictable and chaotic is how some Greenham Common women describe themselves. They've got the authorities on their toes and confused. For months, these women have been living outside the base singing, eating, loving, working and organizing. They are a diverse group numbering around 'Acts of Obedience' by Marianne VanLoon and Patty Gibson Sister Anne Montgomery, American peace activist and advocate of non-violent anti- nuclear organizing, says she is deeply afraid of the next six months. Why? She believes the real policy underlying Pentagon strategies is a plan to win a nuclear war. Speaking to an audience attending the May 25 afternoon workshop at the Festival of Peacemaking in Vancouver, she said the Pentagon has two policies. One is the political policy which the Pentagon publicizes to counter Soviet military capabilities and the other is the actual plan to win a nuclear war. The importance of the next six months, she says, is the intent to test and deploy cruise and Pershing missiles throughout Europe early in the new year. In addition, she believes it is possible that the deployment of these first strike weapons by the Americans could scare the Soviets into more immediate war preparations. While Montgomery was in Vancouver she also led a discussion following the Robson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2'! Square's screening of In the King of Prussia. The film centres on the activities and subsequent court proceedings of the Plowshares Eight(of which Montgomery was a member), a group of people who entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. They smashed two nuclear weapon nosecones and poured vials of their own blood on documents, afterwhich they sang hymns and waited for their arrest. \"The democratic process is not working because we have no way of voting or not voting for nuclear weapons,\" she said. \"When that happens we must take direct action, not all of which is civil disobedience.\" Because she believes these actions are responsible and moral 'acts of obedience' , Montgomery prefers not to use the phrase 'civil disobedience' and makes a point of clarifying the term. She says laws are not true laws if they are destructive to human life and therefore they must be broken in order to expose them for what they are. \"We must make ourselves powerful in the face of people who are guarding and making this violence,\" she said. \"We are all responsible and by taking that responsibility we can make ourselves into a great movement such as those led by Martin Luther King and Gandhi.' Montgomery told her audience that it is easy to despair after you've become aware of the extent of the violence in society generally and the technology fueling the war threat. \"You never stop being afraid,\" she said, \"but by taking a first step to meet others who share your beliefs, you can become energized. Through sharing and supporting, not only in action but in reflection, a sense of community and strength develops.\" Consistent and personalized leafletting has proven to be one of the most effective methods of direct action, said Montgomery. She gave the. example of Ground Zero in Washington, a group that regularly leaflets a shipyard associated with the first strike Trident submarine. The six people involved in this activity and the shipyard workers have begun to know each other. \"A good leaflet, and the fact that they are present really does change people inside those places, even if it doesn't show,\" she said. Workers have actually quit their jobs when they found out the implications of their work and people iit ^the plants become more understanding when they have the chance to get to know the leafletters. 25, ranging from an older woman who has temporarily dropped out of nursing to try to help cure a nuclear madness, to younger women with short-cropped colourfully-dyed hair. The town of Newbury and the Ministry of Transport are trying to legislate them off the land. They've had to change locations a few times and recently it was made illegal for tents to be there. Consequently, they invented homes they call 'benders1 (makeshift tents incorporating pieces of cloth, live trees and vegetation and piles of straw.) Their inventiveness and energy is very inspiring. They've had Teddy Bear Picnics and launched thousands of peace balloons onto the base. The mothers for peace, led by a nun, stood at the gates in the rain for a vigil. They've put their bodies across the road to sabotage any repairs that were to be done. Their next major event is June 21st summer solstice. They intend to surround the nine mile perimeter of fence with fires, cooking and baking and celebrating for peace. A patchwork quilt dragon is their international project. The dragon is to be used on solstice and is now circulating around the world. Each community adds its own piece of dragon, to be worn by many of our sisters at Greenham. The movement in England for disarmament is very strong. Let's make Cold Lake, Alberta our strength! \u00E2\u0096\u00A0< -,'V' (Fruma contributed this article after her recent visit to the Greenham Common Camp.) January 18,1982. A woman From Greenham Common Peace Camp after 'Keening' at the Houses of Parliament. Keening is a wailing sound, a traditional expression of women's sorrow and anger. 6 Kinesis June'83 LABOUR Past and present: Women's work and unemployment by Heather Wells On Wednesday, May 11th, at Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, a small group of women were treated to a very inclusive presentation on women and work with a concentration on women and the unemployment movement, past and present. Sarah Diamond,' tireless woman sleuth in that blank area known as the-history-of-women1s-struggles-in-the- trade-union-movement, coloured in many of the niaaen achievements of women's organizing during the depression. Susan O'Don- nell took up Sarah's remarks discussing current problems for women both in the unemployment movement and in attaining value for domestic work. Sarah began by outlining a few parallels between the lot of working women in the thirties and now. Today, many more women are organized into unions, there is currently a large women's movement supporting the demands of women in the labour market and, on the negative side, women workers face the onslaught of technological change. Women in the depression years were mainly housewives with few household helping devices. In 1932, they were 10.4% of the paid labour force, much lower than today. Their jobs were extensions of their domestic roles. In fact, as the depression continued, wages for women fell and in the garment industry they were expected to take work home and to do it there. Women's employment was never deemed important enough to have working conditions improved for them. Sarah interviewed a B.C. woman who lived through the depression and told of leaving school at 13 to work for 15c an hour cutting asparagus. After working at a job such as this, returning to school was unheard of because of the social stigma attached to labouring jobs. There were seven children in the family. \"We were just like the farm workers today who are trying to be organized,\" she said.\" By 1935 there was an 18% drop in employe ment opportunities for women. A debate then erupted as to whether women should work at all as that was seen as taking men's jobs. Sarah discovered a quote from Maclean's magazine in 1931 which suggested that quotas should be placed on women entering jobs. During the depression it was assumed that a woman's family could take care of her if she could not work. Women needing social services had to look to the YWCA as there was no government agency. Through the YWCA they were forcibly placed in domestic jobs paying $80 per month for a sixty to eighty hour work week. They were not allowed to refuse this work. Expenses for the working woman were considerable: in 1935 women would starve for a week in order to buy stockings for a job interview since appearance was crucial. What was it like to be on the dole in the last depression? The dole was defined by gunny sacks full of turnips and potatoes, a sack of which was supposed to last a family for a month. Divorced women were excluded from relief coverage unless they could prove their husbands had not lived in B.C. for two years. Husband catchers were set up to drag men back to families. An important but little recognized element of women's role in depression organizing was that they did not choose to organize with men. They organized as domestic workers and as single unemployed women; earning ' massive support in the community. Their efforts became known as the single unemployed women's movement. In 1937 a plea was made for women to receive direct relief as men did. Women in domestic work won a $10 a month raise. They won a reduction on their meal costs (they were previously expected to pay for all meals at their place of employ). They won a 48 hour work week and time and a half for overtime. An interesting aside to women's organizing at that time is that the Klu Klux Klan, powerful in B.C. at that time, threatened organizers in the domestic workers movement. What role did political parties have to .play? In 1935 the CCF, precursor to the current New Democratic Party, particpated in the various campaigns around unemployment that took place. Direct action was taken at the street level as well, with STRIKE IS CALLED Ol G\R\IE\T WORKERS Toronto garment workers on strike in 1931, wages for women fell and in the garment industry, they were expected to take work home and do it there. Women's employment was never deemed important enough to have working conditions improved for them.\" (Photo from 'Women at Work') many citizens shocked to find that women were capable of throwing rocks through appropriate windows in order to make their point. Hardy women who were interested in the treks that set out across the country to Ottawa or women who rode the rails with the mass of unemployed men found that they had to dress as men if they wanted to participate, all an indication of how sex- specific the concerns of the larger unemployment movement were. Women's organizing did not stop at unemployment. They were well aware that a capitalist cure for the depression was going to be a war and this brought them to organizing against militarism. They also organized support for single men, they organized food and support for sit down strikes and helped with the release of all men charged in the post office strike. They did extensive advocacy work for people needing relief. Another big theme of the thirties was evictions of tenants by landlords. Women organized the pickets and the large scale demonstrations. In Vancouver, women were brilliant at figuring out who was carrying out the evictions. If trucks arrived at a home driven by a union member, they blacklisted the driver through his union. As a last resort, women would chain themselves to the house and to the furniture. In a few final remarks, Sarah reminded us that it's still hidden from us that women led and were in the rank and file of the unemployment movement. There is still a danger that women will not be seen as legitimate members of the labour force. Our own right to have a job must be put forward. -nT- >T Following up on Sarah's historical outline, Susan O'Donnell formulated some points directed at the current schizophrenic domestic and work lives of women. She talked about this double role and its effect on our ability to influence'the unemployment movement and our status as legitimate members of the workforce. Susan suggests that our dual role is still hounding us. We exist in two worlds, and when we leave the accredited workplace for childrearing in the home, we become invisible as a statistic in unemployment records. As time goes on we seem to move laterally, instead of upwards. Looking at 80% of women in the service sector shows us that we have gained no real positions of power as workers. Meanwhile, the value of domestic labour and childrearing is very low - it is not seen as real work - it is romanticized as women's work. \"We have to break that myth and get recognition for that work,\" she said. Looking at domestic workers in B.C. today is very instructive concerning what value is attached to work in the home. Basically, domestic workers in this province, like all women until just over fifty years ago, are not seen as persons. They have no rights and no status as citizens and hence can receive no protection from exploitation by their employers. Slavery, she said, is the nature of domestic work and that's why we have so much difficulty getting respect for childcare and domestic \"work as women. In fact, what devalues domestic work is that women do it. What is happening now that the current recession continues? The unemployment movement is being defined by men. A few years ago in the trade union movement there was a lot of talk about equal pay for work of equal value. Now the trade union movement is saying, 'isn't that frivolous -.it's time to focus on unemployment \"... but it's men defining what that is. In a depression, the first concern is for primary industry and its men. Men actually believe at some point in a depression that they are' getting laid off and women are still being hired and indeed, this stage exists - men see this as women getting their jobs. However, women have always been a reserve army of labour and EPIC WORKER* ^Nccns; A LIVABLE rw/SE!j Injunction halts Army and Navy equal pay picket The Equal Pay Information Committee (EPIC) planned a series of pickets outside Army and Navy Department stores to publicize an unresolved equal pay for equal work case against the store. In January 1981, a former employee, Beverly Yaworski, laid a complaint with the Human .Rights Branch. Despite increasing pressure from citizens' groups, unions, and women's organizations, the Labour Minister has failed to set up a Board of Inquiry. When the picketers arrived in front of the department store on April 31st, they found that Army'tand Navy had secured an injunction against the action. The EPIC members were further enjoined from calling for a boycott of Army and Navy until'the case had been resolved. It took Army and Navy less than a week to get an injunction from the legal system. It has taken Beverly Yaworski over two years to fight for equal pay without any success. EPIC is continuing to press the Socred Labour Minister to set up a Board of Inquiry to resolve the issue. June '83 Kinesis 7 PORNOGRAPHY 'Sex-oriented products' outlawed Did City Council miss the point? byPatFeindel On May 10, Vancouver Status of Women made a presentation to City Council regarding its proposed amendment to the bylaws to control video pornography. VSW spoke against council's recommendation (no other women's groups were represented and the only other submission Was in writing from Red Hot Video lawyers), but City Council unanimously supported the denial of licenses to any applicants who would be selling/ renting sex-oriented products. \"Educational and pharmaceutical\" products were exempted. This amendment will have the immediate effect of prohibiting any new stores like Red Hot Video from being licensed; it will likely affect those outlets now operating in Vancouver with time-limited permits coming up for renewal, in September. It will not, however, affect the other twelve existing adult entertainment stores with permanent operating permits, nor the dozens of video stores now selling porn without the appropriate \"adult entertainment\" license. VSW also expressed concern over the sweeping category - \"sex-oriented products\". The category fails to define pornography as a distinct form of hate propaganda, and leads one to shudder at how, in the hands of a less than progressive-minded Council, the bylaw might be used. The following is an abridged from of VSW's brief to Council, written and presented by Pat Feindel. I want to begin my comments by referring to three events of significance to this issue. The first is that several months ago, Margaret Mitchel (MP for Vancouver East) raised the issue of wife battering on the floor of the House of Commons. The response to her question was a joke about battered wives and laughter. The -second was a report several weeks ago in the newspaper. A woman in New Bedford, U.S.A., was raped by four men in a bar while 12 others stood by and cheered on the rapists. The third is that last week I attended a film in a popular Vancouver movie theatre. The story line focussed on a rich egocentric woman who* gets, stranded with one of her male servants on an island. The servant rebels against her power over him - a power he previously/described as emasculating - and gradually, by means of physical forcfe.. andvher dependence an him for survival, turns her into his virtual slave. There are many scenes where the woman is slapped, beaten, kicked and verbally abused. There is a long scene depicting an attempted rape. During this process of enslavement, the woman falls madly in love with her 'master'. And during the showing I attended, every time the woman was struck or kicked or verbally assaulted, an enthusiastic wave of laughter rippled through the audience. The film was not a comedy. I could have gone to any one of dozens of movies playing in Vancouver this week and come up with an example to refer to today. All three of these events tell me the same thing - that women's paon is not taken seriously in my society. That women's pain is seen as funny, entertaining, and erotic. That is is seen as deserved, acceptable and justifiable. And so I find myslef in the rather horrifying position today of feeling obliged to state at the outset what should be obvious. That women's pain is not funny to the women who feel it. It is not funny to the women who take care of it. And it is not funny to the women who fight against a social system that allows it to be a joke. A black eye is not erotic. A broken jaw is not erotic. Being raped by four men is not erotic. And being tied up and whipped with a belt buckle to the point of unconsciousness is not erotic. But every day we are being bombarded with images that suggest that violence is cool, brutality is chic, and abuse is a turn-on. A large proportion of that violence, brutality and abuse is being directed at women. Our pain is sold as fashion, as art, as pornography - \"adult entertainment\". The problem is violence against women. It is a huge problem and pornography is only one aspect of it. I want to make it absolutely clear that our concern is about violence, not sex in and of itself. When we look at pornography we are seeing primarily sexual violence - rape, incest, physical and verbal abuse - the intimate forms that violence most often takes in the lives of women, that is most often inflicted on us by those we know and care about. S^^^^l I want to reiterate that in opposing pornography, the Vancouver Status of Women makes a distinction between pornography - with its message of violence - and what might be called \"sex-oriented produces\". And so we are distressed to learn that in trying to grapple with the problem of pornography, City Council will be considering here today not the elimination or control of products promoting violence against women, but the elimiation of sex-oriented products of any kind. This approach fails, as do the producers, sellers, and consumers of pornography fail, to make a dis- M.n^\u00C2\u00A3i<^'\u00E2\u0096\u00A0:. t^twejen^ sjesd|md Sriolent hatreoy''^'; And thisJIpHure/Is precisely the root of the problem. We live in a society where accurate, positive information about sex and sexuality is almost impossible to find. Pornography fails miserable to live up to even its most feeble claims to be \"educational\" or \"sexually liberating\". The message of pornography is clear: sex is evil, and the evil in it is women. When pornography is all that is available, it enjoys a monopoly in the marketplace of the sexually curious. We now have an entire generation of the sexually curious being introduced to sex through video pornography because there is virtually nothing else available. Although we sympathize with the general intentions of the Community Services Committee the Vancouver Status of Women is in the position of being entirely unable to support the recommendations before City Council, on the grounds that they would result in further entrenching the confusion between' pornography and sexuality. In fact, we would want to actively support any efforts to increase the availability of materials that promoted positive attitudes towards sex, towards women's sexuality, and towards women in general. It is our view, that in the legal arena, pornography most clearly falls into the area of human rights. If there were a multi-million dollar industry in B.C. that was based on the physical and verbal abuse of any other class of people than women, we feel this would be obvious. For those who seek scientific data, a considerable body of research now exists documenting the link between pornography and the tendency towards violence in its consumers. (Bibliography available from Women Against Porn, Victoria or VSW). Certainly many women can attest to that link from first-hand experience of violence in their lives. But pornography affects all One day after a week-long picket against Red Hot Video (see p. 8), city council missed the point and placed a sweep- ing ban on 'sex-oriented products.' photo by Joni Miller women - we are all threatened by it, silenced by it, and must all face the violent attitudes and behavious that it promotes. We believe that it is hate propaganda against women, infringing on the rights of all women, and should be treated as such by the legal system. We do not recommend amending the Motion Picture Act to include videotape. The Film Classification department is currently restricted to three categories which it applies to film (Mature, Restricted, General) . None of these clarify the difference between violence, sex, sexual violence, or hate propaganda. In addition, film classification is now carried out based on so-called \"community standards\" which are arrived at arbitraily by the province's Director of Film Classification without any basis in research or community input. Though Guidelines in written form do exist, the Director has publicly stated that they are now what she uses in determining community standards. The Act is fraught with so many inadequacies already, that it seems unlikely that its use would have any impact on the video pornography business except in the form of license and classifying fees. We would not object to such costs being incurred for Red Hot Video, but we would not want to suggest that this will solve the problem of pornography. Our concern is that pornographic images are contributing significantly to the normalization of violence against women, to the acceptance of such violence as justified, appropriate and erotic. This is not a problem that can be solved by outlawing the sale of sex-oriented products in the City of Vancouver. We urge City Council to look at this issue in more depth, and to appeal to our provincial government urging them, first to act on Criminal Code sanctions already in existence, and second, to begin Immediately drafting legislation which would portect the rights of women under the Human Rights Code. ,We intend on our part, to continue to publicly expose pornography for the hate porpaganda that it is, to urge the educational and health systems to develop more and adequate sex education, and to put direct pressure on both consumers and those who profit, directly or indirectly, from the pornography industry. Kinesis June '83 June '83 Kinesis by Pat Hercus and Jean Bennett for People Against Pornography \u00E2\u0096\u00A0\"Red Hot, goodbye, Red Hot Red Hot, goodbye Goodbye, Red Hot, goodbye Red Hot We 've come to shut you down. \" (to the tune of Goodnight Irene) With the strains of a slightly modified old favourite, more than 200 women, men and children joined together on May 8th for a mass picket of Red Hot Video's Main Street store. The singing,1 chanting and marching that stretched a loop of protestors for half a block marked the end of a seven-day picket of Red Hot Video. Anti-pornography groups, rape crisis centres, women's groups, unions, a student newspaper and scores of concerned individuals picketed the store for a total of 109 hours. For every hour Red Hot Video was open that week, anywhere from six to fifty people picketed outside. Our presence told Vancouver and Red Hot Video we are opposed to the degraduation and violence of women that is the stock in trade of pornography. Our message was clear: we want pornography out of our community. When we first conceived of a week-long picket of the Main Street store, we had several goals in mind. The pornography issue is massive and thoughts of action aginst it can be overwhelming. A week-long picket of one store (said to be the distributor for the other outlets) gave our energies a clear focus. We saw the picket as one way of emphatically stating our belief that there is a direct connection between the pornographic image and the real-life violence against women. We also wanted to refute the pornographers' claims that the community finds porn acceptable. A week-long picket provided an opportunity for a large number of people to be directly involved in anti-pornography work, and also allowed for public outreach and education. Specifically, we wanted to draw attention to the May 9th trial in Victoria, where a Red Hot Video outlet faced three counts of obscenity. Women Against Pornography in Victoria told us the picket encouraged them, and gave them a feeling of solidarity; that they were not alone in their opposition to pornography. Overall, the picket was a tremendous success. On the picket line, women experienced a sence of taking back their own power. As women we live in real fear of repercussions for speaking out. Through the picket we confronted that fear and learned how to deal with the harassment and antagonism that speaking out often provokes. We saw clearly what we are up against, and refused to be intimidated into silence. People sang dressed in costumes, carried balloons, decorated the trees, and made music. The picket became an energizing force, giving our genuine anger at the pornographers a positive outlet. Customers respectful of union activity were perhaps more conscious of a picket line and the implications of crossing that line to shop at Red Hot Video As women we especially fear being out on the street after dark. Picketing at night, in front of a store that directly promotes violence against women, galvanized our determination to fight back. While it was frightening at times, we stayed, and the Red Hot Video staff were the ones who hid behind blinds and locked doors. The night is still not safe for women, but for awhile a chunk of it was taken back. Many picketers gained a sense of solidarity on the picket line through knowing that other groups and individuals were participating in an effort that would continue for seven straight days. During the picket there was a genuine sense of being part of a movement. Although walking in circles was boring at times,.there were many opportunities to talk with other picketers and find out the different reasons they had for participating. Several shifts were livened up with taped music, singing and impromptu songwriting. For those who had never been involved in anti-pornography work before, the picket offered time to RED+-fcT VID&? PCKEJT . . PORNOGRAPHY get more information and to clarify the issues. One of the greatest successes we had was that some people who had never been politically active demonstrated their visible support of the anti-pornography movement. The educational aspect of the picket was one of People Against Pornography (PAP)'s concerns. We saw the action as a vehicle for reaching a large number of people in the community, especially those who live near Red Hot Video. Through direct contact we expressed our opposition to pornography's reduction of women to sexual playthings and its fusion of sexuality and violence. We attempted to clarify that degradation and violence, rather than explicit representations of sex, is the issue. Those who saw us and spoke with us realized that picketers were not anti-sex, but were opposed to the oppressive version of female sexuality that pornography promotes. During the week hundreds of leaflets from PAP, Rape Relief and Little Mountain Anti- Pornography Group were distributed to passersby and Red Hot customers. However, there was a lack of materials that called for specific action on the part of these people. While Rape Relief produced a leaflet calling for a boycott of. Red Hot Video and people to honour the picket line, a leaflet of this sort should have been available throughout the week. Clearer guidelines were needed on what we hoped to accomplish, how the picket was to operate, and what to do if there were problems. Some picketers believed their function was to physically prevent customers from entering the store; others believed that actively harrassing customers would further our goals. As one person pointed out,'however, men provoked by the picket line would likely take their anger home and act it out on the woman in their lives. Hostile confrontations with customers created a potentially dangerous situation on the picket line and often destroyed chances for meaningful discussion. .Although attempts to embarrass and intimidate customers are effective in large groups, it is crucial that small numbers of women do not offer angry men an outlet for their violence. A tighter back-up system would also have prevented such a situation from developing, and would have avoided shortages of picketers in mid-day and late evening shifts. A list of guidelines could also have provided up-to-the minute information on how to deal with Red Hot's intimidation tactics. The reactions from customers and passerbys were mixed. Shouts of \"faggot\", \"dyke\" and \"what you women need...\" contrasted with enthusiastic votes of approval, thumbs up signs, gifts of food and hot drinks to the picketers and money for the cause. A hot cup of coffee on a rainy afternoon does wonders for flagging spirits. Some would- be customers back-tracked when they saw the picket, while others forced their way through the line to knock on Red Hot's locked door. Other customers were turned away when they were informed of the issue, agreeing to rent their family tapes elsewhere . The picket's beginning received mediocre media coverage, but with the increasing distraction of the provincial election, media attention dwindled. The education of individuals and groups was our focus, but more consistent contact with the newspapers, tv and radio may have resulted in more coverage. We did, however, make the Sunday evening news on BCTV wedged between a shooting at a commune and a multiple arson story Did we have any effect on Red Hot Video? \"Did we have any effect on Red Hot Video? Despite their denials, we hurt their business considerably. Their use of increasingly visible intimidation tactics reflects how nervous they became.\" . ness considerably. Their use of increasingly visible intimidation tactics reflects how nervous they became. They began with a posted threat to prosecute illegal picketing, an empty threat since congregating on a city sidewalk is perfectly legal. Later in the week they offered a free copy of the new charter of rights (available at no cost from the government) and wound up on Sunday with a video camera trained on the picket. The ultimate absurdity lay in the \"picketers' delight\", a message posted in the window telling us of a Red Hot 'informer' in our midst. These tactics served only to strengthen our resolve, and to reveal exactly how threatened they were. The response of the police clearly indicates how little help we can expect from the state in this battle. On Saturday night eggs were thrown at the picketers; (most of them landed on RHV's windows). When called in, the police told the picketers they should expect such harrassment if they engage in this type of protest. Do we give up our civil rights when we take to the streets to protest violence against women? On the other hand, the police, when called by RHV earlier in the week, responded by telling picketers they were singing'too loudly, and they were hurting RHV's business. \"That,\" said one picketer, \"is precisely what we're here for!\" Little help can be expected from the guardians of a society where the rights of property supercede the rights of human beings to protect themselves from the violence of a misogynist culture. The week ended on Sunday with a mass picket. While the demonstration was^successful, and fun, a rally held elsewhere could more effectively have brought the week to a close. Speakers could have provided a wrap- up of the' picket and focused our attention on what remains to be done. The picket.was not an isolated action, but rather a part graphy work. Perhaps a rally would have made this more clear. However, a solid 200 women, children and men, chanting singing, made it clear we have only just begun the fight on a large community scale. The week long picket proved to us that the anti-pornography movement has a broad base of support. We truly are becoming a powerful force. This became, as the days progressed, an undeniably strong and steady wave of protest. Now is the time for building ou: strength for another wave. As we stand and fight against the pornographer's image of woman as sexual toy and willing target of male domination and violence, we take back our power as human beings. If we are to survive, we have no choice but to fight back. How else can we hope to create a society where human rights do riot mean the right of one group to exploit and oppress another? XJSA mi M Akl *\u00C2\u00BBNJAUYS\u00C2\u00BBIS 10 Kinesis June'83 \"... the existence of prostitution in Vancouver drew a consistently negative response from the local residents. They pressed authorities for its immediate removal either from their neighbourhoods, their places of business, or from the city entirely. Groups like the National Council of Women, in appealing to Ottawa for criminal legislation, were seeking the tools to make possible an all out drive against vice. They believed that tougher laws accompanied by moral reform were the only way to deal effectively with prostition.\" If any of this sounds familiar, including the presence of the Council of Women, you might note the date of the above proceedings: 1906-1917! The preceding statements were taken from an article by Deborah Nilsen entitled \"The 'Social Evil': Prostitution in Vancouver, 1900-1920\", published in a collection of essays about women in history, In Her Own Right (1980), Editors Barbara Latham, Cathy Kess. Nilsen states, \"Agitation at the national level for more stringent laws and local demands for strict law enforcement ENFORCEMENT... illustrate a high degree of confidence in the law as a means to eradicate prostitution.\" The lobbyists got their harsh laws, new offences were created and old summary conviction offences were changed to the more serious indictable offence category. WELL, THEN, DID PROSTITUTION END, DECREASE, OR OTHERWISE DISAPPEAR FROM VIEW? Actually, no. It increased... despite harsher criminal laws and increased police enforcement. Coincidentally, it appears that the economy was severly depressed from 1912-1917, the demand for women workers was limited and decreasing steadily, and the labour market was bursting with the unemployed. In their police records, most prostitutes cited other occupations, almost all of them at the lowest end of the wage scale: domestic service, waitressing, and shop clerking. Not surprisingly, Nilsen concludes that the marginal position Of women in the labour force, poverty, and the hardship of a depressed economy were the instrumental factors driving women into prostitution. Prostitution recommendations spark heated debate by Lorri Rudland and Cole Dudley On May 17 at 7:30p.m. Vancouver City Council galleries overflowed into the hallways with a boisterous, occasionlly fractious, and certainly diversified assembly. Forty- one delegations appeared to respond to a motion proposed by Alderwomen Marguerite Ford and May Brown in support of the recent recommendations of the Federal Justice Committee for harsher criminal laws against pro s t itut ion. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs (Justice Committee) , an all-party committee composed of Members of Parliament, studied the prostitution issue and subsequently brought down its majority recommendations. The recommendations included: the creation of a new crime, the offering or the acceptance of an offer to engage in prostitution under which both prostitutes and customers can be charged and liable to a $500 fine or 15-day jail sentence; extending the definition of public place to include any place within public view, such as a motor vehicle; and the prosecution of adults who buy sexual services from persons under the age. of 18. Justice Minister Mark McGuigan is expected to act on these recommendations before the House breaks for summer recess. ' 3^2?^-\" The heated five-hour debate which occurred at City Council was the culmination of lengthy and intensive lobbying actions by Vancouver's Mayor Harcourt, residents of the West End and members of CROWE (Concerned Citizens of the West End), and the Association of Police Chiefs. The Vancouver City Council has no jurisdiction over criminal law but the extended debate succeeded in bringing to the attention of the public the real issues involved in prostitution. As expected, City Council supported the recommendations in a majority vote: 22 for, 19 against. The COPE slate - Libby Davies, Harry Rankin, Bruce Ericksen and Bruce Yorke - voted against the major recommendation which makes offering or accepting an offer to engage in prostitution the crime. Speakers supporting the Brown/Ford motion included representatives from CROWE, the Progressive Conservative Women's Association and riding associations, the B.C. Liberal Women's Association, a Hotel Owners Association, and some church and community groups. A supporting brief was also filed by the Vancouver Council of Women. Speaking against the motion were the Alliance for the Safety of Prostitutes (ASP), Vancouver Status of Women, Vancouver Women's Health Collective, Women Against Nuclear Technology, Vancouver Rape Relief, B.C. Federation of Women, NDP Women's Rights Committee, Carnegie Centre, National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Lesbian Conference Committee, Vancouver Association of Women and the Law, street workers Allan Roscoe (Emergency Services) and John Turvey (Downtown Eastside Residents Association), the,First United church and several individual presenters. Those who spoke in favour of the harsh criminal sanctions clearly saw the recommendations as a way to combat the harassment to which they are daily subjected in their neighbourhoods. Mrs. Elsie Mitchell of the West End Seniors Network said: \"I have received calls from seniors telling of purse snatching in broad daylight. Our right to use our streets, stores and yards is being violated.\" The groups and individuals who spoke against the recommendations regarded them as an expedient way for the police to wipe the streets clean of prostitutes, ;, without addressing the social issues surrounding prostitution. Lorri Rudland of the Vancouver Status of Women stated: \"These recommendations are expedient, simplistic, and are not designed to deal with the complexity of prostitution or even with the nuisaace problems that prompted their creation.\" Many of the speakers pointed to the connection between violent and sexual abuse by family members and subsequent prostitution. Allan Roscoe of the Ministy of Human Resources Emergency Services reported: \"The young people I work with have all suffered from sexual, emotional and/or physical abuse in or out of their homes.\" According to a Task Force Report on Prostitution by the U.S. National Organization of Women 15-25% of adult female prostitutes are incest survivors, and about 50% have a childhood history of sexual or physical abuse. In an area of high population density, such as the West End, it is not unusual to have a steadily increasing rate of violent and abusive crime. People who spoke against the recommendations felt that the pending measures would do nothing more than scapegoat the prostitutes, adding another financial burden and forcing them onto the ^streets again to pay these fines. \"With the passing of the amendment, prostitutes will be more vulnerable to violence than they already are. They will have to put in longer hours to pay fines and by having to go underground they will be easy prey with virtually no access to the justice system,1 said Marie Arrington of ASP. Speaking to the problem of neighbourhood disruption, Libby Davies told City Council that if the existing traffic and nuisance (noise) laws were enforced, the problems residents currently encounter would be greatly reduced. Rather than making prostitution the crime, the real offenders would be liable to prosecution. Joni Miller of Vancouver Rape Relief asked, \"What protection is City Council offering for any of us? How will this proposal stop the men who harass in my_ neighbourhood? ...Isn't it time that the blame for sexual harassment was put squarely on the men who perpetuate it...?\" The West End has an extremely active night life regardless of prostitution and it is this night life which attracts the men who abuse and harass women. It is also the presence of this night life - restaurants, bars and clubs open to the early hours of the morning without adequate parking facilities which cause much of the noise and cruising in cars that the residents complain about. Removing the prostitutes will not solve the problem of sexual harassment in the continued on p. 26 June'83 Kinesis HARD TIMES by Michele Wollstonecroft and Emma Kivisild Debby is a Native Indian, originally from the North Coast of B.C. She works as a secretary at a community office and is raising two children on her own. She also does Tri-Chem(liquid embroidery) and teaches beading classes. \"I think everybody's affected by the recession. There's no doubt about it. There's no money around and when you do make things like arts and crafts, there's nobody out there to buy them. \"The classes get native women out to do things. They get 10% of the sale. They're learning something and getting a couple of bucks spending money. There is no money out there to buy, so I teach whoever wants to be taught.... They can do it at home in the evening after the kids are in bed, while they're watching T.V.\".- Kristie has a degree in social work from UBC and two degrees as a massage therapist. She has been unemployed for a long time. Because she could not find a job, she began a skills exchange service or network, thereby creating a job for herself. \"There are1 so many people who need to be doing something worthwhile, they just need to feel they can use their skills, and that's where the service is invaluable. Women in the home, for instance, have domestic skills that aren't worth much in the workforce, but this way they can exchange them and make them marketable in that way. Another group that really benefits is seniors. They can do so many things - and they can still do them. \"As far as I'm concerned, without using your abilities and skills, the future's dim. I see all these people sitting around complaining, and I figure that the service is at least an alternative to that, an option. I don't want to survive;I want to live.\" Linda was working as a secretary for a large corporation and making a good salary, when she was laid off. At that time two people in every department of that company were let go. Unable to find similar work, Linda decided to go to University. \"Because I could not find work I went back to school(which I've always wanted to do). I couldn't have gone to university full-time without the loan and grant system. I sold all my 'office clothes'; now I have hardly any clothes, and that's fine, I have what I need. I found a more meaningful job (home-making for the elderly and handicapped) and no longer have to 'play-act' or lead a double life of who I am at work and who I am outside of work. My life is much more unified. \"Fortunately, I don't have any dependants and no large bills to pay. I usually share accommodations, and in the summer house-sit for people who are out of town. \"The one thing that I don't have that I was used to was the feeling of having a choice. I've been forced into this lifestyle, but it suits me right now. I think I'm getting more out of my life than before. Essentially, I've taken a bad situation and made it work for me.\" Rose is a newspaper seller in her late fifties who lives alone in a rented suite. She feels that her job, as a \"street job\" is directly affected by the recession. She says that there are too many people either harassing her for money or just plain harassing her. As well, there is no protection for her work, everyone sells newspapers now, from the local corner store to the vending machines, to the drug stores. \"I only make seven cents a copy. If I sell 35 newspapers I only make seven cents times 35; you figure it out.\" Beryl is a West Vancouver housewife. She is in her late fifties and has four grownup children. She collects antiques and has taught courses about antiques, as well as having run an antique business. Although not immediately affected by the recession, Beryl expressed concerns over the future. Her husband is due to retire in a few years and his company pension plan is very limited. \"If my husband dies after he retires I will not receive any of his pension, unless, before retiring, he agrees to take only 75% of his pension and then I will receive a portion of that 75% if he dies. If he takes his 100% pension then I'll get nothing if he dies. I believe that I deserve that pension and should share in the pension of my husband... There are not many choices for earning another income for a woman of my age and with my skills.\" Annette graduated from high school in 1980. Since then she has participated in the W.E.A.T. program(a government program introducing women to various trades) and attended bartending school. At the moment she is unemployed. She shares accomodation with her boyfriend, who is also unemployed. ' \"At one point I was looking for work that would be specifically interesting to me. Now, I'll take almost any job. But even waitressing requires one year of experience. As a person who recently graduated from high school(three years ago), where can I get that experience if no one will hire me? \"All our money goes to pay rent, then bills. What we have left we spend on food, which usually leaves nothing extra. I want to go back to school, but can't afford it right now. \"...In the media we see how the recession affects big business, or hear politicians talking about it. I think it is important to interview people who are really affected.\" Gayle, a 26 year old single mother is studying communications and women's studies at SFU on a full-time basis. \"Things are going to get a lot harder. This winter is going to be hard on everyone. I'd like to see more people participating instead of going to movies or big rock and roll concerts. People could support local artists, the grass roots events. I hope things could get back to that. \"I hope that I can get a half-assed job related to my education, but I may very well end up as an educated waitress. In that case, I have my participation in other things, like the women's movement, to validate my experience. \"I wish we could change people so that they would not think that their only participation in society was through their work and make them realize that they can look at other things. \"I wouldn't mind these hard economic times, you know, if it was for a redistribution of things globally, for bread and water, of for freedom, but it's just to put the money in the pockets of people who already have too much.\" Kinesis June '83 Rosie the Riveter: take two? by Kate Braid One of the commonly heard themes in the women's movement during the past two years has been \"women should be moving into non-traditional jobs.\" There were government programs and posters and articles and conferences about how clerical jobs were threatened by microchip technology, how women's participation in the labour force was rapidly increasing and, most of all, that there was a critical shortage of tradespeople which women were being invited to fill. If the economy had continued at full tilt, there would most certainly have been a shortage. When it took a nosedive, there was instead a drastic shortage of jobs. It is hard for anyone to be out of work for prolonged periods of time, but there is an extra edge to having barely tasted the rich fruits of trades work, deciding you want more, and then having them snatched away. This sudden switch in direction seems to have hit the newest women the hardest. They went into trades training in the expectation of plenty of work and a healthy paycheck. Instead, the two I spoke with are out of work. \"The problem,\" said Colleen Penrowley, \"is that I finished my pre-apprenticeship in Carpentry in March and I don't feel I have the skills to go out and do odd jobs on my own. Maybe if I was a second or third year carpenter I would do that but right now I don't have the confidence.\" Thea Beil completed her pre- apprenticeship in Plumbing in December 1982. Since then she has helped her dad (also a plumber) on a few jobs but basically She has not worked at her trade. \"There are just no jobs,\" she said, \"except the job of looking. I had a long chat with one employer the other day about job possibilities and then he asked,. 'Who is this for?'\". Is she disappointed that the work promised of 1982 didn't turn out? \"Actually, even last July when I was still in school, things were starting to slow down and everyone said, 'Now's the time to train.' I was sort of prepared not to get a job right away after my pre-apprenticeship\". She concluded, \"I find it really frustrating, though, never to have any money.\" Thanks to a more recent work experience, UIC has modified that frustration somewhat for the women I spoke to who are in the final year of their ap prenticeship training or who already have trades qualifications - that is, those who are journeywomen. For these women, UIC was their \"lifesaver,\" as more than one said. The advantage of being laid off trades and technical work which are often unionized and have high wages and good benefit packages is that UIC payments are a little higher. Nonetheless, it is a struggle to cope, to make drastic changes in long-term financial plans. \"My greatest source of amazement,\" said Carlyal Gittens, a tilesetter who was laid off a union job some 10 months ago, \"is that I'm not in a corner weeping my eyes out over my bad financial situation. I'm managing not so much to pay as to juggle.\" Rose Hilton, an electronic technician was the first woman hired by a Canadian commercial radio station (CKNW-CFMI). This January she was laid off and the effects are a tight financial situation. \"My son who is 12, really feels the difference,\" she explained. \"He's growing fast and instead of something that's fun, like a bike or a new sleeping bag, we need the money for essentials like the new shoes he seems to need every few months.\" Both she and Carlyal have discovered, from different directions, that their skills provide them with options. \"I have less than nothing financially,\" Carlyal explained, \"but I've come to realize that some people have some money, so I'm starting to hussle tile setting work.\" After several years in the trade, these women have skills that are saleable, even on a restricted market. Rose is now working on a government grant that boosts her UIC payment, on a project installing a remote broadcast facility at the ( Arts & Science Centre. It is \"work that is directly related to her trade. \"What I like about this job is that since I got laid off I started to feel that maybe I was no good. My confidence level has taken a nose dive.\" She continued, \"I've put in application after application and got rejection after rejection, but it's simply a fact that no one is hiring anybody for any reason. They're laying off. Intellectually I know that but emotionally I couldn't stop myself feeling, 'Maybe I'm in the wrong field. Maybe I should change again. Maybe I'm no good.' This job makes me feel I'm not a total loss. I'm doing what I like and I know I'm doing it well.\" Lack of confidence is a.constant bane in almost every tradewoman's life. For thousands of years we have been told we cannot do these jobs, these are \"men's\" jobs, and the immense power of that conditioning has to be counteracted every day with a puny dose of the reality that we can and we are. It takes a long time and it takes, for now, the constant reassurance .that we are capable. \"At first I just liked these odd jobs because they get me out of the house,\" Carlyal explained. \"But then the challenge of the jobs kept me going. I'm learning an awful lot. I like my trade so much, it means a lot to me that I'm learning this much on my own. For sure,\" she continued, \"I wish I had union work. I want my paycheck every week with no worry. Working for myself is far more worry and responsibility. I never stop thinking- about the jobs I do - all day I'll mull over a certain problem. But I love the work.\" She reflects a similar experience of the changes her trade has wrought for her. \"If I had not been in the trade for the past three years, I wouldn't have known how to look for work. The other day I wrote my name for someone for a possible job referral and under my name I wrote \"A good investment\". I would never have had the guts to do that before. If you don't have the confidence to ask for a job, to think, know, you can handle it, the skills don't matter.\" This is what is so hard for those women just entering tradeswork or just completing their training. \"It really counts to have those few years of experience and the resulting confidence under your belt.\" Not everyone is having a hard time. It seems that women with many years of experience in their trade and/or with seniority in their union or company, have best withstood the economic downturn. Janet Lane is an avionics mechanic for CP Air. She has worked there for several years, doing electronics work on the jets. (\"Want me to fix your jet for you?\" is her quip when tradeswomen start trading skills.) Last summer CP Air started layoffs - 7 out of 12 were laid off. Janet is about 11th from the bottom of the seniority list and still working. Is she worried? \"Of course, you always worry but I'm glad I'm in electronics because there seems less chance of being laid off than other fields. In the future I think the need for electronics will increase - new aircraft are much more electronic than.in the past. And jLf I get laid off,\" she says, \"I think there is more chance of a related job. After four years I have basic skills in electronics and electricity. I feel I've made it in my trade,\" she says. \"I love my job, and with this experience under my belt I know that even if I'm laid off, I can find another trade. I only wish I was in the middle of the seniority list!\" |^$iil There is no question that seniority is a vital asset. But women suffer the same disability we suffered'after the War. In spite of good learning and good skills, as Rose puts it, continued next page June'83 Kinesis Women working: laying the myths to rest by Susan O'Donnell/Roseanne Mdran Women work. We have always worked, although our labour is often unpaid. Women are less unionized than men and therefore more vulnerable to unemployment. Although the increase in unemployment over the last year has officially affected men and women equally, the percentage of unemployed women is always higher than recorded. Statistics seriously underpre- sent female unemployment. In addition, this general unavailability of jobs is compounded for women by periodic labour force withdrawal for childrearing, the lack of paid maternity leave protection, inadequate daycare facilities, inflexible working hours and the inaccessibility of training and retraining opportunities to facilitate re-entry into the workforce. In light of this information, two pressing economic factors are working against women at this time. 0Women earn 59$ for every dollar that men make. This reality has implications for both working and unemployed women whose UIC benefits are calculated\,.on the amount of money earned when working. 0One third -of Canadian families are headed by single parent women who receive little or no economic assistance .from the fathers of their children. Myths about women working in the labour force abound. Some of these include the belief that: Women don't need to work. Mothers should stay at home. Women's position in the workforce is improving. Women are not marginal members of the labour force, although we frequently hold marginal jobs for marginal wages. We in the women's movement are fighting to ensure that women have equal pay, pensions and benefits, a voice in decisions affecting our work and a better chance for decent jobs. Adequate educational and full employment strategies are preconditions for equality between men and women. For the minority of women who are organized, the trade union movement's commitment to equal pay for work of equal value is beginning to move us in the right direction. Affirmative Action Programs have also promised some hope, although management has had a great deal of success in dividing organized men and women over this issue. Non-union women are the victims of a number of problems, including poor wages, underemployment, cheating by the employer on the question of hours worked, tips withheld and often unacceptable working conditions. Thus we know that the unionization of all working women is essential. Workers' solidarity is important as well, but it must be grounded in an understanding on the part of male workers of the plight of their female counterparts. This means the recognition of the double role played by women in the workforce as workers and homemakers through pushing for a comprehensive system of daycare and maternity leave at full pay. continued from previous page \"I'm 36 years old but when it comes to jobs, I'm competing with men my age and younger with far more experience of the trade under their belt. They've been playing with this stuff since they were kids. When there was a boom, in the late '70's and early '80's,\" she goes on, \"they could afford to hire us. I was hired as a kind of novelty. But a boss's interest is profit. If the crunch comes and there's a choice; if they've got a man and a woman the same age and the man has more experience, they'll choose the'man. The men are more experienced and more qualified than we are.\" There are, of course, exceptions . Judy Doll has been a carpenter for 10 years and an independent contractor for seven. The spring was \"very rough\" for her business wise, but since April, she says, \"I haven't felt any effects of these economic hard times. In fact, I've been able to charge what I consider a fair rate for my labour in addition to an overhead that covers extra costs like tools and truck and my estimating time. Without my income, at these rates, my family (husband and three kids) couldn't survive.\" Lark Ryan is also still working, after six years for the same company as a purchaser/ driver. \"They laid off six people (one part-time) out of eight and I stayed. You can't ever be sure,\" she adds, \"but I've been told that the day I get laid off is the day the company goes belly-up. We just got a raise, in line with the ^union whose rates we always get.(our shop is not unionized.) But the boss has given notice that next year there will be no raise.\" It seems that the women who have struggled this far in non-traditional work are \"hanging in\", barely. Our main need, is one that is only possible over time - that is, more time. To gain entry to the unions and the security and benefits they offer; to gain seniority; to increase our skills and the simple numbers of skilled women in the trades. One option is the goal held by a group called Plane Jane, a group of women doing carpentry and renovations together since April '82. \"One of our goals,\" claimed Melanie Conn, a member, \"is to be solvent enough that eventually we can accommodate women who want to learn carpentry skills.\" The concentration of women in female job ghettos is an issue which cannot be ignored. The first laws passed in Canada regarding women's work stemmed from a desire to protect women workers, while at the-same time excluding them from some jobs. Protective legislation reflected the desire of the middle class to protect the traditional structure of the family. Excluding women from certain areas of the workforce followed from a belief that women workers were a threat, that by flocking into areas such as The concentration of women in female job ghettos is an issue that cannot be ignored. Separate workplaces necessitates equal pay for work of equal value. office work, telegraphy and teaching, women had driven men out of these occupations and should not be allowed to go further. The accomplishment of the distinct separation of male and female workplaces has necessitated our struggle for equal pay for work of equal value. It is important to recognize the built-in assumptions of inequality underlying much legislation which concerns working women. These assumptions are based on the notion of the working woman as essentially dependent and functioning within the traditional family structure. Both assumptions are unjust and inaccurate, No areas of legislation reflect this injustice better than those concerned with benefits and pensions. Benefits exist because of employment and their level is scaled to the wage earned. At present, provisions overtly discriminate against women; their design results in women receiving disproportionately low benefits and fails to recognize the equal contribution that women make to the marriage partnership. Just as the rights of women have to be more seriously addressed in the area of fringe benefits, so too the areas of occupational health and safety and sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the workplace is another aspect of the power politics between men and women. Those men who practice it operate insidiously, and prey on women, who in most instances desperately need their jobs and are afraid to speak up. Women today spend approximately ?3 hours a week on work in the home, a figure which has not changed since 1945. For all this work, we receive no pay, no vacations, and no guarantees of an old age free of poverty after a lifetime of essential - work. The amount of value that society places on domestic labour can be seen in the payment and living conditions received by mothers on welfare and domestic workers. According to the Domestic Worker's Union, B.C. domestic workers are exempt from any laws regarding hours of work or overtime. Women on welfare and their children live 40% below the poverty line. In the case of welfare mothers, the state assumes the role of breadwinner, and with domestics, the employer plays this role. The livelihood of women and children in these situations is totally dependent on the economic generosity of whoever assumes this breadwinner role. The victimization of j a major cornerstone of our economy. In turn, this provides . a rational for institutionalized violence against women. This violence takes the form of batterning, incest, rape and the proliferation of pornographic imagery. It even extends to our right to control our own bodies, through our choice to give birth or not, our ability to secure safe and effective means of contraception or medical practices that do not inhibit our ability to directly control our health and well-being. We see this year as being one of increased economic difficulty for everyone. We are well aware of the erosion of hard won trade rights, the astounding rate of lay-offs and attempts by government to force 'make work' programs on working people. The Vancouver Status of Women continues to be a part of the fight against this assault.on working people in whatever ways we can, although we are well aware, as history shows, that women's issues are easily cast aside in times of economic crisis. Susan O'Donnell delivered tnis speech at the May Day rally in Vancouver. 14 Kinesis June'83 by Joanna dan Hertog In May 1983 official government figures showed 609,000 women unemployed in Canada today. This is an increase of 23.2% over April 1982. Other figures on technological change show that approximately 7000 manufacturing jobs are being lost each month in Canada. In . the field where traditionally most women have been employed, the clerical and service sectors, it has been estimated in studies published in the last month by the federal government, that as many as 1 million jobs may be lost due to technological change by 1990. On top of that,.women's general position in the labour force has not been significantly improved upon during the last ten years. Although the participation rate of women in the labour force has soared (from around 35% in the late sixties, to over 50% now), the average income, and j ob levels have not yet matched the aim of anything like \"equal pay\". The average income of a Canadian women in 1981 was about $8,100 compared to the average of $16,659 for men. If only full time work is compared, women averaged $12,069 compared to $20,719 for men. Women still earn 58% as much as men, although the participation rate for women-in the labour force is steadily increasing. At present, six out of ten of the new \"entrants\" to the labour market are women. The government expects this to increase in the next decade to seven out of ten. Government policy, however, seems to take no account of any of these trends. These figures indicate that government and college programs continue to train women into primarily secretarial or clerical work. Apparently, clerical work remains the most common work for women who graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, after teaching. And, in teaching, women are losing ground to increasing numbers of men. Between 1975 and 1980 statistics indicate that 66.7% of new teaching jobs went to But of course it is primarily the clerical sector which is going to .experience the greatest amount of job loss, and dislocation in the coming years. These statistics only give us a rough idea of the scale of the changes in work which we are all at the brink of experiencing. They are already affecting, with disastrous consequences, the lives of hundreds of women in this province. The changes being ushered in under the banner of \"exciting\" high tech are very troubling given the implications they have for job mobility, security, quality of work life, educational levels required, rural viability, overall extended levels of unemployment, wage level gaps, stress, health and safety concerns... to mention just a few. And, in all these cases, women are most frequently the ones in the jobs which are experiencing the first onslaught of the new micro-chip technology. We are at a stage now in Canada where the issue of technological change is just beginning to hit the public consciousness. There has been a spate of articles in business, left-wing and feminist magazines about the possible future effects some of this technology will have on our work and our lives. But the tone of the public debate is frighteningly naive. Few people seem to be aware of the scale of the dislocation already taking place right now throughout Canada, nor of the immense reorganization of world economies that is paralleling the speed of local technological changes. Unfortunately, both our provincial and federal governments have no answers on how the thousands of individuals who will be made redundant will be reintegrated into the economy. The government is not aware of the immensity of the human problems that this uncontrolled system of allowing corporations free rein in the introduction of technological change, is creating. To illustrate on small scale the massive technological changes affecting some women in our province today, let's look at what the women at B.C. Tel are currently facing. The technology being introduced by B.C. Tel is not unique. It basically consists of computerized inventory, billing, record keeping and mailing functions; the centralization of all possible services and \"Slogans of the 'liberating' aspects of the new microchip technology are sad mistruths, when the reality has been unemployment, increase in stress and illness, and a grim future for women.\" B.C. Tel and technological change New Threats for Working Women offices to as few locations as possible, and the introduction of as much microelectronic switching machinery as possible which reduces the need for labour. The same kinds of computerized technology is also being introduced right now throughout B.C. by all the banks, credit unions, supermarket chains, department stores, real estate companies, B.C. Hydro, government departments, warehousing and transport companies, and, on a smaller scale, by many of the retail outlets in all communities. B.C. Tel has been engaged in wholesale technological change for about five years. At first, the effects on the 11,000 workers at B.C. Tel was an increase in jobs, in educational opportunities, in some mobility, and in the interest-level of the work. At first the effects on B.C. Tel workers was an increase in jobs, in educational opportunities, in some mobility and in interest level of the work. But that period is over. For the approximately 5000 clerical workers and traffic operators (95% women) who began to think about working with the computer terminals or with computerized operating consoles, the prospect was not very negative. But that period is over. In the last two years all the lasting effects of the new technology have begun to take hold. Operator offices are being closed down throughout the province. In 1979 the first operator office in Penticton was completely eliminated. That meant that approximately 60 women lost their work. While the contract stipulates that workers at B.C. Tel cannot be laid off due to technological change, employees have to be able and willing to \"relocate\" to another available job elsewhere in the company. Very few of the Penticton operators could move, of course; most have families, and cannot move their husbands and children to another city, particularly given that operator wages are not high enough for most families to risk such a major dislocation. Since the Penticton office closure, the whole Vernon operator office has been closed (45 operators). In the last months, the Nelson operator office was closed on March 1 (28 operators), and Dawson Creek will lose their operator office on August 1 (80 operators). Next year Terrace and Williams Lake will also lose their operator offices. The company knows that by requiring employees to relocate as few as 30% and as many as 60% may \"quit\", thereby absolving the company of any additional responsibilities ! to these employees. The computer and electronic switching systems are the technologies behind the elimination of local telephone operator offices. In the last two years B.C. Tel has centralized all \"directory assistance\" calls to just three lower mainland offices. Now, when you call \"113\" you will be connected with one of the (fewer) directory assistance operators in Vancouver, New Westminster, or North Vancouver. This holds even if you are, for example, a Dawson Creek resident and want to know the new number of the Dawson Creek medical clinic. Your call is transmitted through Vancouver. The second stage of the computerization is now producing massive redundancies, job loss and dislocation of operators. This computerization allows all long distance calls from anywhere in the province which require operator assistance to be handled by centralized computer operator \"positions\" . The technology allows more calls to be handled per minute, operator offices to be reduced ultimately to just one location, monitoring of operator performance to be done by computer (average seconds per call are calculated for every computerized operator office), and staffing levels to be very carefully matched per hour of anticipated 'call volume'. What has all this meant for the operator? For any operator who lives anywhere in the North, the Interior, the Island...in any of the communities where B.C. Tel has operations, there are little or no job prospects for the future. To keep her employment (plus her built up pension rights, vacation, seniority, medical and dental benefits, and so on), the operator must be prepared to leave her home area and relocate to another city. But at the same time even such a relocation holds no guarantee for secure job prospects. While massive technological change is taking place in transmission of long distance calls, similar technology is also wiping out hundreds of jobs in the clerical and (primarily male) plant sections of the company. The possibility of transferring to other work within the company is also disappearing. B.C. Tel is centralizing its billing information, customer records and assignment of new numbers through an integrated clerical computer system. Video display terminals in the thousands have been introduced in all the clerical offices in the province. initiated by the union about two years ago to permit entry into the better paying and more skilled \"craft\" JOBS. But entry into those jobs has been frozen. There are now as many redundancies in the craft areas of the company as elsewhere, also because of new technologies. The company has introduced multi-million dollar switching computers which are gradually eliminating the need for skilled electronic work. Phone marts, which will' increase in the next years as customers are wooed into owning their own phones, will eliminate hundreds of installers and repair persons. These jobs have been life- Telephone operators at the new computerized operator station. The push is not only to make work more efficient, but to centralize it, to reduce labour, and to simplify the tasks. The terrifying result is that thousands of jobs are lost without any possibility that others are being created elsewhere. Women are complaining everywhere of speedup, of problems with vision from working on VDT's, of increased monitoring, and of much.greater boredom in their work. There will no doubt be another wave of massive job displacement attempted by the company in the near future, this time in its clerical section. Once again the choice will be to relocate or to \"quit\". The push is not only to make work more efficient, but to centralize it, to reduce labour, and to simplify the tasks. The terrifying result is that thousands of jobs are lost without any possibility that others are being created elsewhere in the company. Local communities are losing the very few union and relatively better paying jobs open to women and the skill gap and wage gap is increasing between those who operate the machines and those who manage. The health and safety conditions are once again being reduced to 'factory' kinds of problems: lighting, piecework oriented control of productivity, stress, tendinitis and fatigue. The reduction in the required skill levels is resulting in a major attempt by the company to re-classify downward many clerical wage groupings. Mobility within job groupings has been slashed to zero. There has been an overall company hiring and job posting freeze for over a year. About 1200 telephone operators and clerical workers had taken a qualifying course time careers for most of the people in them. They required rigorous electronic . training and a four year apprenticeship. All that is disappearing. The latest step in the elimination of skilled work is the change to \"throw away phones\". The first of these non-repairable phones are just hitting the market. They will not be cheaper for the customer, but will eliminate the need for millions of hours of service work and do away with more employee's. The technological change that B.C. Tel is introducing in the province is affecting the well-being of local communities, the total aggregate number of jobs available in the province, and in particular the job situation for women. More serious still is the fact that in no industrial service or retail sector is there any counter trend. In every instance the technology that is being introduced is being used to accomplish exactly the same four goals: 1. To reduce the overall number of jobs. 2. To centralize the operations.to a few major centres. 3. To simplify the tasks, which in turn means that wages are lower, training time is less, educational requirements are reduced . 4. To increase the \"match\" of staffing hours to work volume, which in turn increases pressures for more part-time, shift, and temporary or on-call work. June '83 Kinesis 1! For women the task ahead has become overwhelming. As clerical work is deskilled, the fight for equal pay for work of equal value will only.become more difficult. Health and safety problems have reached a new order of magnitude with the massive introduction of VDT's into every possible area of women's work. Job mobility will plummet with the new technology, which is confirming an existing oppressive division of work between \"knowledge\" worker and \"unskilled'-' worker, at an awesome rate. As already noted, wage rates, long term job security, security of hours of work; all is already on a significant downward slope. And nowhere are there governments which seem yet to be prepared to put any controls on this boundless, and inhuman introduction of new technology. Unions, such as the Telecommunications Workers Union, (TWU), are fighting hard to stop layoffs, to stop the dislocations, to stop the downward reclassification of work, but any short term successes will mean little if governments are not able to take some overall control over the process. TWU members have, by sheer daring and perseverance, won several important \"holding actions\" against the indiscriminate technological change the company wants to introduce. An attempt to lay-off 2000 employees at two different points last year, was stopped when the union succeeded in applications to the Courts. At this moment the union is involved in several major arbitrations challenging the right of the company to force the relocation of its employees. The increase in temporary workers and downward reclassification of pay is being resisted, so far successfully. But these are small fights compared to the .overall effects of the combined efforts of all the large corporations, retailers, and even governments to allow \"laissez- faire\" philosophy to govern the issue of technological change. We urgently, need to require major public involvement in looking at the social wounds we are creating with this blind, ungoverned restructuring of the mechanics of work. The effects of the way technological change is being introduced into our economy and our lives, is no less massive than the setting of national interest rates or the establishment of a provincial budget. The scale of the impact demands there be public scrutiny, and at the very minimum legislative accountability to prevent the undermining of the essentials of our present working environment. As done in other countries, such as Austria, Sweden, Norway and others in Europe, corporations should not be allowed to stand outside the law on the question of technological change. We must all demand that at the very minimum, no technological change should allow a decrease in the working conditions, wages, or opportunities of those presently employed. Instead of the Utopian statements made by so many of the introducers of technological change on the \"increase in leisure\" that all this technology is supposed to bring, we must seek specific legislative protections to ensure that any reduction in the provincial aggregate hours worked is across the board, and not vested simply on those at the bottom end of the scale... those, who still most often are women. Slogans of the \"liberating\" aspects of the new microchip technology are sad and cynical mistruths, when the reality until now in this province has been that the only tangible human effects have been unemployment, increase in stress and illness, and a rather grim future facing women in the 1980's and 1990's. Johanna dan Hertog is a staff member of the Telecommunication Workers Union and editor of Transmitter, the union 's newsletter-. 16 Kinesis June '83 by Marrianne van Loon Despite government and industry attempts to ice us that the economy is looking up, i still find themselves faced with layoffs and a severe shortage of jobs - even the low paying, high turnover jobs traditionally considered women's work are hard to find. Unemployment insurance(UIC) and welfare (Guaranteed Available Assistance for Need - GAIN) are the government's way of dealing with the provision of minimal support for unemployed and high unemployment statistics. Information on the province's welfare program and the Federal government unemployment insurance plan often appear to be a well kept secret. The following information will give you a basic understanding of the rules. If you are unemployed or underemployed, you may be eligible for UIC benefits. If not, you will be eligible for welfare. Unemployement insurance is insurance against unemployment. You must pay pi while working in order to collect benefits if you become unemployed. If you are not self-employed, a dependant of your employer, over 65, or on certain government grants you have probably paid into UIC, and therefore will be eligible to collect. You must have worked at least 15 hours per week, or earned at least 20 per cent (currently about $80 per week) of the maximum insurable earnings, to pay UI premiums. You may claim for UI in a number of ways. Your qualifying period is the 52 weeks preceeding the time at which you applied for UI. You may be eligible if: 1. You paid UI premiums for at least 20 weeks of your qualifying period, or; 2. During the year previous to your qualifying period you paid premiums for at least 14 weeks, and you worked at least 10 weeks during your qualifying period. If you don't qualify in either of the above ways, you probably can't receive UI benefits, but if you think you are eligible, you have nothing to lose by applying. It is the Unemployment Insurance Commission that will determine your eligibility. It is very important to. apply for UI as soon as you have become unemployed, because UI payments are not retroactive to the time you finished work. The amount of money you receive on UI depends on how much money you earned during your qualifying period: you will receive 60 per cent of your ayerage weekly wage to a maximum amount. If you didn't earn very much money while you worked, your benefits will be low. It is this regulation that most clearly discriminates against women \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 who are most often in low-paying jobs. Welfare will top up your UI benefits to a minimum subsistence level if those benefits are less than welfare allows. To begin your claim, you must go to your local UIC office. You can find out where it is by phoning any of their offices, listed in the blue pages at the back of your phone book under Government of Canada, Employment. At the UIC office you will probably have to wait through at least two line-ups. So, in addition to your employment records which your former employer must give you to provide proof of employment, take a good book. You must fill out several forms, hand them in, and after 6 to 12 weeks under the current backlog, you will be notified of your eligibility and you will begin to receive UIC report cards in the mail. These cards must be filled out immediately in order to receive your next cheque, and it is wise to be honest. You are allowed to earn up to 25 per cent of your weekly cheque before money is taken off your cheque. UIC will disentitle you if they believe you are at any time not \"capable and/or avail- /\u00C2\u00A70, WHAT ARE YgvS V \flAHS ft>K THE SUMrtEft\u00C2\u00A3) /OH. X'LL BE SIDING- My TfME) LiVlUG- OH CHICKEM FEED t*i\>f [desperately Searching raft.J VSoMETHtUg- USEFUL, To PO^ UIC and welfare: A beginner's guide able for work and unable to obtain suitable employment.\" This means you must be able to prove that you are actively looking for work. You are advised to keep an accurate job search record of everywhere you look. Include everything - people have been cut off from UI because they only looked for work at a few places that they thought there was some possibility of getting hired. You probably won't be called in for an interview with UIC, but if ybu are, you should show up unless you are deathly ill or have a job interview at the same time. Few other excuses are tolerated. For instance, being unable to find childcare is not an adequate reason for being unable to attend an interview, according to UIC. Take your child. You must be willing to accept any work for which you appear to be qualified and to accept it at the going rate. If you tell UIC that you will not work for less than a certain amount, they may classify you as unavailable for work and cut you off. Any of the numerous UIC and welfare action groups in town can offer further advice on the UIC interview. Keep an accurate record of all dealings you have with UIC, in case you need to .appeal at a later date. You have the right to appeal any decision UIC makes which you feel is unjustified. You must do this within 30 days. Appeals are by no means a waste of time - decisions are often reversed, and, furthermore, appeals help UIC workers document problem areas, which may aid policy changes in the future. An area women frequently have trouble with UI is the area of the regulations dealing with pregnancy. This is a sexist society, and UI regulations are no exception. There are special benefits for pregnant women. The rules are complicated. Pregnant women are only eligible for pregnancy benefits during the 8 weeks before the baby is due and the 6 weeks following birth, and if you do not fit the qualifications for the special pregnancy benefiSf^ you \"will r '\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 receive no benefits at all during this time, even though you may qualify for regular UI benefits. Sadly enough, this means that if you intend to become pregnant, and are either already on UIC or are likely to be on UIC in the near future, you should consult UIC policy further in order to plan things so you remain eligible during your pregnancy. Unlike UI, eligibility for welfare is not dependant on previous employment, but on how much money you have. If you are single, for instance, you are allowed to have up to $160 cash, up to $1,500 if you have dependants. You can own a car, and the house in which you live. To apply for welfare, phone the nearest Ministry of Human Resources(MHR) office listed in the blue pages under Government of BC and make an appointment with a financial assistance worker (FA worker); you should be given an appointment within two weeks. If you are really desperate, you should go in person to the office, and be polite, but insistent that someone help you. To hasten your request for assistance you should take the following papers to your appointment; a social insurance card and other identification; receipts for rent, fuel, water, hydro etc.; your medical card; your bank book and bank statement if you have them; records of any income you may have; and, anything which proves the value of your assets. You should have somebody go along with you to the appointment, and you should be familiar with what you are entitled to before you go in; local unemployment action centres can help you. Find out when and how you will receive your cheque from your FA worker at the appointment. Every month that you are ori welfare you will get a form mailed to you, which you must return to the Human Resources continued on p. 18 June'83 Kinesis 17\nT The coffee truck drivers are treated like\nboxes mounted on the back that barrel\n1 tive criticism from the customers* Some cus-\n4 tomers take it as a oersonal offense if\nthose are \"coffee trucks\", a canteen on\nt of paper taped to her truck and wrote\nbeverages including, of course, coffee.\nThose trucks are driven mostly by women. |+f ^\nThey service many of the workers in high \-\-+ r I 1f*1~| fVlf 1\ndensity industrial areas, construction TTT -\"- * U^-M^l\nsites, large bus and cab companies, dock H~r\nworkers and fish plants. Each truck has PIT\nits own route made up of 30 or 40 'calls' \u00E2\u0080\u0094^^^^\nstrung together in an order not only dicta- f^^H JHH^as^,\nted by logical succession but also by the Co HM By g*\nfixed coffee breaks and lunch times of each '\u00C2\u00AB38fBKJ&r* m H\ncompany. \u00C2\u00A3?IHI|B ^mT~P Mm\nDriving coffee trucks is not an easy job. \u00C2\u00B0^mg;*:^^C Mm\nDrivers must often rise by 5a.m. to be ^^^^mS/f'^^ml mm\nready to load the truck with food by 6:30 i lijWK^^^m \u00C2\u00A7 mm\na.m. Several stops may be needed to obtain 5 ~* '\"'m^uk^&m** ' 'US\nfresh supplies of sandwiches, hot foods, '% \"\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 T^^m\npastries, cigarettes, pop, juice and coffee. I JStKSS^mL,'- sfe JkI\nJill, who drove her first truck in 1969 \"^^>&**^m JBi\n(she's been around) believes coffee trucks \"\"'*v-fJliiEjll^ *WwSk\nfirst came into being during the depression gfjHJ| W^*~ i . mMm\nShe tells the story of a stranger who toldJBH mt/BS^^t\ Wgm\\nher he had started the coffee truck busi- $jj$m%^m\mw^^ 'Thrill\nness in Vancouver when he built the first\nj\u00E2\u0080\u0094j\u00E2\u0080\u0094! questioned by the - surprised customers, she\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0mmn Li-l replied that she wanted her friends to\nj\u00C2\u00A3V Q\u00E2\u0080\u0094j know what she had to deal with every day.\n\u00C2\u00A3\u00C2\u00BB\u00C2\u00A3\u00C2\u00BB j\u00E2\u0080\u0094J\u00E2\u0080\u00941 She reports that a recurrent complaint is\nC*llU66 rjr\ \"how come there's nothing good on this\nInn fucking truck?\" But when asked to make\nj_U positive suggestions as to what they\nmmm^m^mW$J * ULL- -1 Bome comPiajLn ttiat the food is \"junk\" but\nIlk' \"*.^& W90% won't stand for anything else. Any\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0P^J^KlP^^|||||creative changes are met with resistence.\n|Kri|\u00C2\u00ABjLi' JWhen Sandra tried to \"go healthy\" and pro-\nmm*HsBBflk\u00C2\u00A7mm\ ''^^pi^ed alfalfa sprouts,- she received cracks\nWmmrW^mgr JQlike, \"What's this, the gourmet coffee\nwKmr^ ^^&\u00C2\u00BB3 truck?\".\nmm\i *> y|i ^mw\nimLlt ^ '\ \u00E2\u0096\u00A0<\u00C2\u00BB r/^^ ^he women interviewed agreed that it\nmmm \" - *%& 1 MLM2Mmta^es a certain kind of person to do the\nwwri^fe*' J? -Hmrmi0^3' ^ey believe you have to basically\nvm Wm W^^mmr^^mm^^ke People, be somewhat of a sales minded\nmWm^*Wrw person\u00C2\u00BB be a little thick-skinned and be\nH| WSL mmwlm^m^F able to \"handle men\".(who comprise a good\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 JR ^H \u00C2\u00A3 Jm$ 90% of the clientele) .\nXWkmwiam BeinS able to \"handle\" the slew of comments,\nsion, many men worked at temporary work\nTt*|31|I requires constant personal and creative\n.\u00E2\u0080\u009E --^' \"^-j the first line of defense. According to\n~ ^m* ,~i\u00E2\u0080\u009E . * \\ Sandra, \"lectures on Women's Liberation\nIlllllji&J just don't.work.\" Sometimes even \"thick\n||il '^yH-j skin\" is worn a little thin by the con-\nr^. \J- \"j stant barrage of comments.\n^S^B! 1 l^he women are expected to accept sexual\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0rV^^ j harassment as part of the job. The attitude\n*-J:^\!| SKJr is, \"they just have to put up with it.\"\nPly ' |s-' Employers often pressure \"the girls\" to\nPR>Ji| x \", wear shorts in the summer; they make it\nsjgpplr- --jp| -*\u00C2\u00BB\u00C2\u00AB j~'clear that sex appeal equals more sales.\ns., % \"$^ \" '^^V8****^^ Young, inexperienced drivers often finish\n^iw^\"J|'' Jm\^\% k1 a ^a^ witn 20 phone numbers and four dates\n; ^K^Bk t' - f^for the.same evening!\n2\ f9 IB JBiThe women we interviewed, all seasoned\nand otten not having eaten tor days. | | | | I LU^Jc-^ ~\u00C2\u00A3i\u00C2\u00A32~\nThis man claims to have convinced some of , , - ;^sj^\u00C2\u00AB&fi ^\u00C2\u00BB-,\nthose employers to forward a.\"draw\" of\nenough money to pay for a meal which he\nwould deliver to the sites. His argument yjjJtblllPIPlHBi\nwas that a fed worker is a better worker; **'* * ' ^H\nsupposedly he made a lot of money. iPkjffhv^jffi\nAfter the Second World War, some business- ^^*^l|^s|\nmen(she names Joe, former owner* of Court- %\u00C2\u00ABvV\u00C2\u00BB- 1 \\nesy Caterers as a prominent pioneer) de- ! *?P^ * *L V- \\"~' If\nveloped the coffee truck business into a Jfc tJ^L*^-*\" S\nbigger industry, forming companies and l\u00C2\u00A7x.'' * ^^Jm VJMEt\nhiring drivers. The first major customers. fgif- 'THpP . iif|p\nwere the dock workers. *\"$^\u00C2\u00BB -W^' TM\nSince the late '60's, industry's trend ** ^%-MMtt\u00C2\u00AB * H\n^n^f^T 1^ drivers, refuse to play into that aspect.\nthe considerable numbers of workers laid- [\}nl ^ Kinesis inte\noff, have resulted in a declining pool of Uvolved ln tke eoffe6\ncustomers, especially in Vancouver. The Hsandra MacDonald, Joa\nwomen have to work harder for less money, lUw W\u00C2\u00A7\u00C2\u00A7. d\u00E2\u0084\u00A2 \"3VUU\n, . . i -ii i . \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 ^ _ 1' \-and Jill Brunsdale.\nrviewed four women in-\ to tell the customers they're married\ntruck business\". \ (whether married or not) to avoid a lot of\nn Day , Louise Manelia, J come-ons;.\n4 Despite the hard work and the other diffi-\n1 cultles, the women Interviewed stated that\nJoan and Louise, owners of Manelias, fear\nthat a trend toward de-centralization of they pay their dues t\nindustry(ie. a move to 'cottage'\u00E2\u0080\u00A2industry) contracts or benefits\ncould eventually make them obsolete. at this time is acce\u00C2\u00A3\nindustries who refuse\nThe customers themselves are feeling the union coffee trucks,\npinch, packing their own lunches and tight- The economic survival\nening up on spending. The drivers cannot drivers hinges on' sp]\nconstantly pass on their inflated costs to They are often forcec\nthe customer so their profits diminish. neck speeds> taking \\nAccording to Jill, the business had its constantly on the loc\nheyday in the early *70's, when she police. Not crossing\nfigures she was making the equivalent of gjgg freight train cc\n$13-14.00 per hour. At that time all coffee $20_80 month of bus\u00C2\u00B1r\ntrucks were unionized under Teamsters' local calls if vour service\n351. y\nThe companies got around the unions by The work is highly cc\n\"leasing\" the trucks to individual drivers estimates there are s\n, . ? , . ii.j , \u00E2\u0080\u009E ii .. ._ drivers in the Lower\nand by helping independents set up in\n, : about seven companies\nsuburban areas. , ,\nc\".=ao. fco whom those co.mpam\nThe last union shop was Courtesy Caterers. the trucks on a lp.ase\nThe workers (a small handful of women who son/\"no base\" agreeme\nheld down the picket on their own under \"independents\", peop]\ndangerous and trying circumstances) struck trucks and buy food f\nfor three weeks in 1980 until the owner companies.\nsettled by selling out his business and ^ market | floQded\nretiring. There is some bitterness competition for the p\naround the fact that some union companies \u00C2\u00A7 , H - ., ,\n, ,^ _ . \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 - , , . needed to build up ro\nbought from non-union coffee trucks during v\u00C2\u00B1e for each other's\nthe strike, which seems to have been \"the a-Q available new cal\nstraw that broke the union's back\". T, \u00C2\u00A7 .\n, \u00E2\u0080\u009E However, most drivers\nback- is fair play and all\nAll drivers can still be in the union, if eye for business to s\nbecause of the relative independence of\nut as there are no the and fche feel\u00C2\u00B1 of autonomy.\n, the only advantage\nsability to union There is not the constant contact with\nto deal with non- other workers encountered in an office and\nthere are no bosses breathing down their\nof coffee truck necks all day long,\nit second timing. Louise, one of the owners of Manelia's\nto drive at break- says she iOVes the challenge, the element\ninorthodox shortcuts, Qf gambling. You see the results immediate-\nk out for traffic ly: a good day is indicated by the money\nthe tracks before taken in.\nuld mean the loss of\ness, and you can lose There is an art to the job which a\nis unreliable. driver can pride herself in. Canvassing\nand building up routes is a challenge in\nmpetitive. Jill itself. Juggling the times for maximum\npproximately 75 - 100 efficiency, dealing creatively with custom-\nMainland. There are ers> improving the quality and variety of\nwith fleets of drivers the stock, becoming proficient at bookkeep-\nes supply food and \u00C2\u00B1ng and cutting costs are tasks which call\nor straight commis- for a variety of skills.\ne^ho^wn^their6 Driving coffee trucks is an occupation at\nwhich a woman need not have a formal\nrom the catering \u00E2\u0080\u009E, *.. . , . ~ \u00C2\u00B1.\neducation to achieve some measure of financial and professional success. The\n. There is fierce drivers make more money than many women\notential new calls working in traditional jobs. Although\nutes. Some drivers their incomes fluctuate according to\nbusiness or snap up their expenses, economic trends and the\nIs in another's area. quality of the route, the women have\nfeel that competition some degree of control over their income,\nhave to have a shrewd Perhaps some new construction sites will\nurvive. open, you just never know. 18 Kinesis June '83 Rural Women: the feminization of poverty by Jane Evans We all know the \"Rural Woman\", don't we? She lives in a small but cozy house, has a bit of land on which she grows massive vegetables, trees laden with fruit, and chickens which lay eggs all year round. She is poor, but it is a truth universally acknowledged that it is easier to be poor with dignity in the country than in the city. Well, yes, but this woman is part of an alarming trend which has been called the \"feminization of poverty\". She does not own her cozy house, her rent has just been raised 65%, her shelter coverage from Welfare (because she has five children) is woefully inadequate, and her hens have stopped laying. First of all, let's define what we mean by a \"rural woman.\" She lives in a community dependent on agriculture, forestry, fishing or sometimes mining or tourism. In spite of technological advances, most of these industries stress physical strength and as long as these are perceived as male qualities, such communities will remain strongly male dominated. This means that traditionally male occupations and the training for these occupations will be closed to her. She probably,suffers from isolation and lack of mental stimulation but,she values immeasurably the intangibles, for herself and her children, of country life. In spite of the tremendous rise in food prices, the farm operator has not benefited; these price increases have taken place beyond the farm gate. The difficulties of obtaining credit mean that few | A beginner's guide continued fromP within a specified time period in order to get your next cheque on time. As with UIC, it is always wise to keep a good record of all dealings you have with welfare, and you have the right to appeal any decision which is unfair. Welfare will class you either as employable or unemployable. If you come off UIC to Welfare you will be employable due to UIC regulations. If you are employable, you are supposed to be looking for work. This means if you are single you must renew every month. Welfare may have money to help you find a job. Bus fare money for out of town travel for job interviews, and money for work clothes are some of the things which you may be able to receive. Welfare payments vary with your family status and employability. For instance, if you are single, under 60 years old and employable you will receive a maximum of $375 per month. With 3 people, a family will receive up to $770 per month. The monthly cheque for people classified as unemployable is slightly higher. Money that you receive from other sources while on welfare may or may not affect the size of your cheque, depending on its nature. A general rule is that single people '\u00C4\u00A2 can earn $50 per month over welfare rates and families $100. Child support is included in this and anything over $100 will be deducted. For instance, UI cheques are deducted entirely. If you are on welfare, you are entitled to have your medical needs covered. If you are turned down by your FA worker, you should appeal. Welfare offers daycare subsidies in. some circumstances. You can inquire at your MHR office to see if you meet eligibility requirements. Welfare also has funds for certain educational and training programs - basic upgrading, training for a trade that would take, two years or less, and some two year non-academic university programs.. Again, local unemployment action.centres can help you before you see your FA worker. There are many groups and organizations which offer help with UIC and welfare. To find the one nearest to you, check with your women's centre, union, local community centre, constituency office, community legal services office or Canada employment centre. Remember, you are not the only person who is unemployed, and there are many people who can help you. Any time you deal with UIC or MHR remember, 1. Know as much as possible about whatever you apply for. 2. Ask advice if you have questions. 3. Keep your own records of all dealings you have with the office. - 4. You can always appeal if you disagree with any decision that affects you. women run farms for themselves; in 1979, only 15.6% of self-employed farmers were women and only 3% of those employed anyone The Farm Credit office states that their policy is no discrimination on the grounds of sex in the granting of loans but \"few women apply\". Implicit in the attitude of the local office is that women do not want the responsibility of a farm with its uncertainties and hard work. According to Labour Canada however, 54.9% of farm work is done by unpaid women. This tremendous contributions to the G.N.P. is never acknowledged. If the farmer can afford to pay his wife, he cannot claim this on his Income Tax*. The number of women who are the primary operator and employ their husbands is so insignificant as not to appear in the statistics. Also, of course, she cannot be plugged into the system of UIC or C/QPP and she is not covered by Worker's Compensation for the Maternity Protections Act. Almost the only paid, non-agricultural work available to her will be extensions of domestic work in service jobs. *(lf they are living common-law, he can do so; she can also claim the child allowance, as Income Tax does not recognize these relationships.) B.C. has, at 80%, twice the national average of employed poor women in service jobs due to the tourist industry. These jobs, particularly in rural areas, are so low paying that women in them may receive as much as 50% of their income from government transfer payments. The Social Credit government in B.C. has instituted some of the most punitive Welfare regulations in Canada. A single parent (and of course 98% of our single parents are women) is deemed unemployable as long as she has a baby under six months or two children under twelve. .xs soon as the baby reaches six months or the elder child reaches twelve, the parent is cut.off the Welfare rolls and told to get a job. She must then re-apply every month for benefits. Not only are there almost no jobs in rural areas, she will have to travel some distance to the Welfare office and cutbacks in case workers mean a wait of some hours. If she can find a job, there will be no day care for her baby. The Federal rural poverty level has been set at $9,825; this is considered too low for B.C. as our inflation rate is, at 14%, higher than the national average. Statistics for 1979 showed that over 10% of B.C.'i population was poor, and fiscal trends for the last three years would suggest that this figure is much too low at this time. One in six of the women in the general population is poor; in rural areas this would be much higher. If this figure is combined with that of native people (three in four of whom are poor) a horrifying picture emerges.% We see, then, that to be a woman in a rural area, whether white or native, and particularly a woman who heads a family, is almost automatically to be poor. She will probably be rural from choice, but she will suffer from lack of information about her legal position, lack of contact with the mainstream of feminism, lack of access to abortion and most of all, lack of awareness about political realities. Local women's organizations need money and contact with resource people to maintain the work which has already been done. The experience and energy of rural women is a resource the Women's Movement cannot afford to ignore. June '83 Kinesis ARTS by Marilyn Burnett Laura Sky's latest work, Good Monday Morning, the second of a four part series about women and their lives, exemplifies her efforts to combine the graphically stunning images that film allows with an interviewing technique that encourages the film's 'stars' to honestly express their concerns. As with her other films, the performers are ordinary people who tell their stories, provide their anaylsis and raise questions about their current conditions of work and living. In this case the film centres on women workers across Canada who are confronting the intolerable working conditions that the new microtechnology rapidly being introduced into their workplace creates. A veteran of socially responsible film making, Sky has a number of films behind her that expands over a ten year period including a seven year stint with the National Film Board as the Ontario director of the now defunct 'challenge for change' program. A politically committed woman, Sky notes that her method and approach to making documentary films is based on the notion that \"people have their own systems of knowledge. We always use the same crew because it is important to us that the people we are working with feel a commitment to the people in the film. And we never use voice overs in a film...to have an expert come down ott high to explain the problem. \"It is important that people watching the film develop a relationship with the people who are in the film. In order to be able to achieve that we work at gaining the trust of the audience and of the individuals in the film,\" Sky says. Perhaps the most striking elements of Sky/s work is her uncanny ability to gain that trust. In Good Monday Morning, more than one character expresses sentiments that are clearly emotional centre points to their lives. Debra, an office worker in Vancouver, who for seven hours a day removes staples from bundles of papers and then re-staples them, is one such character. \"You think that you are calm, cool and collected and the next thing you know you are dwelling on something that happened at work - you are dwelling on how frustrated and how useless you feel. That is what it is - the feeling of uselessness...and the next thing you know, you explode at the drop of a hat. At anything. You are like a time bomb. \"It has finally taken its toll on me and it is taking its toll on something that is Good Monday Morning: a film for organizers very precious to me - my relationship with Pat and I am not going to stand for it any more. They have manipulated, they have pushed around; they have intimidated. No morel\" According to Sky the process behind the actual filming of the product is key! \"We spend a great deal of time with the people who are going to be in the film; so, when it comes time to film they feel comfortable with us and the interviews are more like conversations.\" In addition to/talking with the characters beforehand, Sky's films are not released Although it is painful to experience the tedium created by the work women do in this film, it is not without hope The frustrations and dreams of thousands of women who work with VDTs form the basis of this film. until they have survived several test screenings and the characters within the movie feel comfortable with it. Often defined as a feminist film company, Sky, herself a feminist, shys away from the label for; her films. \"I hate it when women's films are segregated. Segregation limits what we have to offer for political change and runs the risk of creating another ghetto. \"The enormous strength of feminism has sponsored the development of a popular movement that has affected almost everyone - no matter what their class. \"Feminism is infused in every aspect of the film. But we don't make films for feminists. We are making them for women and men - contributing them to the general dialogue and debate between women and men,\" says Sky. She believes it would be a political error to make \"feminist films .for only women. I feel a feminist analysis is infused in the films, no matter what the film, because that's who we are.\" SkyWorks, consisting of three women part<- ners and two other employees who are also women, reflects Sky's committment to feminism as more than simply a theory but rather as a means of operating. Although Sky says she would hate to be accused of discrimination (against men) she also notes that \"it is no accident\" that women provide the core of SkyWorks. Stressing that the work group should not be a therapy group at the same time, Sky does say though, that the women working at SkyWorks have \"chosen the obligation to support one another both in our personal and professional lives; so, there isn't that split between the two. \"We expect many things from ourselves in terms of professional and job competency. And one of the things we expect, because of the women that we are, is caring for one another...\" Her expectation of caring clearly underscores her films. It is just\" this sense of caring that shines throughout Good Monday Morning and makes the film a tool for organizing and educational work. Although it is painful to experience the tedium created by the work that the women portrayed in Good Monday Morning do, the film is not without hope. Throughout, the characters turn to their union for support and help to change their working lives and to give them a new found strength. '\u00C4\u00A2In the last scene Karen, an office worker, and a member of the Newfoundland Association of Provincial Employees, stresses that while she and the other women working in that office were out on strike for five months \"you would never be alone. Even if you were standing in front of a car all by yourself, you were never alone. You always had all the girls backing you.\" As images of the women in Good Monday Morning appear on the screen the movie's theme song runs through providing the only editorial comment within the film. Ending on a note of strength, the husky voice of, Toronto singer-songwriter Donna Greene fills out the end of the movie: I morn, our anger found it's voice, And the sound is the sound we share, To take us where we are strong. We belong; Awakening to a new world, My sisters and I, We'll make a Good Monday Morning now. Together we will fly. \" 20 Kinesis June'83 ARTS Women and Words: a conference update by Sally Ireland The cross-Canada conference - Women and Words/les Femmes et les Mots - to be held at U.B.C. from June 30 - July 3 is now in the final stages of planning. With over 45 workshops and panels, theatrical performances, and readings, the conference promises to be a stimulating way to spend the July 1 holiday weekend. On opening night, June 30, besides introductory comments from the conference coordinators, there will be a six speaker panel entitled How far have we come? detailing the changes that have taken place for women in the literary industry during, the past decade and which will highlight the crucial issues to be addressed by women in the future. The six panelists including Libby Oughton, Makeda Silvera, Sharon Pollock, Beth Cuthand, and two others yet to be confirmed, represent a broad spectrum of interests, geographical areas and ethnic backgrounds. Afterwards there will be a wine and cheese reception and possibly a short humorous theatre piece on the vicissitudes of women involved with the literary community in Canada. Most of,the workshops and panel discussions will take place on July 1 and 2. Each will be an hour and a half long, and for every timeslot there will be six or seven to choose from. Many panels will be bilingual, and in those cases, Women and Words will be providing translation: simultaneous translation for the larger panels and animators for the smaller ones. There will be something for^everyone. Judith Merril will give a workshop on Science Fiction and Visionary Literature; Margaret Atwood and Phyllis Wibb will speak on the Muse Figure. There will be a panel on How Class Affects Women's Writing with Helen Potrebenko, Sara Diamond, Cy-Thea Sand and Carol Itter; a panel on Lesbian Writing with Nicole Brossard, Mary Meigs, Befsy Warland and Beth Brandt. Denise Boucher, Lorraine Weir and Pat Leslie will speak on Censorship and Self-Censorship. Shirley Neuman of Long- spoon Press and Marie-Madeleine Raoult of les Editions de la pleine lune will give a workshop entitled Publishing: The Process (Two Case Studies). There will be a panel on Ethnicity, Race and Women's Writing with Kristjana Gunnars, Mary di Michele, Lillian Allen, Myrna Kostash, Suniti Namjoshi and Coreene Courchene. Marian Engel, Joan Haggerty and Libby Sche- ier will take part in Creativity and Child- bearing/Childrearing. Frances Duncan, Lois Pike, Jane Rule and Audrey Thomas will speak on the Relationship between writer and publisher. Sharon Nelson, Nanci Rossov and Rina Fraticelli will give a workshop entitled Getting Organized: Parallel/Alternative/ Internal Structures. Other panels and workshops include Mainstream and Alternative Publishing; How to Write.a Good Review; Native and Western Myth in Women's Writing; Writing from a Native Woman's Perspective; Alternatives to Traditional Theatre; How to Improve Promotion and Distribution of Women's Books and many more. For those who feel the above workshops and panels aren't enough, some rooms will be set aside for impromptu sessions. There will be a cafe and hopefully a bar where women can gather for informal networking; and on July 2, from 4 - 5:30p.m. there will be open readings and some theatrical performances. The evening events on July 1 and 2 will be open to the general public. On Friday, July 1, Yolande Villemaire, Mary Meigs, Erin Moure and Margaret Atwood will read at the Old Auditorium on Campus. Joy Koga- wa, Kristjana Gunnars, Louky-Bersianik and Dorothy Livesay will read at the IRC auditorium. On Saturday, July 2, Travis Lane, Phyllis Webb, Nicole Brossard and Maria Campbell will read at the Old Auditorium, while Audrey Thomas, Helen Weinzweig, Suniti Namjoshi and Claire Harris read at the IRC Auditorium. On both nights there will be theatrical performances including Les Vaches de Nuit by Jovette Marchessault; The Apple in the Eye by Margaret Hollingsworth; and Integrated Circuits by Robin Endres. These will take place in the Music Recital Hall.\"All evening events begin at 8 p.m. On the morning of July 3 there will be a breakfast followed by an hour long plenary session during which the organizers will be asking for feedback on the conference. Afterwards there will be a general meeting of the West Coast Women and Words Society to determine future directions. Registration fees for the conference are $40 for members of the West Coast Women and Words Society and $45 for non-members. Individual membership in WCW&W is $5. f|||f|\u00C2\u00A7p Single day attendance is $20 per day. For further information contact Women and Words at 684-2454. Erin Moure: A Rare kind of poet Those of us who know the Canadian train by Penny Goldsmith t system to some \"degree, either because we When I read Erin Moure's first book, Empire, couldn't afford a plane ticket back when York Street(Anansi, 1979), I was immediately the train was actually cheaper, or because at home in a way which I assumed was not we wanted to see the Rockies, know what it's particularly tied to the fact that I was like. After reading Moure's poems, I will familiar with the surroundings she describ- never again feel quite as isolated, alone ed. And when I read her latest book, Wanted and trapped after forty-eight hours of not Alive, I knew that I had been right. sleeping on a couch. Moure's facility with the written word allows her to shoulder themes that go well beyond the superficial. The scenario is WANTED ALIVE, by Erin Moure. House of Anansi Press, 1983. 111pp. $8.95. Canada; the players are friends, lovers, family and anyone else who wanders through her world; the poems are about almost anything that affects people. They are perceptive, clear, tight and universal as well as personal: ... now i can't tell the truth about events or anything./ there are too many \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 i orders banging doors./ too many priests, | governments, obeisant armies./ hold it, \ i want/ to sing to you. in spite of./ get out the chasm & wear it,.like a ripped coat,/ if they arrest you, i'll kill them Erin Moure is a member of. the Vancouver Industrial Writers' Union and works for VIA Rail, and inevitably her poetry encom- pases, to some extent, her job. Her writing of trains is not, however, romantic or nostalgic (her poems for the Supercontinent- al are a fine epitaph for the workers who ran it, the passengers who rode it, and the politicians who killed it). What do you expect from us/ We earn dividends for no one/ We watch Pythagoras &. prime ministers from the same train/ flat & curious/ We are a stubborn trade Moure is a rare kind of a poet in that she's funny. She laughs with the reader, not at the expense of anyone, even the train passengers. Her frustration at passenger complaints when the train is fourteen hours behind schedule is coupled with a deep awareness of Who those passengers are: Then there are the women beaten by their husbands/ who bear the barks/ as they bore their children,/ without disgrace,... One of the things that I find effective in Moure's work is that she is a story teller and a great many of her poems have \"plots\" that turn them into mini stories. This is not in any way to imply that her poetry is prose-like - Moure's sense of poetry is very finely honed. She is an expert in this field with years of experience which shows, in this her latest book, to great advantage. I recommend this book whether you are a poetry lover, a reader of stories, or someone who's just generally interested in what's going on in the world of Canadian literature. Erin Moure combines a working sensibility with skill and experience and has come up with a solid book of poetry. June '83 Kinesis by Elizabeth Shacklef ord \"Brown\" isn't a particularly fascinating surname. It seems to lack any trace of music, glitter and pizzazz. Fortunately, Angela Brown turns out to be about as drab as an Irish wake^ Vitality is her middle name. Angela Brown was recently seen on stage at the Women in Focus Art Gallery. Her two act performance piece, To A Modern Venus, took an historical look at the \"idealizations and idolizations\" of women. Music, dance and comedy were combined with slides and narrative in an evening that had plenty of surprise and laughter in it. The show opened with a series of slides depicting the political rallies of the suffragettes in the early part of this century. Just as the audience began to appreciate the remarkable strengths of these women, Angela entered as a flapper. After instructing the female portion of the audience on how to spot a good prospect by the way he dances, she went on to demonstrate a few of her own dance steps. Her \"aren't-I-wonderful\" smile was broken only by ear-piercing squeals of delight which marked the success of particularly difficult manoeuvres. By the end of the evening, the audience had been taken through eighty years of wildly changing images of womanhood. There was a coalmining woman from the second World War and a smiling Miss Canada, blinking pathetically in the mercilessly bright stagelights. A teenager of the 1950's sang: When people ask of me:/ What would you like to be/ Now that you're not a kid anymore?/ I know just what to say,/ I answer right away:/ There's just one thing I've been waiting for./ I wanta be Bobby's girl,/ I wanta be Bobby's girl/ That's the most important thing to As a final surprise, Angela came out impersonating a man who's been scandalized by the recent advances women have been allowed to make. The evening left me thinking about the various images women attempt to-live up to. Despite their incredible range, the images all possessed a certain fragility. After seeing the show, I interviewed Angela to learn more about her life as a woman and as an artist. Angela was raised in a small town. With no husband to \"protect her\", Angela's mother was frequently taken advantage of by men: at the garage, on the job, in the courts. Angela can't pin-point when she became aware that being a woman had its disadvantages. Growing up as she did, she feels she was always somewhat aware of the problems. Although her mother's hardships affected the way she saw the world, Angela was more 80 years of idealizations and idolizations influenced by her mother's strengths. Who can deny that a woman nicknamed \"Spitfire\" must have had her strengths? When Spitfire began to, encourage Angela to be creative, it must have been very encouraging indeed. At University, Angela began by studying sculpture and drawing, with theatre as a minor. She also studied art education, which seems to have influenced her later work. An important turning point occurred when she discovered modern dance at the age of nineteen. It eventually led her to apply to study dance at York University, where she was promptly turned down. Undaunted, she worked hard and applied again the following year. Although she had \"posture problems\" and was considered (at 23) to be too old to start the program, she was accepted because she had \"the spirit of a dancer\". During and immediately after her three years at York, Angela did children's theatre. She toured Quebec for a year with a Montreal-based theatre group and was also involved in \"Barefoot Dance Theatre\", which performed for children in the Toronto area. To A Modern Venus was not Angela's first solo performance and is very unlikely to be her last. At present, she is extensively researching the fascinating history of British Music Hall. Apparently, splendid one-woman acts were standard fare at some of the.taverns featuring Music Hall. At its height, Music Hall threatened the very existence of \"legitimate\" theatre because '\u00C3\u00B1\u00E2\u0080\u00A0 it was so much more exciting and intimate. The then renowned but now forgotten women performed by constantly changing character as they sang and danced. Angela gives her audiences a well-researched, historically accurate show. She admits that she tends to have an impulse to educate while she entertains. Her greatest challenge is to find the proper balance of entertainment and education. Presently, .she is considering reworking To A Modern Venus to make it an entertainment which would be followed by a discussion with the audience. It is in this \"separated\" format that she has some hopes of taking the show on the road. The idea of touring seems to be the natural outcome of many of Angela's ideas about art. Already at University she was ostracized by the dance 'snobs' for her frivolous, theatrical tendencies which probably amounted to nothing more than a desire for more intimate contact with her audience. She feels strongly that art should \"reach out to the real world\"; to young women about to make important decisions, to housewives, to the growing numbers of men who genuinely want to understand what feminists have to say about the world we live in. Of course, there are still some important obstacles to be overcome before Angela is able to go on tour. She is not funded in any way and this has several important implications for her work. For one thing, she has learned to do much of the \"behind- the-scenes\" work on her own. Angela researched, wrote, choreographed, directed and produced To A Modern Venus completely on her own. She did use some technical help, (Alison Stuart deserves special mention for her work as stage-manager) but these people had to be paid with the sculptures, prints and paintings Angela produces when not performing. Unfortunately, tours tend to have more concrete expenses, such as fuel costs and motel charges, and it would be impossible for Angela to meet these costs at the present time. Despite these problems, I am sure that Angela will continue to make a valuable contribution as a woman artist in the years to come. Unlike her images, there is nothing fragile about her. She is, after all, the daughter of Spitfire. 22 Kinesis JuneTO- ARTS Student art show: Emulating a 'dead beast' i^^as. 1* \u00E2\u0096\u00A0^^\"^pti^t^^m&k *!*C!c AIM by Susan Stewart As one who adheres to the \"art is dead\" school of thought (art as defined by patriarchal culture) it was with some misgiving I set out to review the current show of student work at Robson Media Centre and assess if there was any life left in the old carcass. Art students are well known as emulators of art trends past and present but. also as innovators of the first order. Shows of student work can sometimes surprise and thrill even the most jaded viewer. Unfortunately there isn't much to thrill at in this large show which represents students from four art institutions: Emily Carr College, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University. There were a few notable exceptions. My favorite piece in the show was an installation by Cherie Markiewicz entitled \"Suspended Animation: Acid Rain\", in which many small clay birds hang suspended in death over a desolate landscape. It is a moving environmental piece and solemn indictment against those agencies which are destroying our wildlife. It would be wonderful to see this work in a public space - a gallery situation doesn't seem to suit it. \"In Search of Art Through What Tou Said\" by Cathy Ord is mildly provocative. It is an installation in which two hanging sheets of- plastic are covered with phrases which appear to be comments by an audience about an unknown art work, the kind of comments found in any gallery comment book. In front of this are two school chairs and headphones with an audio track of the artist's voice in monologue, making comments about the comments. At this juncture the work becomes very ambiguous. The last line of the taped segment reads, \"...perhaps at the checkout of safeway art could serve better or not serve at all.\" It is thought provoking to ask questions about people's response to \"In Search of Ar art but we would be better served knowing why people respond the way we do. \"African Notes\" part I and II is a slide series/audio track by Laiwan Chung. This piece also asks a provocative question but in the end leaves the viewer hanging. The images are of the Zimbawe landscape, both wild and cultivated, superimposed by a sparsely descriptive text. The audio contains ambient sounds, cultural music (Afri can drumming) and commentary by the artist The piece is spiritually evocative and reads aud: like an experientially perceptive diary. Problems arise when the artist attempts a synthesis of the spiritual with a political understanding. More than once she asks, * \"Do we confront our dreams or is it just pocketbook theory?\" One is tempted to ask if she is confronting her art. There are several other pieces which could be loosely interpreted as having social or political content but the connections are so hazy it is impossible to know for sure. People are not asking questions. Most of the work in the show is preoccupied with meaningless formal problems that have been solved a thousand times over. There is no question that some of the artists are capable of hard work. If art school does anything it encourages clean presentation and well made objects, videos, images etc. Through What You Said\" by Cathy Ord. (detail) meet craft standards. The work is an oak chest with drawers which open to reveal tableaux representing different aspects of western life. These are interesting and fun but not made well enough. The craftmanship >is barely adequate. Coolly detached figurative pieces prevail. Emotional involvement with the work is kept at a minimum. A pervading element of the exhibition is the almost painful isolation of each work from the others and from the \"Divided We Fall\" by Jackie Mur-' ray is a well made installation of plexi panels, copper wire and living plants. There are four panels, each inscribed by \"The art of male-defined culture is a dead beast. It is very disheartening to see student artists buying the Hes which art schools perpetuate.\", Even so, there are very few works which exhibit craft integrity, that important ability of an art work to pass beyond its making into its meaning. Works that do reach this particular level of proficiency include Takado Asano's ceramic pieces \"House Spirit I and II\", Shirley GoForth's \"Dream I\", a well presented installation, and Theo Jones' immaculately rendered drawings \"Untitled\". Glen Mosely's \"Western Living\" is an example of a piece that is a good idea, contains a lot of humour, but in the end fails because it doesn't \u00C2\u00BB+*<*liilll\ a human figure which are then draped by the wires which clip at one end onto the leaf of the plant sitting in front of it. Somewhat like a battery starter. The meaning of this work is so absolutely obscure that it neutralizes its own artfulness. Acid Rain\" by Cherie Markiewicz \"House Spirit\" by Takado A Women were well represented in the show but a viewer would be hard put to distinguish the women's work from the men's. Art ideas which find their sources in the mainstream of male art prevail throughout. One doesn't have to look very far back in male art history to discern trends and styles which were well emulated by women artists in this show. Derivative work seems to be greatly encouraged by the powers that be. One does well to remember that art schools, for the most part, are male dominated hierarchies which determine their own definition of culture and art. There is also a major problem in the organization of shows such as this one where adjudication and award decisions are made by one individual, in this case a painter, Paterson Ewen from Ontario. Personal bias is bound to play a part in selection, but in fairness to the adjudicator I think the work we saw was an adequate representation of what was produced by the 1983 fourth year art student population. The time has come for women to break with the traditional, the norms, the models which represent institutionalized art and to create an art alternative. The art of male defined culture is a dead beast. It is very disheartening to see student artists buying the lies which art schools perpetrate about art. Life in art exists where artists attempt to buck the system that silences them, including that great myth-maker art school. To my great dissappointment the work by students in the VI Annual Helen Pitt Graduate Awards Exhibition had very little to say and apparently no complaints or challenge to offer the status quo. June'83 Kinesis 23 SPORTS Gymnast trains for '84 Olympics by Anne Ray vals In an event held at the UBC War Memorial Gym from May 12 - 15, 20-year-old Lori Fung of Vancouver won the title of Grand National Senior Master of Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics for Canada, for the second consecutive year. Modern Rhythmic Gymnastics goes back to - Ancient Greek and Early Chinese dances. In modern times, a class in rhythmic gymnastics began in Berlin in 1929. Eastern-bloc countries have shown most of the enthusiasm needed to sponsor such an event up to the recent past, but gradually western countries, including Canada, are becoming more involved It is a dance type of movement, a mixture of ballet and gymnastics, set to music. No poles or bars are used as in artistic gymnastics. The exercise takes place on a 40'x40' mat on the floor and features dexterity of hands combined with grace and agility of the rest of the body. Five pieces of equipment are used in this sport: the hoop, ball, skipping rope, Indian clubs and ribbons. They are all the colours of the rainbow, with the exception of gold, silver or bronze (the medal colours). In the National Championship Competition at UBC, Lori took first place in all categories. She has a small, lithe body (94 lbs.) which leaps and twists and flies over the floor. Her performance awes you with ceaseless movement and energy in motion: it is beautiful to the untrained eye and almost flawless to the eyes of the judges. & Winning the title of Grand National Senior \u00C2\u00A7 Master in May of this year is especially 3 important because this is the pre-Olympic j> year. The 1984 Olympics to be held in Los \u00C2\u00A3 Angeles will include Rhythmic Sportive | Gymnastics for the first time, and Lori \u00E2\u0096\u00A0\u00C2\u00A3 wants a try at~it. The excitement of competition is a many faceted thing, one aspect of which is extensive travelling. Lori has competed in major centres across Canada, as Well as in the U.S. Farther afield, she has joined in competitions in Tel Aviv, Rio-de Janeiro, Prague, Zurich, Munich, Sofia (Bulgaria), Corbeille (France), Tokyo, Auckland, and Monaco. But Lori's life is not all excitement. A lot of it is taken up with just plain hard work. She 7 completed Grade 12 by correspondence. Many hours are spent practising each day, usually at BCIT when she is in Vancouver, but often wherever she can find an empty gym. Her hard work has paid off in medals and applause, but amateur sports in Canada is not a way to get rich. Pocket money is | sparse, and parents are usually out of it. The Province of British Columbia awarded a grant of $14,765 in 1983. This money has to be spread throughout eight regions in the province, of which the Lower Mainland is only one. Up until this year, the Ministry involved paid half of an economy fare for travel to other countries. This year they did not, and Lori's father said he took on UIC/Welfare Guide continued from p. 16 this is still our function during a time of unemployment. /;\"'.* -^ Women fight in very different ways from men and Susan cited the aboriginal women's sit-in at the Department of Indian Affairs aS an example. These Indian women, through this action, started organizing in ways they had never done before. At different points in their organizing they found themselves travelling from Britain to Holland to Mexico discovering the existence of a world-wide aboriginal movement and overall, discovering ways to re-integrate language and medicines into their culture; elements that had previously been lost to them. In Mexico, for instance, they discovered old medicine men who taught them cures for their own diseases. This example shows us that we have to take on economic issues and get a handle on how economic control is affecting us so that we utilize what we all know as feminists. Susan finalized her discussion by comparing the state to a bad husband. The state has a real interest in us not understanding our role in the home; as long as we have to go back and forth, between the home and workplace it is still cheaper for the state to have the nuclear family than to provide the dole. the total cost of a trip to Bulgaria in early May. In addition, coaching and costumes are expensive. Some countries (notably Japan) who host events pay for the trips; many others do not. Having achieved five Gold Medals in Vancouver, Lori is now off to Japan to compete in four cities for the Brother Cup. From there she hopes to go to Korea for a training period until July 1. In August she will attend a World Championship Selection Meet in Toronto, followed by the World Championships in France in November. This competition decides whether Lori goes to the Olympics next year. The experts seem to feel her chances are good to excellent. She has a superb combination of skill, grace, agility, control and speed. She also has the energy and determination for that extra push# Wheel chair athletes Three B.C. women wheelchair athletes competed in the first ever women's wheelchair basketball championships held in Angers, France on May 11th. Donna Daisley-Harrison, four-time Pan-American gold medalist swimmer from Burnaby, Margaret Prevost-Wedge, B.C. track gold medalist from Alert Bay, and newcomer Christi Lawrence of Kelowna, were valuable contributors to the Canadian team which placed a surprise third, behind the Netherlands and the United States. The women won four games and lost one, to the United States. In the battle with Sweden for the bronze, they came from 10 points behind to win by two. \"We played some pretty nerve-wrecking games,\" says Donna. \"We're a team that starts off slow, and it's always in the second half that we put the pressure on.\" The team's success in France came as the culmination of months of discipline. The women train on their own most of the year, and only get to practise together at training camps where, as Donna says, \"They make us do a lot of hard work, about double the amount we're expecting. They're really heavy-duty training sessions.\" A core of about six women on the team have been training together since last year, but several of the team members, including Donna and Christie, only joined a few months ago. Neither competes regularly on a team. Added to this relative inexperience was the fact that two of the starters were absent, one due to injury, and one because of pregnancy. The team used a great deal of determination to overcome the international pressure. Hopes are high for the future. They want to build a hard core group of women who can work together regularly. \"In some ways it's best to start at the bottom,\" notes Donna. \"We're learning, experiencing and gaining in each international game. Losing one game placed us bronze, but look outI\" Golfer uses disguise A B.C. woman disguised herself as a man in a recent golf tournament in her hometown because of the dearth of tournament opportunities for women there. Wendy McGregor, from the town of Hope, managed to play five holes of the 16th Annual Coquihalla Open at the Hope Golf and Country Club before on< of the members of her foursome figured out she wasn't a man and complained. Tournament marshalls removed her from the course. Wendy says she wasn't trying to make a point by challenging the men. She placed fourth in a women's tournament in Hope last year, but wants to see more competition. She had even gone to the trouble of establishing a men's handicap of 23 at the club prior to the tournament. She also says she is still determined to compete in as many tournaments as possible, and that she/he may turn up again. Sports events at the B.C. Regional Lesbian Conference (May 20-23 in Vancouver) were well attended and provided an opportunity for women to connect with each other outside the workshop format. Participants enjoyed a noncompetitive atmosphere on the playing fields. photo by Claudia MacDonald 24 Kinesis June'83 LETTERS Employees, owners meet to discuss - working conditions Kinesis: Four ex-employees of Sister's Restaurant met on April 5, 1983 to discuss grievances that ex-employees had about their working conditions. Ex-employees Baylah Greenspoon, Linda Frankie, Nancy Rosenberg, Sarah White; owners Marion Lay and Cedar Mitchell and mediator Frances Wasserlein were present. The grievances aired included policies based on assumed dishonesty of workers, such as requiring waiters to make up cash shortages, pay for dine and dash, and credit card errors; refusal to pay the minimum four hours for shifts of less than four hours, as required by the Employment Standards Act; no overtime pay; unpaid staff meetings; waiters not paid for time spent doing cash; and heavy workloads where each worker is requied to do two or three separate jobs (eg. cook and wash dishes). Other grievances presented to the owners included workers being pressured by management personnel to work in ways that were objectional. A good example of this is to push alcohol. We also grieved workers being required to work unscheduled shifts. In general workers felt a lack of respect and trust as seen in false accusation of theft, being told to work faster, much like a sweat-shop atmosphere, and two workers being laid off for a week with one day's notice. The grievances were aired but no discussion took place at that time. When the ex-employees were finished Marion responded for the owners. Cedar endorsed the following, but declined to make any other comment throughout the meeting. Some discussion took place around proposals for improved working conditions. The following are some of the proposals management undertook to implement: regular, paid staff meetings; paid 4 hour minimum; management will take over service when any employee experiences harassment; job descriptions are being written, and clear lines of authority will be established; plan to institute a tipping policy which is fair to all workers; pushing alcohol Is not Sister's policy and will not be encouraged; employee benefit package, eg. meals at cost when employee attends restaurant as a regular customer; method of lay-off will be with one week's notice and generally as much notice as possible regarding changes; want advice from a union (we suggested that the workers should talk to a union if they wish, but the owners should seek advice on a personal basis only, as unions represent workers); a letter of apology to be sent to the worker unjustly accused of theft (this letter has been received). Management proposed to print these ideas for present and prospective employees, and also for anyone else interested in seeing them. We urge women to read and comment on these proposed working conditions and policies after they are printed. Keep informed and offer your suggestions and support. Baylah, Nancy, Sarah - Porn analysis: sexism in reverse? Kinesis: I enjoy your magazine a lot but sometimes have difficulty accepting some of the analytical articles and think they are destructive to the feminist cause. There is a type of negative, one-sided feminist analysis that becomes sexism in reverse. For example, in the recent articles on pornography, I thought Regina Lorek was expecting some kind of reward for the victim role. Statements such as \"Pornography teaches men that their fantasies are possible, that they can conquer women\", only alienate men and turn them against feminism. Sado-macho relationships are our cultural norm. It is ludicrous to blame men (\"Men must stop their violent...\") and then demand that they solve our problems (\"Men must share with women...\"). Villanizing all men in general simply justifies their misogyny, and I do not like seeing this sentiment promoted. Jancis Andrew's article was the most constructive of the three on pornography. No doubt anyone, male or female,would agree with or at least respect her stance. J. Wilson :S&*j W.A.V.A.W.frompage2 in the Collective; making sure the RCC abides by the Constitution and Bylaws; and ensuring that the Society and Collective continue to operate in a co-operative manner, The Collective hires (and fires) from within the Collective. The hired workers have job descriptions and set hours of work. In a Feminist collective it is all too easy for the women who are paid to feel they have to do everything and work themselves into the ground, get burned out and crazy, and become Movement martyrs. We are trying very hard not to do this at WAVAW. This, of course, is very tricky because the hired workers are also Collective Members, and have non-paid responsibilities that go along with that, i.e., meetings, night shifts. The office is open from 10 to 5, Monday - to Friday. The rest of the time two women are always on call (either on a Pager, or at home).. We try very hard to keep track of the work we are doing. We are, however, very careful that the statistics we compile in no way endanger the confidentiality of any woman. This has been a busy and exciting year for WAVAW. We feel good about the work we've done and continue to do. We continue to learn from our past and present experiences and from each other. Feedback from the community has been quite good. The collective is strong, healthy and growing. IWD ^3 answers criticisms Kinesis: We of the I.W.D. '83 committee would like to take this opportunity to address a brief letter to the women's community, in answer to criticisms and suggestions we have received. The I.W.D. committee is open to all women who are interested in participating, either as members of groups or as individuals. These meetings were advertised in Kinesis and other places before the first one in November '82. Our theme was decided upon early in the organizing as \"Hard Times Won't Stop Us\". We decided to narrow the focus of the rally to present a more comprehensive view of \"Jobs and Equal Pay\". The Information Day tried to address the broader issues that concern women today. Our outreach/publicity committee sent letters asking for endorsements and/or contributions, booth reservations and workshop suggestions to many unions and women's groups, using B.C.F.W. lists and union lists. *%&$&&$ At any time women could contact any member of the I.W.D. committee with further suggestions. The final workshops decided upon reflected the imput we received, and practical constraints. We agree with Alliance for the Safety of Prostitutes (A.S.P.)'s criticisms in the May issue of Kinesis which suggest that pornography and prostitution are key issues in the women's movement. We were at that time unaware that A.S.P. existed, and would have seriously considered a workshop about the issue of prostitution. A manual for \"The Organizing of I.W.D. '83 is now completed and available to anyone who wishes to have more information. We will be starting earlier this year, possibly September, to organize I.W.D. '84. All women's groups and individuals are welcome, and encouraged to participate. Prior to getting our own Post Office Box, we can be contacted through Press Gang, or Vancouver Status of Women. In Sisterhood, Dianne Chappell, Louise Proulx for I.W.D. '83 Committee. Our fashion reflects our culture Kinesis: In response to April's letter entitled 'Leave fashion to the Vancouver Sun': Fashion is a reflection upon a culture. By observing a culture's fashions, you can gain much insight into their lifestyle. Fashion in the Vancouver Sun is coming from an industry largely controlled by men. To acknowledge the fashion we create is to acknowledge our culture. Sheila Everywear Fifth Floor Studio Courses offered for outdoor leaders Kine sis: S; |jj '&l The Women's Wilderness Institute Northwest {WWIN) of Portland, Oregon is offering a week of instruction this summer for women interested in becoming outdoor leaders with WWIN. The July 9-16 course will cover teaching techniques in backpacking, bicycle touring, and Whitewater rafting. It is open to any woman with at least three years experience in any one of these sports WWIN, formerly known as Keep Listening Wilderness Trips for Women, has been teaching wilderness skills to women since 1977. Their courses are in the Pacific Northwest. This summer's Instructors Course will be based in Zigzag, Oregon, east of Portland, in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The course outline includes teaching techniques in outdoor safety, group process, wilderness preservation, group meal planning, orienteering, camp stove operation and troubleshooting, fires, shelter, minimum impact camping, bicycle maintenance and repair, and Whitewater rafting skills. The course will include three two-day June '83 Kinesis 25 LETTERS continued from previous page trips: backpacking, bicycle touring, and river rafting. Teaching the Instructors Course will be Marcia Munson, one of the founders and original instructors of WWIN. She can be contacted with questions about this course at 303-685-1652. Cost of the course is $300, with fee waivers of up to 75% available to needy qualified applicants. Other WWIN courses offered in 1983 include backpacking in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area August 31 - September 4, Mother-Daughter Backpacking September 23-25, and bicycling in the San Juan Islands September 11-18. With the exception of the Instructors Course, WWIN trips require no previous outdoor experience. WWIN is a private, non-profit educational organization run exclusively by and for women. For further information about any courses, send a long self-addressed stamped envelope to: WWIN, P.O. Box 14743, Portland, Oregon, 97214. Marcia Munson Coverage a real boost Kinesis: Thank you for your great article on Diane Pakiecki and Donna Daisley Harrison in your 1983 April issue. Press coverage can be a real boost to our athletes* fundraising efforts and need for encouragement. Yours in Wheelchair Sports, Chris Robertson Fear, anxiety valid responses Kinesis: I am writing on behalf of the Health Collective to respond to the letter from Kirsten Emmott,- M.D., which appeared in the March '83 issue of Kinesis. Her letter raised questions about a variety of issues presented in the insert \"A Feminist Approach to Pap Tests\" written by Robin Barnett and Rebecca Fox and included in the February '83 issue of Kinesis. Kirsten refers to Robin and other women diagnosed as having cervical cancer and having extreme anxiety. She goes on to say that: 1) they want something done fast; 2) many request hysterectomy; 3) doctors tread a fine line between cutting too much or leaving a condition untreated; 4) it is hard for doctors to understand a woman diagnosed as having cervical cancer being worried about the risk of PID; 5) Robin could calm her anxiety by asking herself just what she wants - surgery or natural treatments (The numbering is mine). Points 1 and 2 seem likely to be true. The obvious intention of the insert was to provide women with more information so that they would be able to look-carefully at the options open to them and make their decisions in an informed manner. It is not at all surprising that women (and men, for that matter) respond with extreme anxiety when told they have cancer. Cancer is a very frightening condition as most people have friends, relatives or associates who have died of cancer, often a painful death, and sometimes at a young age. Anxiety, in fact, seems a very appropriate response. What seems important on the part of the medical system during an anxious time like that is a supportive attitude and accurate information. Part of what that entails is taking seriously the questions that the woman has about the risks of any procedure suggested. PID is hardly a minor risk and, as Maureen Moore pointed out in her letter (April '83 Kinesis), is a more frequent result of a D and C than Kirsten realized. Apart from the fact that PID is a very serious condition, any question that a woman has about a procedure suggested to her should be taken seriously and answered. Almost all of us have developed fears about many medical and surgical treatments and procedures for good reason. Our fears have a very valid basis. Many people's lives have been adversely affected by treatments recommended by doctors, even the most renowned of specialists. It is important for doctors and others within the medical system to understand that the fears, anxiety and other emotions are valid responses. It is also very important to understand that mistakes have been made, that doctors haven't always been right, and that there may well be something for the doctor/nurse/ other health worker to learn from the questions, hesitations or disagreement on the part of the patient. It seems that the issue of the extent of risk of PID from a D and C is a case in point. It seems obvious to us that although Robin was no doubt anxious, she responded in a rational manner to her diagnosis. What she did was to investigate all options open to her, get information from as many sources as possible and make the decisions that she needed to make. We object strongly to Kirsten 's portrayal of Robin as anxious and somewhat irrational. We think that it is a mistake to take the advice in point number 5. We think in fact that it is important to investigate all options and in making decisions see how they can work together. It is not necessary to put oneself totally in one camp or the other. We can learn from'and make use of a variety of ways of healing. We appreciate Kirsten's writing to raise questions about the accuracy of Robin and Rebecca's information. We think that her disagreements were important and that the exchange of information is useful. We think though that it is very unfortunate that in raising her disagreements she chose to portray Robin as anxious and irrational and to excuse lack of support from doctors on that basis. Beth Hutchinson on behalf of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective Thanks for analysis and feelings Kinesis: Hi! Just got your April '83 issue - the articles on Pornography are excellent. Thank you, thank you, for sharing these articulate analyses and gut feelings. Kathy Miller Divided by overcompensation? Just a short note in response to, in particular, Bonnie Ramsey's letter printed in April's issue. Bonnie's upset because no fat women were shown in the fashion issue of Kinesis. I guess if I were fat, I'd feel the same. However, no women wearing braces were shown, either. Braces are supposed to be some sort of handicap. When I wear my retainer in public and try to talk to shopkeepers and bank clerks, they think I'm retarded because of my speech impediment. Of course, orthodontia is for the rich, right? Who cares?! It's fine to be conscious of the inequalities in society (but would Bonnie Ramsey please explain to me how fat women are denied housing, medical care, and employment?), but I think it's a mistake in over- compensating for those inequalities by including minorities and underpriviledged people (the two are not synonyms) just for the sake of inclusion. Why don't sbme fat feminist women get together and print their own fashion guide, for example? By seeing ourselves with respect only to skin colour, weight, religion, sexual preference, education, etc., we divide ourselves. The emphasis is then on maintaining equality, and sometimes that's an impossible task. Some women will despise me because I'm white - how do I correct that? Others will resent me because I have a job - do I quit to make them happy? What do I do about my education - have a lobot- omy? I wish people would keep things in perspective. Keep the goals of nuclear disarmament, feminism, etc., in focus and not try to steal the attention. Are my thoughts and feelings less important because I'm white, middle class, and thin? Lots of people are robbed of their dignity and rights because of prejudice and indifference. It's tragic and unnecessary. But attacking others, and making them scapegoats for society's faults is no answer. Helene Wisotzki \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Should pornography be censored? \u00C2\u00BB Do feminist therapists exploit their clients? \u00C2\u00BB Is abortion 'free and easy' in Canada? \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Are feminist classics still being read? Subscribe to Broadside for the HSroadWi^ A FEMINIST REVIEW Broadside, PO Box 494, Stn P, Toronto M5S 2T1 Kinesis June '83 BULLETIN BOARD Events FRAUEN UND FILM: A Festival of Films by German Women. Presented by Women In Focus at 1155 W. Georgia, Van. Thurs., June 2 - Marianne and Julianne by Margarethe von Trotta 106 mins. Colour 1981 Showtime 7:30 & 9:30p.m. Fri., June 3 - Invisible Adversaries by Valie Export 100 mins. Colour 1976 Showtime 7:30 & 9:30p.m. Sat., June 4 - Journeys From Berlin by Yvonne Rainer 125 mins. Colour 1971 Showtime 7:30 & 9:30p.m. Wed., June 8 - The Ail-Round Reduced Personality by Helke Sander 98 mins. B&W 1977 Showtime 7:30 & 9:30p.m. Thurs., June 9 - The Second Awakening of Christa Klage by Margarethe von Trotta 88 mins. Colour 1977 Showtime 7:30 & \u00C2\u00AB 9:30p.m. g Thurs./Fri., June 16 and 17 - Madame X h by Ulrike Ottinger 141 mins. Colour 1977 $ Showtime 8p.m. ^q Sat., June 18 - The Power of Men is the Patience of Women by Cristina Perinicoli 75 mins. Colour Showtime 7:30 & 9:30p.m. CINEMATHEQUE Membership necessary $2.00 Films: $3.00 per night or series ticket $15. Available in advance from 456 W. Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. (With assistance from Goethe Institute of Toronto and C.E.I.C, Ministry of Labour, B.C. and Pacific Cinematheque) For Information Call 872-2250. MATERNAL HEALTH SOCIETY presents 'What's Happening In Maternity Care At New Westminster's Royal Columbian Hospital?', Thurs., June 9, 7-10p.m., New Westminster Public Library, 716 Sixth Avenue, New Westminster. For more information, ph. 937-0145, write Maternal Health Box 46563, Station G, Van.,B.C. V6R 4G8 WOMEN AND WORDS PRE-CONFERENCE CELEBRATION 9p.m. Saturday, June 11th; 1320 E. Hastings (at Clark); New Moon/Swedish Hall. Live music by The Angel Band - and D.J.'s into the night. Child care on premises; . members and guests $4-6 at the door. YARD SALE - Women Against Nuclear Technology is having a No Nuke Yard Sale on Sun., June 12, 11a.m.-3p.m. at 1774 Grant St., just off 1st and Commercial. See you there!! Donations: call 255-0523 or 734-5393. ASIAN WOMEN ARTISTS: A Life of Art - a Multi-Media Exhibition at Women In Focus Gallery, 204-456 W. Broadway. Opening: Tues., June 14, 1983. 7-10p.m. (The second half of the evening will feature performances by various artists). Admission: $3.00. June 15-24, Gallery Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10- 5p.m.; Sat. l-5p.m. Special Workshops: Free Admission (Dates and workshop events may be subject to change) Thurs., June 16 CALLIGRAPHY, 2-4p.m.; Fri., June 17 DANCING 2-4p.m.; Wed., June 22 FLOWER ARRANGING TEA CEREMONY 2-4p.m. Closing: Fri., June 24, 7-10p.m. A full evening of performance: films, traditional folkdancing, singing, etc. Admission: $5.00 FEMINIST COUNSELLING ASSOCIATION'S : of talks and discussions continues... June 16 - Being a Feminist in the System with Susan Wendel, Ph.D. Philosophy,SFU. July 14 - An Evening with Catherine Wedge, Feminist Lawyer. Time: 7:30 - 9:30p.m. Place: Vancouver Health Enhancement Centre, 2021 Columbia Fee: Free for members; $3 non-members. WAGES Prices SKREW V CORP. J|P DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (DERA). Funding appeal is set for June 28, 1983, 7:30pm, at the City Council chambers. Support is needed. FOLLOW-UP TO 'LESBIANISM & CHRISTIANITY' Workshop at the '83 Lesbian Conference \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 Potluck BBQ. 5p.m., June 17th(Friday) at 4564 Belmont (off Tolmie from 4th) 224-0472. Anyone welcome, even those not at the workshop or the Conference! LESBIAN & FEMINIST MOTHERS are you interested in forming a support group? What would you like it to consist of? What topics would you like to deal with? We'd like to hear from you! Call: Linda 536-8719; Carol 254-3910; Anne 263-2143; Jas 734-0116. THE ORGANIZATION OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS is having an open house on June 15th from 2-8p.m. Dinner, entertainment, child care provided. Everybody welcome. 3516A Main Street. For information call 873-2849. TO ALL THOSE PLANNING TO ATTEND VSW'S Annual General Meeting, the date of the meeting has been changed from June 30 to June 29. On the Air WOMANVISION ON CO-OP RADIO, 102.7 FM Listen out on Mondays, 7-8 pm. News, views>music, the program that focuses on women. THE LESBIAN SHOW ON CO-OP RADIO, 102.7 FM. Tune in on Thursday- from 7:30-8:30 pm for programming by, for and about Lesbians. RUBYMUSIC ON CO-OP RADIO, 102.7 FM Friday night, from. 7-8 pm. Join' host Connie Smith for an hour of the the finest in women's music: pop, gospel, folk, feminist and new wave. Groups THE VANCOUVER WOMEN'S HEALTH COLLECTIVE is hoping to move to a new location that is wheelchair accessible and larger than our present space. If anyone knows of a space that is available (approximately 2000 square feet), near a major bus route, give us a call at 736-6696. IF-YOU HAVE A MOTORCYCLE and are interested in joining other women for rides and hands-on mechanics, call the \"Women's Motorcycle Group\". Louise: 327-6457; Nancy: 876-4541. THE LITTLE MOUNTAIN NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE, 3981 Main St., sponsors Support Services for Single Parents. Single Mothers' Support Group, every Monday 5p.m. to 6:30p.m., a Potluck Meal 6:30p.m. to 8:30p.m. the Group meets. Child Care provided. Moms and Tots Drop-In, Tuesday and Thursday 10a.m. to 12 noon. Play time for children. Time out for Moms. Single Mothers; Daytime Group, Thurs. lp.m. to 2:30p.m. Child Care provided. For more information...879-7104. IF YOU'RE THINKING OF STARTING WOMEN'S GROUPS, ie. (support groups, health, self defense) and need a place to meet or are already established and would like to do outreach in the Little Mountain area, contact Sage at 879-7104. LESBIAN INFORMATION LINE...Want to talk? ...Need information? Call L.I.L. Thurs. and Sun. 7-10p.m....734-1016. L.I.L. is looking for new members., Call to join our fun collective. VANCOUVER WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH COLLECTIVE is looking for new members. Research experience is not needed. We are learning to develop/improve research skills. So far we have produced a booklet oh PID and are about to start a new project. Call 736-6696 if you're interested. PID BOOKLET AVAILABLE - A new booklet on pelvic inflammatory disease is available from the'Vancouver Women's Health Collective for $2.00 or donation. Call 736-6696. THE RADICAL REVIEWER has received a summer grant to produce a special issue on B.C. Women Writers. We are interested in critiquing obscure as well as popular B.C. writers and are especially interested in the works of Native Indian and lesbian writers. Please write or call with your suggestions, research ideas, essays, reviews, short fiction or poetry. The Radical Reviewer c/o Hedy Wood or Alexis Applin, 3545 St. Catherines. 876- 2943. BOTH THE DIAPHRAGM FITTING AND CERVICAL CAP FITTING Collective desparately need more women. Interested? Training provided, some commitment necessary. For more information, call the Vancouver Women's Health Collective at 736-6696. INTERESTED IN SHARING CASUAL SPORTS, outdoor activities with other women? Loose-knit group forming for regular times or once-in-a-while. Call Linda 879-2119, 736-5714 messages. Qr The Best in ^Ck Feminist Journalism - Our 13th year * National and international news about women * Thoughtful commentaries, and news ahead of its time * Health, prison, and labor news SUBSCRIBE TODAY! June'83 Kinesis 27 BULLETIN BOARD THE VANCOUVER OUTDOOR CLUB FOR WOMEN has recently formed out of the former YWCA Outdoor Club for Women and we are now welcoming new members. The club has been in existence since 1979 and we currently have approximately 75 members. We meet at Britannia Community Centre on the first Tuesday of every month at 7p.m. for educational and social programs. We offer weekly women-led activities such as hikes, canoe and kayak trips, ski trips, rock climbing, beginners mountaineering, horseback riding, etc. Organized and run by women, the club's purpose is for women to share the excitement of the outdoors, to learn new skills and keep fit in a friendly non-competitive atmosphere. Membership fees are $30 annually (sliding scale) with $15 the suggested fee to cover our newsletter and mail*out costs. For further information call Jan at 261-8953 o\u00C2\u00BB come to our next meeting. PART-TIME/TEMPORARY JOB AT VANCOUVER STATUS OF WOMEN. Co-ordinator for \"Women Growing Old: A Seminar Series\". Half-time, June 27-Sept. 15; approx. $500 a month. This job will include research work, locating and working with speakers for the series, organizing publicity, editing materials from the project for Kinesis and collating information for VSW's library. We will be looking for someone who likes to make contacts and talk with people, and who has an ability to do research, editing and publicity. Typing skills and an ability to organize materials will be essential. A commitment to feminism and issues relating to older women is necessary. Send your resume to VSW, c/o Patty Moore or;.Heather Wells by June 15. Classified WOMAN LOOKING FOR TRAVELLING PARTNER to Yukon and North for 3-4 weeks in August. A car would be great. Call Linda, 879- 2119 or 736-5714 message. WOMAN WOULD LIKE A COMPANION for beginners judo and/or member at the European Spa, Doris 438-6163. WORKSHOP SPACE FOR RENT, available immediately. Phone Press Gang at 253-1224. continued from p. 10 West End or elsewhere. As Libby Davies stated: \"Dealing with a bandaid solution becomes the priority for many politicians because dealing with the causes of prostitution means examining and changing the very society and economic conditions we live in.\" The social reasons why women and men are on the street - including the lack of alternative employment - are more difficult questions to address. Despite the final vote by City Council, the heated debate served to shed light on these underlying issues. This public forum was one of the first in which the media actually printed and aired the views of those opposed to enacting harsh criminal sanctions against prostitutes. In a two block section of Davie Street, the 1000 and 1100 blocks, there are: 21 Restaurants and Clubs 66 total Commercial establishments Of these, 26 operate till midnight, after midnight or all night. Parking is limited or non-existent. One establishment in this area, the Rock Palace, has a liquor license for 200 and no parking lot. Graphic by Janet Morgan SUMMERTIME that time of the year for lying around in the sun and reading a good book. For your reading pleasure the following books are to be found in our local feminist bookstores: The Holiday, a novel by Stevie Smith, $8.95 Southern Discomfort, a novel by Rita Mae Brown, $3.95 Mother Wit: feminist guide to a psychic journey, by Dianne Mariechild, $9.95 Event, a feminist literary journal, $3.00 Journey, a novel by Ann Cameron, $5.95 (The above are all available at Ariel bookstore, 2766 W. 4th, Vancouver). Death of Nature; Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution by Caroline Mer- chent, $9.95 Braided Lives, a novel by Marge Piercy $4.75 Drawing Down the Moon by Margo Adler $11.90 Depth Perceptions: New Poems and a Masque by Robin Morgan, $7.75 (The above are all available at The Women's Bookstore, 322 W. Hastings). Both stores carry a good selection of children's literature. COTTAGE FOR RENT on Pender Island. $110/ wk. summer months. Available year round. Evenings 254-3479 BILLETS NEEDED FOR WOMEN & WORDS Conference. Can you provide a billet for women visiting Vancouver for the Women & Words Conference, June 29-July 3? We need quite a number of billets still - mostly for women travelling alone, a few for groupings of 2-3-4. We also, and especially, need billets in francophone and Native Indian households. Please, if you can provide a billet, phone the Women & Words office at 684-2454 and leave your name and number; the Billeting Committee will be in touch with you. VSW IS UPDATING A SPEAKER'S DIRECTORY to serve as a resource to the community at large. This will involve finding women who would be willing to speak to various community groups in any of the following areas: non-sexist childrearing/stereo- typing; especially around jobs/history of the women's movement/talks for teenage mothers around sexuality and parenting/pornography/health; reclaiming our bodies. If you can offer your services as a speaker on any of these topics please call Heather at VSW 873-1427. JOIN THE VANCOUVER SKILL AND SERVICE EXCHANGE to exchange your skills and services for other valuable services, without exchanging cash. For details, send self-addressed stamped envelope to: Vancouver Skill and Service Exchange, #504-1395 Beach Avenue, Van., B.C. V6E 1V7 NEED TRAINING TO RETURN TO THE WORKFORCE? \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 Looking for financing for a new project? Have complaints about something you bought? The federal government's Index to Programs and Services is one aid. By listing more than 1,000 federal programs, the departments and phone numbers, the Index is a convenient stepping stone to - finding the right office to contact about a specific subject. Some of the programs described in the Index pertain particularly to women. For example, Labour Canada has a Women's Bureau that deals with equal opportunities and the status of women in the labour force. Employment and Immigration Canada has^ counselling programs for women who want to return to work. The Index to Programs and Services is available in many libraries and post offices. It can also be purchased for $9.95 from government bookstore agents or the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, L1A 0S9. PID SUPPORT/INFORMATION NEWSLETTER - This newsletter contains information about PID and (upon instruction) lists the names and telephone numbers of women who are interested in getting in touch with other women with PID. It is published by the Vancouver PID Support Group. Call 736-6696 for more information or send $1.00 to M. Wright, 1829 Kitchener St., Vancouver. V5L 2W5 THE BLATANT IMAGE needs help in obtaining rarely-seen, little-photographed non- traditional images of women; for example, a woman's view of cooking,washing diapers, office work. Deadline June 30, 1983. Send self-addressed stamped envelope to the Blatant Image, 2000 King Mountain Trail, Sunny Valley, Oregon. VSW ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING June 29,1983 N.D.P. Hall 517E. Broadway 7:30p.m. Guest speaker: Sara Diamond Musical Entertainment Election of the Executive Refreshments Members and Friends welcome"@en . "Preceding title: Vancouver Status of Women. Newsletter.

Date of publication: 1974-2001.

Frequency: Monthly."@en . "Periodicals"@en . "Newspapers"@en . "HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "HQ1101_V24_N49_1983_06"@en . "10.14288/1.0045800"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Vancouver : Vancouver Status of Women"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the Digitization Centre: digitization.centre@ubc.ca"@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "Women--Social and moral questions"@en . "Feminism--Periodicals"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .