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A WOMEN'* LIBERATION NEWSPAPER, VANCOUVER. BC VOLUME IV NOZ w FEB 1972 U5AN R ANTHONY FEB \5> I page i - pedestal - feb 72 NELLIE McCLUNG from No. i Studies of the Royal Commission Cultural Tradition and Political History Women received the suffrage first in the Prairie Provinces. This was parallel to the trend in the United States, where the vote was given to women in ' the frontier states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho before the end of the 19th century. The territory of Wyoming, which had decreed full political equality in 1869, became in 1890 the first state to enter the Union with full suffrage for women. In Canada, most people in the traditionally conservative Maritime Provinces long remained apathetic or unsympathetic to female suffrage. On January 28, 1916, Manitoba passed the first woman suffrage act in Canada. For the first time in Canadian history women were granted full political enfranchisement in provincial elections and the right to sit in a provincial legislature. When the bill passed its third reading by unanimous vote on January 27, the galleries of the Legislature were packed with women who cheered wildly and sand, "For They Are Jolly Good Fellows". As an unprecedented gesture, eight seats on the floor of the Legislature were occupied by members of the Manitoba Political Equality League, which was chiefly responsible for the victory. Formed four years earlier by prominent Winnipeg men and women, the League drew support from male organizations such as the Grain Growers' Association of Manitoba as well as such groups as the Icelandic Women's Suffrage Association and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Most diligent of the League's members was the remarkable Nellie McClung, novelist, teacher, lecturer, legislator, church and temperance worker and dedicated suffragist. She was 16, with only six years of schooling behind her, when she graduated from Winnipeg Normal School and began to teach in of Women in Canada Manitou, Manitoba, in 1890. Happily married and eventually mother of five children, she treated as a joke the attacks of critics'who accused her of neglecting her family; her youngest son was coached to tell visitors, "I am a suffragette's child, and never knew a mother's love" . On the lecture platform she used humour to demolish anti-suffragist arguments. When opponents claimed that women wouldn't use the vote Mrs. McClung told the story of an old man who turned out to vote for the first time in 15 years, saying, ..You bet I came out today, to vote against givin' Jthese fool women a vote. What's the use of givin' them a vote? They wouldn't use it." In 1914 her mockery was turned on Manitoba Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin, an adamant opponent of female suffrage. He countered a delegation led by Mrs. McClung with a long argument to the effect that woman's place was in the home, and added that his wife agreed with him. "When I come home at j night," he said, "I don't want a hyena in petticoats talking politics to me, I want a sweet gently creature to bring me my slippers." The next night the Political Equality League hired the Walker Theatre and staged a burlesque skit in which an all-woman Parliament debated whether to give men the vote. Premier McClung, in a wickedly witty parody of Roblin, declared, "Politics unsettles men and unsettled men mean unsettled bills, broken furniture, broken vows and divorce. Man's place is on the farm." The theatre was jammed, the applause was wild, and the evening was later given some of the credit for the defeat of Roblin's government the following year. Saskatchewan granted suffrage and eligibility to hold public office to women on March 14, 1916; Albefta on April 19, 1916; and British Columbia on April 5, 1917. Nellie McClung, who was in the forefront of the Manitoba campaign right up to the moment of success, turned her energies to getting the vote for women in Alberta, where she had moved with her family in 1914. She then helped to lead the two-year crusade that won Canadian women the federal vote in 1918, before either Great Britain or the United States gave them full enfranchisement. She was elected to the Alberta legislature in 1921 and defeated in 1926. She was one of the five Alberta women who initiated the famous Persons Case. Three special honours came to her: appointment to the Dominion War Council in 1918 as the only woman; to the Board of Governors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1936-1942, as its .first woman member; and to the League of Nations in 1938, as the only Canadian woman delegate. "^SK1" & SUSAN B. ANTHONY Susan B. Anthony was perhaps the most famous of the American sufragists. She joined the movement in 1852, just four years after the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. From that time until a few months before her death at age 86, she worked full-time for suffrage. For over forty years, she was the only woman in the United States who was devoting her entire time and energy to the movement. When, in 1920, the constitutional amendment giving women the vote was passed, it was i named for her» She lectured everywhere. Wherever a local suffrage group had a campaign, Susan B. was there, often lecturing in a different place every night. Her strategy was to win votes for suffrage, and any issue which she thought would alienate voters by associating suffrage with even less popular ideas was set aside. As a young woman, Susan B. cut her hair and wore the bloomer costume as a protest against the unhealthy and impractical clothers women normally wore; she spoke about the oppression of working women, who worked harder and longer than men for about onej third the pay; she defended Elizabeth Cady Stanton when more conservative suffragists tried to keep her from advocating liberalized divorce laws. By the 1890's, however, Susan B. had come to believe that once women were enfranchised they could vote all their other problems away. Once she joined the movement, Susan B. Anthony made it her whole life. She supported herself entirely by what she earned lecturing. She rented the hall for almost all the annual suffrage conventions — as a spinster, she was one of the few suffrage leaders legally able to make an independent contract. The largest obligation she assumed was the $10,000 debt left when The Revolution died (she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton edited that women's paper from 1868 to 1870); she also paid for the publication ofthe first three volumes of the "massive History of Women's Suffrage" (as everyone who writes about it calls it. If really is a huge work, and Susan B. did about half the writing of the first three volumes too. Whew.) For all that she spoke more often and more places., than any other suffrage lecturer, Susan B. was never? an inspired orator. What she probably did best was administrative and organizational work. In some ways, Susan B. resembled contemporary hack politicians. She knew a lot about the mechanics of managing meetings, and only two of the annual conventions she attended adopted measures she opposed. Okay. Now you know who Susan B. Anthony was — a dedicated suffragist who worked full-time for suffrage until she was 86, a woman of incredible energy who seemed to be everywhere and doing everything. And it is right, of course, that we honor her for her accomplishments. But it would be more interesting for us, on February 15, when we have each our silent moment of celebration for her (no rallies this year for her, no national holiday in the States yet) if we knew a little about what kind of person this Susan B. Anthony was. And conveying that is even harder than condensing her 50 years of constant work into a few paragraphs. One of her biographers called her "the most repressed woman" in the movement. Anna Howard Shaw (her lecture partner in the years after Mrs. Stanton's retirement, and her chosen successor) called her "the greatest woman I have ever known." Susan B. Anthony was a loyal friend, a tireless/ worker, and unobtrusive leader. She was embarassed by the many tributes her later years brought her. l^ guess she was a bit of a prig. She had an abiding love for women in the abstract, and a sensitive feeling for the onerous variety of their problems and oppressions. The Women's Centre, 511 Carrall Street, will be presenting instructions on how you can do your own divorce, beginning on February 17th at 7:30 p.m. at the Centre. Present plan is to hold group instructions at the five or six different stages of the divorce process but this might be varied depending on initial response. Participants will therefore be expected to work at the group rate as it will be impossible to deal with each divorce individually. The classes will be given by Rachel Cormier, second-year law student, who has been active in the Student Legal Advice Divorce Program, sponsored by Legal Aid Society and Vancouver Community Legal Assistance Society. She expects to be able to recruit other law students for the steps which require more individual attention. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE ? Anyone who cannot afford $200 or up for a regular lawyer. If there is any way that you can raise this figure, then our best advice to you is to get a lawyer. The Canadian Bar Association can supply you with the name of lawyers who have indicated they will scale their fees to suit the income and ability to pay of their clients. Anyone WHO CAN afford the $50 or so for necessary expenditures FOR AN UNCONTESTED, UNCOMPLICATED (see below) divorce. If you don't have this $50 then there is no point in getting started as you will be unable to finish and the whole trip will just be one big frustration. Anyone who has command of the English language and enough basic education sufficient to follow technical instructions and fill in endless legal documents. feb 72 • pedestal • page 3 MOST IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT: Emotional stablity and determination and perseverance to follow through on a process which is long, tedious, and often damn frustrating. If you don't like endless paper work, don't try to do your own divorce. If you don't have the time and energy to run around collecting forms, registering them, serving them, sitting in on Divorce Court a few times, looking after more paper work AFTER trial, then this program IS NOT for you. This is not to scare you off, but is only intended to make you realize that doing your own divorce requires a certain amount of commitment, without this realistic understanding,, you will be wasting your time. WHAT'S UNCOMPLICATED ? That's when you have no kids, no property disputes, you have been separated at least three years, you were married in this country, you know where your husband is at present, and he will not contest the divorce. Beyond that we get into complications. However we can still help you if there will be no battle over the kids, property or the divorce. COURT BATTLES REQUIRE LAWYERS: THIS PROGRAM PROVIDES NONE. If you have a foreign marriage or don't know where your husband is at present or you don't have separation grounds we might still be able to help you but we must warn you that these complications can add months to your divorce process, extra steps and more forms, and perhaps hundreds of dollars. It is impossible to talk of these matters in the abstract and Rachel will be prepared to discuss these at the first class. If it sounds like this program might be useful to you come to the Women's Centre on Thursday, Feb. 17th, and we'll talk about it. It would also be advisable to bring along $4.00 for your first disbursement, the good old stand-by, The Divorce Book by Kate White. After initial discussion, it is expected that we will launch immediately into the first instruc- How to write your full name and address endless times without cracking up. See you there ! Wonan s Place Medical Group Since January 5 a group of about twenty women has been meeting on Wednesday evenings to share our experiences and knowledge about our bodies. In our first meeting we talked about female hormones. The second was a discussion of contraception. That night we found that in talking about the problems of today's birth control methods we had lost sight of the whole point of doing those things ourselves -to free our sexuality from the fear bf unwanted pregnancy.So our third meeting was set up with the topic of sexuality. But again we lost sight of ourselves; this time in talking about the problems of dealing with the jealousies that develop in most sexual relationships. Next week(Feb. 2) we will try to get down to ourselves again by talking about body image - the ways in which we relate to our physical selves. We have also been interested in learning self-help gynaecology as a group. Last week (Jan. 26) we took the first step in this by examining ourselves and each other with the aid of plastic speculums, surgical gloves and an illustrated gynaecology text. Some of us plan to do this regularly, and we would also like to expand our knowledge by learning to test for vaginitis and other problems. Some of the things we plan to discuss in the future are pregnancy and childbirth, female homosexuality, aging and the menopause, and the politics of health care.'Anyone who wants to join us or set up another "group, or another health-related project is welcome. We meet at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, 1336 Maple Street (near Cornwall). SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN CRISIS A group of women wish to start a telephone ser- for women who need shelter and support in mes of crisis. When it is established, the Woman's Place will have rooms for this purpose. However, there is no reason why we shouldn't start now to put women who need shelter and support in contact with women who can offer rooms in their homes. We want to find out to what extent women need this support, and how best to offer it. In this process, we can find out what it means to give this basic help to each other. S.O.S., a similar service in Seattle, has been operating successfully for nearly a year. An organizational meeting will be held at the Women's Centre, 511 Carrall Street, at 7:30 Friday, Feb., 11th. If you can't come but are interested in the possibility of offering room in your home call the Women's Centre at 684-0523. page 4 - pedestal - feb 72 some people work for| a living while others live for work and In the January 1972 PEDESTAL a report was given on the union struggle at Smitty's Pancake House ending with the information that negotiations had broken down over the issue of open vs. union shop. The owner, naturally enough, had refused to even consider allowing Smitty's to be a union shop. Obviously, with an open shop clause in the contract, he had ideas of gradually easing the union out of the restaurant. The majority of the workers at Smitty's may be union members in January, but they certainly wouldn't be in six months! Something definitely had to be done to strengthen the position ofthe union at the negotiating table; to end the impasse that had resulted. A strike vote appeared inevitable. Consequently, notice of a strike vote to be held at the union office was posted at Smitty's in such conspicuous places as the kitchen, the women's changing room and the women's washroom. On Wednesday, January 25 the vote was held, and, out of twenty votes (twenty-two men and women work at Smitty's) two thirds voted in favour of strike action. Perhaps the most important result of the strike vote was the re-assertion of the solidarity and oneness felt by all those working for unionization of Smitty's. For. those supporting the strike, the vote was a social event, time to sit down, to laugh and joke with friends. Those voting against did not linger but rather ran in and ran out, very sheepishly. After all, they were facing their fellow workers from management's side ! Seventy-two hours strike notice is required by law, which meant that a picket would be possibly set outside Smitty's on the Sunday. However, this was not necessary. Off the record Smitty's gave in,agreed to a security clause (for a union shop) in the contract. An official meeting is now in the process of being arranged. However, since one ofthe biggest things to come out of the strike vote was the loyalty of the waitresses - they were the strongest union supporters throughout the entire struggle — it has been decided to demand more than the $1.85 an hour previously tentatively agreed upon for them. While the strike business was going on, the two waitresses who had been fired for union organizing were appearing in front of the Labour Relations Board to protest the illegality of their firing. Unfortunately, due largely to the incompetence of the union who had failed to investigate and prepare their case at all thoroughly, their case was lost. (More follows on this). <mxL caAi rtqidburs e/zch ujdJjut gJbajyb <aigou>jU) you, v^cra, cure JLaxcL cruJ: an thx t&irtx Lor dJj^rwr thu ^rcrS6 u> hungry far tKt ojppXi In your riovlh in 5mvythuurs yene in syrup, your Jpad<jbtd -uz-ibk sbo^Juu> thm ^iiik^ \jour{noj<m spirit cars'mg bfu ij^mvi/nUnjCJL. cfirub J 1 ('Union THaids^ * vs.' C hhe Stahe. the question, Miss Maid jf The following is an excerpt from the official transcript of the UNION MAIDS vs. the STATE: CITY SLICKER LAWYER: I have here exhibit A. A piece of yellow paper with the letter "U" printed on it. It is found to have on it the identical fingerprints as those on the front door of the Restaurant. What do you say to that, Miss Maid !? *• MAID: That's my union card. CS LAWYER: Just MAID: I said... CS LAWYER: Your Honour, I now call to the stand the assistant manager of this Resturant. His testimony, ladies and gentlemen, is absolutely crucial to the point in question. Sir, is the testimony of the claimee true ? ASST. MAN: Yes, well...no; I think maybe it might not be true, but on the other hand... CS LAWYER: Just answer the question, Miss Maid. We have been watching you for some time now. It is well known that you have certain, shall we say...tendencies ? You have been observed actually conversing, while in uniform, and I might add, on more than one occasion, with Miss Cohort. What a strange coincidence that her story is exactly the same as yours !!! Your Honour, these clandestine meetings in the center of the Restaurant are tantamount to Con-, spiracy ! ! Is that not true Miss Maid ? MAID: It is very common for waitresses to speak to each other. CS LAWYER: Thank you. After that substantiation, gentlemen, I need no further summation. It is clear that the aforementioned party of the first part should be held in default on account of actions hitherto stated in direct defiance to the directives of the party of the second part. Therefore, in conclusion, I ask that these ladies of questionable character give just recompense for illegal and impolite acts, and rightfully owe the said employers $3,472 and 1000 hours -' of work, and an apology. JUDGE: Case dismissed. ***+******1ck******+ic**++***£*+^M+** ** »*••••****••<*•• feb 72 • pedestal - page * SISTERHOOD \$ jj INDEED POWERFUL! §1 - ■ l I JPARTZ I shall call her Wang-Lu. She is a very attractive 27-year old guide who is fluent in English and who is a worker in the Friendship Association in Shanghai. A constant companion through our week- long tour of Shanghai communes, factories and schools, Wang-Lu most patiently answered my innumerable queries about her own and other women's existence in the new China. On one level, her story is a very personal account; on another, it sheds much insight into some of the perceptions and attitudes of the Chinese woman herself. Chosen for her ability, intelligence and political commitment by the members ofthe street committee, or the local neighbourhood council in her area, to continue her education at the Foreign Languages Institute in Shanghai, Wang-Lu began her study of English just prior to the very turbulent period ofthe Cultural Revolution. REPGUAfcP During that time, Wang-Lu became a Red Guard Jand staunchly devoted herself to the struggle for the -ascendency of the "Maoist" as opposed to the revisionist or pro-capitalist political line. Personal discussion or exposing herself on an individual level was generally shunned by Wang-Lu, as vain or immodest and not in keeping with integration ofthe individual and the collectivity; yet in relation to her experience as a Red Guard, she was most enthusiastic and vocal. With eyes shining and with ■animated gestures, she described her inner feelings of strength, pride and exuberance as she, with hundreds of thousands of other Red Guards marched into Tien An Men Square in Peking to be greeted by Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution. She talked too of the fearjj and apprehension she experienced as she and a girlfriend, stimulated by the Chairman's suggestions that the young learn about their country through travel, hiked miles through forests and over mountains both day and night to reach Yenan, the historic revolutionary site of the beginning of the Long March., And she talked too of the comfort and courage that she received from simply reading and studying the works of Chairman ;Mao in such moments of anxiety. 1 MARRIAG-E | Wang-Lu, a committed and vital revolutionary twoman, is planning to marry a fellow worker at the Friendship Association in Shanghai within a year's ;time. Introduced through comrades at work the couple has courted for approximately three years. In r'line with the new Chinese concepts of womanhood and hence of marriage as a vital form of friendship and companionship between man and woman, courtship is often of several years duration before ^marriage is formalized. As Wang-Lu explained: ; "We want to know and to understand each other, to •have'similar political .consciousness and awareness." Both she and her future mate will request the permission of the revolutionary committee of their ^particular workplace to approve of their marital .yjlans dnd to apply to the appropriate municipal housing department on their behalf for an apartment. Wang-Lu, however, is not worried about finding accommodation for she is secure in the knowledge that she and her husband could share a om in her parents' home for a short time if necessary. Had both parties not been employed at the same workplace, it would likely have been the work unit for the bridegroom which would have made the housing arrangements. Stepping back three years for a moment to the beginning of Wang-Lu's courtship, what likely transpired still bears some resemblance to older, more traditional Chinese practice. When a young man or woman reach the age where they begin to become concerned with marital prospects, subtle cues to that effect are given to friends who in turn will finally introduce the individual to possible mates. It is rare, we were told, that a couple, who had not had a formal introduction by friends, family or work mates, would begin courting. What this practice means in reality is that courtship generally begins four or five years prior to marriage which ideally is 25 for women and 30 for men. Variations do occur, however,particularly in the rural areas where marital age is usually younger. ^S^%1 In a visit to a family of a young man of 21 who was in the People's Liberation Army, in a rural commune outside of Shanghai, we were explained that he was about to marry. His relatively settled existence and maturity made this exceptional situation comprehensible. The advanced preferred marital age again reflects the very sound and rational approach to marriage that the Chinese people share: "We must have a little experience in life and know our own minds." One- woman remarked, "we cannot take marriage lightly." PIVORCE One result of this very rational approach to marriage is the exceptionally low divorce rate in the new China. In fact, most of the divorces which do occur are amongst couples whose marriages were arranged by contract in the pre-liberation days. Yet, from the information we gathered primarily from frank and open discussions with workers in their own homes, the methods employed to solve marital conflicts all shed light on the value the Chinese place on the nuclear family and its maintenance in harmony. If a dispute did arise that could not be satisfactorily solved by the couple themselves, it would likely be brought before a committee at the lowest political level, such as a building or factory committee, for arbitration. As a sidelight here, what should be mentioned is the integration of the personal with the social, so that it is'not considered shameful or in poor taste to share one's personal problems with others whose concern it is to offer assistance. Both sides would have the opportunity of expressing their perspective and in the context of compromise, suggestions for the modification of behaviour or change in the relationship would be put forward. A time limit for experimenting with new modes of relating might be set as well. After a period, the situation would again come back to the committee for reassessment. If repeated attempts at re-education and resolution of the conflict fail, then separation or divorce may be advised. The local committee, in discussion with both parties, would settle the question of belongings and children, and then simply register the new agreement with the appropriate local authority. If we quickly survey some of the more common grounds for divorce in Canadian society, we find many' result from incompatibility exploitation, . frustration due to economic or job insecurity, sexual inadequacy, boredom or neurotic cultural male- female expectations and conjugal disappointment as, for example, the deterioration of superficial feminine beauty or the illusory notion of motherhood perpetrated by the media. Economic security, friendship and compatiblity in marriage, working towards common goals and mutual respect all tend to produce a more stable and healthy marital institution in China. 1)p jp A $ Jl Sr!l ■:l- £ 9t '* %. \ In China, it is common that only one or perhaps two intense relationships will be experienced before marriage. Our own western concept of dating is unknown there. In fact, we were told that it was uncommon and considered shameful for either a man: or woman to involve him- or herself in a long-term relationship without honestly perceiving marriage as the end goal. While a difficult issue to get at, it appeared too that pre-marital intercourse is taboo and hence pre-marital pregnancy is a rare occurrence. While Wang-Lu and the man she discussed so reluctantly both exerted much energy in their work and in their political involvement, they still enjoyed cultural events together, walked, talked, visited friends and shared as much as possible as a couple. Perhaps the term "romantic love" as we know it has no meaning in China; yet the warmth and pride so apparent in Wang-Lu's face and speech as she spoke softly of her mate's personal accomplishments and political commitment reflected only the deepest sense of devotion, respect and affection on her part. It was clear too that her family and close friends whom she likely consulted before committing herself were pleased with her intentions. Once housing arrangements would be made, the" young couple would apply for a marriage license and register themselves as a married couple at the appropriate municipal authority in Shanghai. A small and intimate gathering would be invited for sweets generally at the home of the bnde and there, open exchanges of personal and political commitment would likely be offered. CONTRACEPTION "Will you have a family soon after your marriage?", I probed and discovered in the process that I was beginning to touch upon a very difficult area about which to secure information. With some embarrassment, Wang-Lu nevertheless, in her most obliging manner, enlightened me even further than my first question, almost in anticipation of my next one. "We do not want to raise a family immediately so I will take my marriage certificate to the drugstore to get some pills. We must learn to live together first. Perhaps in a year or two we will have children." Asking whether her attitude was the prevailing one, she answered in the affirmative, mentioning too that practical considerations such as housing suitability or the couple's financial situation were also taken into consideration when planning a family. Pushing further into the question of birth control, I was left not entirely satisfied as precise information as to methods and use of contraceptives was riot readily available. The ideal family is composed of only two children, yet variation here too occurs in the rural areas, especially Where three and four children to a family is not uncommon. To plan small families, most women use the Pill, yet other methods such as the coil or diaphragm are also in practice. Abortion too is practised but unfortunately I am unaware of the frequency or differential uses of various methods. Wang-Lu admitted to the fact that her own knowledge of family plarining and sexuality stemmed mainly from discussion with her own mother. Indeed, one no longer sees the numerous and informative character posters describing the techniques and the virtues of family planning that once were evident when the Chinese government pursued an intensive educational birth control programme. Our guide's expressed desire for only two children was largely a shared one, particularly amongst the urban populace and especially the cadres or citizens in leadership and bureaucratic positions. This desire was specifically related to health. "It is not wise for the health of a woman to bear too many children," says Wang-Lu. CHILPREN Children, however, are valued and viewed as prized possessions everywhere in China. In every factory, commune, street and nursery that we chanced to meet the young, their vitality, good health, spirit and joy were a tribute to the success of the Chinese revolution. The pride that Chinese adults exhibited as they watched their children sing, dance, draw, perform, recite gave insight to the care and love they shower upon them. On one rare occasion did I witness a child in tears and never did I hear a harsh word spoken to a child. Discipline is gentle but firm; it is mastered through education, it is not arbitrarily imposed or enforced. And while the nuclear (or the extended nuclear) family is the major social unit for human growth, the socialization of most children is done as well within the nursery or kindergarten framework. From the age of seventeen days, a child can be cared for at minimal cost in a daycare facility attached generally to the workplace or to the living quarters of the family. While we discovered that 99 percent of all the child-care workers were, women, we were informed that within the family both partners share in child-rearing . As with almost all domestic tasks, Wang-Lu explained, such as cooking, washing or cleaning and shopping, child-rearing depends more upon a functional than sexual division of labour. "It all depends upon work-shifts and convenience," she said. And the numerous images of fathers with one child in tow and one in carriage or with one on either shoulder in the parks, in the stores, on the streets, bear witness to this fact. Asking why the overwhelming incidence of female workers in the nurseries, kindergartens and schools, I received the answer that women are more patient and tender and, hence, more suitable for caring for children on a long-term basis. That answer might immediately expose the maintenance or continuance of some of the traditional attitudes towards women which the Chinese openly but sadly admit to and which ,'afce Still in a process of undergoing transformation. Yet even this attitude must be viewed within context. In a society where children are so highly esteemed, where women are not tied to home and hearth, where domestic chores are equally and non-sexual ly differentiated and therefore where child-care is not a burden or a low-status job, the remark can be more carefully appraised. VANITY To mention Wang-Lu's outward appearance in closing this discussion, may, in our own western terms, appear out of order. In the Chinese reality, it is not. Concern with superficiality or trappings beyond attention to cleanliness is considered vain, ndividualistic or bourgeois. To see Chinese women n the field, in the factories, in the home, all attired n nondescript navy, grey or beige pants and cotton jackets strikes a vivid contrast to the dress of Canadian women. Wang-Lu, well-scrubbed and with no make-up, her jet black hair combed neatly into braids, wearing a brown corduroy jacket is strikingly attractive, as her face radiates the vitality and purpose of her existence. Emphasis on the body and _ superficial attributes of the female is non-existent in this society where attention is drawn to essentials, such as contribution to societal growth, inner strength and character. Lack of the trappings of clothing which constantly peg a western woman's role or class-position in our own society means that men and women can relate to each other in more open and liberated ways unencumbered and unin- timidated by artificial, culturally-determined differences. De-emphasis ofthe female form in clothing also facilitates the relation of men to women without constantly being conscious of their bodies, that is, as human beings, not sexual objects. Wang-Lu is just one woman, but her thoughts, attitudes, feelings and aspirations were not dissimilar from those of most of her sisters who we encountered. Wang-Lu is young but mature; she is gentle but strong; she is confident but humble. She is an inspiration to all womanhood. feb 72 • pedestal • page 7 The Pedestal talked to Joyce Marvin about her trip to China and was fortunate to meet also Catherine • Willmott, who spent many years in China both before and after the Revolution. talking about O^ina Can you talk a little bit about Chinese families? What do they do together? Are they often apart? How do husbands and wives and adults and children relate? Joyce: The family and the extended family are very important to the Chinese people. Catherine: I got the impression that old couples would live together on their own if possible, but if one died the other would often live with the family of a- son or daughter. Joyce: Though most children were in nurseries or kindergartens, occasionally the children were cared for by a grandmother. Practically every factory, every commune that we were in had a nursery or kindergarten or both. We asked many questions of ^people we met in their homes who told us that both parents took responsibility for the care and socialization of children. Children seemed to be really loved and valued. iMji&^k Catherine: We saw so many fathers carrying around i their children even while shopping in the stores. Right from the time when we first went to China, I remember how much the men loved the children and fathers would not be a bit ashamed of looking after or entertaining the children. Joyce: But in the nurseries and daycare centers, 99 percent ofthe childcare workers were women. When we asked why, they replied that the women were more patient with the children. Catherine: And yet, in the homes, when we asked who did the different chores, they replied that whoever was home did the cooking and cleaning and washing of dishes. Joyce: It also seemed that because children were so valued, looking after them was not considered a chore or a low status occupation but a very important responsibility requiring not only patience but also creativity. The concept and experience of sisterhood has been very important to the women's movement in North America What does sisterhood mean in the context of China? Joyce: One thing that 1 think 1 really understand now is the way in which competition affects people and the importance of eliminating competition for men or for the attention of men. In such a context we cannot really relate to each other in healthy ways. Catherine: When we first went to China there wasn't any courtship at all. Women were in their homes and men sent a request to a matchmaker to find him a wife and the families arranged it. Families competed but there wasn't any real comparison with our situation. A few years after we got to China the first girl students came to our university. The first six went around with a nanna or nurse, an old lady, to all their classes. Several times I was asked to give talks on "How can we meet friends of the other sex." American movies were coming into China and with them the western-romantic notions of love. I remember once a young man was so angry with a girl who refused him that he cut off his finger and sent it to her. When at first this romantic ideal got into them they went kind of berserk. Did you find the Chinese children to be in any significant ways different from western children? Joyce: Oh, much different! They were so outgoing and uninhibited and dynamic that the children themselves said more about the Chinese Revolution than almost anything. The Revolution was written in their faces. Catherine: They would come up and put their hand in yours and look up at you and smile. Nothing that you could imagine that they had been programmed to do. Their welcomes, of course, they had planned and they had made banners and performed skits, but they were so genuinely delighted you couldn't possibly think they weren't enjoying it. Joyce: I never saw a child crying. I never saw a child being abused or hit. I never saw two children fighting. Cathcri bandit, other \ nc: Oh I saw one. I think they were playing One boy had another all tied up and the as crying. Joyce: I was also struck by how self-sufficient the kids were. The first morning we were in Canton we were walking and we came across a little group of children that couldn't have been more than five or six years old. They had divided themselves in two rows and one fellow was leading them in a sort of military drill plus exercises and then they all marched off to school together. No adults around whatsoever except these foreigners who were quite a source of distraction. Also the children put on the same cultural presentations as the adults. Their lives on the whole were much more integrated witb the whole society than here. In Wuhan the workers and the children put on a presentation together with the children playing the roles of adults. Catherine: The brought right dow can understand. oluti culture has been evel that even-a young child Joyce: Also the children are involved in production. In the Peking Timber 11, for example, children were shaving legs for chairs to be used in their own classrooms.Other children were working right alongside workers at machines as part of their regular curriculum. In the schools as well there were workshops and vegetable patches. In Nanking we saw them making air filters for cars for a nearby automobile factory ii^ the school itself. It's part of the integration of theory and practice in manual and mental labour. Also the purpose is to bring the kids into contact with the workers. In some places they even slowed down the productive process to enable children to participate in some aspect of it. Catherine: And the children seemed to enjoy the work much as children here might work with paper and glue, but which is ultimately just thrown away. *** Little girl leading military drill at Youth Culture Palace in Shanghai. 1 a RJUJ-wuf -by Yjibsn VcrfajJUsxIkjtf I wanted to write a review of one portion of an episode of 'Marcus Welby, M.D.' for the Pedestal, but I feel quite apologetic about having watched such garbage and feel I should explain first how it all came about. Normally, I watch only one or two shows a year because I find TV nauseating and at the same time, it intensifies my feeling of being a total and hopeless failure. I went home for Christmas is how it all started. I hadn't been home for Christmas for several years already so it was the most exciting thing that had happened in years. I don't mean that Christmas is a big deal, but going to see my family is. About New Years, I was in Edmonton. Reni and Ruben live in Edmonton. Reni is 3 1/2 and Ruben a year younger. Reni remembered me but Ruben took a whole day before he would speak to me. He can't say much yet, which may have been part of the difficulty. He has a large stomach and a large mouth. When he's happy, he laughs this ecstatic laugh coming from somewhere down in his stomach. He also has a temper and amazing tantrums during which he hurls himself on the floor with a fury that is awesome to behold. Mary says they do their best to take these tantrums seriously as he can't stand being laughed at. How they usually handle the matter nowadays is to order him to his room. He runs, slamming the door behind him with a satisfying bang and this, I think, allows him to retain his dignity and some control of the situation. A little while later he comes out with a Kleenex covering the lower part of his face. He seems to derive a great deal of comfort from the Kleenex. He likes hugging people and drops whatever he's doing at regular intervals to throw himself affectionately at Mary's legs. Reni doesn't like this kind of mauling as she is only slightly taller than Ruben and gets bashed around by his exuberant love. Ruben's vocabulary is limited, but he understands most of what is said to him. A few months ago he said 'no' to everything, so Mary convinced him he shouldn't tell lies.' . He doesn't know what lies are and his idea of telling the truth is to say 'yes' to everything. Ask him anything and he says yes. Did you knock down the Xmas tree? Yeah, he says happily. But the Xmas tree's not down, did you. put it back up? Yeah he says. Reni is the intellectual in the family. She has to be able to analyze and explain things because she has been afflicted with eczema. The doctors have no answers. A new house and a vegetarian diet with soya milk has considerably eased the problem though constant vigilance is required. She loves me and follows me around all over until I get angry and yell at her. I am distressed by my irrationality, she understands explanations and there was no need to yell at her, only to explain that everyone needs to be alone sometimes and although I love her madly, she is not to follow me to the toilet. After I explain all thisrshe leaves me an hour or so in the afternoon to read in my room as well. Marcus Once when we are alone in the living room, I tell her about the complexity of human relationships and how it is possible to be angry at someone you love and, like that. She asks me if cake is bad for adults. —I already know it's bad for kids, she says, especially kids with eczema, but is it bad for adults too? —Yes, I tell her, although not as bad as for kids since adults have finished growing already. Their bones and muscles aren't developing, so adults could eat some cake with no immediate ill effects. —Well, she says, Mary is in the kitchen eating a big piece of cake. —Surely not, I protest. I bet it's only a small piece of cake. She goes to peer thoughtfully at Mary and return, to say it really is a^big piece of cake. —Hmmm, I say, this seems like a good example of the complexity of human relationships I was describing earlier. Your mother is subject to compulsive, deviantly-oriented behavior whenever cake . is available while manifesting rational responses to all other stimuli. Like, you ate some ham last night, though you know already your eczema is better on a vegetarian diet, and nothing awful happened and everyone loved you as much as ever. Your mother is even now polishing off the last crumbs of cake. I yelled at you yesterday for no reason. What I'm trying to tell you is that even good people act bad sometimes. —I really like you, Auntie, she says, climbing up on the couch to kiss my cheek. I .swallow an enormous lump in my throat and refrain from hugging her. After the kids are in bed, I recount the conversation for Mary. Mary said once Reni had said 'I really like you, Mary' and immediately after, asked for something. Mary told her she ought not tell people she likes them in order to get something. Why not??? Reni asked, scandalized. Rose was coming for a few days and when Art and Mary went to pick her up at the bus station, Ruben stood by the door jumping up and down and singing 'annie o, annie o', which is pretty close to 'Auntie Rose', when you think about it. It was all really exciting, but all too soon Rose was leaving again. I told Reni just before she was going to bed that Rose was leaving the next morning, so she wouldn't be upset about finding her gone. Children lead such bewildering lives. People come and go and it's all outside the understanding, let alone the control, of the child. Reni seemed upset for a bit, but then after lying on the pillow sucking her thumb for a while, she brightened. 'I don't care that Rose is leaving', she announced, 'because I really like her and I know she'll come back again.' 'Sure, and you can go and visit her on the farm, too.' We went to tell Rose why we didn't care she was leaving, and Rose accused me of having done some coaching, but I swore I hadn't and Reni was quite pleased by the whole thing. When she watches TV she sucks her thumb and has a glazed look in her eyes. I find that disturbing and don't know why. After all, I spent about 8 years of my life with my thumb in my mouth and the same glazed look. I think it's that she should be having her own daydreams, not that febrile crap, to suck her thumb by. I ask Mary if the programs are good for her and Mary says she's not sure. Reni and I watch TV. I smoke and Reni sucks her thumb. We are both bored by Sesame Street. She likes the Flintstones and I hate them and tell her the sexual stereotyping is objectionable. She doesn't agree. As far as anyone can tell, she thinks women are the superior sex. In the evening she turns on the TV again so I start monitoring again, but she gets bored and goes away. After she has gone to bed, I'm still watching Marcus Welby, M.D. because it's so unbelievably stupid it's hard to believe, and yet so brainwashingly clever at the same time. Marcus Welby's daughter is pregnant but has had rubella and wants an abortion. That takes the first 45 minutes. She is persuaded not to have an abortion. That takes 15 minutes. That doesn't sound either ex- ~ citing or awful. It's all the little details that make it so horrible. Sandra decides early in the show to have an abortion. The men keep telling each other she hasn't made up her mind yet, when it's perfectly obvious she has made up her mind. Only when she is finally beaten down to where she says she won't have an abortion is she considered to have 'made up her mind'. Further, her doctor and Marcus Welby spend a long time telling Sandra there's no way to tell whether or not she had rubella since she didn't see a doctor at the time. Sandra says but she knows she had rubella but that's not considered evidence. *' DI o o Welby,M.D. There's this little subplot in the program also. To make the thing more touching and frightening, Marcus Welby is shown delivering a deformed baby early in the program. He isn't shown telling the mother of it anything at all, why should he? He does talk to the father of it, only he doesn't tell him anything about how genetic defects work or anything, he just says to this young man: your wife has borne a monster. The kid asks if it's his fault and Marcus Welby says it probably is, and the kid stumbles away in paroxysms of guilt. That's how ya get 'em where you want 'em. The parents, of course, have to keep coming back to see Marcus Welby, and throughout the program they are seen keeping their appointments only the program doesn't tell you how much it all costs them and how they would not be able to keep up their mortgage payments to pay for it all. It only shows you Marcus Welby being kind and fatherly and understanding, which he fucking should be considering he's the one that guilted them into the state they're jn. That subplot ends with the discovery that this young man does indeed have genetic defects and he says, tragically, they can't have any more kids then, but his wife says they will so. Women aren't supposed to mind carrying monsters in their womb for 9 months, just so long as they finally manage to have a normal heir and all that. Adoption isn't presented as an alternative. There's even more than that. At one time, Sandra (Marcus Welby's daughter) almost has a miscarriage because her husband speaks nasty to her and then she's in the hospital for some days. Her doctor tells Marcus Welby that it's all taking so long because Sandra can't decide whether or not to have a miscarriage,. In case you don't get it, dear reader, that means women have only to decide to have a miscarriage and it will happen, or decide not to have one and it won't happen. Easy. I wonder why we need birth control and fertility pills? Unfortunately, this notion of the awesome power of women has taken hold in the counterculture as well, and a reader has written about having her baby in 10 minutes with no pain. It's really nice for her and all that but it only lays more guilt on women, all the rest, who don't have their babies in 10 minutes and don't will miscarriages, and stuff. It goes along with the myth about peasant women who have babies in the field and then keep on working. Women did, and still do, and they're old and tired by 25 and their life expectancy is between 30 and 40 years old. Human beings are really tough and women seem to be biologically tougher than men, but there are definite limits to what we can do. I've strayed off the subject again, Which is Marcus Welby, without even telling about the climax of that particular program. The daughter's husband gives Marcus Welby hell for not having raised his daughter right, and finally the whole thing works up to this dramatic moment when Sandra's husband tells Sandra's father (Sandra doesn't have anything to do with all this) the terrible truth: SANDRA DOESN'T WANT TO BE A MOTHER. The program was to have been concluded the following week but I didn't watch it. I mean, a woman who doesn't want to be a mother. . . As bad as the other woman I heard the desk clerks talking about in the Skyliner when I went in to use the washroom. She knew how to do everything but love, they said sadly. Love, commercialized and plastic is woman's sole occupation. I'm sure that in the end, Marcus Welby's daughter proved she really wanted to be a mother. But a large number of women are no longer so keen on fulfilling their womanly duties and they're not very good at the role prescribed for women. So I get these guys from some downtown nightclub (oh yeah — I didn't mention that Irwork as a cabbie) and the first one gets in and says we have to wait for some others. He talks in a normal voice until the other two get in and then they all speak in these falsettos. The one in the front*asks me if I've ever seen a female entertainer before and I say I have. They tell me, after we've dropped off the entertainer, what a great entertainer he is. The phenomenon of female impersonation irritates,me a great deal, so I ask these guys to explain it to me. Why don't audiences like women playing women, how come men playing women is becoming more popular? I've asked other entertainers the same question and they don't have any real answer, they just explain how good they are. These guys told me again how great the impersonator was, but I kept asking, to their exasperation, why they don't have women playing women. Finally one of them said, irritably: Because men do it better! I suppose that's not surprising since the role of women was invented by men. But then, so was the role of men, and they don't seem to be doing a very good job of it either. So that's the situation and because of it, Reni and Ruben are being subjected to a barrage of propaganda from the media covering every conceivable angle from which they might try to escape their prescribed roles. Even the 'fact that their parents are lousy at the game of wife-and-male- chauvinist can be used to brainwash their children. They are portrayed in hundreds of caricatures as bumbling fools, pitiable failures, and TV, radio, commercials, billboards, children's books, people's conversations, direct the children that they must pity such parents but not emulate them. Ruben has very strong likes and dislikes and he's either ecstatic or he's miserable. What he passionately loves at the moment are: babies, machines, dolls, the moon, Reni. He was getting a cold one night and couldn't sleep and in the night I woke to hear him rocking and singing Frere Jacques. How will he ever grow up to be a MAN? \ On the train a kid made friends with me. He was named Danny and he was 10 years old and he was in grade 2 because he kept failing. I told him the best people failed in school. He said that since he was an Indian, kids in school said 'How, paleface' to. him. I asked him if he spoke the Indian language and he said only she did, pointing to his mother, but he preferred American. He said he could make me speak Indian, though. How? I asked, and he was delighted by that. It all really irritated me and ultimately I got furious at the kid and would have cheerfully thrown him off the train. It wasn't his fault. He was a bright, cheerful, articulate kid and after I told him that palefaces were white people, he brought out all the other knowledge he had about Indians for confirmation or denial. The main problem seemed to be that no one had ever told him about history and he didn't know there was a time before white people came, being under the. impression there had always been whites and Indians together with the whites 'helping' the Indians, who weren't very bright. I tried to tell him everything I knew about the matter, but he didn't believe me. I had confused him from the beginning when, after his recital of what Indians were and the relationship with white people, I told him it was all lies, that the TV, books and teachers had lied to him all these many years. Lying wasn't part of his world view. In his world, people simply didn't tell lies, particularly on the monstrous scale I was suggesting. But then, if all that wasn't lies, I was lying by telling him it was. What is a kid to think? That is the problem with raising a kid to be kind and loving in a society where nice people get trampled. Maybe I should have told him instead of Harold Cardinal and Chief Dan George so that he could acquire another vision of his people, and have heroes who looked like him, and maybe that's more important. I dunno. All I know is they're fucking over my niece of the heart-stopping beauty and my nephew of the large laugh. There doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. Mary writes that when I'd walked away to the train and they were leaving the station, she asked Reni if she was going to miss me. Reni said No, I miss her awreddy. She's gonna be a smart-ass like her daddy, Mary writes. She'll need to be. 1 page 10 • pedestal - feb 72 1 UBC STAFF ORGANIZE! The Office and Technical Employees Union has set the end of February as the target date for applying for certification; by then 51% of the unorganized staff at the University of British Columbia will have applied for union membership, or so we hope. How close we are to that at the moment isn't exactly certain. The total number of staff out here is 1200 to 1300 and probably closer to. 1300. The bulk of these workers are unorganized. (John McLean, Director of Personnel at UBC, estimated the number at around 700 after the Ubyssey [student newspaper] pressed him to it. Workers themselves did the digging and got the real facts. If we had taken him seriously, the union would have been left with a sure flop of a drive, far short of a majority.) The union office has said that the drive was doing very well up to the holidays, slowed almost to a stop then, but is now booming with about 10 to 20 applications a day. The Faculty of Medicine and the Library have been at 100% application for quite some time know, and I've heard the same about the Physical Plant. This is not only because there are many enthuasiastic people working in those places, but that in these centers many more workers are under one big roof and have contact with each other. The drive is much more difficult to effect amongst those who are in scattered offices or huts. Communication is a problem anyway, without our being physically scattered over acres and acres, and the University Administration has done everything it can to keep us isolated and unknown to each other. But we have found ways. We now have a complete list of staff, with names and locations, and very shortly we will begin personally contacting those who haven't already sent in applications. We do know that we're not just a few handfuls of applications away from a majority. We do know that we still have quite a way to go. But we're all feeling very optimistic and certain that we're going to make it. That description of where things are at at the moment at UBC is pretty fuzzy and unsatisfying, I realize, but it can't be helped — that's all we know. But there is a lot to report about the history of the drive so far, the attitudes some of us have run into, and the kinds of things many of us hope for. Let me start first with the history. r*TV\NOIA OF THE POCKET 6QOK Thanks to the UBC Administration's paranoia (which is a paranoia of the pocketbook), the drive got off to a dramatic start. On September 29, the OTEU held its first open, public meeting. Mrs. Jeanne Paul, Administrative Assistant for the Faculty of Science, attended — as an observer, since her rank (the highest a secretary can get at UBC, and a position usually filled by men — retired army functionaries being very popular) disqualified her from membership in a workers' union because of her managerial position. The next day Mrs. Paul was called into Acting Dean Scagel's office "to discuss rearranging the workloads in the office," as she assumed. In the public statement Mrs. Paul made to an OTEU meeting on December 2, this is how she told what happened. "How right I was, but not in the way I expected. Assistant Deans Divinsky and McMillan were already in the Dean's office when I arrived. . . Without preamble, Acting Dean Scagel said to me: 'Mrs. Paul, it is my unhappy (?) duty to ask you for your resignation effective immediately. Hand over the key to your office and what is . yours will be sent to you.' I said:'I can not hand in my resignation, I have no reason to.' 'Then you will be dismissed from the University and will not receive a letter of recommendation.' I asked what his reasons were and he said you will get them from Mr. McLean after you have handed in your resignation. Acting Dean Scagel then said it has been decided that you must go and you will never again work in the Faculty of Science. I did not hand in my resignation and so a severance notive was sent to Mr. John McLean, Director of Personnel, by Dr. Scagel." 8fey§|£ THE UNION ACT%> The OTEU stepped in and urged her to let them take her case to the Labor Relations Board. The OTEU's prompt response, even though she hadn't (and couldn't have) applied for the union, together with the excellent front page coverage the Ubyssey gave, has done more for the union drive than anything else could have. She had given 17 years of service to UBC, and just nobody was about to believe that she could be so suddenly incompetent as to be fired without warning or justification, particularly with the too strong coincidence of the union meeting the night before. What has happened in her case is that after the union and the student paper got on it, the University had to reinstate her on the staff. (She is now working in Law on a grant that runs out at the end of March.) Her case did get to the Labor Relations Board, and while I do not know the exact decisions, the gist of it is that the University must offer Mrs. Paul a job that she (not the University) considers equivalent to the one she was fired from. I know that they have recently offered her a job that she is quite interested in, but whether she has accepted it or not, I don't know. While it didn't get any public notice, there was . another incident in the late fall which has also made a lot of converts for the drive as the story has passed from one person to another. A woman was working very hard for the union drive in the Library. She had only been out here three and a half months, and so was still within the six months probation period. She wasn't fired, but she was called in and given a progress report which theatened her with dismissal. The OTEU stepped in and charged that she was being hassled because of her union activities and not because of the quality of her work. The pressure paid off; she was transferred to the Woodward section ofthe library, a transfer all of us were glad about since that branch of the library was as yet unorganized. Before I get to the final incident, I want to backtrack a little and give you a summary of the drive in the Student Union Building. Only eight women work in the SUB, and their employer is not the general University Administration but the student Alma Mater Society — specifically, whatever crew happens to be the student government at the time. The previous student government, the Human Government, not only supported arid helped establish the Canadian Women course which is now being held for up to 700 people in the SUB, but they actually must be credited with initiating this union drive, encouraging the workers to unionize and perhaps inviting the union in to organize. Not only that, they inserted a clause in the contract that called for a half a day off, with pay, per week for any woman assisting in a cooperative day-care centre where she had a pre-school child. That clause would probably be in the present completed contract if it hadn't been withdrawn by the current student government, a government stuffed with 18 year old octogenarians. The last incident to date in the drive concerns that bunch, the present student government, and AMS executive secretary Carol Buzas. In the front page article of The Ubyssey on Thursday, January 13, there was a fine account of the super-sexist in camera meeting (Carol and the union weren't invited) in which AMS president Burnyeat and treasurer Dick, mostly, shot off their mouths. They wanted Carol fired. They tried to base the dismissal on the grounds of the afternoon a week Carol takes off from work to assist in a co-op daycare centre where she has a young son, but they had to admit that she worked every Wednesday night to make up the time (an arrangement which wouldjjgye been unnecessary if these bosses had not removed t{ie day-care clause from the union contract). They tried to claim that she was late many mornings, but had to admit that she worked through every lunch-hour. Finally, driven to the nub of their real reasons, tljey tried to base dismissal on her alleged sympathies with the Human Government, her original bosses. That they had no proof of her political sympathies aside, the shock of it was that they blithely assumed that political sympathies are grounds for dismissal. Pushed a little on that score, they responded that, well, it made her a "security risk." Their evidence for this was that she had told people they had placed her on a two-week probation period in December (the OTEU contract with the AMS was signed on December 21). That should be secret? What happened, again, is that "the OTEU stepped in, reached a verbal agreement with the student government that not only would she keep her job, but that the conditions of her employment wouldn't be changed (working to make up for time spent at the day-care centre). And this week they got it in a written agreement. The Ubyssey this week, in reporting the outcome in favor of Carol, gives ho clear idea at all of the part the OTEU played in the settlement. You could almost think from the article that the student government had simply gratuitously decided to be good guys after all. All of these incidents have directly affected the drive. Every time "the bosses" do a stupid,!,hea\fy- handed thing and the worker gets rescued, more applications come into the union office. I feelthstsihe union, while it has acted strongly in every case, is far too timid about publicity, fearing that these cases will scare people away-. But the verbal reactions out ■ here and the changes in the volume of mail and calls 'theunion office gets point in the opposite direction. I! ■'in And this brings me to attitudes, first of the union officials, then of the people working out here. First (the union. j1-' My contact with the OTEU staff began as a result Dof a letter I wrote to the union office asking if their 'sunion organizer was a woman, and if not, why not. I ^got- a call from Opal Skillings, the Secretary- Treasurer, who said that, no, the union organizer and negotiator was a man, Bill SwansonT. and the President was a man, Bill Lowe, and, yes, it was true that the union was 75% to-85% women — but that she was a woman, and that the two secretaries in the -'office were women, so in fact the head office was "§faWea"1by?ovef"50% Women. She thought that if there u>had been any discrimination in the union, it had been against men. She also thought that the job of organizer really was too hard for a woman, that it took long hours and would take a woman away from her home in the evening. When I talked with her on the phone a few weeks later, a big OTEU ad had been printed in The Ubyssey and she asked if I had any suggestions to make about the ad. I said that the Yrext time they should mention, with the long list of 'benefits, equal pay for equal work. She mumbled something about not wanting to get involved in Women's Lib stuff, that they cared about discrimination against men as well. I answered that if it's equal pay for equal work, then by definition no one is discriminated against, right? With that conversation, I felt sure that the OTEU office and I were at a permanent standoff, even though I was still committed to working for the drive. But over the past few months there have been some interesting changes in attitude at that downtown office. The next time I contacted Opal, I asked for some union packets to take to the Women's Studies class, The Canadian Woman. When she heard of the number in attendance (then around 600), she began to speak very differently about equal pay for equal work. She said I should tell anyone that the union .had a firm policy regarding equal pay for equal work. The Pedestal will probably say more about it in later issues, but I'll say here that a Women's Action Group is gathering momentum at UBC. Dorothy Smith, Associate Professor of Sociology, is Chairman, and many faculty, students and staff are involved. The first project is an extensive study of the status of all women on campus, along the lines of the ones done at McMaster, Harvard and other places. . . But that's another article. All I want to say ■i here is that it became my job to get what information I could about staff (job descriptions, etc.) from the OTEU, since it's classified as top secret out here. I nrdecided to be straight forward with Bill and Opal, ■ and tell them everything I wanted, why, what we . wanted to do with it and what we hoped would hap- .pen on campus. To my astonishment, they were com- z pletely open to the whole project, very interested in •*he McMaster Report and very helpful in giMingrftie all the staff job descriptions they had. And Opal, whom I had thought of earlier as the archetypal "token woman" produced from her desk a solid article by Joanna Winthrop entitled, . 'Trust in God, She Will Provide." Wonders never cease. I don't think this attitude is just the way the OTEU office has learned to deal with meJ think they are being forced into a different kind of thinking in regard to ail working women. Bill Lowe told a story about sending out a pamphlet at the beginning of the drive which featured, a string of testimonials about unions by movie stars. They were sent back to him, and "don't ever send us.anything like this again." As we know, secretaries really are past responding to movie stars. If union officials are hearing a new seriousness in working women and responding out of opportunism only, as may well be, I think the effect could be the same as genuine belief in the rights of working women — if the women involved in the unions hold them to those rights. The fight here, for instance, will only begin with achieving certification. After that comes time off with pay for day care, and job expansion and adventure, not just job security and (yawn) dental plans. From where I sit I'd say that not only are Bill and Opal of the OTEU expecting all that, but they're pretty much prepared to capitulate by helping initiate — before they have to give in. Have I been taken in? Well, we'll see. (I know one thing: we must elect a female union organizer, and at least a woman co-president of the OTEU before we're through.) Just one last paragraph about the attitudes of staff we've encountered here. The reason this drive is going instead of fizzling as the CUPE drive among office staff did in 1968, is not because of a more efficient and enterprising union. I think the difference is the general consciousness level of women in 1971- 1972 as compared to 1968. It isn't just a woman here or there who has gone to some Women's Lib meetings. I think that the chains in all women's heads are beginning to crumble. Oh sure, there are still lots of sleepers, but it's beginning to happen. But, one protest — not to the Administration of the University of British Columbia, nor to the officials of the OTEU, not even to all those sleepers. Do you know who are the most irritatingly obstinate and belligerent about organizing? The women who are the most involved and committed to Women's Lib. Every time I run into it, it stuns me, but it happens over and over. "It's selling out to the chauvinists, the establishment. . ." and so on and so on. But how do you -displace male chauvinists, and how do you change establishments into something human, and, if this isn't where we start, then where the hell do we start?! The liberated snide sneer is getting me down. So what do we do about it? Well, that's another article. —LORI WHITEHEAD As we go to press, the target date has been postponed to mid-March. The sexist student government won out in the end by hassling Carol Buzas till she resigned. feb 72 - pedestal - page 11 reprinted from The Grape by W.C. Plumbing was the first step down the long road to modern civilization, and the flush toilet is the flower of the art. Rome finally fell the day the sewers backed up, and if your toilet fails in this age of well- heeled plumbers, you'll understand why. If you want to learn to communicate with your toilet, first you have to understand how it works. You can learn all you need to know about it just by taking off the top and watching while you flush it a few times. Basically it's a tank full of water which washes down in through the toilet bowl when you pull the plug, then fills back up to get ready for the next load Refer to the drawing. When you push on the flush lever, it pulls the plug in the bottom of the tank by means of chain on the end 'of the arm. The plug is hollow, so once it's pulled up it floats in the open position until all the water in the tank runs out. Then it flops back in place, and when the tank starts to fill up again it is sealed in place by the pressure of the water on it. All the rest of the machinery is to fill the tank automatically. The water comes in through a pipe which comes out the back of the tank; you can turn it off if you have to with the faucet somewhere behind the toilet. The water intake goes through a valve which is controlled by the float. As the tank fills, the hollow float rises and shuts off the valve* And that's all there is to it. Unless something goes wrong. Fortunately not much can go wrong with such a simple system, and usually it's easy to deal with. (Everyone knows what to do when it's clogged, right? You use a plunger, often called a plumber's friend). The first thing to do is take off the top and look inside. The water in the tank is as fresh as the last time you flushed the toilet, and it's the same water that you drink at the sink. Notice the float bowl. If you want to conserve water, don't waste of brick by putting it in to take up space. Just bend the float lower so that the filling valve will turn off when there is less water in the tank. The only limit to lowering it is that you might have to flush more than once to get rid of particularly stubborn turds. The most delicate part of the mechanism is the valve. If yours leakswhen it should be off, the tank will keep filling up until it starts to drain out ofthe overflow pipe. This is one of the main sources of a constant sound of running water. All you can do is see if the float works properly (they can get waterlogged), to check if it's really the valve that's broken. If it is, turn off the water from behind the toilet and remove the top part of the valve. Take it down to a plumbing supply house and get new washers and seals for it. Another problem that makes your toilet sound like a mountain brook is if the plug at the bottom doesn't seal down, and Water keeps running out into the toilet bowl. Finding out exactly why is a matter of peering closely at the plug while flushing the toilet a time or two. This can be cheaply relaced if it's old and worn. Frequently it's a matter of a minor adjustment, though, remember, a smoothly-functioning toilet is of prime importance to a serene household. page 12 - pedestal - feb 72 SING OUT! A Canadian woman denounced the Vietnam war on January 28. So, what else is new? We've been denouncing the war for ages. . . But, Carol Feraci denounced it to Nixon and Billy Graham and Bob Hope and the entire North, American press! Simply by joining the Ray Coniff Singers a week before they were to perform at the White House. Just before the program began, Carol pulled a sign from the top of her dress: STOP THE KILLING. She said: ". . . stop bombing human beings, animals and vegetation. . . If Jesus Christ was in this room tonight you would not dare to drop another bomb. Bless the Berrigans and Daniel Ellsberg." Martha Mitchell, wife of the attorney general, said:"I think she ought to be torn limb from limb." Carol Feraci said: "I thought that it would make a nation-wide impression if an oobie-doobie-doo girl like myself made this protest on a stage inside the White House. It did. THE WEAKER SEX? Feminist Media This is an organization for v terested in finding out who is writing and publishing feminist literature or working for other media in that field. We are making a list of all women interested in this subject. To have your name added and to receive new lists, send a stamped, self- addressed envelope.to: Clearinghouse for Feminist Media P.O. 207 Ancaster, Ont. Canada. ■ List your name and address, all your publications on Feminism in full, areas in which you are presently working and areas in which you would like to work. THE PEDESTAL is published monthly by the Pedestal Collective, 511 Carrall Street, Vancouver. And here we are again, late again, but better late than never. This issue was put together by the following sisters, more or less: Pat Hoffer, Diana Kemble, Beverley Davies, Helen Potrebenko, B. Thompson, Elizabeth Gowland, Jackie Ainsworth, D.J. O'Donnell, Josie Devlin, Jean Rands, Anne Goldstein, Lorette Glasheen. They call it Bloody Sunday in Ulster — January 31, when British soldiers fired on demonstrators killing 13 people. Later, all these guys in the British parliament listened to the British Home Secretary Maudling explain how the soldiers did it all under provocation. He didn't explain how come if 'about 200' shots were fired at the soldiers, there's no dead soldiers, only 13 dead civilians. - Bernadette Devlin asked if it was in order for lOrjirrjenri i/n tlu Arbs A special exhibit exploring the issue of "Women in the Arts" will be the focus in the Little Gallery, Second floor, ofthe Vancouver Art Gallery, for the duration of ARTISTS' PROBE. This exhibit will be coordinated with Women's Week at the University of British Columbia, which will take place from March 6 to 10. The aim of both events will be to bring together women who are working in all the arts, to give them a chance to see and hear what other women working in their own and allied fields are doing, and to give them an opportunity to discuss the specific concerns and problems of the woman who is also an artist. As a way of documenting a large cross-section of their current work, interested women artists are invited to submit two to three slides of this work to be' used specifically for the probe into "Women in the Arts", Education Department, Vancouver Art Gallery. Anyone interested in participating in any way, please contact Women's Studies Office, SUB. Phone 228- 2082, or Diana Snow at 684-2488. Chattel Slavery Revived Who owns our bodies? The Ontario Supreme Court has granted a man an injunction to prevent his wife's abortion. The BC Women's Abortion Law Repeal Coalition held a press conference to protest. "Why don't we apply through the courts for legal guardianship of the fetuses in our own bodies?" Susan Gillingham asked. "Sure," said Sylvia Hawreliak, Georgia Grape staffer. "There's nothing I'd like better than having 30 women going to court trying to get legal custody of their bodies." members to lie in parliament. Then she crossed the aisle, punched old Maudling in the face, pull^^Sj hair and scratched him. Honorable Members got up to pull her off (this being the first instance of British parliamentarians getting off their asses). The fact that it took so many MP's to put her out of the chambers is once again an illustration of the ineffectiveness of parliam|l&I politics. Save Our Sperm ii 1 by Ethel Strainchamps I am taking the necessary steps today to have myself appointed guardian of all unspent sperm within the jurisdiction of New York City. The energy these tiny creatures display in their determined effort to be first at the goal line is poignant evidence of their will to live. I, and all women, have a special interest-'injt'KcjdiK;* tie female sperm. Our sisters-to-be join in the race to survive with a do-or-die spirit that should be a lesson to us all. They certainly deserve the chance for survival that God intended for all living things. Denying them this right in wanton acts of masturbation, etc., is little short of murder. Those torn from their little nest involuntarily, as in wet dreams, could be preserved if proper care were takeri^^ml- city could pay sperm-bank rents for the fathers who can't afford to pay it themselves. Whatever it'cd^sf \ society should ensure that the men who find themselves in the position of toting the tiny things aTr*o|||ff take the responsiblity for their welfare. I am not interested in ova; I've had my fill of ova. •They are comparatively inert anyway, and thus do not particularly inspire any cheering from the> sidelines. But I am sure that no woman who has onc^ watched a valiant little sperm under a microscope' and has said to herself "I was once one of-fhq&iii can ever again contemplate with equanimity the' carelessness with which their rights are now treated. reprinted from .the^ village, vpiqe^ Ji^cernpei; ^1.6, j t> 72 - pedestal - page 13 Dear Pedestal staff; My family and I are looking for a couple to share our home. I am reluctant to place an ad in the Strait without • adding "Chauvinist need not apply" so I turned to the Pedestal and found no space set aside for ads or personals. I think it is necessary for movement women who wish to advertise to have a free or reasonable means of reaching other movement women. Such a need could be met by space in the Pedestal for ads that might include; roommate needed, baby sitting exchanges, or free clothing or furniture. This could also increase circulation. There are many instances where women such as myself want to deal mainly with other women whose heads are in the same place. This is one reason I wanted to place our ad in the Pedestal, as my husband and I have come a long way in our role dissolving since I entered the movement. I couldn't imagine living harmoniously with a couple where the woman did all the shit work, waited on the man hand and foot and was called a chick or cunt. I need the woman to woman relationship with a woman that feels the same as I. As a couple we need another couple who are learning as we are to be free of old roles and stereotypes. Yours in sisterhood, Jackie Mitchell If c/^YTV Our ad reads: Together couple wanted to share roomy, comfortable, older home with large yard for future garden. Small family and couple in basement, all employed. Into music, . crafts and "back to the land". Reliable working people please. One child O.K. Available Feb. 15th. 3694 Ste. Famille Montreal 130, P.Q. Dear Fran, Gwen, Maxine, JC - poets This is for all of you, or whichever ones get to see it. I thought your Pedestal poetry was very fine, so nicely laid out too, but perhaps the best "women's" poetry I've come across in a Women's Liberation paper - in that it wasn't boring ordepressing or bitter, as so much feminist poetry is. It was positive, it was a step in a direction, rather than an exercise in different kinds of hatred. (It's okay for somebody inside the movement to say that, I think. It's not an accusation. I always knew that different kinds of poetry would eventually start to get written and published.) Yours in struggle, Anne Mclean Box 521 Nelson, B.C. Dear Sisters, Please bear with me . I am a woman and I need someone to understand my struggle. When I began to gain a consciousness of what it meant to be a woman in our society it seemed har- snless enough - a simple process really -. reading Kate Millet and Germaine Greer, an intellectual pursuit in self- analysis and role analysis. But how do you slow down that evolving consciousness when you see that the awareness and the ensuing conflicts and struggle increases a hundredfold with each step that you take forward ? .It is no longer a simple process of intellectualizing and rationalizing your oppression, it is living that oppression every minute of your life. It is the constant struggle against this total oppression, the need for a total rejection of your female role that fills you with anger, frustration, and many times, despair. The more aware I become of my stunting socialization as a woman (being denied, by a patriarchal society, certain basic rights because of my sex) the greater is the need for struggle, the greater is the conflict, the greater the* disappointments. What do you do when you go to a university and relate to fellow students in a male-dominated institution ? What do you do in an argument when someone says with a patronizing grin: "You can't argue with a woman !" ? What do you do when you refuse to have doors opened for you (a token .gesture perpetrated by males to emphasize their feelings of superiority) and someone calls you a "women's lib. chick" ? Men are. saying in so many subtle and not so subtle ways that we dore't exist as individual human beings, that in fact, we don't even have that right. But I'm just beginning to feel that I do exit as an individual and that it is my right to express this individuality in whichever way I may choose. Noone on this earth has the right to tell me otherwise, and to force me to live my life in a state of mental, physical, and psychological subservience. The struggle is on; do we have the courage, sisters ?? What do you do ? Yours in struggle and love, Vita Storey page 14 - pedestal - feb 72 Marx NEVER said... I I. Dear Pedestal, I have no objection whatsoever if people like Heather MacFarlane want to quarrel with Marxists; I see no reason why she should assume they have, anything to do with Marx. Most probably she has read one scholarly book explaining what he said; it is evident from her letter that she is not familiar with anything Marx wrote. She begins by explaining to the unenlightened masses that Marx was an economic determinist, a Hegelian, and a Social Darwinist..You can't be all those things at once. Economic determinism implies that all of us are machines, Hegel had some strange notion that ideas rule the world and that makes us all gods or potential gods, and social Darwinism presupposes that we have no mind and are only animals. I am not a Marxist because I have this peculiar hang-up and object to referring to a certain world view as 'Marxist' as if it was his private property. I think Marx pointed out some truths about the world but these truths were known by others and Marx's contribution was not discovery of anything new, but the arrangement of that knowledge in ways that could be., useful. The first of the parts of Marx's books I found most useful was his assertion that scholarship had to be concerned with particular realities rather than abstractions. He was not merely opposing 'phrases with other phrases', but speaking about real people in real situations. The second aspect of Marx's theory which I personally was pleased with, was the evidence that people are not irrational beings. The peace movement had convinced me there was this bunch of insane people running around and the only thing one could do was hide in the mountains, or kill oneself. But people act in particular ways for particular reasons and sometimes the reasons are obvious and sometimes they are- neither obvious nor simple. "This method of approach is not devoid of premises....Its premises are# people, not in any fantastic isolation orr= abstract definition, but in their actual, empirically perceptible process of development under definite conditions. As soon as, this active life-process is described, history ceases to be a collection of dead facts as it is with the empiricists, or an imagined activity of imagined subjects, as with the idealists." The static unchanging world-view which H.M. attributes to Marx was never something he wrote about. If she has been victimized by one of the vanguard groups who have just this - | world-view, then she should say so, without further spreading misinformation. The League for Socialist Action and the Young Socialists are Canadian groups supporting the Fourth International and are better known as' Trotskyists. ? Trotskyites ? Trots. Besides them, there are any number of other vanguard groups running around Vancouver, pointing the way to the Only True Revolution. My main objection to the Trots is that they appear to be setting the scene for winning the October, 1918 revolution in the U.S.S.R. Instead of beginning from real situations, as Marx said, they quote Marx to prove that something is really so. i.e. the workers are the revolutionary class because Marx said so; not: the workers are the revolutionary class because the situation has been analyzed. My other quarrel with vanguards is that there is no relationship between theory and practice. An action is never justified for its own sake - it must always have some cosmic explanation not related to the situation at hand. For example, the Trots abortion campaign is not being conducted, as one might expect, for the purpose of obtaining abortions for women who want them, but to build a mass movement. Thus, during my short association with the Women's Liberation Alliance, I found that none of them had any knowledge and little interest in the subject of -abortion, which supposedly was their main priority. They were, however, very learned on how to build a mass movement and seemed constantly to be looking around corners expectantly, for this movement to appear. I think we should all be wary of Vanguards, who are the new ruling class readying themselves for action. I think that the individuals in them are too often on personal glory trips. I don't think, however, that the proliferation of Vanguards should be blamed on Marx. Having disposed of 'Marxism', Heather M. proposes consciousness- raising groups as the alternative. Surely the bankruptcy of these should be obvious by now. Raising consciousness to what?Women should be aware of their oppressed state but exploring the misery for months and years would logically lead to drinking and/or drugs. If the groups provide emotional, support for women who, wquid otherwise crack, then they are therapy groups, which are good, but should not be confused with feminism or politics. If, as she suggests, these gr^jupjflead to the discovery that men - of all classes- and all races are the enemy, then what ? We don't have enough guns to shoot them all. Is a woman who has a maid less an enemy than a man with a secretary ? Is J. Kennedy my sister ? If feminism means I am to deny my brother, then I want no part of it. Is there anyone living on the East side of town (out towards Burnaby) interested in forming a rap group, and maybe an activity-craft group in that area ? Call Betty at 434-5298. I live in Boundary Road-Kingsway area (Vancouver side) I would like to think all women are my sisters just as I would like to think that all of humanity is one large family. But it ain't so. I'm not sure what Macfarlane's reference to Eldridge Cleaver is supposed to prove. Eldridge Cleaver went from raping black women to raping white women to raping no one. Only the last was due to the influence of Marxism. If the Cleaver story has any meaning, it shows what misery- mongering leads to. Cleaver saw himself rightly as oppressed by white men, so he retaliated by fucking the white man's prize possession - his woman. The problem H.M. seems to be having lies in seeing Eldridge Cleaver, or any other person, as a static human being forever raping. What he is is a confused, rapidly changing, human -like the rest of us. If the story proves anything at all, it proves that all people are capable of improving, and that when situations change, men change with them. Neither do I understand H.M.'s obsession with situations and people she knows. I'm not being oppressed by anyone I know. Should I invent a theory that makes my friends responsible for the state I'm in ? Macfarlane doesn't believe in the existence of a System Out There, which I would suppose means there are no classes, no capitalism. That's what she is supposed to believe. Ideally, as a good capitalist citizen, she should kick the shit out of her friends and refuse to believe in the existence of the capitalist system, thus contributing to its preservation. Helen Potrebenko Ian A4qw.s f Brian Hill 2 c-t {heauHws of the rvaneaacle veporf- on poverty uoill be ;>p«i|-:ina oJr ;prW OLfVfcK ttiGH SCHOOL _ 41*-P and Fraser a4h Tho. £•• oo p.m. I O Spovisfcveel (ry-foe Social isr , EdtAcaKoK "Committee - HDP •and he CERTAINLY never said... Dear Pedestal, I should like to take issue with Heather McFarlane's article entitled "Feminism and Marxism" in the January Pedestal. I believe that Marxism, far from obfuscating the gross injustices to women, is necessary for the eradication of sexism. Heather's bitter rejection of Marxism stems, as I see it, from two basic and crucial! facts: a totally incorrect understanding of Marxism, and a rather biased perspective ' of the American feminist movement. Ignorance of Marxism is due to several factors, among them: the complete rejection and neglect of Marxist theory by our society, especially in the schools; and the tendency by the media to label any anti- establishment: activist as a "red", thereby giving rise to the false notion that every utterance of said "revolutionary" is a pearl of Marxism. We have been taught that a theory of society should be as complete as possible, that all aspects of the society should fit into the theory in their past, present and future forms, and that a solid understanding of that theory will show us the road to social change. Unfortunately much of the New Left has seized upon Marxism in this vein. Marxism, however, is not and never has been an idealistic "cure-all" The uncompromising, no-nonsense face above belongs to Col. Ida Craft, a lady with a cause. She was a suffragist. Thirty-eight years ago she and hundreds of like- minded warriors forced the vote that finally gave women entry to the ballot box. We may weep, we may despair, but alas, we cannot reverse the course of history. philosophy. It is basically a method of analysis: a tool, not a solution. Marxism involves thinking, something which capitalist society has tried to teach us not to do. Before going into some of the specific points of Marxism in Heather's article, which I feel need to be corrected, I should like to comment on her analysis of the feminist movement. The bourgeois sexist history we study in school would have us believe that the suffrage movement was the sum total of the struggle of women in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is quite safe today to talk about women voting, since their votes are generally cast in similar proportion to male votes, and since voting doesn't count for so very much anyway. It might be of interest to note that the opposition to women's suffrage (before the Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920) came from the capitalists, not because they wanted to preserve femininity, but for -solid economic reasons. Big business ('breweries,, railroads, banks, cotton industry) and machine politicians actively opposed women's suffrage because they were afraid that the voting power of women would bring progressive legislation (such as abolition of child labor, better working conditions in factories, alleviation of discrimination against blacks) and prohibition. Why prohibition ? Married women, at the total mercy of their husbands, saw alcoholism as a major threat to themselves as women (putting up with a drunk husband was often beyond their capacities). From the early 1840's on women actively participated in temperance organizations. It is true that many suffrage leaders came to the movement through their earlier participation in the abolition movement, but perhaps even more of them were first organized doing temperance work. However, an equally heroic part of the fight for women's rights in 19th century U.S. was the labor movement. The militant strikes of the New England textile workers in the 1840's are as much a part of our history as the suffrage petitions. We've all heard of Susan B. Anthony, but who knows much about Sarah Bagely? How often have we heard that the settlement houses (the forerunners of modern social work) were also centres for trade union organizing, that both Lillian Wald and Jane Addams were forced to find out about unions because that was what fhe women wanted and needed. All of these activities, and mor*5, are part of our heritage - along with the participation of women in the abolition movement. Abolitionists tended to support the women's suffrage movement; one of the most consistent supporters of the early suffragists was Frederick Douglass, a black, male, Marxist. A few words on Marxism: Marx never meant to say that economic factors are the sole determinants of society, but that of all the different factors (e.g. law, morality, econonics, etc.) mitigating against each other, the economic factors give the determining impetus. (If you feel up to some heavy reading try The^ Materialist Conception, of History by George Plekhanov, which is a discussion of this point). Marxism rejects the idealist theories which see man and society evolving through the "irresistable progression of history". Instead, Marxism sees the material conditions of society as the decisive factov - not God, not some pre-determined evolutionary sequence. The key to Marxist analysis is the concept of dialectics which sees the very antagonisms in society the different factors vying with each other, as the impelling force. Change doesn't come according to a succinct theory - it comes from the participation of people in various levels and forms,of struggle. Another basic tenet of Marxism is that it is not static ideology. Just because Marx wrote his analysis in the context of 19th century Germany does not mean that that context is sacred. Marx claims for the working class anyone who must sell his labour power in order to live: I take that to mean white collar workers as well as blue...sceptics who like to wince at Marx's definition of "working class" should redefine it. I think that the biggest problem with Marx's definitions is his slight of women: he puts housewives into the same categories as their husbands. To the extent that the family is the society's economic unit this would seem to be true. But when we view the housewife's role as unpaid slave labour, then we need to redefine her relationship to the means of production. I am certainly not going to defend Marx's position on women (or his labelling of prostitutes as "scum"). Rather, I urge that we put our heads together to update Marxism so we can make it relevant to women and ultimately to humanity. But please, let us not be hasty lest we discard a useful tool because the "enemy" (bourgeois ideology) led us to believe it wouldn't work. Kitty Bernick P.S. As a start I recommend reading: Century of Struggle by Eleanor Flex- ner (Atheneun paperback) - about the women's rights movement in the U.S. The teachings of Karl Marx by V.I. Lenin - an introduction to Marxist philosophy Sisters, I am enclosing an ad for notecards of the six Indo-Chinese women who attended the Vancouver and Toronto Conferences in April 1971. They are photo offset reproductions of linoleum block prints, and each has biographical information on the back. Our Committee to Defend the Right to Live is sponsoring the sale of these cards to raise money for the Hanoi Institute for the Preservation of Women and Children. Hoping to hear from you. Your sister in the struggle. Glenda Jones. INDOCHINESE WOMEN COMMITTEE TO DEFEND THE RIGHT TO LIVE Attn: Glenda Jones 2163 Dumbarton Street East Palo Alto, California 94303 — sets of 6 cards at $1.50/set — cards of at 25tf/card (name) postage and packaging, 25i/order KHAMPRENG BOUPHA KHEMPHET PHOLSENA NGUVEN THI XIEM VWH THI HUONG PHAN MINH HI EN HbUSELr?£P 9 S STUDIES CDU^E 700BM ir2 lO'.oo AM. U WOMEN'S 3o VIDEO K)(XrCSHO? FR£H U lo:oo AM- m tlZ. fETYeStAL H:oo AM- 13 7-"50BM. aOKPoM r4ou<bE. WP WOMeM'S studies, ■ CCU R3^ 25* ^7." IO:oo AM OQPH W ^m^r-m 7.'30 BN, 3? WORKSHOP F^H U (O'.oo AH KOMnve ^RIDO^S 7-9;3D-ia PEDESTAL- H'-oo AM- J2Q 7:50 PH House R^F GRQpUR VOoMeKS studies & 8"°oFH m COURSE 7.'( '00PM. lOOklKSHOP H^B U I O.AM 2g W0K6NJ 7; FH& j^ivoRce CLINIC- WOMeNvSC£MRe 7:50 RH VIDEO vOOfclKSHoP FREE. U 10 ',oo AM . 25 26 FBES1AL. pa. ejoRTpoisJ Women I STUDIES „ 00 COURSE MEW Moon FULL Moon 26^ •UtEr.f:..£9 LEAP"*" PRkPc/.£ "It A r*(AH TCT^A^ &Z SUT*> "BAlH^Cr VlcTO&lA T2> THE PEfceSTAL- THE PEDESTAL, 5X1CARRM-L VANCOUVER^ SELL ^PEDESIAL fteK. UP CORES suc^^LLsn /vvowtAY-s«au«o*Y J2PM.- 5RM. SEPADlME Forcgjewf cbpv SOL3>
Vol. 4, no. 2; February 1972
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