Feminism in the 1960s and 1970s in California - Assignment Example

My 15 April 2007 Feminism in the 1960s and 1970s in California In this paper, feminist organizations throughout California that were active during the 1960s and 1970s are described. The paper examines the women’s liberations groups in San Francisco that practiced consciousness raising small groups; California feminists that struggled for abortion rights; the revolutionizing methods of the feminist health movement; Betty Friedan’s galvanizing influence on California feminists and the formation of NOW; and the myriad of feminist groups that were active around Los Angeles and San Diego. Finally, the paper considers some California legislature of the time that impacted the California feminist movement and ultimately women throughout the nation. In San Francisco, the first womens liberation group was founded in 1968 by Mimi Feingold (Dyl), who was a veteran of the civil rights movement. The group was called Sudsofloppen, and defined itself as a consciousness-raising group. Instead of becoming a large political-action group, the members of Sudsofloppen decided to be a small group to develop ideology. The effectiveness of this small group style was debated, and this issue was an important one for the women‘s liberation movement of the Bay Area. They considered whether the small group was effective politically, and whether the small group concept would continue or be a dead-end. It was decided that it was the male style to take political action to the streets, but that women benefited the most politically from meeting together to redefine politics. This small group style was to remain a large part of the women’s liberation movement in this time period. Its emphasis on networking with other women was a crucial aspect of the women’s liberation movement and had one of the largest impacts on women. Many of the women in the Bay Area women’s liberation movement had been involved in the civil rights movement, but they often found them to be male-dominating. This became one of the impetuses for creating their own women’s groups. In contrast to the type of leadership they encountered in the civil rights movement, the women’s liberation movement emphasized “egalitarian relationships and personal development” (Dyl) in their organizational style. The year 1969 was an active year for the women’s liberation movement in San Francisco. Sudsofloppen sponsored a women’s liberation conference in the Bay Area in January 1969, in order to make contact with like-minded women. More conferences were held later that year. During that year women held a demonstration at the Bridle Fair exposition in San Francisco. At San Francisco State, there was a teach-in on the oppression of women. After the formation of Sudsofloppen, there was phenomenal growth in the creation of other similar small groups. Two years after the formation of Sudsofloppen, in 1970, there were about sixty-four small groups in the Bay Area. The San Francisco’s Women Liberation (SFWL) umbrella organization was beginning to encompass each of these. There was an all day meeting between the various small groups and action groups in the area in May of 1970 that produced an organizational plan for SFWL. However, the various groups within the SFWL remained a diverse mix of different political views. One Bay Area feminist newspaper asserted that women’s liberation was a movement and not an organization, and opposed umbrella organizations. The diversity of the groups within SFWL was a manifestation of the women liberation movement’s roots in politics of the left and the counterculture that began in San Francisco in the mid 1960s. When these women’s groups moved beyond the consciousness-raising stage, they formed action and task-based collectives such as abortion workshops. In this way they were able to work towards more tangible goals and take action, without abandoning the small group structure. The legacies of this women’s liberation movement have been: the transformation of women’s expectations and lives, “feminist bookstores, women’s studies programs, rape crisis centers, and similar institutions” (Dyl) across the nation. This was done largely through the success of consciousness-raising first begun in the women’s small groups. The 1970s also saw the formation of several sex education programs in the Bay Area. During that time many girls showed up pregnant at the County Health Department, without knowing much about their bodies or sexuality. Joani Blank, a health educator and counselor, worked at the Department, and was instrumental to helping women’s groups of the Bay Area provide this missing sexuality information (Sullivan); Blank also ran workshops, provided training, and became an expert on sexual health and education. Also at this time, a sex counseling program was begun at the University of California at San Francisco. In 1966 a group of California feminists began helping women access abortion in Mexico. This group was led by Patricia Theresa Maginnis, who founded The Society for Humane Abortion (SHA). In 1966 she also set up the Association to Repeal Abortion Laws(ARAL). Maginnis and the SHA/ARAL worked to change the California state abortion laws; created an abortion referral service; and worked for regulation of medical care of U.S. women in Mexico. California feminists "confronted more directly than most groups at the time issues of class, nationality and power as they sought to cross borders for abortion" (Hewitt & Valverde 270). After the work of these California feminists, the National Abortion Rights Action League was formed, and by the 1970s there were hundreds of womens self-help health clinics. The feminist health movement of the 1960s was a large part of the women’s liberation movement of the time. There was a focus on abortion and a women’s right to control her own body. This time also saw the creation of underground abortion clinics. The feminist health movement also entailed gynecological self-examination. Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman were the primary leaders of the feminist health movement in Los Angeles. They were both a part of NOW and later began the Feminist Women’s Health Center at Crenshaw Women’s Center. Betty Friedan was one of the most influential figures in the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Her 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique” was a large inspiration for the Second Wave of the feminist movement, which is the feminism of the 1960s and 1970s. She was partly educated at the University of California at Berkeley. She helped to found the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, and was its president in 1970. One of the main goals of NOW in the 1970s was to get the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. constitution passed. NOW was active in California in the 1960s and 1970s, such as through its Los Angeles branch. Friedan was the inspiration behind much of the work of feminists in California, as well as in the nation. During the 1960s and 1970s in Los Angeles, many womens groups met at the Crenshaw Womens Center (VOAHA). This was where the Los Angeles branch of NOW also initially met during its formation in the 1960s. One of NOWs principal leaders was Toni Carabillo, who co-edited "The Feminist Chronicles." Carabillo was influenced by Friedans "The Feminine Mystique" before becoming active in the women’s movement of Los Angeles. Groups that met at the Crenshaw Women’s Center included anarcha-feminists, radical feminist groups and the Lesbian Feminists (VOAHA). Crenshaw was also were the feminist bookstore Sisterhood began. The first Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) began at Crenshaw, which advocated self-examination. Two women from the FWHC were arrested for “practicing medicine without a license”(VOAHA), but were later acquitted. Eight women from the FWHC began a women-controlled clinic in 1973 that operated for a little over ten years. After the closing of the Crenshaw Womens Center in 1972, many of the womens groups active there began to meet at the Westside Womens Center. At Westside the monthly “Sister, West Coast Feminist Newspaper” was published. This newspaper was advertised as “a communication media by, for, and about women” (Allen). This newspaper appears to have been published atleast from the years 1973 to 1978. One of the feminists active at the Westside Women’s Center was Sherna Berger Gluck. She was involved in “teaching self-help and self-examination, counseling and referrals on rape and abortion, consciousness raising groups, an anarcha-feminist group and the founding of the Feminist History Research Project” (VOAHA). Gluck also taught oral history courses at UCLA. Joan Robins was behind many feminist activities in the 1960s and 1970s in Los Angeles. She helped to create the Crenshaw Women’s Center and was active in the Los Angeles women’s liberation movement. She helped to start “Women’s Liberation One,” which was one of the first consciousness raising groups. Robins also directed the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) in 1976. She was one of the organizers of the first International Women’s Day in Los Angeles. Many feminists in 1960s Los Angeles were part of the larger Progressive movement. Their grassroots feminism efforts aimed at uprooting sexism in language, politics and economics. But women that took part in the wider activism of the 1960s and 1970s often experienced discrimination from leadership; many of these women turned to feminism and the women’s liberation movement where they became leaders and founders of centers and organizations. The women’s movement of Los Angeles began to focus on new issues in the 1970s. These included “violence against women, reproductive rights, women’s health issues, and cultural stereotypes” (Gottlieb & Dreier). In 1975, the Woman’s Building of Los Angeles was opened, which contained Feminist Studio Workshop. This created a place for feminist writers and artists. It was during the 1970s that women’s studies programs began to appear on college campuses. Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) was also founded at this time, in 1976. WAVAW organized marches for demanding that violence and sexual abuse against women be put on the political agenda of Los Angeles as well as the nation’s. WAVAW was also instrumental in protesting violent images against women in the music industry. It was in Los Angeles in 1963 that the welfare mothers movement began, when the ANC Mothers Anonymous of Watts began. This group at first did not see itself connected to any larger group, much less the women‘s liberation movement. But they began to see themselves as part of the greater womens movement after a 1972 article in "Ms." magazine called "Welfare is a Womans Issue" (VOAHA). Feminists soon began to consider how the welfare system works to control women on welfare, by gathering extensive information on welfare women, as well as by creating greater economical dependency. Southern California also had a large Chicana feminist movement during the 1960s, which grew out of experiences with sexism in the Chicano movement. One of the Chicana feminist groups was called Hijas de Cuauhtemoc. Women in this group were formerly involved in the Chicano student group UMAS/MECha at California State University at Long Beach. The members of Hijas de Cuauhtemoc were involved in a variety of activities, including support groups for sexual assault victims and working in the Chicana Service Action Center. They began a newspaper by the same name as their group in 1971. One of the best known Chicana feminists is Dolores Huerta, who worked in California as a labor leader and activist for the rights of migrant farm workers. Huerta was successful in bringing feminists together with other diverse groups to work on labor issues. She was also a champion of poor people and Chicanas/os as well as a strong and memorable leader and role model. Los Angeles also had a militant Asian American feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s. They were involved in, among other things, anti-Vietnam War activities. The Asian American feminist movement of Los Angeles began the first Asian Women’s Center of the country. Like the other ethnic feminist movements, the Asian American feminist movement was also instrumental during this time in creating their own Asian women’s studies. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of the creation of many women’s studies programs within university academic departments. Part of this trend was the Feminist History Research Project, which in 1972 began a project of gathering the oral histories of women involved in gaining woman’s suffrage in the 1920s, who at the time were living in California. Sherna Berger Gluck was the interviewer in these oral histories. Los Angeles also launched a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the women’s suffrage amendment in 1970, and some of the women interviewed were able to participate in this celebration. African American feminists that were active in California include Angela Davis and Elaine Brown. During the 1970s, Angela Davis was fired from her position as a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles for her social activism and communist ties. She was jailed for 16 months, during which time there was a “Free Angela Davis” movement, until she was acquitted in 1972. She continues today as a University of California professor. Elaine Brown was part of the Black Panther group, which was formed in Oakland, California. Brown has also worked as a prison justice activist, working to free people she feels have been wrongly imprisoned. She has written about the difficulties that a woman such as herself faced in the Black Power movement when they tried to take on a role of leadership. Brown and Davis have been inspirational to women who also face the same difficulties of being accepted as leaders. The first women’s liberation group in San Diego was the Center for Women’s Studies and Services (CWSS), formed in 1969. CWSS began the first women’s studies program in the nation at San Diego State University (SDSU). The group also provided feminist counseling and worked on special projects. CWSS has moved off the SDSU campus and is now called the Center for Community Solutions. One of the early goals of CWSS was to educate people in order to fight stereotypes and reduce violence (“CCS...”). But in the early years, their main goal was to support women and establish equality for women through education outreach. One development that has affected California feminism was the formation of the California Commission on the Status of Women in 1965 and becoming a permanent commission in 1971. This commission works on many of the same aspects of women’s lives and concerns that the feminist movement did. For instance, according to their fact sheet, the commission holds hearings on issues impacting women; supports pay equity; and collaborates with many other organizations to address women’s issues. In addition, most of the commission’s members are women. The Equal Rights Amendment became more central to the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s; Congress passed the Amendment in 1972 but that still left the work of getting 38 states needed to ratify it (only 35 eventually did, and the ERA missed its deadline in1982, but many women still work to pass it). Some states passed equal rights amendments to their state constitutions in the 1970s. There is a ban on sex discrimination in the California state constitution. In addition to all of the organizations formed by California feminists of the 1960s and 1970s, there was also legislature passed during this time which has had a large impact on women and women’s issues. For instance, it was in California in 1970 that a divorce revolution originated, which would soon sweep the nation. The divorce revolution eliminated fault-based divorces in favor of no-fault divorces where irreconcilable differences could be claimed instead. Alimony standards were changed so that the womans capacity to work after the divorce was taken into account (Simon & Danzinger 104). According to Simon and Danzinger, the divorce revolution has left women and children of divorce poorer off; it has effectively punished women financially for working as a mother and homemaker. The divorce revolution has been debated within the women’s movement for its effect on women, with some arguing that alimony is needed atleast until women achieve full equality in the workplace with men as well as fair compensation for the hard work of homemaking and motherhood. Probably the most lasting effect of feminism of this period in California was the change in the way women perceive themselves and think about the possibilities of their lives. There does not seem to be any one organization, event or piece of legislation that would signify the feminist movement’s goals were obtained. It is debatable whether the feminist movement of this time truly succeeded in its goal of connecting women to work together to improve their lives, but the movement did strive to make steps in this direction. The central aims of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, of obtaining equal rights for women and improving the lives of women, are goals that seemingly have set into motion a process still evolving today. Works Cited “About the Commission.” 21 Feb 2006. Fact Sheet of the Commission on the Status of Women, State of California. Retrieved 14 Apr 2007 from http://women.ca.gov/UserFiles/701.FactSheet3.06.pdf Allen, Martha. The Development of Communication Networks Among Women, 1963- 1983. Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press. Retrieved 15 Apr 2007 http://www.wifp.org/womensmediach4.html “CCS Celebrates 35 Years of Supporting Survivors.” Center for Community Solutions. Retrieved 15 Apr 2007 from http://www.ccssd.org/news_35years.html. Dyl, Joanna. Womens Liberation: Origins and Development of the Movement. 1999. Clover Leaf Media. Retrieved 14 Apr 2007 from http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/womens/1960s/main.html Gottlieb, Robert and Peter Dreier. A History of the Progressive Movement in Los Angeles: The Seventies. Retrieved 14 Apr 2007 from http://www.progressivela.org/history/seventies.htm Hewitt, Nancy and Mariana Valverde. Feminist Studies. University of Maryland, College Park. Vol 26, no. 2. Simon, Rita J. and Danzinger, Gloria. Womens Movements in America: Their Successes, Disappointments, and Aspirations. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991. Sullivan, Elizabeth. Women’s Liberation: 1970s, Early Movement. 1999. Clover Leaf Media. Retrieved 14 Apr 2007 from http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/womens/1970s/index.html The Virtual Oral/Aural History Archive (VOAHA). Los Angeles Feminists series. University Library, California State University at Long Beach. Retrieved 14 Apr 2007 from http://salticid.nmc.csulb.edu/cgi- bin/WebObjects/OralAural.woa/wa/project?ww=1003&wh=592&pt=109&col=a1 000&bi=1&ser=a1004&nww=1003&nwh=592 Read More