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VIEWPOINT

Is sisterhood enough to win women’s rights?

By KERRY McCUAIG

Thousands of Canadian women will mark International Women’s Day this year. Overdue credit should be ex- tended to the many groups who organ- ized the day’s events, bringing women together to celebrate recent gains and set future goals.

It must be noted however that for the vast majonty of Canadian women, IWD will go by unnoticed. This isn’t said to be defeatist only to realistically assess the problems mobilizing masses of women to defend their interests

The promises made by the modern feminist movement, which emerged | during the late 1960s and early 1970s, the fulfillment of its goals of political, economic and sexual reform seem as far away today from being realized as when they were first formulated. Con- sciousness-raising and the admirable goal of sisterhood have not been enough to bring about the wae changes.

In fact the situation has SE! The past 20 years has witnessed a sharp attack on women’s rights. Despite equal pay legislation in every province, the gap between men’s and women’s wages is widening. The number of day- care spaces has decreased,while de- mand rises. Women still form the clas- sic cheap labor reserve and are fun- nelled into dead end clerical and service | jobs. Unemployment plagues women at a greater rate than men and the new technology will make women its special victims. The present round of savage public sector spending cuts raises little hope of any advance for women in the near future.

Why is it that the modern feminist movement has found itself impotent in face of the attack on women’s hard won gains? Is it in fact equipped to lead women at this time?

Feminism’s Ideology

Over its short history, this movement

has developed a more or less distinctive

es It is described .as *‘femin- . It attempts to explain women’s

oo I dissect how women are ~ -

oppressed and organize women to con- front this oppression.

The present composition of this movement is not surprising. Born on the university campuses during the education expansion of the 1960s it at-

| tracted young, white, predominantly middle class women who were awakened by the aspirations of higher |} education.

Produced was an educated and articulate group of women who had been trained to think critically and began to question the society which promised so much but offered so little.

The term ‘‘sexism’’ was coined to describe the myriad of ways women were adversely portrayed and de- graded. It was found to be prevelant in the legal system, on the job, in educa- tion, in children’s and text books, in popular culture, in the media but above all in the attitudes of men. _

Some valuable insights were gain by this type of enquiry. It popularized women’s role in society, exposed their unequal position and challenged those concepts in people’s minds.

The next logical step in their analysis however was to pinpoint the enemy — and he was man. Regardless of their position in society, men, whether em- ployers, workers, husbands or fathers were: ‘‘the problem’’. There was no use looking at society or the system. Men were “‘the system’’, they dominate it and are consequently responsible for women’s oppression.

Although the modern feminist movement is by no means homogene- ous, it has its “‘radical’’ to ‘‘liberal’’ sections this concentration on male domination rejects in general a material or class analysis of the origins of wo- men’s inequality.

Feminists tend: to equally regard the left and right with suspicion. Political parties of all stripes are dominated by men, the movement argues, therefore they aren't viable vehicles through which to redress women’s problems.

The trade union movement as a means for improving women’s position

in society has been largely ignored by -

the movement. It wasn’t until research proved that it was trade unions, not legislation that was narrowing the gap between men’s and women’s wages that the movement began to acknow- ledge organized labor's significance.

It also wasn't until the Canadian Union of Postal Workers included paid maternity leave in its last contract de- mands that many of these women’s groups supported the union’s strike actions.

Viewing history as a battle between the sexes also ignores the class divi- sions among women themselves.

Class allegiances have caused lead- ers of the modern feminist movement to. sell out their working class sisters to their own class interests.

~ COMMENTARY

The recent constitutional battle is a case in point. Middle class women campaigned long and hard to have equal rights for women included in the constitution. But when sections of the charter of rights were opened to an override clause by the provincial governments, these women fought to have clause 28, stating all aspects of the bill would apply equally to both men and women remain irrevokable, but ig- nored the anti-discriminatory clause which stated the constitutional pro- visions must apply without regard to race, nationality, ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age or mental or physical

disability.

When the constitution is “brought home’’ from Britain its provisions will apply equally to men and women as long as the woman isn’t Black, old, handicapped, Native Indian or Catholic.

Throughout the entire constitutional discussion this section of the women’s movement also ignored the national aspirations of their French Canadian sisters. Their rights were readily sacri- ficed to a legalist, view of equality.

Other class divisions can be seen in the movement. While working class

,women are fighting for trade union pro-

tection, middle class women are struggling for advancement into managerial and professional employment.

While affirmative action is an im- portant component in the struggle for women’s rights, working class women have learned to view it with suspicion. They have seen it used to promote exceptional women out of the bargain- ing unit and used in general to weaken their trade unions.

When domestic workers in Ontario after a concerted campaign won legisla- tive provisions for minimal wage and working conditions, middle class~ women were quick to complain that they couldn’t afford their live-in domes- tic under the new law.

The acid test for any movement is the extent to which it is able to mobilize and influence large numbersof people.

, The character of the modern feminist movement has not changed sub-— stantially since its founding. It con- tinues to be dominated by white middle class women. Although there are issues around which women from most clas- ses can unite, the needs of working class, immigrant, Native and French Canadian women differ from those of | professional women.

Middle class women want to share

their class’ power and prestige. Work-

ing class women don’t view their men as the enemy. They do see the need to. | organize as women for their special needs but they don’t want to exclude

_ their class brothers from their struggle.

They want and need their solidarity.

The theoretical and practical orienta- tion of the modern feminist movement | militates against the involvement of the most oppressed and exploited section of society — its working class. The time is due for the working class ~ movement to build and lead this new type of women’s movement. This kind of mass mobilization of women to pro- tect and extend their rights isn’t just a theoretical nicety, but a necessity.

Kerry McCuaig is a staff writer for the Canadian Tribune and a member of the Communist Party’s Women's Commission.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 12, 1982—Page 4

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