THE CENTER FOR

won ieee Newsletter

The City University Graduate Center

33 West 42 Street, New York City 10036 212 790-4435

Volume Ill, No.5 May - June 1982

The Medical Management of Birth

WHOSE BABY IS IT ANYWAY?

The politics and history of the current medical management of birth
and recent challenges to that professional control are examined in a new book
by Barbara Katz Rothman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Baruch College.
Rothman, whose interest in women's birthing experiences stems partially from
personal roots, namely her desire to have a positive birth experience, has written
In Labor: Women and Power in the Birthplace, which will be published by Norton
& Company this June. In it she analyzes how the medical profession has succeeded
in transforming birth from a normal to a pathological condition which requires
its expert care and assistance at virtually every stage. She questions the
motivations behind this institutional management of birth and considers the
movements which have tried to re-claim birth for women. Ultimately, she expands
the discussion to try to reach a concept of womanhood and feminism which includes
biology and women's culture. In that context, she explores the interrelationship
of gender, roles and biology, defining the strengths and limits of that
entanglement, as well as its implications for the family.

Shelly Romalis' edited collection entitled Childbirth, Alternatives to
Medical Control (1981, University of Texas), illustrates that other scholars
acknowledge the potential significance for women and feminists of the seat of
power and control over the birthing experience. Rothman's contribution to that
book, an article called "Awake and Aware, or False Consciousness: The Cooption
of Childbirth Reform in America," systematically describes the three major
historical challenges to medical domination of childbirth: midwifery; the prepared
(christened "natural") childbirth movement; and the current home birth movement
and the efforts of La Leche League, an organization of breastfeeding mothers.

She describes how the first two movements have been coopted, becoming reformist

as a result of professional power struggles waged by the generously endowed medical
profession and established health care systems in the U.S. Rothman stresses in
this analysis how frequently the needs of mothers have been ignored by those
organizations vying for control of their care. Rothman points to the home birth
movement and La Leche League of breastfeeding mothers as the heartiest challengers
to the medical profession thus far; they offer alternatives with the most
potential to undercut institutional control of childbirth. Researchers and the
media are disseminating information which is beginning to gain popular acceptance
for the home birth alternative as studies suggest that home birth can be as safe
or safer than hospital births. La Leche League, in emphasizing "mother-wisdom"
and presenting a woman-centered model of mothering, explicitly rejects the
primacy of medical knowledge and authority. Thus far they have addressed them-
selves primarily to methods of infant care, which has been less threatening than


any challenges to methods of childbirth. However, as Rothman indicates,

it remains to be seen whether La Leche League and the home birth movement
will be able to change childbirth ideology and practice and develop viable
alternatives to medically managed childbirth to the extent that they have in
the area of infant care.

Movements to challenge the medical profession's domination of
childbirth in America are unique in that they derive strength and weakness
from the make-up of their constituencies. Both feminists and traditionalists
have an interest in re-gaining control of childbirth for women, but for very
different reasons. Traditionalists see motherhood as women's primary
responsibility and seek to increase family control and involvement over repro-
duction. Feminists, on the other hand, engage in the battle against medical
domination as part of their overall effort to secure for women control over their
bodies and lives. Given the paleness of many current political movements,
Rothman finds even "the uneasy alliance of feminists and traditionalists working
against medical domination" (p.171, Rothman in Romalis) encouraging and
inspiring. Thus far, she has learned that many traditionalists hold anti-feminist
views on issues like abortion and equal rights: NAPPSAC (National Association
of Parents and Professionals for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth), a large
umbrella organization, would not even agree to meet only in ERA-ratified states.
However, the experience of working with these women is enlightening for feminists
and Rothman believes that taking control of the circumstances in which they give
birth has made many women feel better about their bodies and their sexuality
and has been an empowering experience for them, despite their reluctance to
endorse other feminist goals.

The politics of childbirth today illuminates the discrepancy between
personal and political gains or individual versus social progress. As Rothman
points out, though midwifery and the prepared birth movement have succeeded in
vastly improving the birthing experiences of individual women, they have not put
a dent in the domination by the medical profession of the management of birth.
The Lamaze technique has proven positive for many women who have avoided the
formerly traditional experience of giving birth under heavy sedation, restricted
by body straps, in a flourescently lit room. However, most births must still
take place in hospitals, midwives are not taught emergency procedures, and Medicaid
will pay $3,000 for a woman's hospital birth while refusing to cover the $600
necessary for a home birth by a midwife.

Rothman suggests that to challenge the institutions which dominate birth,
rather than stopping at the techniques they employ, coalitions should lobby
for changes in insurance policies, agitate to secure Medicaid coverage for home
births and pressure congresspeople to change the laws and licensing provisions
restricting the domain of midwives.

ANNAN

Rothman has explored the political, sociological and economic
implications of women's contemporary birthing experiences in the Women and Health
Research Group, which she co-coordinates with Mary Brown Parlee and Judith Lorber.
In the past, participants in the group, which meets under the auspices of the
Center for the Study of Women in Society, have probed attitudes toward women's
medical self-help techniques; experiences of women in medical school; and topics
in genetic counseling, among other issues. The next meeting will take place
Friday, May 21st at 4 PM in the Center. Louise Duval and Chia Ling Kuo
will lead the session, which is entitled "Health Care Alternatives in Chinatown."
For further information about this session, or to join the Women and Health
Research Group mailing list, contact the Center at 212/790-4435.


Notes

THE DYNAMICS OF COOPERATIVE CHILDBIRTH is the title of a three-day

seminar and set of continuing education workshops to be held from Sunday,

May 14th through Tuesday, May 16th. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Childbirth
Education Association, Inc., the seminar is "designed to expand the knowledge
of professionals and lay persons working with the childbirth educator."

The event will be held at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, 106 Central Park South,
New York City, and costs $190.00 for all three days, or $65 per day. Send
check make out to MNY/CEA to: Marcie Eisner, MNY/CEA Treasurer, 1025 East
28th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11210, or write or call MNY/CEA, P.O. Box 1600,

New York, NY 10016, 212/866-6373 for details.

RELAXATION, MOVEMENT, MASSAGE & LABOR SUPPORT, a workshop for childbirth
educators and health professionals, will be held on Saturday, June 5, 1982.
Sponsored by Metropolitan New York Childbirth Education Association, Inc.,
Susan Beach and Sandra Jamrog will lead the workshop which will be held at a
place to be announced. To register, send a check made payable to MNY/CEA to:
Marcie Eisner, MNY/CEA Treasurer, 1025 East 28th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11210.
For further information, call Susan Beach at 873-7452 or Sandra Jamrog at 866-
8257 or in the evenings at PL7-6300.

Women’s Studies

The Women's Studies Curriculum Committee announces the introduction of
two new interdisciplinary courses. Major Issues in Contemporary Feminist
Thought will be offered spring semesters beginning 1983, to build upon Feminist
Social Theories offered in the fall semesters. This course will provide an
in-depth analysis of one of several issues of contemporary concern to feminist
thought. Topics will change in accordance with faculty and student interest. For
students in the Liberal Studies Masters Program, these two courses in feminist
theory constitute the core program for Women's Studies.

The second new course is a Workshop for Guided Research and Guided Reading

in Women's Studies. This is a two-credit seminar to meet every other week for
the academic year (or 1 credit per term). It is designed for students interested
in pursuing a plan of readings in women's studies. The workshop provides a
knowledgeable and supportive setting within which progress reports can be shared
with a group committed to a common interest in feminist scholarship. Interested
faculty and associates of the Center for the Study of Women and Society are
welcome to participate.

The Women's Studies Committee is chaired by Joan Kelly (History). It is
a sub-committee of the Committee on Interdisciplinary Study and Research which
is chaired by Rolf Meyersohn (Sociology). If you have any queries, comments,
suggestions, send them to Joan Kelly, Center for the Study of Women and Society.

Note: The Liberal Studies Program is an interdisciplinary graduate program
leading to the master's degree. The program offers a concentration in women's
studies. For more information, contact Professor Renee Waldinger, Liberal Studies,

CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY 10036, 212/790-4497.


Conferences

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S SEXUALITY, an all-day conference, will take place on
Saturday, May 8th from 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Student Union

Building on the SUNY Stony Brook University campus. Women's sexuality will be
explored and celebrated through films, workshops, panel discussions, and self-
help demonstrations. To pre-register ($8.00) call or write 516/427-1289,
Womankind Books, 1899 New York Avenue, Huntington Station, NY 11746. Childcare
is available for pre-registrants. Registration at the door will cost $10.00.

ADULT DEVELOPMENT: CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES is a series of interdisciplinary
conferences for mental health professionals sponsored by the Division of
Counseling Psychology and Center for Professional Development, Lesley College
Graduate School. Woman's Body/Woman's Mind is the theme of the conference to

be held from May 7th through May 9th at the Harvard Science Center in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Panel discussions on Friday and Saturday will focus on: Eating
Disorders in Women; Power, Intimacy and Sexuality; and Mother Love: On the
Desire to Bear and the Capacity to Rear Children. Activities on Sunday will
consist of a variety of Professional Training Workshops. For further information,
contact: Dr. Bonnie Smolen, Conference Director, Lesley College Graduate School,
Counseling Psychology Division, 29 Everett Street, Cambridge, Ma 02238, 617/868-
9600, ext. 440.

THE FIRST STEP: BATTERED WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE is a one-day seminar to be
held on Saturday, May 8th from 9:00 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. at the Equitable Life
Assurance Society, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor Conference Center.
Sponsored by the Borough of Manhattan Community College, the seminar will

explore current issues and problems confronting women, especially battered women,
who enter the job market. The registration fee is $15.00 (reduced rate for
senior citizens, students and unemployed women) and should be sent to Office of
Continuing Education, Borough of Manhattan Community College, 1633 Broadway,

New York, NY 10019. Make checks payable to: Borough of Manhattan Community
College. For further information, contact Susan Adair, 262-5614.

FEMINIST CONNECTIONS THROUGHOUT EDUCATION is the title of the fourth annual
conference of the National Women's Studies Association. The conference will be
held from June 16th through June 20th at Humboldt State University in Arcata,
California. Registration forms must be submitted by May 15th, so call 707/
826-3451 immediately for details, or mail forms to: NWSA '82 Registration,
Jolly Giant Conference Center, Arcata, CA 95521.

THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WRITING GUILD'S 11th Women's Writing Conference

and Retreat is entitled "Hope, Courage, Inspiration, and Creativity" and will
take place August 13th through 20th at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs,

NY. Over 30 workshops will be offered addressing such writing subjects as:

the short story, script writing, publishing, story-telling, oral hisiory as
anthropological and personal tool, writing commercial song lyrics, etc. $350.00
for the full week covers registration, room and board. Weekend rates are $180.00
(single occupancy) and $160.00 (double). For details, contact: Hannelore Hahn,
Executive Director, IWWG, P.O. Box 810, Gracie Station, NY 10028, 212/737-7536.

INSIGHTS INTO INFERTILITY, an all-day conference, will take place on Saturday,
May 22nd from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Mount Sinai Medical Center at

Fifth Avenue and 100th Street in New York City. The conference is sponsored by
Serono Laboratories and RESOLVE, an organization which aids infertile couples.
Registration costs $18.00 (including lunch) per person, or $30.00 per couple.
Call Joan Liebmann-Smith, Conference Coordinator and CSWS Research Assistant,
at Mount Sinai, 650-7846, or at the Center, 790-4435, for further information.


Book Review

Woman's Creatton: Sexual Evolutton and the Shaping of Soetety
by Eltzabeth Fisher,
(New York: Doubleday, 1980) 504 pp., paper, $6.95.

Woman's Creation is an update, based on recent feminist research
in anthropology and history (and allied disciplines, e.g. endocrinology,
paleontology, theology) of such ground-breaking and mind-shaking works
as Diner's Mothers and Amazons and Morgan's The Descent of Woman. The
amount of information now available to Fisher is much more substantial,
and consequently, her discussion of these materials more convincing.

Her data cover a much greater span, too, so the interpretations have
more depth. While not as radical and perhaps therefore not as inspir-
iting as the interpretations of Griffith (Woman and Nature) or Daly
(Gyn/Ecology), Fisher's are equally original and follow logically from
the empirical findings presented. Basically, Fisher has a firm founda-
tion in feminist tradition and has the courage as well as the facts to
carry it beyond the other works cited. I also found her use of language
creatively refreshing.

The body of knowledge accumulated in part as a result of enthusias-
tic and brilliant feminist. scholarship (as well as that buried in mas-
culinist researches of various sorts) requires an author to select.
Consequently, there are those who would take issue with some of Fisher's
choices. I found several incompatible with my own reading of the data.
Nevertheless, she has done a remarkable job of pulling together a broad
spectrum of information into a coherent interpretation of our species'
history.

There are two other weaknesses in this work. It is not well-edited:
there are redundancies within and among various chapters, and a loose
repetitiousness that detracts from concise, cogent prose. Also, the
"Epilog" seems tacked on as a sophomoric afterthought: the book ended
quite felicitously, I thought, with its final chapter, which the "Epilog"
serves to weaken.

Fisher gives us a perspective on human evolution characteristic
of masculinist science and compares it with field data which are open
to alternative interpretations. Fisher admirably explicates the role
of female hominoids and hominids in the evolution of Homo sapiens
as a biocultural creature. From this point, she considers the develop-
ment of civilization, and the transition, especially in Near Eastern
religions, from early "empires" to patriarchal society, and the nega-
tive consequences this has had for women, children, and incidentally,
men. Wisely, she specifically refers to Euro-American traditions:
this convincingly ties up the many threads of thought Fisher wove
through her extensive account.

Fisher is a comprehensive antidote to the repressive, pseudo-
scientific platitudes of the -sociobiologists and their allies of
both sexes in the behavior sciences and humanities. Woman's Creation
(I like the far-ranging implications of the title) belongs in all
libraries of "women's studies." I do see problems in using it for
courses: because it is so encompassing, it will challenge instructors
to develop their competence and imagination beyond the usual academic
categories and to encourage their students to read outside the confines
of ordinary course titles in "women's studies"; the joint effort is well
worth it.

--Leigh Marlowe, Ph.D.
Ctty Universtty of New York


Onipaa — Imua |

"“Onipaa-Imua-1982" is the theme of the National Association of Commissions

for Women 13th Annual Convention to be held June 9 through 12th in Honolulu,
Hawaii. The Hawaiian word "onipaa" expresses these Commissions commitment to
"hold fast" in the quest for women's equality under the law. "Imua" promises
that women will continue "going forward" no matter what the odds. For

further information about the convention, contact Pili Lee Loy, Coordinator,

or Lois Andres, Chairperson, at the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of
Women, 250 South King Street, Room 500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, 808/548-4199 or
4576. For information about the activities of the New York City Commission on
the Status of Women, call 212/566-3832 or write Commission on the Status of Women,
250 Broadway, Room 1412, New York, NY 10007.

Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA)

announces a counter-demonstration to be held on July 17, 1982 at the site of
the National Right to Life Committee's annual national convention. The
convention will be taking place from July 15th through 18th in Cherry Hill,
New Jersey. For further information, write or call CARASA, 17 Murray Street,
New York, NY 10007, 212/964-1350.

The Hatch Amendment, which abolishes the Supreme Court guaranteed right to
abortion, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 10-7. Very soon,
the full Senate will vote on the amendment, which needs a two-thirds majority

for passage. Within the next few months, the House Judiciary Committee will

vote on the proposed amendment. Those interested in helping to defeat the Hatch
amendment should write to their congresspeople. In New York, write to Senator
Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) and Senator Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) at the U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C. 20510 and Congressman Hamilton Fish (R-NY--only NY member of the
House Judiciary Committee) at the House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
20515. For further information, call the Pro-Choice Action Line, 212/777-8290.

The Modern Language Association's Title IX Watch is a list of itdividuals whom
the MLA will keep informed about ways to help protect Title IX. The following is
excerpted from the MLA Newsletter: "Title IX of the education amendments of 1972,
which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions
that receive federal money, is under attack from two bills now in Congress.
Informed observers of the Washington scene predict that administrative decisions
in the Department of Education will further limit the effectiveness of Title IX.
The MLA's Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession is concerned that
these attempts may succeed and thereby restrict the educational opportunities

of American women and girls." Concerned individuals who wish to join the MLA's
"Title IX Watch'’ should send their names, addresses and phone numbers to:

Modern Language Assocation, Commission on the Status of Women, 62 Fifch Avenue,
New York, NY 10011. [Excerpt submitted to CSWS Newsletter by Nan Bauer Maglin,
Executive Committee Member, Women's Studies in Language and Literature, MLA]

On January 29, 1982, the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York

issued a Policy on Sexual Harassment explicitly prohibiting sexual harassment

in the university community and establishing a procedure for investigation and
resolution of complaints. In a separate action, addressing other discrimination

in response to the government's easing of tax status for schools which practice
racial discrimination, the Board "reaffirmed unyielding opposition to discrimination


based on race, gender, creed or religious persuasion." For details of

the sexual harassment policy and procedures for its enforcement, write or call:
Mr. George Maginley, Director of Affirmative Action, City University of New York,
935 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10021, 212/794-5374.

Consortium for Educational Equity aims "to eliminate sex discrimination

in education by: helping school districts interpret and comply with Title

IX and other Federal and State Regulations; assisting educators in establishing
equitable policies, programs and practices; and ensuring that programs and
materials reflect the diverse ethnic and racial composition of society."

It provides training and technical assistance, conferences and workshops,
dissemination of materials, evaluation instruments and publications dealing
with specific problems in educational equity. For more informaiton, write or
call Consortium ofr Educational Equity at Rutgers Universtiy, Federation Hall,
Douglass Campus, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, 201/932-9808 or 9427.

Support for Orthodox Victims of Rape and Incest (SOVRI) is a recently formed

counseling service which assists the Orthodox Jewish population throughout New
York City. Staffed by Orthodox Jewish women who have been trained at St. Vincent's
Hospital in rape counseling, SOVRI will seek rabbinical counsel at the client's
request, and provides referral services for medical, legal and other kinds of
assistance. For information about their telephone hotline, crisis counseling,
outreach and auxillary services, write or call Basya Littman, SOVRI at Victim
Services Agency, 54 Nagle Avenue, New York, NY 10040, 212/567-5008.

Women USA, a recently formed information and action network headed by Bella
Abzug, provides up-to-date information and action alerts on women's issues
through its 24-hour Hot Line. The Hot Line tape briefly describes issues

of pressing concern to women's struggle for equality and justice, and tells
callers how to make their voices heard. Women USA also lobbies, sponsors
educational forums, organizes coalitions and connects women through a national
network. For further information, write or call Women USA, 76 Beaver Street,
New York, NY 10005, 212/422-1492. For Hot Line messages, call Toll Free
800/221-4945. In New York State, dial 212/221-4945.

The Project on the Status and Education of Women, which aims to bring about
full equality of educational opportunity, has issued a report entitled "The

Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?". The stated goal of the paper is

"to help faculty, students and administrators become more aware of the subtle

and not-so-subtle ways in which women and men students are often treated different-
ly, and to indicate specific actions they can take to create a learning climate
that best fosters the intellectual growth of students." To that end, the paper
"identifies a wide range of overt and subtle faculty behaviors that can create a
chilly learning climate; identifies classroom behaviors of men and women students
that may elicit differential responses from faculty; offers specific recommendations
which administrators, faculty, students, and others can use to bring about

greater awareness and change; and provides a list of resource materials including
organizations, researchers, a short bibliography, and an agenda for further
research." To obtain a copy of the paper, write or call: Project on the

Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, 1818 Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20009, 202/387-1300.


Media Update

Heresies, a feminist journal of art and politics, announces its forthcoming

#16 issue on "Women's Groups--Time to Raise Hell." Progressive political

and cultural women's groups are invited to submit action-oriented
material about their work. Interested organizations should contact immediately:
Sandy Desando at 212/431-9060. Heresies' most recent issue, #14, "The Women's
Pages," features page art by 40 women artists. This “exhibition within a book"
is available for $5.00 ($15.00, 4-issue subscription) from Heresies, Box 766,
Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013. Issue #15, "Racism is the Issue,”
will be available at the end of May.

Working Woman Magazine's columnist Marilyn Machlowitz, Ph.D., solicits

reprints, books, etc. for her monthly reports on psychology and management.
Recent columns have focused on Pauline Clance's work on the imposter phenomenon
and Ed Schein's work on face-to-face communication. Those interested should send
materials to: Marilyn Machlowitz, Ph.D., Contributing Editor, Working Woman,
1180 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036.

Women in International Development

Working Papers on Women in International Development is a publication series
issued by the Office of Women in International Development of Michigan State

University. The series features papers at a relatively late stage cf formula-
tion which address development issues affecting women in relation to social,
political and economic change. Manuscripts should be double-spaced and include:
title page bearing name, address, and institutional affiliation of author; one-
paragraph abstract; text; notes; references cited; and tables and figures. The
format may follow that of any journal. Accepted manuscripts are published
within four-five weeks; authors retain copyrights, receive free copies and are
encouraged to submit their papers to journals. Submit manuscripts to: Rita
Gallin, Ph.D., Editor, WID Publication Series, Office of WID, 202 International
Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, 517/353-5040.
To order publications or receive the Listing of Working Papers, write to the
above-listed address.

International Women's Tribune Centre, Inc., a women's development support
resource, issues resource books, papers, newsletters and other publi: ations
focusing on women in development. "'Resolutions and Decisions referring to

Women’ adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981" is one of a

series of ‘occasional papers' reporting on UN positions and actions in this field.
Other publications include: Caribbean Resource Kit for Women; Information Kit
for Women in Africa; Developing Strategies for the Future; and Funding Issues

for Women's Projects. To order these or other publications, write or call:
International Women's Tribune Centre, Inc., 305 East 46th Street, Sixth Floor,
New York, NY 10017, 212/421-5633.



The Education of Poor and Minority Children: A World Biography (Greenwood

Press, $95.00), is a two-volume reference work compiled by Meyer Weinberg.

The comprehensive work includes sections on: children; the black woman;

Indian Americans; Afro-American studies; compensatory education; school
organization; law and government; community, etc. To order, make check payable

to: Center for Equal Education, and mail to: Horace Mann Bond, Center for

Equal Education, 2220 Library Tower, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Ma 01003.

A Directory of Third World Women Scholars in the Modern Languages, edited by
Barbara Smith and Erlene Stetson, is available for $3.00 from the Modern

Language Association Office, 62 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011.

The Directory of Special Opportunities for Women, edited by Martha Doss,
contains over 1,000 listings of national, state, country, city, and private

organizations, programs and agencies which provide women with educational
and career opportunities. To order: send $18.00 to Garrett Park Press,
Garrett Park, Maryland 20766.

Financial Aid: A Partial List of Resources for Women has been updated by
The Project on the Status and Education of Women. To order, make check or
money order for $2.50 payable to: AAC/PSEW, and mail to: REQUESTS, Project
on Women, Association of American Colleges, 1818 R Street, NW, Washington, DC
20009.

The New Nightingales by Patricia Cayo Sexton for The Coalition of Labor Union
Women, describes women hospital workers and their relationship to labor unions,
in the context of the women's movement. Professor Sexton documents and analyzes
women hospital workers, their job experiences, their relations with bosses,
co-workers, patients, unions, and families. To obtain, send check, money order,
or cash for $6.95 (tax, postage & handiing included) to: Enquiry Press,

799 Broadway, Suite 325, New York, NY 10003.

Beyond the Fragments: Feminism_and the Making of Socialism by Sheila Rowbotham,

Lynne Segal and Hilary Wainwright, is now available in an American edition
(Boston, Alyson Publications, 1981). It was originally published in Britain

by Merlin Press Ltd. in 1979. ‘The book has generated much discussion in the
United States, including a talk given at the Graduate Center on March 3lst by
Jean McCrindle on "Feminism, Politics and Nuclear Disarmament in Britain."

On Monday, May 10th, Ellen Dubois, Professor of History at SUNY Buffalo, will
speak on: "The Transatlantic Sisterhood: An Anglo-American Approach to Feminism"
at 8:00 p.m. in 403 Main Building of New York University. The lecture is part

of the New Directions in Women's Studies Interdisciplinary Lecture Series sponsored
by NYU's Department of History, Graduate School of Arts and Science Student
Council, and the Humanities Council. Main Building is located at 100 Washington
Square East, New York City.”

Labor Education for Women Workers, edited by Barbara Mayer Wertheimer, Director
of the Institute for Education and Research on Women and Work at the New York
State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, is a practical
guide to the variety of education and training programs available to women who
work. It is available for $22.50 from Temple University Press, Broad and Oxford
Streets, Philadelphia, Pannsylvania 19122,


Women and Film

The second annual Women's Independent Film Festival, sponsored by Women

Make Movies, Inc., will take place at the Film Forum, 47 Watts Street, New

York City, from May 12th through 18th. Thirty-six films from over nine countries
will highlight recent political, cultural and artistic developments in women's
international cinema-in fourteen separate programs. The event is partially
funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council

on the Arts. Features include: Power of Men, Patience of Women, a West German
film by Christine Perincioli about battered women; From the Ashes...Nicaragua
Today, a portrait of a Nicaraguan family and society today by Helena Solberg
Ladd; The Spooky Bunch, a Hong Kong satire by Ann Hui about a haunted Cantonese
opera troupe; and ...But Then, She's Betty Carter, an American film by Michelle
Parkerson which views the black music legacy through Betty Carter, the legendary
jazz vocalist. For further information, call Women Make Movies at 929-6477.

How We Got the Vote, a 55 minute film about women's campaign for suffrage,

is narrated by Jean Stapleton and features popular songs, news reels, photoes
and cartoons. To borrow at no charge, write to: The National Women's Party,
144 Constitution Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Media Network announces the establishment of its Information Center, a
clearinghouse for social issue media. Users can obtain information about

films, videotapes and slideshows dealing with a wide spectrum of social issues,
including Women in the Labor Movement, Reproductive Rights, Violence Against
Women, etc. The Center also helps program film series and facilitate exchange
between groups working on similar themes, as well as compiling evaluations of
independent media and keeping track of media users’ needs in order to communicate
them to funding organizations, distributers and independent producers. For further
information, write or call: Abagail Norman, Media Network/Information Center,
208 West 13 Street, New York, NY 10011, 212/620-0878. Media Network is a
national organization of community, labor and social activists, librarians,
teachers and others who use media for organizing and education. In addition to
the Information Center, Media Network services include a newsletter, discounts

on media-related publications and access to other members who have experience and
skills.

The May-June issue of the CSWS Newsletter will be the last for this
academic year. The next issue will be published in September 1982.

Readers wishing to send ideas and announcements for future issues, or
to respond to items appearing in the Newsletter, are encouraged to do so.
Decisions about publication will be made on the basis of space considerations.

Please submit all materials for the September-October issue no later than
August 5th and mail to: Center for the Study of Women and Society Newsletter,
CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY 10036, Attn: Lisa Master,
Editor. Thank you. HAVE A PLEASANT SUMMER!