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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-09-25 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 4
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lest we begin to oink As we grow in size--as our movement becomes older--our vision of what we want expands and the projects we commit ourselves to increase. There is so much we must do that we find ourselves looking for efficient and reliable ways to get it all done. It is not surprising that the things we choose as efficient ways of working too often reflect the bureaucratic individual business-like pigshit we have brought up in or the male-dominated counter left some of us are refugees from. To learn to work collectively we may have to sacrefice much efficiency and that is a difficult thing to sacrifice when we frantically want to struggle to win. None the less we must struggle in ways that enrich and spur growth in our movement, not ways that bureaucratize and stagnate us. We should be concerned about appearing as a group against the system, not a group that looks like part of it. We cannot afford to not question such actions as incorporating, applying for mailing permits that require a subscription list be supplied to the government, or hiring full-time staff people. For example, hiring full-time staff puts certain women in a position to know more about what's going on in the group than other women--no matter how hard the staff tries to avoid this. The staff can afford to be at the office all the time because they are paid while the other women who may be equally committed have to work full-time at jobs they hate or who have children to take care of. Staff people are generally hired at least partially for their ability to run an office or make public contracts--an ability many women don't have because they have not had the privilege to develop that ability. The staff may be willing to teach others, but those others will not be paid to learn and can often not afford the time if they have to work to earn. I would imagine most staff hired for Women's Liberation offices would be middle or upper class. I might be wrong. They might be the few working class women in the organization, but that wouldn't be any better because it would perpetuate their position of shit-worker. If there is typing to be done everyone should do it. So a lot of working-class, college educated women in Women's Liberation, who have missed the joy of high school "office skill" better learn to type. In Iowa City we have tried to work collectively this getting-the-work-done problem. We certainly don't claim complete success, but the sacrifices in efficiency seem justifiable in terms of what we have gained in collective consciousness and responsibility. We have tried to rotate office work monthly to a group consisting of one person from each small collective. Often the work just hasn't gotten done, but we maintain that if the work to be done is decided on collectively (which it should be), it should be done collectively. Some of us (8) also live together and pool our money which allows some to not work (system jobs) and work on Women's Liberation projects. Some of us work in the day care centers half-time. Something not possible for all of those who do without some kind of pooling of resources. The day care centers offer free time to those women at home with young children. Women who are married and/or who work cannot take advantage of the privilege of living collectively with other Women's Liberation women and mixed communes can rarely be expected to give financial or time priority to Women's Liberation work. But there are some possibilities that could be tried. Jobs can be split into shifts done collectively so several women with little time can participate. Pooling resources so women who badly need the money they from employers they hate can work for a period of time on Women's Liberation activities instead. THESE ARE NOT SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM-REVOLUTION IS. But we must avoid bringing about a revolution like corporate business men (which could probably not be done anyway). We so often forget to check our thoughts for their pigshit content. Some of us decided we should try to fund someone to go to Cuba. Wanting to be fair, we though we would draw from the names of all those who want to go. But that is only fair to those women would can afford the time. It does not answer the problem of some married women, or women with children or women with jobs they need (what employer would give you time off to go to Cuba). We cannot oink our way to revolutionary victory. anonymous poem [hand drawn figure with gun] Don't demonstrate Get together in small conspiracies, cells, women you can trust. Do it now. The Man is swarming all over the city Use your invisibility - in the kitchens, bedrooms, offices, streets Purge Him from your head Be ready for His blow Beware his oinking about pigs Recognize the face of sexist hate Watch out for The Man in need of underground auxiliaries Guard against panics that turn the key in the wedlock Abstractions are His game [hand drawn figure] Pain is real No more halves of nothing Take everything No more slow deaths or waiting til after... Be creative in your anger Show Him what it means to make chaos the rule Try Him for contempt of our lives Make new definitions, new conjunctions, new worlds WOMEN ARE THE PEOPLE 4 Vol. I No. 6 Ain't I
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lest we begin to oink As we grow in size--as our movement becomes older--our vision of what we want expands and the projects we commit ourselves to increase. There is so much we must do that we find ourselves looking for efficient and reliable ways to get it all done. It is not surprising that the things we choose as efficient ways of working too often reflect the bureaucratic individual business-like pigshit we have brought up in or the male-dominated counter left some of us are refugees from. To learn to work collectively we may have to sacrefice much efficiency and that is a difficult thing to sacrifice when we frantically want to struggle to win. None the less we must struggle in ways that enrich and spur growth in our movement, not ways that bureaucratize and stagnate us. We should be concerned about appearing as a group against the system, not a group that looks like part of it. We cannot afford to not question such actions as incorporating, applying for mailing permits that require a subscription list be supplied to the government, or hiring full-time staff people. For example, hiring full-time staff puts certain women in a position to know more about what's going on in the group than other women--no matter how hard the staff tries to avoid this. The staff can afford to be at the office all the time because they are paid while the other women who may be equally committed have to work full-time at jobs they hate or who have children to take care of. Staff people are generally hired at least partially for their ability to run an office or make public contracts--an ability many women don't have because they have not had the privilege to develop that ability. The staff may be willing to teach others, but those others will not be paid to learn and can often not afford the time if they have to work to earn. I would imagine most staff hired for Women's Liberation offices would be middle or upper class. I might be wrong. They might be the few working class women in the organization, but that wouldn't be any better because it would perpetuate their position of shit-worker. If there is typing to be done everyone should do it. So a lot of working-class, college educated women in Women's Liberation, who have missed the joy of high school "office skill" better learn to type. In Iowa City we have tried to work collectively this getting-the-work-done problem. We certainly don't claim complete success, but the sacrifices in efficiency seem justifiable in terms of what we have gained in collective consciousness and responsibility. We have tried to rotate office work monthly to a group consisting of one person from each small collective. Often the work just hasn't gotten done, but we maintain that if the work to be done is decided on collectively (which it should be), it should be done collectively. Some of us (8) also live together and pool our money which allows some to not work (system jobs) and work on Women's Liberation projects. Some of us work in the day care centers half-time. Something not possible for all of those who do without some kind of pooling of resources. The day care centers offer free time to those women at home with young children. Women who are married and/or who work cannot take advantage of the privilege of living collectively with other Women's Liberation women and mixed communes can rarely be expected to give financial or time priority to Women's Liberation work. But there are some possibilities that could be tried. Jobs can be split into shifts done collectively so several women with little time can participate. Pooling resources so women who badly need the money they from employers they hate can work for a period of time on Women's Liberation activities instead. THESE ARE NOT SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM-REVOLUTION IS. But we must avoid bringing about a revolution like corporate business men (which could probably not be done anyway). We so often forget to check our thoughts for their pigshit content. Some of us decided we should try to fund someone to go to Cuba. Wanting to be fair, we though we would draw from the names of all those who want to go. But that is only fair to those women would can afford the time. It does not answer the problem of some married women, or women with children or women with jobs they need (what employer would give you time off to go to Cuba). We cannot oink our way to revolutionary victory. anonymous poem [hand drawn figure with gun] Don't demonstrate Get together in small conspiracies, cells, women you can trust. Do it now. The Man is swarming all over the city Use your invisibility - in the kitchens, bedrooms, offices, streets Purge Him from your head Be ready for His blow Beware his oinking about pigs Recognize the face of sexist hate Watch out for The Man in need of underground auxiliaries Guard against panics that turn the key in the wedlock Abstractions are His game [hand drawn figure] Pain is real No more halves of nothing Take everything No more slow deaths or waiting til after... Be creative in your anger Show Him what it means to make chaos the rule Try Him for contempt of our lives Make new definitions, new conjunctions, new worlds WOMEN ARE THE PEOPLE 4 Vol. I No. 6 Ain't I
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