This file was prepared for electronic distribution by the inforM staff. Questions or comments should be directed to inform-editor@umail.umd.edu. THE GETTING IT GAZETTE June 20, 1993 Dear Bill: So What Have You Done for Us Lately? by Carol Wheller and Abby Hirsch Well, quite a lot, come to think about it. But why, then, have so many of us felt so bitterly disappointed? We've seen retreats here, con- cessions there. But maybe we're looking at this wrong. Maybe we're at fault. Maybe we've been sitting back and expecting one man to change a whole Congress and a whole country. Maybe we're playing into the hands of the Doles and the Nunns and the Borens and the editors of The New York Snides when we put you down. It's been a long time since anyone has taken on the issues you have. They're incredibly complicated, divisive, important issues and it's no surprise you haven't won them all. Actually trying to make the economy work for anyone but the rich, for instance--when was the last time anyone did that? The previous twelve years saw even Democrats raising taxes on the middle class and letting the rich get away with untold boodle. They said you didn't fight hard enough for your plan. (Meanwhile, what did we do?) Taking on the banks: You dared to suggest that banks shouldn't be making money on young people's struggle for education. And it looks like enough in Congress might be persuaded to agree to help lower the burden of debt on the nation's graduates. And the issue of gays in the military--because you pushed the issue from the beginning, the level of public consciousness about homo- sexuality has risen enormously, as has acceptance. In fact, it looks like people are beginning to come around on the issue, beginning to wonder just what the big deal is. Didn't these guys know there were going to take a lot of showers and spend a lot of nights with other guys when they joined up? Is that maybe one reason they did join up (but they would rather not think about it)? Things you've been able to do with the fabled stroke of the pen, you've done, and fast: repealed the gag rule; approved the importation of RU486; reversed the Mexico City policy that restricted aid to international family planning programs; lifted the ban on fetal tissue research and the ban on women having abortions in military hospitals abroad; appointed the first woman attorney general and nominated the second woman associate justice of the Supreme Court. Other things we have now that we'd almost given up hope for: The Family Leave Act and the NIH Reauthorization Act (with the historic pro- visions on women's health research) and the Motor Voter Bill--you fought for them and you signed them into law. Pamela Maraldo, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says you've "launched a new era in American health care." Texas Governor Ann Richards says, "We have not had a leader in Washington for more than a decade that understands the obvious fact 'Women's Issues' are the issues that affect a majority of Americans. President Clinton not only understands...he has acted upon it" Could it be that DeeDee Myers is right when she says of your adminstration, "We have done more for women's rights in the last 100 days than happened in the last twelve years. Sometimes our achievements get lost in a wave of negativity." And then there are the not-so-little things, like the White House dress code: "They let us wear trousers to work now; it makes a big difference," says Kim Wood, White House intern. Add the White House club code unequivocally demands that staffers resign from organizations with the slightest taint of discrimination. And, of course, the White House correspondence code; it's kind of disarming, Bill, that when you answer a letter, you start it, "Dear Carol and Abby" -- So What's Bugging Us? The way you sometimes raise our hopes only to let them come crashing to the ground. Whenever you nominate a "first woman"--or a second or a third--for Justice or another high office, all of us shine with reflected glory. Then sometimes you or your staff let her down, or worse, blame her for other's errors, or worst, attack her writings for things they didn't say or that you should have known. Then we are all humilitated, because these women are our champions. (We feel sorry for Judge Breyer, but we view the constituency as less vulnerable.) If you'll take this to heart, we'll try to stop carping, stop saying you're not fighting hard enough, and pick up our rolling pins and join the battle. And then, dear Bill, maybe we can say, All is forgiven (for now). ************************* And what have we done for ourselves? Now that we elected a frequent-feminist President and women senators and representatives, what do we have to show for it? Much, learned the Marjority Council of EMILY's List on June 18 in D.C. Specifically: *Critical mass at last--enought to guarantee to bring a Freedom of Choice Act out of the House. *Clout in the House. By petition, Leslie Byrne (D-VA) invoked the Rule of 50 to force the Democratic Caucus to pressure Dems in committee leadership posts to support the President's budget bill--or be disciplined. Leslie's first signatures were--yes mostly women. Without Byrne's leadership, the bill would not have passed. Said Byrne: "Most of us served on the local level, so we know how government works. The men in office start to see women as colleagues when they find we're not babes in the woods-in either sense." *Bicameral cooperation. Anna Eshoo filled Barbara Boxer's House seat when Boxer went to the Senate; now they team up on legislation to protect California's coast permanently, and do the House-Senate two-step on Silicon Valley issues. Eshoo said: "We get out of the Style section onto the Business Pages." *Voices for our life experience: Karen Shepherd (D-Ut), on the new linkages woman are creating: "Discuss clean air, and it's a breast-cancer issue. Discuss energy sources, you're talking about childhood leukemia." Times are so tough in California that Kathleen Brown (Pat's daughter, Jerry's sister) is ofter asked why she wants to be governor. Her reply is simple: "Genetic defect." DISPATCHES Time to add another stall? Texas Puts Seventh Woman is US Senate Tune in tomorrow. Republican Senator-elect Kay Bailey Hutchinson, as the first woman the state has ever sent to the Senate, earns a qualified hurrah. Her peppy commonsense campaign as a minimally pro-choice fiscal conservative beat out Gov. Ann Richards' third choice nominee, progressive but plodding Bob Kreuger. Mid-campaign, allegations surfaced that Hutchinson used state employees and equipment to do personal and political jobs for her while she was Texas state treasurer. Travis County D.A. Ronnie Earle, who heads the political integrity unit and has successfully prosecuted many Democratic leaders and and state officials in the past, has raided Hutchinson's office in the state capital, seized records and is "still investigating." Among Hutchinson's accusers is former state treasury employee Sharon Ammann, daughter of the late John Connally, who charged Hutchinson with, literally, throwing the book at her during a fit of temper. Others say the perfectly coiffed Hutchinson is a known pincher when peeved. And she allegedly doled out a $31,000 no-show job in the treasury to buy off a political opponent. This is the sort of thing that has always been considered charming in male Texas politicians so mark up another gender breakthrough. But Hutchinson's handy win was a defeat for both Pres. Bill Clinton and Gov. Ann Richards. Voters will have a second chance to consider Hutchinson next year when her interim term runs out. Meantime, competition got hotter than a Texas summer for the treasurer's spot Bailey vacated: 26 contenders (most of them women) went after the seat that was also Richards' springboard to power. The new appointee is Martha Whitehead, mayor of Longview, whose tall hair and East Texas accent make her stylistically much closer to the governor than the new senator. Let's hope all she knows how to pinch is pennies. OBJECT LESSON FOR WOMEN: Previous Texas treasures have been Warren G. Harding, Jesse James and the like--always men until Richards, but now its considered a woman's seat. --Susie Askanase In South Africa: This visible difference Farewell Delegation for a Freedom Fighter Flash on May 2, the Soccer Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, and the funeral of African National Congress leader Oliver Tambo, and see what a difference a new U.S. foreign policy can make: Tambo's coffin brought in while thousands sang the African National Anthem ("Nkosi sikelel' i-Africa"). Many hours of speeches from local, national, and international friends, colleagues, and wellwishers, interspersed with songs and dancing. Roars of approval when Jesse Jackson, arm in a sling from a recent automobile accident, took his turn to praise Tambo's many gifts and graces. Messages of sadness and condolence relayed from scores of Heads of State: Bill Clinton sent a message; John Major did not. The Clinton administration, in fact, sent a delegation of 18 headed by HHS Secrectary Donna Shalala that included Rep. Maxine Waters, Clinton's inaugural poet Maya Angelou, Randall Robinson of Trans Africa, the American advocacy groups for Africa, and Jackson. Maya Angelou read a poem. Donna Shalala, sandwiched between the envoy from Cuba and a representative from the PLO, regretted the passing of a man she had known and admired, and urged the ANC onto victory. Would George Bush have anyone, even a under-under secretary, to the funeral? An ANC victory in the first multiracial South African election will not be automatic and so American ideas, money, and support can make the difference. --Sue Leonard Message from Vienna: Gender-free justice Needed: One Small Step for Womankind The stories would have made your hair stand on end and your stomach feel kicked, as they did mine. For 11 hours, 600 people packed the Austria Center in Vienna to women from Somalia, Korea, Palestine, Russia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzongovina tell of horrific abuse they had endured in the name of "morale boosting" or "ethnic cleansing", or, cruelly, "custom." The UN World Conference on Hunam Rights met in Vienna from June 14th to 25th. The one-day nongovernmental Global Tribunal on Violations of women's human rights on June 15th was organized by the Global Center for Women's Leadership at Rutgers College in New Jersey. Led by Charlotte Bunch, it was the culmination of nearly three years of organizing among women's groups worldwide to demonstrate that gender rights are human rights, and that gender violence is a phenomenon that cuts through culture, race and class. The courageous, compassionate and terribly personal testimonies of women moved Ed Broadben, Tribunal member, ex-Canadian Member of Parliament and now President of the International Center for Human Rights, to say: "We must legally understand that gender-free justice is the only kind of justice. We must listen to the violations of the rights of women, condemn them, prosecute and stop them." One small step the U.S. government can take is to ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. --Anita Anand, Women's Feature Service The Getting It Gazette's Guiding Light (adapted by Lynn Phillips from the US Navy publication, "What Is Sexual Harassment?" for use by the Clinton White House.) RED LIGHT (Hands Off, Sailor!) * Scuttling Kimba and Lani * Energy policy in an oil slick * Launching nuclear tests YELLOW LIGHT (Watch Your Mop, Swabbie!) * The Zoe Baird snafu * The Counselor Gergen puddle * EEOC still shipping water GREEN LIGHT (Anchors Aweigh!) * Ginsburg & Reno are yar * New S. Africa policy holds water * Lifeboats for reproductive rights [graphics excluded due to electronic limitations] ... And the Personals is Political WHO ME? GLOATING? Remember William Webster, former Attorney General of Missouri, who persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to allow state limitations on access to abortion--you know, the Webster Decision? Well, Webster just pled guilty to two federal felony charges of conspiracy to defraud his state and converting state assets to his own use. Ho. FIFTY-FIFTY OR FIGHT: "To those who question whether women would change the nature of political power or whether political power would change the nature of women, there can be only one answer. ...Let's try it. Let's find out." Send $20 to WOMEN USA FUND, INC., (845 Third Avenue New York NY 10022 Tel: 212/759-7982 Fax: 212/759-8647) and receive the rest of an extremely good report directed by former Congresswomen Bella Abzug and Mim Kelber on ways to achieve gender balance in the world's governments by the year 2000. EDITORS' CHOICE: Art Workshop Interanational, Assisi, Italy August 4-31. Professionals and begineers welcome. For the 18th year Edith Isaac- Rose and Bea Kreloff, artists and teachers, have organized a month of creative perfection. Write, paint, draw, learn, make an inner journey. A personal renaissance amidst the Renaissance: four weeks with room and board $2,790. For futher salubrious details: Art Workshop International, 463 West Street, 1028 H, New York, NY 10014. 212/691-1159. SHE SEZ, HE SEZ DEPARTMENT: WHEN THE JUDGEMENT OF SOLOMON IS ON THE RECORD... In New York appellate court, lawyer Jordan Schiff was censured for using "vulgar, obscene and sexist epithets toward the anatomy and gender" of his opponent, Elizabeth Mark. A sample exchange cited by the New York Post: She said: I would like this card marked as an exhibit, please. He said: Bitch. You are the nastiest person I ever met, and I am going to be really all over you during the exam, so you'd better watch your ass. So Elizabeth mark told it to the judge--in this case, Manhattan Civil Court Judge Jane Solomon. Judge Jane was not amused. SHE SEZ, HE SEZ II: THE JUDGEMENT OF SOLOMON GOES OFF THE RECORD-- that's the Congressional Record. Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-NY) wanted his angry words to fellow New Yorker Louise Slaughter, a Democrat, erased entirely from the Congressional Record. (An earlier, edited version showed him saying things like "You will regret that as long as you live.") Slaughter and female colleagues protested, but Holy Moly, Mr. Foley says his hands are tied until House Rules are changed. ARE YOU GOING TO MICHIGAN? August 10-15. The annual Michigan Women's Music Festival at Walhalla will as always feature much invoking of the Goddess, nude gamboling on The Land (imagine a lesbian version of Bohemian Grove), banquets of dehydrated food, and highly imaginative spellings: womyn, wombmoon, etc. Bring DEET. SUSAN B. ANTHONY INVITES YOU ...to Seneca Falls, New York. This August there will be a celebratory opening of her own museum and the town will once again be the site of a reenactment of the 1846 Women's Rights convention, the famous meeting of the First Feminists that called for universal suffrage. (Call the National Women's Hall of Fame, 315/568-2936) TIRED OF READING ABOUT BOSNIA, BURMA, MOZAMBIQUE, ETC WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT TO DO? A suggestion: contact The Women's Commission International Rescue Committee, 386 Park Ave. South, NY 10016 (212)679-0010 TREES AND SYMPATHY: Feminist legend Kate Millett has a Christmas tree farm cum Arts Colony. For information contact Millett Tree Farm, 20 Old Overlook Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603 SISTERLY WARNING TO THE GETTING-EVEN GODDESS: Yes, the punishment should fit the crime. But you made the political much too personal with Casey, Specter and Dole by sending thunderbolts to get 'em in the heart, brain and balls. Why Women Cannot 'Play by the Rules' by Susan McHenry "I have always played by the rules," said Lani Guinier, when her nomination as the first woman to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justic Department was abruptly withdrawn by President Clinton. "And when I didn't play by the rules, I sought to change them rather than subvert them." But the distinguished civil rights attorney--who won a slew of landmark cases when she ran the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund's Voting Right Project-- went on to acknowlege, "The system failed me." And fail her it did. Guinier supporters were timing their op-ed pieces and letter writing campaigns to coincide with the scheduled confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hopes were perhaps un- realistically high because Dianne Feinsetin and Carol Moseley Braun now sit on the committee. But right-wing ambushers headed them off at the pass, making sure Guinier never got a chance to strut her stuff. The Wall Street Journal labeled Guinier a "quota queen," and a U.S. News writer demonized her exotic, non-establishment look ("Strange name, strange hair, strange writings..."). And the attacks frightened gentle Senator Biden with the Specter of the Judiciary Committee publicly harranguing another soft-spoken black women lawyer. The Democratic senator from Guinier's state of Pennsylvania, Carter administration old-boy Harris Wofford, gave short shrift to the Senate custom of squiring her on a round of courtesy calls. And Clinton, prematurely convinced that Guinier had more enemies than friends, took the low road with a last minute cop-out, depriving her of a chance to defend herself against the image created by her opponents. Congrats to the Congressional Black Caucus for making their anger known. And to Guinier herself, who is prepared to actively embrace her new status as a public symbol. Already confirmed to speak at the national conventions of both the NAACP and the National Association of Black Journalists in July, Guinier will be using the lecture curcuit to set her own record straight and talk about voting rights law and healing racial polarization. Says Suzanne Lynn, another African-American attorney who is Guinier's longtime personal friend: "Since Lani was taken down for her ideas, she is actually in a better position than Anita Hill was to use her celebrity to initiate a dynamic public discussion." OBJECT LESSON FOR WOMEN: Expect ambushes from the right for any decent Clinton nominee or program. Get out early and make yourself heard. And remember: It's the boys who wrote those rules, that how come they're the rulers. Social Surfing Is Out, Wavemaking Is In by Lynn Phillips While Washington women settle down to the disheartening work of compromise, grassroot female activism is sprouting some wild roses. To wit: JUST SAY NO WAY: "If you are being harassed or discriminated against at work, protest. If it happens to a co-worker, corroborate the victim's testimony; don't bear false witness out of company loyalty. If your bosses don't see the light, resign." That's what fundamentalist ladies are now being taught in a course at Bob Jones University on climbing the corporate ladder. We applaud the effort, as long as it's not set up as a "Your Honor or Your Career: Choose one." WEAR A MASK: New York's SoHo Guerrilla Girls have found a way to dump on art-world sexism and racism without having their personal artwork forever tarred with cheap political labels. By donning full-head, Halloween gorilla masks, they remain anonymous while they name names, get press, and plaster walls with stylish posters that advertize discriminatory practises of museums and galleries grown too pale, male, stale and Yale. (See GG's new quarterly: Hot Flashes, $9/yr. Inland Books, 203/467-7696.) The Guerrillas also have inspired a Denver agit-art group, the Girlgoyles, to act up. A June 18 exhibit was called "The Leave It to Beaver Show." REFUSE TO YIELD: In Chicago, Chicks in Architecture Refuse to Yield (CARY), are publically risking their necks and names with an irreverent exhibit at the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Convention this month. CARY comes from Caryatid, a Greek column depicting an enslaved woman of Peloponnesia who bears the weight of a building's wall on her head. The CARY exihibit is a glassblock ceiling to signify women's exclusion from architecture. WE CAN'T GO ON MEETING LIKE THIS: We'd like to see similiar rumblings from professional women's organizations. Job discriminations resists polite opposition. If you can't get your professional women's organization off it's ladylike duff, form a more meaningful group. If you don't want to take risks yourself, find a worthy discrimination or harassement plaintiff from a field or economic level other than your own. Hold her hand; feed her defense fund; form a bad girl support group. We will all benefit from her gains. SUGGESTION BOX: Fork up for professional women's groups like the Equal Rights Advocates of San Francisco that educate women in underpaid jobs about their rights and options. Lobby for sex parity in pivital power slots like network news management, academic admininstration, government. Help NOW fight for the Equal Remedies Act to end the current cap on monetary damages for sex discrinimatin suits. Support legal defense funds (either Women's LDF or NOW's) that handle landmark discrimination cases. If you can't cover your rear, cover your face. Swear in a few trustworthy women. Wear veils, Maggie Thatcher masks, act under cover of darkness. Leak man's salaries. Emit shocking press releases. Disrupt fundraisers with shameful statistics and cries of outrage. Target the company wallet for reparations. OBJECT LESSON FOR WOMEN: We can make waves and rescue wavemakers without going down with the ship. TALKING POINTS Debating Universal Health Insurance THEY SAY: The Canadian system doesn't work. YOU SAY: Most Canadians think it does. They choose their own doctors, go to specialists and have much lover overall medical costs. THEY SAY: Canadians come here for advanced treatment. YOU SAY: The wealthiest people will aways be able to afford extras and there will always be doctors who work outside the system for extra income. But universal health insurane covers everyone and supplies preventive care -- the best way to reduce costs and direct more dollars to research, instead of leaving research funding to drug companies who (surprise) only fund studies that profit them. THEY SAY: The Clinton "managed competion" proposal will clean up the problems with our current system without such a radical approach. YOU SAY: Can you define managed competition? In 500 words or less. Never trust a plan you can't explain. It means it's full of loopholes, bureaucracy, and other profit-taking opportunities. Push for a Canadiansyle system now to counterbalance establishment pressure for "just-tweak-the-system reforms." We'll compromise later, if we must. THEY SAY: It's too expensive. YOU SAY: It's too expensive now. But anything less than universal coverage will be even more costly in the long run. THEY SAY: The U.S. strength is health insurance through empolyers. YOU SAY: That leaves out everyone not employed by a large company unless they're married to someone who is. It shuts out the self-employed. THEY SAY: Restrict doctors' incomes, and the best and the brightest will abandon medicine as a career. YOU SAY: Are the best and brightest also the greediest? THEY SAY: A universal system will eliminate the health insurance industry. It will throw hundreds of thousands out of work. YOU SAY: Eliminating insurance middlemen will save big bucks. Displaced workers should be retrained for the job of the future. THEY SAY: We shouldn't support any Clinton plan that doesn't include abortion coverage. YOU SAY: I agree with you, for now. But when it reaches Congress, we need to access the smartest tactics. THEY SAY: The medical establishment will never accept universal health care and a one-payer system. YOU SAY: We can win over the Medical Milkens if we get clear about what we want! The Clinton administration is very responsive to public pressure. It's time for the women who got him his job to speak with a united voice. We want a fair, coherent, reasonably priced system that covers basic medical services for every women, man and child! --Bryna Taubman HOW LONG BEFORE WE CATCH UP WITH CANADA No, we're not talking about health care this time, we mean in electing a woman as the nation's chief executive. On this subject one can sure talk Turkey. And talking frankly woman-to-woman us what the Getting It Gazette does best. 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