Women out to fight ‘bias’ in the media
(By
ELIZABETH GORDON)
AUKAMMALLEE i (West Germany). Next year has been officially designated by the United Nations as ! the “Year of Women.”
“A year for women!” many men are likely to comment. “What do women need a special year for? They already have all the years ;we have.” Women, including .women’s libbers, are likely to agree. “What can the United Nations hope to achieve for women in one year?” they might ask. 1 "How serious is the s United Nations about (‘women’s year’ when it has i earmarked only SUS4OO,OOO ]for expenses as opposed to $U53,500,000 for ‘Population Year’ and SUS2m for ‘Human Rights Year’?” STRATEGY CONFERENCE
To decide these questions and to decide strategy for 1975 an international women’s conference was held last month in Frankfurt, West Germany. Five hundred women from 14 different countries attended the conference, many of them sent to represent organisations in their home countries. This response indicates the importance women attach to their struggle for equal rights and to “Women’s Year.” The three-day conference was the scene of intense discussion and exchange of ideas between women of different countries whose normal channel of communication is the written word.
Groups were formed to discuss such subjects as “women and the law,”
“medicine for women,” “wages for housework,” “women and the media,” “lesbian politics” and “the situation of mothers.” Each group made recommendations for resolutions which were voted on by the final assembly. The conference was divided on the question of whether to recognise 1975 as “Women’s Year.” It was finally decided that a letter should be sent to the United Nations ’ Secretary-General (Dr Waldheim) saying that although 1975 as “Women’s Year" is a fact the conference “rejects any United Nations attempt to take over the women’s movement and asks what the United Nations hopes to achieve for women when it is unwilling to challenge the basic contradictions inherent in woman’s current role.” SCEPTICISM
Although many women were sceptical about the value of a year for women, most saw it as a means of publicity which should be exploited and around which they could organise their own campaigns. In Italy laws liberalising abortion are due to be considered by Parliament and women there are preparing to campaign on the issue. One Italian woman remarked that the fight for reasonable divorce laws would never have been won without the support of women, and with the abortion laws it was likely to be the same. “Women,” she said, “being the people most affected by the bearing and rearing of children, are the ones best able to decide whether they are able to cope with another child.”
In England and Germany many women are concerned with the isisue of wages "for housework.” Although women are still divided on this issue many maintain that housework, including child-care, is a form of production without which society cannot function. This, they say, should be recognised and paid for accordingly. Women from ail countries were concerned with the problem of how to present a positive feminine image through the news media when the media are controlled by men, many of whom are more interested in women’s legs than in what is in their heads. WOMEN REPORTERS It was decided that women’s events should be covered by women reporters in order to minimise the possibility of biased press coverage. This decision will probably set the tune for 1975 when only female reporters will be invited to attend press conferences held after women’s events. There was also international concern over the problems faced by women workers who are constantly struggling to secure equal rights in their work places, and those faced by mothers who have to bear the brunt of responsibility for the health and well-being of children. The conference gave unanimous support to women who have decided that the traditionally subservient feminine role is unnatural and who would rather live with other women than spend all their energy in the constant struggles involved in living with men who are condi-
tioned to expect women to play second fiddle. Such women, labelled by society as "lesbian,” a label that at the same time implies "perverted,” "unrea-
sonable” and “man-hater,” are in a particularly difficult situation.
Most women left the conference with a positive feeling of achievement and
greater determination to continue the struggle for equality between all individuals knowing that they are supported by women the world over and, for 1975 at least, by the United Nations.
Women out to fight ‘bias’ in the media
Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33713, 10 December 1974, Page 7
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