Document 86: "Minority Women," in Susanna Downie, Decade of Achievement: 1977-1987: A Report on a Survey Based on the National Plan of Action for Women (Washington, D.C.: National Women's Conference Committee, 1988), pp. 54-55.

p. 54

MINORITY WOMEN

NATIONAL PLAN GOALS

•"women" includes "minority women" • legislation and enforcement of existing laws addressing such problem areas as: involuntary sterilization, monolingual education and services, high infant and maternal mortality rates, confinement to low level jobs and ghettoized housing, combined sex and race bias in insurance…

AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKAN NATIVE WOMEN: • preservation of tribal heritage (including spiritual values), tribal sovereignty, hunting and fishing rights, and trust status • stop removal of children from their families

ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN WOMEN • special problems include: language and culture barriers, sweatshop work conditions, lack of access to accreditation and licensing due to immigrant status

HISPANIC WOMEN • stop deportation of mothers of American-born children • legislation to facilitate citizenship • minimum wage, collective bargaining rights, adequate housing for migrant farm working women • equal opportunity to training and employment in communications, to provide Spanish-language programming…

PUERTO RICAN WOMEN • Puerto Rican women are citizens of the United States and wish to be recognized as equals

BLACK WOMEN • full quality education, at all levels • full employment, especially for teenage black women • adoption of black orphans • enforcement of fair housing laws, Federally assisted low and moderate income housing.

WOMEN OF COLOR:

AN INVISIBLE DECADE OF GROWTH

   The women of color movement in the last decades has been broad and substantial, but is often unconnected, and is largely undocumented. The information presented here is incomplete, but is put forward in hopes of encouraging others to share information and deepen the analysis.

   According to a survey by the International Council for African Women (ICAW), the number of women of color groups (which includes all the above racial and ethnic categories) in the U.S. increased from 300 (1975) to over 1000 in 1985. The focus of these groups (overall) shifted in the same time period from strictly social service and educational work to issue and policy oriented activities. This shift has taken place at different times for Asian, Native American, Hispanic, and Black women, but the shift is distinct for each. Taken together, the changes demonstrate women's increased organizing as autonomous groups, rather than as auxiliaries or subunits of male-controlled groups.

   Another commonality among these groups has been their ambivalent relationship to the mainstream (mostly white) women's movement. Feminism was tentatively explored while feminists were gravely distrusted. For most women of color organizations, it has taken years of development to learn to resist anti-feminist rhetoric while simultaneously defining and working from a self-chosen feminist perspective on child care, health issues, violence against women, pay equity, reproductive rights, and other Plan areas.

   Another growth indicator deserving research is the geographic and demographic characteristics of each sector of the women of color movement, and what effect these factors have had on the political direction of the organizations. Most women of color organizations appear to have developed in a bi-coastal fashion, with large concentrations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Development in the Midwestern and Southern parts of the country appears to be more cohesive (less fragmented), but fewer in number. Where there are large concentrations of a particular race or ethnicity, for instance, Native Americans in Minnesota, there are naturally larger and stronger groups of women in that same region.

   Asian-American, Black, and Hispanic women's organizations are concentrated primarily on the coasts. Black women's organizations predominate in the deep South. The midwest is more diverse, with Native American and Hispanic, as well as Black women's organizations. The Southwest, as one might expect, has a large concentration of Hispanic women's groups, but also Native American and a few Black groups.

   Women of color organizations blossomed in numbers beginning in the early 70's, following the Civil Rights movement of the 60's, the end of the Vietnam War, and nationalist movements among Hispanic, Asian-American, and Native American populations. Women of color were also stimulated by the UN Decade World Conferences (Mexico City, 1975, Copenhagen, 1980, and Nairobi in 1985). Corresponding to the development of autonomous women of color organizations, there was an increase in the number of women of color joining feminist groups such as NOW, and working at feminist projects such as rape crisis centers and battered women's shelters. Another contributors to the growth was the expansion of women's studies courses that focused on women of color during the 70's and 80's, and the development of Black Women's Studies in the early 80's.

p. 55

   The following partial chronology gives an indication of specific points in the development of women of color groups:

1970 • Founding of Native American Women's Action Corps (quickly faded out), and North American Indian Women's Association (still operating).

1971 • Asian Studies journal does first issue on pan-Asian women, called Asian Women.

1972 • Commission Feminil Mexicana organized as first national Hispanic feminist organization. In 1975, they became the first Hispanic women's organization to declare themselves publicly pro-choice.

• National Conference of Puerto Rican Women (NCOPRW) founded.

• First women of color ERA organization

1973 • National Black Feminist Organization formed.

• First International Conference of Indigenous Women of the Americas held in Chiapas, Mexico.

1974 • Combahee River Collective Statement -- definitive Black feminist statement combining anti-sexist, anti-racist, and anti-homophobic work into an organized theoretical construct.

• Mexican American Women National Association organizes around feminist principles, as part of mobilizing for 1975 UN Decade Mexico City Conference.

• First Native American Women's Studies course, at Dartmouth College.

1975 • First Hispanic Women's Center established, in New York City.

1976 • Native American Women Writers Conference, in Arizona.

• National Institute of Education sponsors a conference on Native American Women, in New Mexico.

• Organization of Pan Asian American Women founded, the first national public policy and leadership development consolidation of Asian American women.

1977 • Organization of Chinese American Women founded, first national organization for women of Chinese descent.

• Black Women's Agenda organized in Washington DC, presents proposal at National Women's Conference at Houston, which becomes basis for Minority Women's plan in the Plan.

• First Minority Women's Committee within the National Organization for Women is formed.

1978 • Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founded.

• First national conference on Third World Women and Violence Against Women, in Washington DC.

1981 • National Coalition of 100 Black Women founded.

• National Black Women's Health Project begins organizing, holds conference in Atlanta in 1983, attracting over 2000 participants, the largest gathering of women of color held to date.

1982 • National Institute for Women of Color founded, the first national organization devoted specifically to bringing together all women of color in a research and public policy organization. Hosts first national conference for women of color

• Third World/Women of Color Caucus organized at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; this is the largest women of color caucus still active.

• International Council of African Women, founded, with international focus.

1983 • Between Ourselves, first national women of color newspaper begins publishing.

• Upfront, first national Black women's newspaper begins publication.

1984 • National Political Congress of Black Women founded by Black women disappointed in the Democratic and Republican party's dismissal of Black women as a political force.

1986 • first Black Women's Political Action Committee formed to raise funds for Black women candidates (organized by National Political Congress of Black Women).

• first National Conference on Women of Color and Reproductive Rights, sponsored by NOW, but organized by women of color, held in Washington DC.

-- Loretta Ross, Women of Color
                  Coordinator of NOW

RESOURCES:

Mexican American Women's National Association, 1201 Sixteenth St. NW, Washington DC, 20036. (202) 822-7888.

Hispanic Women's Council, 5803 East Beverley Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90022. c/o Cecilia Sandoval

Organization of Pan Asian American Women, P.O. Box 39128, Washington DC 20016. (202) 659-9370.

Organization of Chinese American Women, 1525 O St. NW, Washington DC 20005. (202) 328-3185.

Black Women's Agenda, c/o PSI Assoc. 1000 Vermont Ave. NW. Washington DC 20005.

National Coalition of 100 Black Women, 10 East 87th St., New York NY. 10018. (212) 410-7510.

National Institute for Women of Color, PO Box 50583, Washington DC 20004. (202) 828-0735.

International Council of African Women, PO Box 55076, Wash DC 20011.(301) 565-9313.

Women of All Red Nations, General Delivery, Porcupine SD, 57779. Contact: Lorelei Means

American Indian Women on the Move, P.O. Box 60436, Los Angeles CA 90060. (213) 974-7741.

Northwest Indian Women's Circle, P.O. box 8051, Tacoma WA 98408. (206) 458-7610.

Indigenous Women's Network, 1519A East Franklin Ave., Minneapolis MN 55404. (612) 872-1097.

   

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