WMC News & Features

WMC Exclusive: A Report from Freedom on Our Own Terms

The past, present and future of feminism converged over the weekend in New York City to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first, and only, federally funded National Women's Conference. More than 600 women and girls met at Hunter College to re-ignite the fight for full political equality.

That 1977 gathering, which participants lovingly refer to as the Houston conference, was chaired and organized by the late, great Congresswoman Bella Abzug. This conference was organized by Abzug's daughter, Liz, along with Pam Elam, who had been a delegate in Houston; it was sponsored by the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI), founded by Liz, her sister, Eve Abzug, and Erica Forman.

For those too young to have participated at Houston or even to know that something of this magnitude occurred in the United States (because it’s probably not in your social studies book), 20,000 people attended as delegates, invited guests or members of the general public. It was the culmination of a yearlong series of conferences in each state and territory, with 150,000 participants.

What happened in Houston was radical by any standard. The conference was part of the UN International Women's Year process, which mandated that all countries host a conference to address women's issues. First ladies Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and Lady Bird Johnson all attended. The work of the delegates was to create a National Plan of Action to take the feminist agenda forward. A panel at this week's conference entitled "The Spirit of Houston" included attendees like Lupe Anguiano, who was a Catholic nun in Texas at the time and worked within the church to support the ERA; Charlotte Bunch, an international human rights leader who 30 years ago was focused on integrating lesbian rights into mainstream feminism into the National Plan of Action; and Loretta Ross, national coordinator of the reproductive health collective SisterSong, who spoke about making sure the history of women of color is rightfully interwoven into the history of the women's movement. Thirty years ago, she helped create a Black Women's Agenda in Washington D.C., which was, she said, the first to use a human rights framework when discussing women's issues; and those discussions also coined the terminology “women of color,” making the point that women who are black, Asian/Pacific, Chicana, and native American could hardly be termed “minority women” in an international context.

For those who turned out for the two day BALI conference, the celebrity quotient was high. In a provocative keynote, Rosie O'Donnell talked about the promise of growing up in the 70s as a young feminist, when girls began to believe they could be anything they wanted to be; and now when we again have to fight for safe reproductive health choices. She questioned the consolidation of the media ("Rupert Murdoch owns everything"), implored journalists to get a backbone over the Iraq war, and challenged the audience not to be "sucked into the crap. It's like McDonalds, it smells good but it makes you sick." Gloria Steinem (WMC founder and board member) in Sunday's keynote added: "The Houston conference turned feminism from a small grassroots effort into a national movement. Its power continues to a generation that would not have heard of it without the conference."

That generation proved ready to take up the mantle of feminist leadership, yet in a different way. On an intergenerational panel, young women implored those in charge of feminist institutions to allow them to step up and lead. And while technology has connected young feminists together online, the conference illuminated the importance of coming together for collective action. Some of the young women feel isolated and lonely. One said she was "jealous" of the women of the 70s. They are desperate for the "sisterhood" that was evoked when panelists spoke about the Houston conference.

The list of young women participants was long and impressive, including 17-year-old Jordana A. Confino, who co-founded Girls Learn International, an organization dedicated to helping girls around the world get access to education; Shelby Knox, who, while still in high school, bucked her Christian conservative upbringing to become an advocate for sex education; Kassidy Johnson, organizing for the Feminist Majority on historically black college campuses; and Lala Wu, a BALI board member, who co-authored the updated National Plan of Action that was discussed on Sunday.

To Liz Abzug, the conference is just the first step in what she hopes will be many more national gatherings. For Lala Wu, one of the post conference goals is to "draft 10 demands to be presented to the 2008 Presidential candidates. The hope is that these demands will re-ignite the fight for equality and bring women's issues to the forefront of the national agenda—not simply for the sake of women and girls but for the betterment of democracy for all."



More articles by Category: Economy, Feminism
More articles by Tag:
SHARE

[SHARE]

Article.DirectLink

Categories
Sign up for our Newsletter

Learn more about topics like these by signing up for Women’s Media Center’s newsletter.