Women's meeting maps new direction for '80s

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decision to her community.

Hardiman set the tone for the day's events when she emphasized the need for all people to overcome the fragmentation that has hindered the struggles for racial and sexual equality: "We must learn from the past and recognize, as my mother used to say, that problems are opportunities in work clothes."

TESC faculty members Artee Young and Maxine Mimms, director of the TESC Tacoma campus, pointed to the failure of the women's movement to address the concerns of women of color. Stephanie Coontz, TESC professor of history, argued that the women's movement has been marred by racism but stressed the leading role Black women played in the 19th century in providing direction to the women's movement and linking it to the Black movement.

Unions and the women's movement The panel discussion on women and changing roles in society included speakers on the subject of women reentering the job market, women in non-traditional careers, and the role of unions in women's work. The panelists all agreed that while the ideology of women's roles has changed to allow women more opportunities for education and employment, women's primary role is still within the family.

The "liberation" of women has increased the economic role of women without decreasing her traditional duties. For many women, this has led to greater oppression.

Diane Lutz, staff organizer with the Washington State and Federal Employees Union and member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, emphasized the important role of unions in addressing the dual oppression of women. "International Women's Day has its roots in the labor movement, she argued, "and the labor movement in turn must sink its roots into the international women's movement."

Lutz emphasized that not only do unions need women, but women need unions. "Unions have been focusing on a number of issues addressed here today" she continued. "We are fighting for the right to childcare and, perhaps most topical, unions are leading the fight to institute comparable worth."

The final panel discussion, entitled "Women in Struggle"' featured Susan Morales from Seattle's El Centro de La Raza; Native American activist Nylak Butler; and Pilar Martinez, a Salvadoran woman now living in Seattle. Martinez is one of the refugees who was arrested earlier this winter in the attack on sanctuary.

In the best-attended presentation of the day, Martinez spoke about her experiences in El Salvador as an advocate of the rights of workers and peasants. She talked about her continuing fight against oppression here in the United States and urged all who were present to recognize that the struggle against oppression is an international struggle that we all must join. "If we do not," she concluded, "life is meaningless." Do you think they should have foun that woman guilty of being raped?'