WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WOMEN'S  MOVEMENT

Women's Underground Movement Flourishes in the Philippines

For more than ten years now, a revolutionary women's underground movement has been working in the countryside of the Philippines educating peasants on political and feminist issues. Called the Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA), this group emerged out of the radical student movement of the early seventies, went underground in 1972 and maintained a continual struggle since then.

       At the start of the movement, the group concentrated solely on political education, in order to conscientize the masses of peasant women about the part they could play in the struggle for national liberation. But in the early eighties it was recognized that the women needed to address their problems as women, and this became the major priority, "to battle the feudal relations and cultures."

       As one activist related to Cayenne magazine recently, "a lot of women comrades within the revolutionary movement had always pushed for more work with women. But the thing that really developed the women's movement was that the women themselves felt the urgency and the need. Women's groups started flowering all over the country. And what was extraordinary was that most of these women already had a high level of political consciousness and accepted the need for the national democratic revolution. What this means is that the question of setting up women's organizations and building the women's movement has been in the context of the revolution from the beginning.

        In a relatively short period of time we have been able to put the agenda of women in all facets of political life..."

Source:

Cayenne, Spring/Summer 1987

Women Gather Information in Namibia: Gov't's Population Control Policies Alarming

SWAPO's Women's Solidarity Campaign has been gathering information on the situation of women in Namibia over the past few years. According to a report published in the Review of African Political Economy, a virulent campaign of population control is being carried out in Namibia by the South African government.

        The controversial injectable drugs Depo-provera and Northisterone are being widely administered, often to women who have just given birth and whose consent has not been sought. Even more disturbing is the report that these drugs are frequently administered in dosages far higher than those recommended by the manufacturers. Even girls of 13 and 14 years old are given these drugs at school without parental consent.

         Sterilization without consent is also widely practiced on women who are in hospital for other forms of surgery. In other cases, lUDs are fitted without the knowledge of patients undergoing surgery.

         In addition, employers pressure their workers to use contraception, particularly the injectible variety. Cases are known where this is a condition of employment.

         SWAPO'a Women's Solidarity Campaign has been conducting interviews in order to determine the extent of this activity. Information and publications are available from:

The Namibia Support Committee

PO Box 16

London NW5 2LW

UK

Research in Africa: Women Not Passive Objects

The Association of African Women for Research and Development has been making major strides within the past year. Formed in 1977, this network aims to bring together women on specific issues and raise the gender question in Africa's development programs. It publishes a newsletter and occasional papers and reports.

      For the past year, the group has been hosting a series of seminars in order to popularize the results of research into the condition of African women. At the last of these seminars.
researchers, community development workers, lawyers and media- women met and discussed concepts of work and employment in the African context.

       It was generally agreed at this conference that research must be more outwardly directed and should not treat its subjects as passive objects.

       For further information contact:

Amandina Lihamba

Theatre Arts Dept

University of Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania

Wife-Batterers Get Taught a Lesson in Peru

The following scene has now become familiar in Peru:

       A piercing whistle suddenly breaks the nightime silence in a poor district of Peru's capital city, Lima. "Let her go, you brute, don't you dare to touch her..." a group of women scream at a man as he backs out of the doorway of a small shack, his arms raised against the furious blows raining down on him. In a corner a woman and her frightened children huddle, crying.

        The women of this over-crowded and impoverished neighborhood of San Juan de Miraflores had finally had enough of daily domestic violence and organized themselves into women's mutual self- defense groups in which each member has a whistle which will summon the rest of the members in an emergency.

         They were inspired, spokeswomen say, by local community 'crime patrols' which did not see wife battering as the kind of crime with which they were concerned. Because of the women's initiatives, violent incidents are reported to have decreased because now "husbands think twice before they beat their wives."

          According to the club's president, "the macho men around here call us 'the husband-beaters' because we are ready to defend any woman being beaten up."

Source:

Outwrite no 59

Formation of Tanzania Media Women's Organization

Twenty media women in Tanzania put together an impressive performance on the condition of African women earlier this year. This was a part of the preparations for launching the Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA).

      The Association will aim at pooling professional resources among media women and arranging extraprofessional activities of social value.

      The inaugural show, held to mark International Women's Day 1987, included a variety of items written and performed by media-women. Among them were a one-woman play, poetry, songs and music, a photography display and a dance performance. Included in the evening's entertainment was also a film show.

Source:

Daily News of Dar-es-Salaam

Women Workers Band Together in Korea

A national organization to advance the rights and struggles of women workers has been founded in Korea. Called the Korean Women Workers' Association, this new group seeks to agitate against issues such as wage discrimation, forced retirement upon marriage/childbearing, the double burden of women, and the threat to health and motherhood posed by poor working conditions.

       The group plans to conscientize women workers of their plights and unite them to fight against the myriad forms of oppression which affect them. It aims to conduct research and educational activities, provide counseling services and day care centers as well as to arrange cultural events.

And at the University of the West Indies...

A major new initiative has gotten underway at the three campuses of this university. This year, the new Women's Studies Program has swung into action. For the first time, undergraduates are able to focus on studies in women's issues through a special course offered in the liberal arts and social science degree program at the three campuses. In addition, a wide range of courses have been altered to include components on women.

       This new development has been in preparation for several years through the activities of the Women's Study group, a body of women scholars employed at the university. For the past year or so, members of this group have been preparing to teach in the new program by participating in a series of seminars held in the different islands of the Caribbean.

        For more information, contact:

The Coordinator

Women's Study Group

University of the West Indies

Mona Jamaica