Print Resources
ASIA
In the Shadow of Affluence: Stories of Japanese Women Workers
by Michiko Hiroki, Center for Asian Women Workers' Fellowship, February 1986, 54 pp. Available from: Committee for Asian Women, 57 Peking Road, 5/F, Kowloon, Hong Kong, US$3.
Through personal stories of various factory and office workers, this booklet gives a human look at the situation of Japanese women workers: the pressures caused by the introduction of new technology, their double burden as housewives and workers, and the lack of protections for part-time workers. We also learn about ways these women are coming together to improve their situation.
AFRICA
Mulheres Mocambicanaa/ Women of Mozambique
Mozambique Women's Organization, Rua Pereira do Lago 147, Maputo, Mozambique, 1986, 120 pp. Also Available from: Ragnar Hansen, Formannsv. 38 A, 5038 Bergen, Sandviken, Norway.
Compiled to mark the tenth anniversary of the Mozambique Women's Organization, this book presents a range of stunning color and black and white photographs of Mozambiquan women in everyday live. The text, presented in both Portuguese and English language, outlines women's involvement in the liberation struggle for independence in the 1970s; their fight against the South Africa-backed resistance movement; the situation of rural and urban women today; and the many political and culture changes they are fighting for.
Nissa
8 rue Dar el Jeld, Tunis,Tunisia
Nissa is a monthly journal produced by a group of Tunisian feminists, some of whom have been meeting since 1975. The journal, published jointly in Arabic and French, first come out in March 1985, "its conception accelerated by the rise of reactionary Islamic views on women being expressed in our daily press." Themes include: feminism and Islam, childbirth, sexuality, women and sport, co-education in schools, racism, workers' struggles and women and culture.
Entirely dependent on subscriptions, Nissa is currently struggling for survival and badly needs your support. New subscriptions and/or donations will be gratefully received at the above address.
LATIN AMERICA
Women in Chile: Yesterday and Today
by Catalina Palma, Chile Solidarity Campaign, 129 Seven Sisters Road, London N7, England, 20 pp.
This informative booklet grew out of a conference on Chilean women held in England in 1984. The author, a Chilean sociologist who has lived in exile since 1976, traces the development of the Chilean women's movement from its middle-class origins in the early part of the century to the popular opposition under the present military regime. It also looks at how middle and upper class women have been mobilized in support of the Right.
NORTH AMERICA
Index/Directory of Women's Media 1986
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, 3306 Ross Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA. US$12.
The latest annual women's media directory from a group "devoted to strengthening the women's communication network and the developing new philosophies of communication" reflects the growth of the women's media network on an international level. The directory lists 490 women's periodicals (180 outside the US), 114 women's presses and publishers (33 outside the US), women's news services, film, radio and television groups, bookstores, arts/graphics/ theatres, writers groups, and much more.
EUROPE
Women, Media, Crisis: Feminity and Disorder
by Michele Mattelart, Comedia Publishing Group, 9 Poland St., London WIV3DG, England, 125pp. US$7.50.
This new book from a former advisor to the Allende government in Chile brings together a series of essays that explore the relationship between the present world political and economic crisis and the role of women and the family. The author analyzes the role of the media in shaping the image of women and, in a chapter entitled "The Feminine Side of the Coup," examines the ideological role of women in the Chilean coup d'etat of 1973.
Strangers and Sisters: Women, Race and Immigration
edited by Selma James, Falling Wall Press, 75 West Street, Old Market, Bristol BS2 OBX, England, 1985. 231 pp. US$8.95.
Record of the voices of women from many different countries who came together for a conference of Black and immigrant women in London, England in 1982. "The conference was convened in order that Black and immigrant women could for the first time in some massive way articulate and share experiences and perceptions among themselves and with other women: to continue the exploration of race, immigration and feminism... through women with first-hand information on their own lives speaking out about them." This book, published almost three years later, includes interesting details of how the conference was organized.
INTERNATIONAL
Adult Education and Women: Experiences in Non-formal Education, Reports from Zaire, Nigeria and the Pacific Islands
Number 26, March 1986, German Adult Education Association, Rheinallee 1, 5300 Bonn 2, Federal Republic of Germany
This series of 18 essays from women around the world offers experiences and reflections on non-formal education programs for women in areas including nutrition, family planning, consumer issues, and income generation. The methods of popular drama used by Sistren Women's Theatre Collective for raising women's awareness and the experience of a women's committee in the slum of Peru are among the most interesting selections included.
Problem Drugs: An Information Kit
by Andrew Chetley and David Gilbert, Health Action International, 1986. Available from International Organization of Consumers Unions, Emmastraat 9, 2595 EG The Hague, The Netherlands or P.O. Box 1045, 10830 Penang, Malaysia.
This new information kit reflects Health Action International's conviction that "most of the thousands of drugs on the world market are either unsafe, ineffective, unnecessary or a waste of money." The pack contains more than 25 inserts which each look in detail at a different drug from antibiotics to vitamins, pregnancy drugs to contraceptives, antidiarrheals to cold remedies. It also includes a poster with examples of misleading or false advertisements by drug manufacturers and a list of suggested organizing activities for local groups.
United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, 1976-1985
An Information Kit for NGOs, Non Governmental Liaison Service, United Nations Plaza, DC2-1103, New York, NY 10017, USA. US$5.
This updated information kit recently issued by the NGLS contains some of the most useful and informative materials from the NGO Forum in Nairobi, as well as key UN documents from the governmental conference. Featuring posters, booklets, photographs, pamphlets and easy-to-understand charts, the materials may be useful in organizing follow-up activities on the local level.
Women in the Third World: A Resource Directory
Third World Resources, 464 19th St., Oakland, CA 94612, USA, 1986, 144 PP
This paperback directory devoted entirely to women in the Third World contains annotated, indexed and cross-referenced listings of Organizations, print and audiovisual resources. Reserve a copy now and receive a 10 percent discount off the cover price. (The price has not yet been announced.) Third World Resources also devoted the fall 1985 issue of its newsletter to women in the Third World. Copies are available for US $ .50 each or $ .15 each for 50 or more copies.
Audiovisual and Broadcast
LATIN AMERICA
Bordando la Frontera (1986)
(Approaching the Border)
Film, 16mm, color, 60 min., in Spanish
Producer and Distributor: Angeles Necoechea, Apartado Postal 19-501, Mexico City, DF, Mexico
A dramatized story of four women workers in the maquiladoras, the assembly factories of transnational corporations lining the northern border of Mexico. Working under strenuous conditions for subsistence wages, the four workers decide to produce a video and little by little teach themselves how to do it, learning more about their own situation in the process.
NORTH AMERICA
Who's in Control? Microtechnology and Women Workers (1986)
Slide-tape show, 30 min., in English
Producer and distributor: Participatory Research Group, 229 College St., Toronto, M5T 1R4, Canada
Cost: US $25 rental, US $150 purchase
Through interviews with Bell telephone operators, bank workers and library technicians, this slideshow points out the parallels in the situation of Canadian women workers affected by the introduction of computer technology in their workplace. Isolation, decreasing reliance on skills and abilities, and stress-related diseases are some of the problems these women face. The slideshow also draws on their organizing experiences to lay out important steps that can be taken toward unionization and collective action.
Radio Mujer
Community Radio, WDNA, 88.9 FM, Miami, Florida, USA
Tel. (305) 264-9362
Every Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., women in the Miami region can tune into music of women from many lands and cultures - reggae, rock, samba, folk, punk, salsa. Produced by a group of Anglo and Latina women, the program also features news, interviews, announcement and a calendar of women's events.
Making Our Own History, Singing Our Own Song (1986)
Slide-tape, in English
Producer: Deborah Barndt
Distributor: Participatory Research Group, 229 College St., Suite 301, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R4, Canada
Cost: US $25 rental, $150 purchase (community groups) US $50 rental. $200 purchase (institutions)
This inspiring new slideshow relates some of the innovative methods used in popular education by Nicaraguan literacy teachers, such as oral history, photography, participatory research, silk screen, mask-making, and popular theatre.
Comenzando a ser Muier (1985)
(Becoming a Woman)
Video, 15 min., color, in Spanish
Producer and Distributor: Maria Elena Querejazu, casilla 3961, La Paz, Bolivia.
Combining scientific information and personal testimonies from a group of Aymara migrant women in Bolivia, this is part of a series of three videos aimed at providing a basis for group discussion about female sexuality.
To soy Obrera, y tu? (1985)
(I'm a Worker, and you?)
Slide-tape show, 15 min., in Spanish
Producer: Gregorio Heres, Betsey Valdivia and Delia Zamudio Distributor: Asociacion Aurora Vivar, Alfonso Ugarte 1428, no. 702, Brena, Lima, Peru
Cost: US $20
By presenting their daily work in factories and at home, this audiovisual aims at showing women workers the importance of their economic role in society.