- Good evening. Thank you for joining us for a "Feminist Perspective." This weekly radio broadcast is sponsored by the Women's Resource in Career Planning Center, a program and information service of the Dean of Women's Office, 222 Strong Hall. Located in the Women's Resource in Career Planning Center, is a large lending resource service which contains a great deal of information in the form of news clippings, government documents, magazine articles, research studies, filmstrips, tapes and books pertaining to the many aspects of the women's movement. We should like to invite you to come in to browse or take advantage of the lending service, that's in 222 Strong Hall at the University of Kansas. The materials and the resource in Career Planning Center are as valuable for men as for women since sex role definitions and stereotypes affect both sexes. We invite you also to come to this office if there are matters you wish to discuss with someone, whatever concerns you as women or about women, is of concern to us also. Last week, we presented three people from Lawrence who were the heads or spokeswomen for major women's organizations. It was the first of a series of three programs continuing tonight and next Monday, on Major Women's Organizations or organizations that have the concerns of women, is a major aspect of them. Last week we talked with representatives of the American Association of University Women, the Business and Professional Women's Club and the League of Women Voters. And tonight we have as our guests Gloria Morton, who is the chairperson for the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce. Jean Robinson, the outgoing president of the National Organization for Women, the Lawrence branch. And Dean Wheelhouse, the state vice president of the Auxiliary Kansas Postal Workers, excuse me, Auxiliary Kansas Postal Workers Union, is that correct Dean? None of these organizations in and of themselves is confined only to women membership except the Women's Division, is that right? - That's right. - Gloria. Could you tell us a little bit about the Chamber of Commerce of which the Women's Division as a part, first of all? - Well, the object of the Chamber of Commerce is to advance the commercial, industrial and educational and civic interests of the city of Lawrence. And being women, we are part of this and we're trying to advance the educational, especially educational and civic interests in Lawrence. Our membership consists of about 100 women to this point. And we're planning on having a coffee on September 27th to increase our membership and we hope you'll be there, Dean Taylor. - Well, thank you. We'll get to the local program in just a moment but we wanna clarify that the Women's Division is a part of the Chamber of Commerce, is that correct? - It's a committee of the chamber. - Are women also eligible to serve on other committees of the Chamber of Commerce? - If you are a full-fledged member of the Chamber of Commerce of which I am, you can serve on any committee as the chamber that you wish to and we have 18 different committees on the chamber. - You say full-fledged member of the Chamber of Commerce, now you can belong then to the Women's Division without being a full-fledged member or who is eligible for membership in the Women's Division? - Well, the Women's Division is a little different from the national organization because our group has, you can be a member if your husband is a member. Now, these dues are only $5 per year, but you don't have any voting privileges or you cannot be on any of these standing committees. But if you are a member, in the commercial interest which is a $50 membership, you can be on any committee that you want to and you have full voting privileges. Now, just as a plain citizen of Lawrence and as an educator or a farmer, there are some women farmers, you can belong to the chamber for a $25 membership and this gives you full voting privileges too. - Individual membership then is open to any citizen? - Any citizen and now we're having quite a few retired people who are joining the chamber. - How about the National Organization for Women? Jean, could you tell us a little bit about the national organization? - I'm sure that the National Organization for Women commonly referred to as NOW or NOW, is probably the newest organization represented here tonight. It was formed nationally in 1966, I know that we're the newest organization locally because we were convened at the Lawrence Chapter began, just almost exactly a year ago in the fall of 1972. It's growing rapidly, so it is probably the largest of the new women's rights organizations nationally. And there are many local chapters across the nation in the state of Kansas, we've been a little slower to form local chapters but I think we have a half a dozen local chapters and many women who have joined their own initiative with a national organization. Here in Lawrence, we do ask people to join nationally and locally, so that our membership is open to all women and men of any age who are interested in the women's movement and full equality for women and men. - Which is the basic purpose of the organization? - That's right. There's a slogan nationally, now that your consciousness has been raised, are you ready for action? If so, join the National Organization for Women. So we hope to be an action oriented organization. - And this group still use, also the basic purpose of bringing women into the mainstream of American society? I think we still often see that as a, I think, or rather a graphic picture of what the National Organization for Women is really all about. - Yes, we have, it's an organization that's big enough for any part of society, any problem that a member sees and wants to do something about, organized locally and nationally into task forces. And that means any group of people who want to work on a project can call themselves a task force and get some support nationally and some direction locally. And I'd be glad to go into some of the task forces, but perhaps rather save that. - In a moment chance, we'll do that. Now the only organization represented here of which I'm not personally a member is the Kansas Postal Workers Union, the Auxiliary of the Kansas Postal Workers Union. So Dean, you have to describe in some detail what that's all about? - Yup, the object of this organization shall be to bring together persons interested in the efforts of the Kansas Postal Workers Union, member of the American Postal Workers Union, AFLCIO, for better working conditions to extend a knowledge of political operations of government and the responsibilities and duties of citizenship and desired remedial legislation and to render effective aid in securing its passage and to support workers generally in their efforts to secure a higher standard of living. And by that we're saying that for years the federal employees and postal workers being included in that, had been covered by the Hatch Act which prohibits him from being active in partisan politics and subject to disciplinary action if they do become so involved and they're trying to get the right to strike at things of this nature. - Then this is the members of the Kansas Postal Workers Union do not come under the Hatch Act now? - They do. - They do come under-- - Is come under now and they're trying to get the repeal of that, they're working quite strongly to get that repealed. - Now we usually think of the word auxiliary as applying only to women, is this true for this organization? - Until two years ago, it was. But since there are now so many women in the organization, it applies to any blood relative of a postal employee. Now this includes the American Postal Workers Union, includes the four crafts of clerks maintenance, motor vehicle and Special Delivery Messengers and they have 350,000 members. - And this including men, women alike? - Men and women alike. Now this is a union itself, the auxiliary is quite a bit smaller but-- - The auxiliary then is any blood relative of a member of the union. - Right. - I'm glad to see the word auxiliary used in this way. I think it's the only one that I know of where men belonging to something that's called auxiliary. - In the state of Kansas. we have five male members. - That's a start. - That's a start. - But now these organizations that are represented here tonight, locally are all parts of a larger whole. We know that not everyone, not every local branch of an organization operates under the actual programming auspices of a national. To what extent is this true of the organizations that you represent? What about you, Gloria? Does the Chamber of Commerce have to follow the same processes throughout the country? - No, we do not. We belong to the National Chamber of commerce but we do not follow their program. We use our own program every year and it's based on these 18 committees that we have. - And this Women's Division, are there Women's Divisions in all of the Chambers of Commerce? - No, they're not. Now I know Kansas city has a tremendous Women's Division, but I think theirs is based more on working women. But now we just started in, well, we help start a Women's Division in Leavenworth, Kansas, just about two years ago and one in Concordia, but no, not every chamber has a Women's Division. - What would be the reason for setting up a special Women's Division rather than have the women join the Chamber of Commerce itself? - Well, there were just a few special things that the Women's Division do that the men's organization doesn't do. Now being kind of social, we do have coffees for, for instance, we're gonna have two coffees this fall, one for the chancellor's wife and one of the athletic director's wife to introduce them to the community of Lawrence. And another thing we have done is do sponsor fashion shows for a special project. Now last year we raised $800 and 400 went to Meals on Wheels and 400 went to the best Don Holm. But we do try to pick a worthy organization to raise money for. And this year I think what we're going to do, because it's gonna be one of our big, main special projects is raising money for the Special Olympics that will be in Kansas on May 31st and June 1st. - What's that? - The Special Olympics are for children, I use the word questionly, from 13 to 21 and they are handicapped people and it's like a regular Olympic. Their coach Timmons here in Lawrence is very, very interested in it. And he is gonna be the head of the Special Olympics in Kansas. But there gonna be races and swimming and high jumps and hurdles, but you have to be, not just physically handicapped but you can be mentally handicapped too, but it's a great, great thing. - And they will be the actual participants? - Yes. - And any money that's made from that will go-- - Will go to the Special Olympics. - I mean, for what purpose in that, to aid the handicap? - Well for that, but also these, when you figure, you're gonna have about 1500 to 2000 children in Lawrence. And they have to be housed and they have to be fed and this is what part of the money will go for. - I see. Now what about the National Organization for Women, to what extent does this, give us some examples of the kinds of things in which the national is interested, Jean? And how does the local operate in relationship to the national? - I would say that locally we use the national organization as source of resources, look to them for information about what's going on, what has already been done in other parts of the country. We also know that part of our national dues go to lobbying for women's issues in Washington. An example of how we have used national successfully, I hope that some of our listeners here have heard, recently the woman power it's too good to miss, ads on KLWN. Nationally, a legal defense fund was set up, I have the wrong name, name is very close to that, that was able to create a series of ads for women power that were designed to be public service ads, like the ecology ads, the ads against prejudice. And I think they're quite sophisticated and well done. These packages were sent out to local chapters. We had the materials in hand, we're able to go out and record locally. And I think we're proud of the product. I'm trying to make people more aware of the potential that's wasted if women are overlooked. Another kind of programming source that we will use in the future locally, is a slide show that was created, put together by a chapter in New York State called "The Beginnings of the Longest Revolution." And it's a good collection of feminist history and history about the National Organization for Women. We got that from the national to show it to our own members, we liked it. We were able to make copies of the parts we thought were best and then continue to use them locally, so we profited from someone else's work on that project. National has been the coordinating source for the distribution of funds to fight for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. We're proud that locally or in the state of Kansas, the ERA it's already passed, but now this helps us, if we want to know how do we best help get it ratified in Missouri or what state right now is a crucial state? Well, that kind of information is available to us for the people in the national organization who are keeping tabs of that big project. - Is it not true also that despite the fact that 30 States have ratified that there is a constant educational problem to convince one more person that this is a good thing. He even in States that have ratified? - I think so. In fact, I've even heard it said that in one sense if Missouri does ratify the amendment this year or next, perhaps they will have done a better job in this education process than Kansas, where we were lucky that it was ratified so quickly because the National Organization for Women in the state of Missouri has, of necessity spent a lot of time explaining to people that this isn't going to destroy the family unit, this isn't going to wipe out protective legislation, that creating workable conditions for all people in their jobs. A lot of fears about the military and restrooms in public facilities. And I think a lot of those issues are very real but need to be talked about and the fear element disappears. - There's no reason of course why an educational program should be discontinued just because someone thing is done like a ratification. The ERA brings up the Equal Rights Amendment, brings up a point that was made last week. And I think it's being made increasingly by women's organizations. Now, the importance of organizations joining together for particular purposes rather than each one having to carry out its own activities, do all the studying by itself and before taking any action on anything, all of our speakers last week, commented on the importance of that. Now what about the Auxiliary Postal Workers Union, what kind of a program does it have? How often do you meet for instance? - Well, locally we meet once a month, exception July and August. And nationally they convene bi-annually with the men when they meet the National Convention. Statewide, we meet every year with the men when they have their State Convention. And basically we are the legislative arm of the men because, well, as she said the women, the potency of women in the women power, you can go to these men and say, "When we have so many members in our auxiliary." And these women are the ones that are going to say, "Well, don't vote for you, if you don't pass this legislation." And we write our letters to a congressmen and distress that. And locally and statewide and even on the national basis the individual locals give donations to all disaster funds. Locally we give to Cody School every year, Christmas donation to Cody School as special education. They help with voter registration, they fill cancer bandages, work for Meals on Wheels and whatever they can do on a local basis to help. - So actually the women's organizations would have a lot to learn from unions as to what political potency really means? - Right, right. - Wouldn't they? - on this because it's-- - You see we had, as you probably know a good many, women's organizations to, denied any political aspirations as a reason for their program for many years. And one of the interesting aspects of the resurgence of interest in the women's movement has been to bring some of the very old organizations into the mainstream too, in recognition that they do have some political power and that they really ought to use it for action which is a benefit to all citizens. - We are the only organization that I know of that has one member in a town, we have what we call members at large because we have a lot of these small towns where they just, maybe have two or three clerks or two or three maintenance men, whatever, their position is in the post office and their wives belong to the state organization and also to the national. Nationally we have 485 members at large and we have 4,536 regular members. - Members who belong to a local-- - Who belong to a larger group, yes. And Kansas is in ninth in the nation with 143 statewide members. So we hope to get it increased, we're working on membership, but when they did merge, they talked of doing away with the auxiliary and we had a real battle on our hands and the women handled it, they got us. But they said, "You need this now more than ever." But for years, I served mainly as a hostess and then being able to write letters. - 'Cause one reason for a, a valuable reason, it seems to me for the existence of such a group is that now as you pointed out, when so many more women are seeking and getting jobs in the postal department itself, that this is one way to show them what's possible . - We have several husband and wife groups in the state organization where they, husband and wife belong to both the union and auxiliary. We have one woman in particular that used to say, "I'm tired of to men, I think would go visit the auxiliary ." - Interesting, have your organizations made definite plans for the kind of program you intend to have this year? Gloria you mentioned-- - Yeah, I did. - You mentioned you were going to have some coffees. Now somewhere so, let's suppose there was someone in our radio audience who was interested in belonging to this Women's Division specifically, what should she do? - Well, she could call the chamber office and that is 843-44111 And of us ambassadors and that is another thing I am in the chamber as an ambassador, trying to get new members into the chamber. And we'll call on this person and try to tell her all the advantages of joining the chamber would be. Now one thing we aren't going to work on this year too is getting another woman member on the board. Out of 24 board members, we only have one woman member and that is Dorothy Rooney who was at the Douglas County State Bank and we're working for another one. - And how many women members are there in the chamber? - Regular full-fledged members, now there are about 60 of us. - 60? - 60. - 60 women? And what's the total membership? - Of the chamber? - Of the chamber. - it's about 1,000 now, maybe a little over, 'cause we just got through with a membership drive. - So we really need to work in interesting more women in joining your organization itself. The betterment of the city is just as important to women as it is to men. - Now with KU back, we're planning on having a KU membership drive too. So we have to get a lot of women there. - A question, I know that you said membership is open to citizens who are not connected with the business community. Have there been citizen members who were also on the board? - Oh yes. - So it would be possibly for all the women in Lawrence to become full-fledged members and become board members not even if they aren't in business? That's good to know. - Now, you can tell us anything more about the program plans for this year. I think I interrupted you in the middle of-- - Well, outside of the coffees and then sponsoring the Special Olympics and then the fashion show raised money. We're planning on having a tour of Watkins Museum. Now this is another committee that is on the on the chamber. They have a special committee for Watkins, and if you haven't been there, you really ought to go and visit because it is tremendous what they're doing there. - And it's now open, now. - No, no, you have to go call Mr. Anderson for a special tour. But we went through the other day and we went from the attic to the basement, it was tremendous. - Wonderful, now you say that if someone is interested in joining, she'd call the Chamber of Commerce. Do you have one of the coffees, specifically set the date for it? - Yes, it'll be September 27th from 10:00 a.m to noon and it'll be at my house. - So someone could come there too? - Yes. - But the best way, just be called the chamber office and get to all of the details. - Right. - Now, what if someone wanted to join the National Organization for Women? And what eligibility would this person have to have, first of all? - There are no requirements . - No eligibility requirements? - Open to women and men of all ages. We meet every other Sunday evening at 7:30 in the Episcopal Church. So our meetings are always listed in the newspaper and on the radio. And you could watch for the, it'll be the Sunday, well next Sunday, we'll be meeting again. And so, one could just appear. In fact, I think every meeting, I've been real pleased that at least one person has just gotten there from their own initiative, from reading the announcement in the paper. If you miss the meetings, you could also write to the Lawrence Chapter of NOW at box 265. And we're trying to increase our publicity in terms of a few posters around town to let people know about our meetings if they don't read the calendar in the paper or listen to the radio. - How many members do you have now? - I believe locally, we have about 40 members, paid members. And probably 60 people who have been attending at one time or another and may not have paid. I should mention other requirement for membership, a full national membership is $10, $5 memberships are available nationally for students and retired people and people in poverty. Our local dues are 250, so the most we can ask from anyone is 1250 for the calendar year or 750. - Time is all but up, if you've forgotten some of these telephone numbers or box numbers, you can always call the Dean of Women's Office to be reinforced of who you would contact for any of these organizations. We appreciate very much how you're joining us tonight. Dorian Morton from the Women's Division the Chamber of Commerce. Jean Robinson the outgoing president of the National Organization for Women and Dean Wheelhouse, the state vice president of the Kansas Postal Workers Union Auxiliary. We hope that you'll join us again next Monday night at the same time for the third-last of this series on Major Women's Organizations in Lawrence. I'm served by the Women's Resource in Career Planning Center, a program and information service of the Dean of Women's Office, 222 Strong Hall. Located in the Women's Resource in Career Planning Center, is a large lending resource service which contains a great deal of information in the form of news clippings, radio documents or government documents, magazine articles, research studies, filmstrips, tapes and books pertaining to the many aspect of the women's movement. We should like to invite you to come in to browse or take advantage of the lending service, that's in 222 Strong Hall at the University of Kansas. The materials and the resource in Career Planning Center are as valuable for men as for women since sex role definitions and stereotypes affect both sexes. We invite you also to come to this office if there are matters you wish to discuss with someone, whatever concerns you as women or about women, is of concern to us also. Tonight we have the third and final program in our series on Major Women's organizations in Lawrence. Most of these organizations with the exception of one that we're presenting tonight, are also parts of a larger group, a national, in some cases an international organization. Our guests tonight are Dorothy Harvey, past president of the Church Women United. Ellen Gold, coordinator for the Women's Political Caucus. Pat Henry, coordinator for the Women's Coalition. And Cindy Herd, president of the KU Commission on the Status of Women. Could we start by talking a little about, for the three of you who represent parts of a larger group, a little about the national organization of which you're a part, let's start with the Women's Political Caucus because I believe that started nationally, didn't Ellen? - Yes, Women's political Caucus grew out of the National Organization for Women because the NOW people realized that much of the sexist problems were political in basis. And they felt that one way to attack these problems would be to get more women into politics. And for this they formed the National Bipartisan Organization. In June of 1972, they held their first convention in Houston and elected Sissy Farenthold as the president. So right now our national organization has Sissy as the president. - And is an one, no, two years old? - That's right. - Present time. And what about the Church Women United, Dorothy Harvey? - Church Women United grew out of a group of three. In 1941 they came together, the Council of Home Missions, the Women's Committee of the Foreign Missions and the National Council of Church Women. And at that time, they became known as United Church Women. And then in 1965, they decided that the emphasis should be put on the word united. So now we are Church Women United. We have the national group and the state group and then we come to the locals. - Could you tell us a little about the purpose here of forming this organization? - Yes, our purpose is to come together, to act and to grow in community activities. We feel that we can come and do more as a united group than a single groups. We come as members of various denominations and communions who have accepted Jesus Christ as their divine Lord and savior. And our main purpose is to go into the community to see what needs to be done, to start the action and then we try to turn it over to a group that will continue the action within the local community. - And Cindy, what's the national organization which the KU Commission on the Status of Women ? - The national organization is called the Intercollegiate Association of Women's Students, abbreviated as IAWS. IAWS was formed, I believe in 1922, however the KU group dates back even further than that, back to 1913, when we were known as Women's Self-Governing Association. In 1945, the Women's Self-Governing Association changed their name to the Associated Women's Students. And in 1958, the Commission on the Status of Women became a part of the Associated Women Students. In 1963, we finally assumed the name that we go by now, the KU Commission on the Status of Women. I might mention that IAWS, the large national organization, is the only national organization of undergraduate women that exist today. - Do you all do things on a national level? - Yes, we do. We have a yearly convention next year which will be held in Baton Rouge, I believe. Where all the member schools come together and discuss various topics of concern to women as well as to an educational sort of environment. - And make their commitments for the coming year in the form of resolutions in the name of all college women . So we have really two different forms of organizations represented here, two that started out nationally and then made a part of their organization, the idea of local groups as an Women's Political Caucus and the Church Women United and the IAWS which is a federation of all of these women's groups. Do you have to have a particular name to belong to IAWS? Does it have to be a commission for instance? - I don't believe so, I think that a lot of organizations go by the name associated women students, but it has been suggested that we take on the name of the Commission on the Status of Women. - But it could be any women's organization within the school of undergrad, primarily undergraduate college women. Now, the Women's Coalition is not part of a national group. Pat, could you tell us a little about that, Pat Henry? - Women's Coalition is a local organization that was founded in 1969 and it is primarily a student run organization, we do get funding from the Student Senate. We do encourage any woman, be she on the faculty staff or just a community woman to be involved in our programs. And we are a women's liberation organization concerned with advancing the status of women. - When you say you're a women's liberation movement, what specifically do you mean? - Well, I'd say we're quite innovative and pretty flexible as far as the programs we have for women. - For example? - We do a lot of programs such as rape victim counseling, birth control, abortion counseling, we have a women's studies committee, we do public speaking, self-help clinic, that sort of thing. - Each year, then the program is determined by the membership, I take. - Yes, but there are some groups that continue each year. - They decide each year what will continue and what new programs will-- - Well, we have some programs which stay throughout the years because there is a continuing need for them and then others began as people became interested in them. - But now you've kind of introduced the idea of what the local program is and also who can belong, so let's go on with the other organizations in respect to this item. Specifically, who can belong to the Women's Coalition, I mean, to the Women's Political Caucus, Ellen? - Well, any woman may belong. It is as I say bipartisan, so both. We do have both republican and democratic membership. I might read some of the sorts of things which we are specifically trying to do. One of them is to encourage women to seek political office, both our own membership and other women who might be thinking about running for office but just need a little push in order to do so. We do some educational work to create political awareness. Now, if we try to keep track of both the Kansas Legislature and the Congress are doing and urge our legislators to support the sorts of bills which we're interested in. And then to urge reform of existing political parties which have excluded women. All of you know why, in the McGovern convention why there was a good deal of talk about quotas for minority groups and for women. And a lot of women who are not members of the Political Caucus, but have been long time Democratic or Republican Party workers, found that this sort of approach which was initiated by the Women's Liberation Movement worked to their benefit. These women have been traditionally excluded from representation in the national conventions, but when it became necessary for the conventions to include women, why sometimes long time women workers were included. - And that was true really in both parties, that was a big increase except it was the McGovern, what was that group called? The reform group that made the great issue. - It made up the rules. - Have the rules. You've moved into the program, both of you have talked a little bit about the program locally, so I suppose we better go ahead with that but we wanna be careful about being sure that we get the answer to each specific question along the way, but the coalition has talked a little bit about the kinds of things that it's interested in and is there anything else Pat, about the specific program for this year that you want to talk about? - Well, specific plans that we have for this year include working with the Political Caucus on the February State convention, which is going to be here in Lawrence. We also are planning a fall picnic to unite some of the women's organizations in Lawrence. And then we do have several special programs that will be coming up throughout the year concerning rape and loving yourself, women and others. And then we just have our ongoing programs which include the various counselings services, the gay-women's caucus, self-defense training and our speaking. - I wanted to ask you about your speaking bureau. What kind of progress are you making through your speakers bureau? Are you invited to speak to places which might not otherwise be receptive to your ideas or you pretty much speaking to other similar groups? - Well, most of our speaking is done to university classes. We have been invited to some groups, some men's clubs like Qantas and that sort of thing. - Did you feel you made any progress? - Well, I haven't spoken there myself, but there have been some really interesting conversations as I understand. - Now, what about the Church Women United, what is the local program plan, what are the local program plans for this year? - Well, Church Women United have three days that we celebrate that are locally planned, we call them celebrations. We have the World Day of Prayer which always follows the first Friday in March. May Fellowship Day in the first Friday in May and World Community Day which comes the first Friday in November. Now this year, we're planning to do something a little different for World Community Day. We're going to have what we call an interfaith coffee, where we're inviting all women to come to become acquainted with us in our program. We will also have our project going on, at World Community Day we bring garments that we have made for children of foreign countries to be sent to them. Also, you can get a gift certificate for a blanket. I think most of them know that we help out whenever there is a flood or disaster of any kind. They can call on Church Women United and we come and do the best that we can. Also, we were planning to help with this breast cancer research at the KU Center beginning this fall. Then we have been helping to support the Indian Center, the Children's Center, where we have been giving toys and clothing and this type of thing. And then of course we do a lot of volunteer work when there's a need in the community, Church Women United is called upon to respond. - Now, this breast cancer thing, is this the new program that's being set up at the KU center? - Yes. - What are you all going to do? - We will mostly be coordinating the transportation at this point. And of course getting volunteers to go into the center. - Are you all gonna be providing transportation? - At this part, we are making plans. - So a person might call you if she wanted to-- - Yes, we will be planning transportation and seeing that they can get there and back. - There have been the specific details of this, a very fine project, I think have not been spelled out incomplete-- - No. - Completely yet, but there will be considerable publicity about it. And there are many organizations that are going to take part and certainly it would be a valuable thing for every woman in the community to be involved with. It's a question of early detection of breast cancer which is of course a tremendous problem for women. Now, what about the local, has the program plans for this year in the commissions and the KU Commission on the Status of Women? - We have quite a few programs scheduled throughout the year as the commission is primarily a programming and service oriented organization. I might that we have nine standing committees and these are beyond high school, careers, political action, human sexuality, fall open forum, spring symposium, publicity, women's recognition and research. All these committees are ongoing in their commitments to programming throughout the year. I believe at the time of this broadcast, we will just have held our first human sexuality seminar. The next major event that I see on my calendar is that of the another career seminar in November, a three day seminar, the 6th, 7th and 8th of November. People might want to be looking for publicity on this later on in the semester. All of these various committees do hold programs and we would encourage any student to become actively involved in programming and helping us plan for these various series. - They're all open to the public, all the programs? - Yes, they are. I might mention that we are also funded by the Student Senate and therefore we do feel an obligation to help the student community at KU. But that's not to say that any person that's not interested in might not become involved. Also, our structure now allows for meetings on Monday evenings. There'll be further publicity about this also, it should alternate every three weeks between officer's board and a full commission meeting. - The full commission meetings and would be open to anyone who wanted to-- - That's right. - To come. Now I'd like to ask each one of you, suppose that someone who is listening to us tonight would like to join your organization, specifically, what should she do? - Well, to join the caucus, she may come to the next meeting which is going to be October 10, which is a Wednesday at 7:30. Now this are always publicized in the newspaper. We do have a little question of a $4 news but many people come to our meetings and never pay the dues. So I wouldn't say it was an absolute prohibition if you didn't have $4, why you should come along anyway. - It's open to any woman in the city of Lawrence or anybody who wants to come. And if those who are listening in other places, how many local organizations are there? - There's one in Wichita, there's a very strong one in Wichita, there's a small one in Kansas city, there's a small one in Manhattan. The Dodge City, Liberal area was trying to form one but I don't believe they've quite gotten off the ground. I should add that here in Lawrence, we're about half students and about half people who are a little older so that we have a nice age range for anyone who's interested. - Pat, if somebody wanted to be involved with the work of the coalition, what specifically should she do? - Well, probably the best thing to do, would be to come to a meeting on either the 5th or the 20th of any months and our meetings are held in the Women's Center, which is in the Student Activities Building on campus. And it's a little bit hard to find, it's behind the Religion Building which is across the street from the union and the meetings are at 7:30. And if a woman was interested in any specific program, she could call the Information Center and they would refer her to someone who knew about the program. - Now, when you say the 5th and what? - The 5th and the 20th. - Regardless of what day of the week those were on? - Yes, we chose that so that women who were involved in more than one organization wouldn't always have a conflict. - That's very interesting, the 5th and the 20th. And Pat made a good point here that you can get information concerning any of these organizations by calling the Information Center at the university, that's 864-3506, isn't it? 3506, 864-3506, a number that we've disseminated as widely as possible because this is a group we all keep informed of everything that's going on. And if they don't know the answer immediately, they certainly will find out and call you back regardless of what your question is. Now, if you wanted to join the Church Women United, what would you do? - Well basically, we are a group of church women, so therefore you would join the women of your church or your communion. However, if you are not active in a church at this time and would like to become active, then you would be invited to come to any of our meetings which are held on the 2nd Monday of the month. However, we meet at the various churches, so you would have to find out by contacting the president, perhaps Mrs. Runquist, as to where the next meeting would be held. - And we'd also be in the newspaper, wouldn't it? - Yes, it's in the church news. - And as we understand the schedule that the Journal-World is planning this year, all meetings for the next week will be announced on Monday in the Monday paper, so that it would be a good idea for us all to get in the habit of cutting out that schedule so that we would know all the meetings that were being held that week and which we might be interested. And Cindy, if one were interested in the KU Commission on the Status of Women, what specifically should she do? - She has several courses of actions, she can drop a note by the organization's headquarters which is in the Dean of Women's Office. And one of the officers will be sure to pick it up and add her name to the mailing list. She will then be notified of meetings coming up and can become involved that way or she can be sure to watch advertisements around campus and in the Lawrence paper. I believe that the next full commission meeting will be held on October 1st, there should be further publicity about that. We are also listed with the Information Center, so if they forget the name of the organization or whatever, they can probably get the information through there. - And then the third way I suppose, would be just simply to come to one of the meetings, I mean, one of the programs? - Right, we can also have a list that they can sign up there. - One other event I should mention for those of you who find that your semester is already filled up, be thinking in February, when we're going to have the State Convention of the Lawrence Political Caucus or the Kansas Political Caucus. And Ms. Pat Henry says that the Women's Coalition is going to work with us and isn't the commission going to, I think part of that day, that event too, so this will be quite a celebration of women and their interests and their status. - Now you mentioned the cost that's involved as a political caucus for those who actually wished to take out a membership, which involves getting a good deal of materials and newsletters as well, or if money is a problem, you could come to every meeting and no one would be standing at the door with their hand out if they-- - That's right, our legislator from national says, "How many paid members, how many unpaid members," so they're fairly realistic. - And is there a cost connected with the coalition? - No, not at all. - No, charge, the program is financed by the Students Senate that you said. Is there a cost for the individual in the Church Women United? - No, no cost, Church Woman United is financed to the various churches. However, if he wanted to become a part of it and share in, then we have no objections. - You'll have to take any money that anybody has. I suspect this would be true with the other organizations as well. And is there a cost for the KU Commission? - No, we are funded through the Student Senate also. - Is there anything else in the few minutes remaining that you'd like to tell us about your organizations or-- - I'd like to just mention the Fellowship of the Least Coin. This has been an interesting project for Church Women United. Every month, you are to take a penny and you pray over it and put it in a box and at the end of a year, all of the women bring their 12 cents to the meetings and we send it on to national to be used far various projects. But it's amazing how much can be gathered by just this one coin, one penny a month. - It's a really very interesting if you have enough people who are participating in something, so many times things come in dollars and expenses become so great for people who are interested in being active participants, that it might drive some people away. And so, it's terribly important to have programs and activities that people can engage in without worrying about whether they can afford it or not. - Yes, like widows , isn't? - Yes, I'd like to say it was started by a woman from India who said that a penny would buy quite a bit in their country and she brought it to the women and they adopted it and became the Fellowship of the Least Coin. - A very interesting concept. What about the rest of you? Are there other things that we have not mentioned that you would like to discuss them? - I just like to say that the KU Commission on the Status of Women has a variety of levels in which a person can become involved. They can participate actively in the programming aspect of the series that we hold throughout the year or their participation can be limited to utilizing the Women's Resource in Career Planning Center. So there is quite a bit of variation in just what the personal commitment is. - I was thinking of one thing, I'd like to mention about the Political Caucus for those of you who are sitting at home and maybe have a piece of paper or envelope at hand. Patsy Mink who's the Democrat from Hawaii has introduced a bill in the Congress, which authorizes the secretary of HEW to make grants to develop non-sexist curriculum and tests, to non-sexist career education, to equalize sports education and other programs for educational equity for all students regardless of sex. Now, the number of that bill is the House of Representatives Bill 208. And those of you who support it should write your representatives and urge them to support Patsy Mink's bill. - I think we might also mention, since all of the organizations with the exception of the Church Women United, you haven't mentioned any political or legislative aspects of this program. Are there any, I mean, do you take stands on-- - Yes, we do, we take stands on many Asians. We usually have a representative from the Legal Women Voters who brings us information and the women decide which bill they would like to sponsor or to push. - So actually, every organization that we have presented during these past three weeks, has come to recognize or has always recognized that there are political issues that are of concern to women. - Yes, the coalition with its interest in rape counseling must also be interested in the abortion laws. - Oh yes, definitely. - I was told recently by a legislator that one of the errors that women's organizations made, is waiting until the legislature is in session before informing them of their particular interests and urging us to recognize that the legislature in essence works all year long. And that getting advanced information about the things which concern us, are the kinds of laws which we'd like to see either changed or passed or modified, it's very important to get that information to our legislators in advance of the actual sessions. - Yes, it's occurred to me that you've got to tell your legislator several times of which legislation you're interested in, both before and after. - And the more people who do this, who indicated an interest, the more interest I'm sure that there'll be in the legislature. Tonight we have presented the final program of a number of women's organizations in the city of Lawrence, we have not tried to be exhaustive by any means. We understand there are great many more and these will be advertised in the paper. We think that there's something for everyone in the city of Lawrence. We thank the representatives tonight of the Church Women United, Dorothy Harvey, the Women's Political Caucus, Ellen Gold, the Women's Coalition, Pat Henry, and the KU Commission on the Status of Women, Cindy Herd, for participating. And thank you also for joining us, we hope you'll join us every Monday at 7:30 for a "Feminist Perspective".