Radical Women (RW) is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

grassroots activist organization affiliated with the Freedom Socialist Party. It has branches in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, and

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...

History

Radical Women emerged in Seattle from a "Free University" class on Women and Society conducted by Gloria Martin, a lifelong

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

champion. As a result of the class, Martin teamed up with

Clara Fraser Clara Fraser (March 12, 1923 – February 24, 1998) was a socialist feminist political organizer, who co-founded and led the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women. Biography Early life and activism Clara Fraser was born in 1923 to Jewi ...

and Melba Windoffer (initiators of the Freedom Socialist Party) and

Susan Stern Susan Ellen (Tanenbaum) Stern (January 31, 1943 – July 31, 1976) was an American political activist.The Susan Stern Papers. She was a member of the prominent anti-Vietnam War groups Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Weatherman a ...

(a prominent figure in the local Students for a Democratic Society) to launch Radical Women in 1967. In ''Socialist Feminism: The First Decade, 1966-76'' Martin writes that the new group was formed to "demonstrate that women could act politically, learn and teach theory, administer an organization, develop indigenous leadership, and focus movement and community attention on the sorely neglected matter of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countri ...

—and that women could do this on their own." Radical Women participated heavily in the anti-Vietnam War mobilization, and has opposed subsequent military interventions initiated by Western countries. Members worked with African-American women from

anti-poverty program Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics cla ...

s to initiate the abortion rights movement in Washington State with a historic march on the capitol in 1969. In the early 1970s, RW helped organize a strike and a union of low-paid employees (mostly female) at the University of Washington. After working closely with the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP), Radical Women and the party formally affiliated in 1973 on the basis of a shared socialist feminist program. Some of its early members, such as Lynda Schraufnagel, were employed by the FSP's newspaper, ''The Freedom Socialist'', and also wrote for it. Many Radical Women members worked and organized in the nontraditional trades. At Seattle's public power company,

Seattle City Light Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electricity to Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and parts of unincorporated King County, Burien, N ...

, Clara Fraser was recruited to craft and implement the country's first plan to train women as utility electricians. Three other members of Radical Women, Megan Cornish,

Heidi Durham Hildreth (Heidi) Durham was an American socialist feminist and labor activist with the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women. Durham was one of the first female electricians to work at Seattle City Light, where she faced significant barrier ...

, and Teri Bach, participated in the program and went on to become some of the first women electricians in the country. Just weeks before the program began, however, Fraser participated in a walkout against new rules issued by City Light superintendent Gordon Vickery, which soured her relations with management. After their training, Cornish, Durham, and Bach were laid off in 1975 in an act seen largely as retaliatory against themselves and Fraser. The three women filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, and after a year a court ruled in their favor and ordered their reinstatement. Fraser was also laid off in 1975, and she filed her own separate lawsuit alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and political ideology. After a seven-year legal battle and a massive public relations campaign, Fraser won her reinstatement at City Light. In 1991, two members of Radical Women, Heidi Durham and Yolanda Alaniz, ran for

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-la ...

as members of the FSP. The two campaigned together on demands for guaranteed income for families living in

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse

domestic partnership A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee ...

rights for same-sex couples, and community control of the

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

. Alaniz advanced to the general election and finished with 21% of the vote.

Purpose and ideology

''The Radical Women Manifesto: Socialist Feminist Theory, Program and Organizational Structure''Radical Women (2001),
Preamble
, in defines Radical Women's purpose and ideology as follows:

Radical Women is dedicated to exposing, resisting, and eliminating the inequities of women's existence. To accomplish this task of insuring survival for an entire sex, we must simultaneously address ourselves to the social and material source of sexism: the capitalist form of production and distribution of products, characterized by intrinsic class, race, sex, and caste oppression. When we work for the revolutionary transformation of capitalism into a socialist society, we work for a world in which all people may enjoy the right of full humanity and freedom from poverty, war, racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and repression.

Radical Women takes a multi-racial, multi-issue, working class and

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as so ...

approach to women's liberation. It advocates for free

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

on demand, an end to forced sterilization of women of color, and for affordable, quality, 24-hour childcare. Early efforts include the Action Childcare Coalition, the Feminist Coordinating Council (an umbrella organization made up of the whole spectrum of women's groups in Seattle), and the Coalition for Protective Legislation (a labor and feminist effort to extend female-designated workplace safeguards to men after passage of the Washington State

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

). Radical Women has played a leading role in lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender liberation struggles. Members have helped build militant lesbian/gay rights organizations and have been involved in many coalitions devoted to preventing forced AIDS testing, opposing ballot-box attacks on gay rights, lobbying for state gay rights bills, and more. In the 1980s Radical Women leader

Merle Woo Merle Woo is an American academic, poet and activist who has been described as "a leading member of the Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party". Her essay "Letter to Ma" was selected for inclusion in the 1981 feminist anthology ''This Bri ...

, a college lecturer, writer and

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...

lesbian spokesperson, won a case against the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, which had fired her, charging discrimination on race, sex, sexuality, and political ideology.

Notes

{{Authority control Feminist organisations in Australia Feminist organizations in the United States Trotskyist organisations in Australia Trotskyist organizations in the United States Far-left politics in Australia Far-left politics in the United States Socialist feminist organizations Women's wings of political parties Women's political advocacy groups in the United States Organizations established in 1967 Freedom Socialist Party

History

Purpose and ideology

Further reading

Archives

Articles and Interviews

Books

Additional Material

See also

Notes