Femenistst takes on new crusade

Wednesday, May 8, 1996

By Toni Dimayuga

Daily Bruin Contributor

Dressed head to toe in black save a pink and white button
blaring "Women Won’t Go Back! Defeat Clause A," Katherine Spillar
spoke Tuesday in Ackerman Union.

Addressing a group of women on the effects of the California
Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) on women’s rights, the National
Coordinator and co-founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation,
explained what she believes are the pitfalls of the proposal that
would ban affirmative action in California.

"(CCRI) is deceptive … trick language, and it’s going to set
women and people of color back 35 years," Spillar said in her
speech.

Spillar’s interest in defeating the initiative can be traced to
the first time Spillar got involved in women’s rights issues in
June of 1982. She attended a rally that marked the end of the
ratification period of the failed Equal Rights Amendment.

"I was shocked and angered that one half the population (women)
could be left out of the Constitution," Spillar said. "I decided at
the time to get involved."

Spiller vowed to devote her life to feminism, expressing her
belief that more women need to get involved in the struggle for
gender equality.

"There has been an erosion in women’s reproductive rights,
employment opportunities, and CCRI really represents one of the
worst attacks to women’s rights and civil rights. We need more full
time feminists to promote women’s rights," Spillar said.

Although Spillar claimed that CCRI will negatively impact women,
pro-CCRI organizations maintain that the proposal would not have
the averse affects she expects.

On the Facts About CCRI webpage, supporters explained that the
initiative is meant to end race- and gender-based quotas and
claimed it will "not abolish programs where gender is a necessary
distinction."

Gov. Pete Wilson maintains that the initiative is a necessary
step in creating an equal, gender-blind society.

"Mandating and practicing inequality cannot bring equality,"
Wilson proclaimed.

Proponents of the CCRI believe that the Civil Rights Act of
1964, under the guise of promoting equality, has actually been
exacerbating inequality. By eliminating race- and gender-based
quotas, CCRI supporters believe that true equality can be
achieved.

"Join us in the fight to end racial and gender preferences and
to realize Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of a color-blind
society," wrote Glynn Custred and Tom Wood, the CCRI’s
co-authors.

Prior to her involvement with the Feminist Majority Foundation,
Spillar served as president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the
National Organization for Women (NOW).

During her term, she organized a large West Coast march for
maintaining safe and legal abortions, held in May of 1986. In
addition, Spillar was involved in public education campaigns and
fundraising for NOW.

Spillar urged the audience to spread the word about Freedom
Summer ’96, a student campaign based on the 1964 Freedom Summer of
the Civil Rights Movement. The program will train college-aged
women to register voters and inform them about CCRI.

Alicia Daly, a Freedom Summer ’96 organizer, argued that the
initiative will set the women’s movement back significantly if
passed on this November’s ballot.

"It’s scary. It could take us back 30 years. Everything that our
grandmothers and mothers worked for could be lost if the CCRI is
passed," Daly claimed, adding that she admires Spillar’s feminist
activism.

"She’s very dedicated to women’s rights and has been active in
campaigns. She has a lot of leadership and takes the time to guide
you," Daly said.

Some members of the audience believed that organization is the
key to defeating the initiative. Dawn Fraser, a second-year
anthropology.student, explained that the initiative can be
overruled if people unite.

"If we’re going to defeat CCRI, we’re going to need (as much)
mobilization as possible," Fraser said.

But not all students in the audience said they were educated
about CCRI prior to Spillar’s speech. Haydee Urita, a second-year
Latin American studies student and co-director of Latinas Guiding
Latinas, said that she did not realize the initiative would affect
women as well as members of ethnic minority groups.

"I wasn’t really aware of the effect, and I think this is a very
good program. I mean, this is really going to mobilize everybody
and people who are interested in this," Urita said.

The hands-on action of the Freedom Summer ’96 project appealed
to other students, like Nadine Legouguec, a third-year women’s
studies student. She explained that she joined the program because
she wanted to do rather than merely learn.

"It was time for me to get out there. I’ve been studying for a
while, and I felt that I was always learning, sitting and reading
and writing. I thought it was time for me to take my theories and
go out there and see the connection between theory and practice,"
Legouguec said.

Despite the difficult struggle for gender equality, Spillar was
optimistic about the future of the movement.

"During the 70s, when women’s rights leaders would go over
college campuses, the debate was should women have rights, and that
was only 20 years ago," she said.

PATRICK LAM/Daily BruinPhoto Illustration by Matthew
Schmid/DAILY BRUIN

Katherine Spillar, founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation,
spoke out against the California Civil Rights Initiative Tuesday.
Spillar is currently coordinating Freedom Summer ’96, a project
that will train college-aged women to register voters and inform
them about the initiative.