From Women's Action in 1978, the statement of aims of the Belfast Women's Collective.

leftarchive.ie/document/629/

[Note: transcription is too long for the alt text - see thread for full transcription].

Transcription: Today Irish women are among the most oppressed in Europe. This oppression is something which pervades all aspects of our life. Yet because it is a condition we have been accustomed to all our lives much of it is taken for granted. Indeed we are encouraged to …

… believe that it is 'natural' state of affairs that girls should be taught to be gentle and cautious while boys are encouraged to be aggressive and adventurous; that a woman at work should receive lower wages; that once we marry our place is in the home where we are held …

… responsible for providing domestic services and caring for children; that it is not for the woman to decide whether she wants to have children or how many. In other words we are taught to think that 'nature' has mad it a 'mans world'.
…

…But the oppression of Irish women is not 'natural'.

It is POLITICAL and it is only by seeing it as a POLITICAL condition related both to National and Class oppression that we can organise to change it. Within this struggle it is very important that women organise themselves…

…to ensure that their demands are heard.

The Belfast Women's Collective therefore has two functions. Firstly to publicise the reality of womens oppression and secondly to organise and agitate to change society.

The struggle against womens oppression cannot be restricted to …

…a parliamentary lobby for legal reforms. The Equal Pay Act and other pieces of legislation which have recently been introduced North and South have shown very clearly that formal legal equality is of little use to women as long as the overall political system is one based on…

…inequality, oppression and exploitation. At present the actual hardships of womens daily lives are being increased by mass unemployment; by price rises; by cuts in social services and by increased political repression.

The struggle for womens liberation in Ireland must…

…therefore be seen within the perspective of a struggle to overthrow both National and Class oppression and establish a socialist society.

We are fighting for:

1. The right to control our own bodies… to determine our own sexuality and to control our own fertility…

…through access to safe contraception and abortion facilities.

2. Equality in marriage and family life… the right to divorce and the abolition of domestic drudgery through the socialisation of housework.

3. Socialisation of childcare through the provision…

…of free community childcare facilities.

4. Equality in education at all levels and the removal of all religious and sexist influences from schools.

5. The right to work and to have equal access to all jobs and training schemes and equal pay and status in the workplace.

/END