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The Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campus Team welcomes new Feminist Majority Leadership Alliances and affiliates from:

The soon to be established Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at Howard University has already received press coverage from their campus paper, the Hill Top, which interviewed Campus Organizer, Nisa Galeta and Campus Program Director, Crystal Lander, and featured the goals and purpose of the new FMLA.

While they await their charter, the newly launching FMLA at Western Connecticut State University is planning a “Love Your Body Day,” a self-defense workshop, and working on bringing a feminist speaker in December.

We’re thrilled to welcome these new groups to our growing network of Feminist Majority Leadership Alliances and affiliate feminist groups across the country. FMF provides support to pro-choice groups through a wide variety of resources, including, a full-time Campus Team, with organizers who are available to provide support, information, ideas, and opportunities to connect with other FMLAs and affiliate groups; monthly mailings and tabling materials with timely fact sheets, action ideas, videos, stickers, and other resources on cutting-edge feminist and pro-choice issues; Ms. Magazine and Feminist Tee Shirt Fundraisers; skills building workshops and materials, and more! If you’re involved in a feminist group, a women’s resource center, or women’s studies student association on campus and would like to learn more about establishing a relationship with our office and affiliation, please email the Campus Team, CampusTeam@feminist.org.

UMKC FMLA TO PROTEST WALMART EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES AND ANTI-EC POLICY

The University of Missouri -- Kansas City Students for Women and Gender Studies group (SWAGS), an FMF Affiliate, will be protesting Wal-Mart this Saturday, October 25th, in celebration of National Young Women’s Day of Action. The group is focusing the protest on Wal-Mart's record of discrimination against female employees, and because Wal-Mart still refuses to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. At the protest, they will be handing out flyers to those patronizing Wal-Mart, to spread awareness about Wal-Mart's bad record on women's issues. Their flyers list an assortment of the chain's discriminatory practices against women, such as: women working at Wal-Mart earn 4-5% less then male employees, some company meetings have been held at Hooters restaurants, and male employees work their way up to management years before women employees.

In addition, the SWAGS group is protesting the chain's detrimental pharmacy policy which fills prescriptions for viagra, but not emergency contraception, a drug that has the potential to cut the number of unintended pregnancies in HALF and prevent as many as 800,000 abortions each year. Due to the fact that smaller business have a hard time competing with Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart is often the only pharmacy in a given area, and the chain is effectively blocking many women's access to this safe and legal drug. The SWAGS group is actively spreading awareness and publicizing their protest by flyering, sending out emails, and making announcements on a local radio show.

Ms. Magazine features an expose on Wal-Mart’s discriminatory policies against women. Buy a Ms. membership or pick one up at your local grocery store or bookstore.

SPECIAL MARCH UPDATE

Thank you to everyone who have committed to attending the March. Many of you have already begun organizing delegations and securing buses and other group transportation. To date over 200 national organizations have signed on to co-sponsor the March and thousands of feminists around the country have signed up to attend.

If you havn't already, please sign up as a co-sponsor of the March for Choice now! We want all the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance campus groups and affiliates to sign on as official co-sponsors whether you can attend the March or not. There is no cost involved. In the next issue we will feature FMLA chapters and affiliates who have signed up as March co-sponsors.

LOCAL MARCH EVENTS

Join us in the Philadelphia metro area, Delaware and Maryland in November! To get feminists around the country excited about the March to Save Women’s Lives: March for Freedom of Choice, the organizing groups and various co-sponsoring organizations are holding events on various college campuses. In November, the March staff, Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal, and other leaders will visit schools in the Philadelphia metro area, Delaware and Maryland. View a complete list of tour stops>>

Would you like to host a March informational training on your campus? Contact your campus organizer and let them know.

Have you already signed up to attend the March? Well do not forget to purchase the New “This is What a Feminist Looks Like” tee shirt in Radical Raspberry to wear on March day. Your campus organizers are taking pre-orders now.

INDIANA STATE FMLA SURVEYS CAMPUS ATTITUDES ON FEMINISM

The Indiana State University FMLA recently surveyed students on their campus to find out how people defined feminism and reproductive choice. They plan to use the survey results to get a general sense of whether students identified feminism in a positive sense, and gauge the amount and kind of work needed to break down negative stereotypes, and to promote feminism based on the principle of gender equality. The group also learned of students’ perception and awareness of issues around reproductive rights and will incorporate their findings in future pro-choice educational campaigns.

SAN JOSE STATE FMLA PROMOTES WOMEN AND YOUTH VOTING, WOMEN’S SPORTS, CLINIC DEFENSE, AND EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION ACCESS

The San Jose State FMLA was responsible for registering 1/3 of their campus to vote through outreach efforts for the California special elections, which took place earlier this month. In addition, the group runs an Abortion Clinic Defense Team which every month visits a local health clinic to enable safe access to abortion services for women in their community. The group also tables each month as part of their on-going recruitment efforts and once a month, celebrates their work and promotes women in sports by going to a women’s sporting event in place of a meeting. The group is gearing up for activism on Emergency Contraception (EC) access, and will begin by conducting a “Know Your Campus: Health Center Survey” and later plans to distribute information on campus. The group plans on developing a pro-choice presentation for student organizations and include a handout on how to get EC on campus. They are also trying to assess how the health center can improve its EC access.

CAL STATE FULLERTON FMLA AND FULLERTON COLLEGE AFFILIATE PROMOTE WOMEN’S HEALTH, POSITIVE BODY IMAGE

In an effort to promote healthy and positive attitudes towards body image and eating, the Cal State University of Fullerton FMLA organized a "Love Your Body Day” and rally on campus and got press for their event.

The Fullerton College FMLA is tabling twice a week this month for women’s health in commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness month. The FMLA is also organizing a major fundraising campaign this semester, organizing TV show tapings, car washes and more. In addition, the group is also bringing a speaker to campus to raise awareness of the unsolved, ten-year crime wave of kidnappings and murders of over 300 women, many of them young, mestiza maquiladora workers, in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The group plans on attending a major conference on this issue at UCLA at the end of the month. See “Feminist Community News” below for more information on the conference.

IOWA STATE FMLA ORGANIZED AGAINST WAGE GAP AND BRINGS FEMINIST SPEAKER TO CAMPUS

The Iowa State FMLA organized a “Wage Gap” Bake Sale fundraising for the group to raise awareness on the disparity in women’s salaries versus men’s in similar work. The group also organized a “What is feminism?” event, and posed the question of why and how feminism is still needed with guest lecturer Susan S. Davis. Davis spoke specifically on "Media Images and Lived Realities of Women in the Middle East.” The group is now planning activities for a “Week Without Violence” campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO STATE FMLA HOSTS “STITCH AND BITCH”

The San Francisco State University FMLA livens up the discussion/forum style, hosting “Stitch and Bitch,” a social event which teaches members how to knit while discussing feminist issues. The group also organized a “Wage Gap” Back Sale with vagina cookies and boob brownies. In addition, the group organized a month of activism around breast cancer awareness.

XAVIER UNIVERSITY HOSTS “WELLNESS WEEK” AND PROMOTES POSITIVE SEXUALITY

Working with their Campus Health Services and Campus Counseling Services, feminists at Xavier University are organizing a "Wellness Week" on campus exploring topics of sexuality, spirituality, and gender with a film screening of "Black Is, Black Ain't" by prominent black and gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs. Get more information on the film>>

TRUMAN STATE FMLA COUNTERS THE RIGHT-WING, FUNDRAISES FOR 2004 ABORTION RIGHTS MARCH IN DC

The Truman State FMLA have been promoting reproductive rights and countering anti-abortion activists both on their campus and in neighboring campus, Missouri University. The group countered the “Life Chain,” a national group of anti-abortion activists who protests annually on the first Sunday in October in cities across the country. In addition to promoting reproductive rights through protests on campus and in their community, the group plans on attending the March for Freedom of Choice in April 2004 and is fundraising for the march by putting on their own performance of Paula Kamen’s play “Jane” on campus, as well as hosting a “Wage Gap” Bake Sale. Read more about Kamen’s play in the “Feminist Community News” section below and learn how your group can use the play to fundraise and raise awareness on campus.

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SENATE BANS SAFE ABORTION PROCEDURES

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The Latino Issues Forum recently released a groundbreaking report on the reproductive health issues facing Latinas in California. The report, “Our Health, Our Rights: Reproductive Justice for Latinas in California,” documents the reproductive health needs of Latinas in California and calls for policy changes that will increase access to reproductive health services and information. Read more at: http://www.lif.org/publications/health_rpt_092603.pdf.

FMLAs INVITED TO THE "MAQUILADORA MURDERS” CONFERENCE AT UCLA

The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center in co-sponsorship with Amnesty International, and support from Feminist Majority Foundation, Ms. Magazine, and other organizations, is organizing "Maquiladora Murders: Who Is Killing the Women of Juarez?" Conference, which is free and open to the public, and will take place at UCLA from October 31 to November 2, 2003. The UCLA Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance is supporting the conference and involved in getting the word out about the conference. For more information and to register visit http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/chavez/maqui_murders.

FMLAS GEAR UP FOR 2003 NATIONAL YOUNG WOMEN'S DAY OF ACTION (NYWDA)

The 2003 National Young Women's Day of Action is a call for women to unite in solidarity, across movements, to feel our power and secure our freedom. Eleven years ago, the first National Young Women's Day of Action was organized to commemorate the death of Rosie Jiménez and to mobilize a grassroots campaign of young women working to empower and educate. Rosie died because she did not have access to a funded, safe and legal abortion, and was the first woman known to have died as a result of the Hyde Amendment, which denies women federal Medicaid funding for abortions. All women, across race, class, and age lines face the same violence that Rosie did. For eleven years, young women across the country have organized around issues of reproductive and sexual freedom, racial and economic justice, and to end violence against women. This year’s focus for NYWDA is political feminist activism. Get more information and get involved, contact the NYWDA - Coordinator at 413.559.5506 or email nywda@hampshire.edu. More info: http://clpp.hampshire.edu/national_young_womens_day.htm

FUNDRAISE TO GO TO THE MARCH FOR CHOICE USING PAULA KAMEN’s PLAY, “JANE: ABORTION AND THE UNDERGROUND”

Are you looking for an event and fundraiser to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January? For the second year in a row, Chicago writer Paula Kamen is making her play, Jane: Abortion and the Underground, available for free use to student groups for readings or full productions. The play tells the story of Jane, the legendary pre-Roe feminist underground abortion service, which actually provided more than 10,000 safe abortions to Chicago-area women from all walks of life from 1969 to 1973. Meanwhile, by telling the personal stories of the women involved, it dramatically illustrates the harsh and dangerous realities for women in the days of illegal abortion.

Also, this year, your group can help make your production into a "seed" for future ones. Kamen is asking one or more groups to assemble a "guidebook" for future student productions, based on their own experiences putting on the play. She is also proposing that a student group apply to perform at a national conference, such as the National Women's Studies Association conference in Milwaukee in June 2004 (deadline for application: November 9, 2003; see nwsa.org). The play offers roles to a multiracial cast of at least 9 women and 3 men, with three versions available, ranging from just under one and a half hours, to about 2 hours and ten minutes.

For a copy of the play, contact Paula Kamen at paulak2289@aol.com, or visit her website, www.paulakamen.com.

FEMINISTS ALL AGES COME TOGETHER IN CHICAGO

The Chicago Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), a March for Choice co-sponsoring organization, is seeking college women to join CLUW and form a Young Women's Taskforce. Chicago CLUW and it's President, Katie Jordan are committed to creating space for young women to get involved and develop leadership skills. Putting it's money where it's mouth is, the chapter has committed to provide scholarships to cover the $20 student membership ($15 national/$5 local) fee for any young woman who cannot afford to pay it herself.

In addition, the chapter is looking to organize a one or two day workshop tentatively entitled "Mothers to Daughters, Sisters to Sisters: An Intergenerational Conversation about Work, Family and the Future". It is the chapter's hope that this will be the first project of the newly formed young women's task force to help organize for this event. It is expected to take place in March.

For more information or to sign up, please call Kimberly Roberts at 312-492-6569/800-600-0816 or Katie Jordan at 312-738-6100.

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AFRICAN WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO DIE IN CHILDBIRTH THAN WESTERNERS

10/20/03- A new report reveals that African women are 175 times more likely to die during childbirth than Westerners. These findings, issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), finds that women in sub-Saharan Africa have a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.

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ENGAGE YOUR CAMPUS WITH PEP’S ADS!

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