ORGANIZING WOMEN: A NINE POINT STRATEGY - BERIT ÅS

Berit Ås is a professor and social psychologist associated with the University of Oslo, Norway. She has and extensive background in research, women's issues and political activity, serving either as member of the Norwegian parliament or an alternate member for the last ten years. Dr. Ås spent some months as a visiting professor in Halifax last year and her impact has been profound.

In a taped discussion with Dr. Janet Eaton, Berit presented the following strategy:

  1. Always be aware of the precondition or traditions of those being organized. There is always a tradition which influences the way women can be involved. Whether you are mobilizing on a short term basis within an existing association or campaigning on a special issue, it is important to look at the history of women in their own locale.

  2. The goal for which you are organizing must be very concrete for the women involved. This concreteness must relate not only to the goal but to the actual practices of women.

  3. Always have a combined leadership, preferably a troika; all studies show that women have less free time than ever; therefore we need at least three people to lead a campaign.

  4. The leadership should be on a rotary basis.

  5. The time span for a campaign should be one which women can handle psychologically. The seven to nine months of an electoral campaign is a reasonable time span.

    (Numbers 3, 4 and 5 must be a common feature of all campaigns.)

  6. Always gear the organizational structure to the goal to be achieved; you can't build cannons from sewing machines.

  7. Always organize for success. Be sure that what is accomplished can be defined as a success. Whereas men tend to be challenged to action by opposition or failure, women are discouraged by the same. Women respond better to achievement and praise, therefore a campaign should always be organized to provide some form of satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

  8. Campaigns must have an underlying model or theory; this provides a sense of unity, something to relate to even if the campaign is not successful. Something will be learned about working from that particular model or theory as a basis for organization.

  9. The blue print or strategy developed must be kept secret within the organization. This is a problem for women who are made to feel uncomfortable by men's accusations of secretiveness: but it is essential.

STRATEGIES FOR POLITICAL ACTION -
MADELEINE LEBLANC AND DANIELLE FOURNIER

Danielle Fournier is a professor of social services at the University of Moncton and has completed extensive research on women in social service associations. Danielle has been involved in "grass roots" organizing in the Montreal area.

Madeleine LeBlanc has been involved in a wide range of women's issues over the past decade. As the first president of the Conseil consultatif sur la condition de la femme in New Brunswick, she has been responsible for formulating and initiating the activities of the council. Madame LeBlanc, as president of the CCCF, reports to the premier of the province.

This session was an open discussion and exchange of experiences in organizing around various women's issues. Participants agreed that in organizations of both men and women, women become a support system for the organization, and do not hold policy or decision-making positions. Women tend to limit themselves by staying at the level which is most related to their personal situation or experience - often neglecting a broader context.

It is in specifically women's organizations that women take leadership. Unfortunately, the women who are leaders are often the very women who have the greatest needs and the least resources. Those women who have most resources tend to remain uninvolved.


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