The Women's Action Coalition's Mission
editThe mission of the open alliance, The Women's Action Coalition, is to make a change and take action against the barriers restraining the rights of women.[5] The Women's Action Coalition recognizes the political, cultural, and economic limits that some women have to live by and they plan to take action and change these aspects.[6] The WAC represents every woman and plans to find a solution to discrimination against religion,race and homophobia.[7] The WAC also plans to end violence, of all types, against women.[8]They believe that it should be every woman's right to have access to the proper healthcare and childcare. They also insist that women have reproductive freedom. [9] They plan to come up with a successful way to instill equality for women by implementing resistance to the unfair standards that some women are forced to conform to.[10]
WAC of New York
editOn January 28th, 1992 a small group of women decided to come together speak about their frustration on the issues concerning the rights of women.[11] They named this meeting "Women Strategizing in the 90's."[12] The main reason for the calling of their meeting was to discuss their anger that Clarence Thomas was named Supreme Court Justice even after Anita Hill's testimony saying Clarence Thomas had assaulted her.[13] There were 75 to 150 women that came to discuss their issues with the Clarence Thomas controversy.[14] The women then decided to start a feminist activist group called The Women's Action Coalition. [15]They planned on mimicking their group after the AID activist group ACT-UP and the Women's Health Action Coalition. [16]Their fist action took place six days after their first meeting at a sexual assault trial involving students from St. John's University. [17]Their Logo was a Blue Dot after the blue dot the media would put over the rape victim's face when displayed on television.[18] Their members founded the Drum Core which performed at all of their action movements.[19] They also came up with the slogan "Let women define rape!" [20]The WAC for New York grew larger and by the second meeting they had 300 members. [21]They participated in many other rape trials.[22]
WAC of Chicago
editThere are Women's Action Coalition groups located all over the world. [23]Although many are located in the United States in the cities of Boston, San Fransisco, Houston and Los Angeles. [24]There are also groups located in Europe and Canada. [25]A WAC group that did not last for a great deal of time was the WAC of Chicago. [26]It was founded in 1992 and had fallen apart by 1994. The WAC of New York had helped the WAC of Chicago get settled and organized but it was not a longstanding location.[27] Their meetings were held at the Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago.[28] Men were not allowed to attend the meetings but were allowed to participate in all other WAC actions.[29] Although WAC Chicago was in commission for two short years the impact that they left was great. [30]They took action by handing out free condoms and also pamphlets on how to have safe sex.[31] They placed coffins in the streets which held the stories of women who had been murdered. [32]They used a billboard and signed postcards to express the affects domestic violence and breast cancer have on women. [33]They also burned the flags of France,Germany, Great Britain ,and even the United States to protest against the land negotiations the government had with Serbia.[34] Each of the WAC's all over the world included a Drum Core which is considered to be an important part of the WAC. The Drum Core participates in WAC actions and all other activities. [35]
WAC of San Fransisco
editThe Women's Action Coalition of San Fransisco was larger than anyone had ever anticipated when it was founded in August of 1992. [36] The WAC of San Fransisco insisted on saving the rights of women and making them known to society. [37] As of 1992 this group was going to be one of the first direct-action groups that had come to be in a long time.[38] There were about five hundred members in the WAC of San Fransisco and they would meet at the Southern Exposure Gallery and speak about future creative ways they could implement their actions towards the importance of the rights of women. [39] The WAC of San Fransisco was inspired by the actions the the WAC of New York.[40] The WAC of San Fransisco took action by starting a marathon run in favor of the rights of women. [41]They also started letter writing campaigns, rallies, marches, guerrilla postering, spray-painting, and contributing to the defense of abortion clinics.[42] Their stamina of direct-action seemed long-lasting and was for about a year. [43]Their actions saved the community from Governer Pete Wilson's plan to cut aid from families who had dependent children.[44] By stopping Gov. Wilson's plan they saved San Fransisco's Rape Treatment center from getting a great deal of their funds cut. [45]This also helped bring many of the hidden issues concerning women's rights to light. [46]After their steady year of success the number of members began to decline.[47]The group fell to about 50 members.They were forced to move their meeting location from the Southern Exposure Gallery to a small office space that was shared by another feminist group.[48] After only a few months the WAC of San Fransisco was unable to pay the rent. Quickly, what was once a large and instrumental movement became non-existent by 1994. [49]
Records
editThe rise and fall of The Women's Action Coalitions is considered part of the third wave of feminism.[50] Most of the records are from the first WAC which was WAC of New York. [51]The files of the WAC from other cities are scattered. [52]Most of the records date from 1992 through 1993. [53]The coalition's records contain their action, administrative, and subject files. [54]They also contain T-shirts and stickers that they created and used. [55]There are also video recordings of the actions that took place.[56]
