The periodical\u2019s second issue featured a mass spread titled \u201cA Mighty Army: An Investigation of Women Workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The opening page of “A Mighty Army: An Investigation of Women Workers.” There is no given author for the article, rather it is a collective effort by the WUO. This article appeared in the second issue of Osawatomie<\/em>, published in the Summer of 1975.<\/p><\/div>\n This article interrogates the working conditions of women and debunks derogatory myths about women and women\u2019s rights. Three main questions structure the first part of the article: First, \u201cwho are the women who work for wages?\u201d (7). Second, \u201cWhere do women workers work? (8). And third, \u201cWhy do women work?\u201d (9). Answers to the first question introduce the reader to five key statistics about the demographic of working-class women. At the time of its publication in 1975:<\/p>\n 40% of the workforce [were] women; Black and other Third World women are more likely to be in the work force; married women work, women who head families work, and single women work; 38% of all mothers with children under 18 work; almost half of women works are 40 years or older, almost 2\/5 are 45 or older (7).<\/p>\n This is the second page of “A Mighty Army: An Investigation of Women Workers.” Here, the article lays out some demographics of working women including the percentage of married women who work and how many working women there are in the U.S. The three pictures below, from right to left, show a woman making shoes in Ohio, a woman digging turnips in Tennessee, and a woman washing dishes in Ohio.<\/p><\/div>\n Answers to the second shed light on the fact that women overwhelming work at non-unionized jobs, and about half of all women workers are \u201cconcentrated in 21 occupations which are the lowest paying jobs in the U.S.\u201d (8). Because organizing through class solidarity was one of the main principles of the WUO, information about who comprises the working class is of paramount importance.<\/p>\n In response to the final question, the article essentially writes that women work for the same reasons as everyone else: survival. However, their contribution to society and economic development \u201chas been erased from history and ridiculed by myths about womanhood, all of which serve the imperialists\u201d (9).<\/p>\n The article goes on to dispel the myths that 1) \u201cwomen don\u2019t have to work;\u201d 2) \u201cwomen are hard to organize;\u201d 3) \u201cwomen belong in the home.\u201d By dispelling these myths, the WUO positions itself as not only an explicitly feminist organization but also as one of the few organizations of the New Left that center women. Readers of Osawatomie would have largely been other members of the WUO and leftists, therefore this detailed article would hopefully work to quell sexism within the leftist community.<\/p>\n Each issue includes a section called \u201cWhere We Stand\u201d meant to focus on one issue in particular and give the WUO stance. Two issues following the article \u201cAn Investigation of Women Workers\u201d, Osawatomie\u2019s \u201cWhere We Stand\u201d focused on women\u2019s liberation.<\/p>\n “The Women’s Question is a Class Question” statement written by Celia Sojourn, an original member of the WUO. This statement appeared in the fourth issue of Osawatomie, published in the Winter of 1975-1976.<\/p><\/div>\n Titled \u201cThe Women\u2019s Question is a Class Question,\u201d the article is written by Weatherwoman Celia Sojourn, another member of the group\u2019s Central Committee. Echoing the group\u2019s previous writings on the Women\u2019s Movement and as the title states, the WUO situated women\u2019s liberation in the larger context of class struggle. More than this though, the article goes on to talk about key problems in many mainstream feminist spaces. These issues are the separation of white women\u2019s movement from Black and other Women of Color\u2019s movements, the idea that men are the enemies of women, and that the women\u2019s movement \u201cdoesn\u2019t have to take on the state\u201d (5). If these three issues persist, Sojourn argues, the movement will never be successful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Works Cited<\/p>\n Celia Sojourn. \u201cThe Women\u2019s Question is a Class Question.\u201d Osawatomie, vol. 1, no. 4, Weather Underground Organization, Winter 1975-76, pp. 3-5.<\/p>\n Weather Underground Organization. \u201cA Mighty Army: An Investigation of Women Workers.\u201d Osawatomie, vol. 1, no. 2, Weather Underground Organization, Summer 1975, pp. 6-14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published between 1975 and 1976, WUO\u2019s periodical Osawatomie featured book reviews, editorials, updates on the group\u2019s progress, and even short stories. All of these contributions tackled issues central to the left including women\u2019s issues. By focusing on two of these … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-07-at-4.39.24-PM-256x300.png\")
\u201cThe Women\u2019s Question is a Class Question\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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