Committee for Women in the NUT THE National Union Teachers is the largest teaching 74 per union, membership is female — surprisingly as the huge majority of teachers women.
would therefore expect the Compose forefront campaigns equal opportunities, better nurseries and maternity benefits, against sexism the COHEECHEL education and for a woman's right to choose on abortion.
But this is far from the case.
The particularly fanatical in its opposition to making support for abortion part of union policy. local teachers associations [the cqurvalent or brances in otner unions] have attempted to the National Abortion Campaign or send delegations on pro-abortion demonstrations.
But the union bureaucracy has quickly ruled such resolutions against the aims and objects of the union'.
Women in the NUT were not Socialist Challenge 18 January 1979 page 10 even allowed to send delegates to the Trade Union Conference on November last year, when even of the Miners' Union, with a tiny minority of women members, At National Conference each year we are told that support or a woman's right to choose AlCI would split the because the Catholic membership wouldn't like it.
Over the last few years the education cuts have fewer jobs. Part-time posts, of which are mainly occupied by women with family commitments, have been especially hit. PRESSURE True to form, the NUT has done little to fight this, despite pressure for action from many areas.
The union makes great play of the fact that teachers were among the first to get equal pay.
But although women receive equal pay for equal jobs, not so many women get the higher paid jobs But at last the demands of NUT full beginning to have some effect.
The union's Equal OpporuniAbortion in fies Committee dominated bi men!] has asked members to send in examples of sexism in initial reading schemes, though they have not said what they intend information. probably mean that they plan to take up the whole sexist education curriculum.
forced to do anything then the pressure has got to be kept up. Exactly how to do this, as well planning aborHon, nursery nursery and maternity provisions, and fighting sexism will be discussed at the Women in the NUT Saturday Conway Hall, Square, London WC2.
The conference important women in the NUT to begin to may dently and to bring forward plans and ideas for campaigns to carry on the fight against women's oppression in teachare ing.
ensure Glasgow who lived in deprived conditions and were bad contraceptive risks' have also been used in Provera has not received the general approval either of the Committee for Safety of irrelevant Medicines in this country, but it Third World. is still widely used by many GPs. The women for whom it is considered suitable are usually Keith Joseph's ideas that the *lower classes' are breeding too much and ought to be stopped don't seem so way out in the There's only one word that clearly describes how it is used help The details of its application in the Third World make this The joy of the drug as far as population control programmes are con- explosion. cerned is that once a woman is injected she will not become pregnant for up to six months.
The pill was a failure from their point of view because it women caring enough about birth contro to Clearly women in the Third World do want birth control.
The thousands of women in that the economic considerations are met.
This situation has led some people to argue, particularly those from national liberation movements in the Third World, that any form of birth control is detrimental Or just to women in the But like European women they do want the right and ability to control their fertility - they want the right to decide for themse ves when to have children. They do not want imperialism or multinational drug companies to decide for thempjohn International Inc is clearly not selling the drug to women CLO cecee on childbirth. It is in it for the and to help the programme to r auce 'undesirable reproducion and solve the problems of the population Upjohn markets DP on the basis that whole villages can be processed' in a day. And tha quicker than the first - taking only 60 to 90 seconds!
The 'processing' of entire villages has nothing to do with helping women to decide for themselves about their fertility.
And there can be little demands to take up this fight.
After considerable discussion it was agreed to campaign for the withdrawal of the drug because of its serious side effects.
The other demands of the campaign include calling for further research into the effects of such long term chemical contraceptives; that women should be given full informa tion before being given contraceptive drugs; and to stop the discriminatory use of DP on black women, poor white women and Third women.
A co-ordinating committee was set up. The campaign can contacted at; Campaign Against Depo Provera, c/0 ICAR, Gray's Inn Rd London N1. The next general meeting will be • on Mondav 8 February al St Matthews Church, Brixton.
*The details of the effects and use of Depo Provera are largely taken from a paper by Janet Hadley produced for a workshop on Racism and Immigration in The workshops were organised by a group of London women active around various questions of racism and imperialism.
ON SATURDAY 20 January women are marching