What We Believe

Changing women's position in society is going to require changes in expectations, jobs, childcare, and education. It also means changing the distribution of power from the few having power over the rest of us to all people sharing power and sharing in the decisions that affect our lives. These are major, radical changes. We consider our struggle revolutionary because it will require a total restructuring of society, not merely making room for more women within this structure.

Our primary purpose is to attack sexism- -that's the systematic oppression of women for the benefit of the people in power. Sexism exists everywhere in this society -- for example, on the job, in family roles, and in the laws. We are fighting for changes in ourselves and other individuals, and in the institutions and policies that set up our lives in sexist patterns.

We do not think that women are the only people in this society who are oppressed, We think that it is easier for the people in power to keep women, blacks, Latins, and the poor and working people of this country down when we're fighting against each other instead of learning to work together against the unequal distribution of wealth and opportunity that comes with this arrangement of society - an arrangement where decisions are based on making profits, not on human needs.

We believe in democracy. By that we do not mean just voting in elections, but responsible participation of the people affected by a decision. We are trying to act on our ideas to test and improve them. Ours is not an organization that one just joins - - it is a working organization, trying to involve more people in change, and trying to create a society where our principles are at work.