Unique Elements, Perspectives & Tools of the Women's Workshop

2007-01-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Workshop Elements
Who Attended
110 women and 14 men attended;

12 people from 8 countries outside the U.S. (Canada, Denmark, El Salvador, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago and U.K) ;

112 people from 23 U.S. states and DC (MA (28); PA (12); CA, NY, DC (8 each); WA (6); VA & OR (5 each); and less than 5 from CT, DE, IL, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NC, NH, NM, OH, RI, TX, and WI

Contemporary Iusses Groups
19 contemporary issues groups on 11 topics:

5 groups on global capitalism and sexism;
4 groups on beautification and appearance;
2 groups on women & health-related issues;

1 group on each of the following topics:
destruction of the planet and implicatons for women;
sexual identity and gender confusions
abortion & reproductive issues;
sexual trafficking and sex industries;
sexism and school;
division of houswork and childraising, unpaid female labor;
women as sex objects;
phyiscal and sexual violence

Unique Perspectives
Jewish Liberation....Why RC Workshops Celebrate Shabbat
From A Talk by Diane Shisk at the Women's Workshop
Used with Permission

"[We do] Friday night Shabbat for a couple of reasons. Number one for me is that we remember the liberation of Jewish people. That it be a place where we stand against the oppression of Jews and stand strongly and visibly against the widespread Jewish oppression in our society that denies that Jews are oppressed. It confuses all of us."

"… the particular role that anti-Jewish oppression has in undermining all liberation struggles. If we forget to stand against the oppression of Jews, we will lose every other liberation struggle."

Another reason is to have a chance to welcome Jews into the center of RC as Jews and as visible Jews. Jews who are celebrating these traditions and culture that they have fought so hard to have and keep central to themselves as people. We get to cherish this place where we have them and they share this with us and we get to delight in them and all the strengths."

Pre-workshop Constituency Letters were sent out by leaders of: Jewish women, African heritage women, West and South Asian women, Asian (Chinese) women, mothers, raised poor women, young women, Catholic women, Protestant women, elder women and allies; white, Gentile, middle and owning class women; working class women, large women, LBTQUF women and allies, Latinas/Mujeres, and women from outside the U.S.

Centrality of Eliminating Racism

Men as Allies

This workshop experimented with inviting a small group of men to attend. The rationale was that men need to be involved in the project of eliminating sexism and to learn from women about women's issues.

That said, Diane repeatedly reminded the workshop that women need to be leaders in ending sexism. One way we will do this is by welcoming men as our allies in combating sexism.

Tools
listening pair or mini-session: people take turns listening to one another for discrete amounts of time

support group: a designated leader makes sure everyone is given time to be listened to and counseled, usually each person is given an equal amount of time

speaking order: During the workshop Diane encouraged women to speak speak before men, people from outside the U.S. speak before U.S.-born, younger than 20 years old before older than 20, younger than 30 years old before older than 30 and women of color before whites. The purpose of speaking order is to disrupt the usual order of speaking in large groups that favors dominant groups.

leaders and assistants: tasks usually have a designated leader and one or more assistants

supporting leaders: it is the job of everyone to think about the leader and provide assistance when possible

workshop jobs: by having everyone at the workshop take responsibility for one or more areas of the workshop functioning, initiative is unleashed and more is accomplished and learned

women & physical power: women take on physical challenges while being given aware attention by one or more listeners, typical activities include basketball, football, wrestling, weightlifting and learning new skills

Workshop Job Titles (see tools for further info)
Accessibility, Accessibility for Hearing-Impaired Women, Allies to People from Outside the U.S., Allies to Young Women (younger than 20), Thinking About Young Adult Women (20-31 years), Announcements, Audio Taping, Beauty & Order, Creativity Evening, Inclusion, Kitchen Liaison, Language and Translations, Language and Translaters' Support, Literature Sales, Literature Skit, Movies/Video-tape Viewing, Onsite Organizer, Pre-workshop Organzing, Problem Solvers, Promptness, Registration, Scribes, Shabbat, Songs; Sport, Play and Physical Power; Transportation, Videotaping, Wake Up, and Writing Coordinators

Workshop Schedule
Thursday Evening: Introductions and support groups

Friday: Counseling on racism, breakfast, class, break/play/move, support groups, lunch, contemporary issues groups, break/dress for Shabbat , Shabbat, dinner, co-counseling sessions, class, optional movie

Saturday: Class on the oppression of the economic south, support groups counseling on U.S. and Western oppressor patterns, breakfast, class, break/play/move, co-counseling sessions, lunch, contemporary issues groups, break/play/move, topic groups, dinner, class, creativity evening, optional movie

Sunday morning: Counsel the leader, breakfast, class, break/play/move, support groups, lunch, cleanup, farewells

Big Picture of the RC Women's Workshop

Unique Elements, Perspectives & Tools of the Women's Workshop