Feminists gather to celebrate landmark women's convention

Matt Heistand Arizona Daily Wildcat (From left) Catherine Nichols and Carol Thomas observed as UA Student Body President Tara Taylor spoke to The League of Women Voters Saturday morning at the Junior League Building downtown. Taylor and other women panelists, spoke about the 150th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention.

Tucson feminists who commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Saturday vowed to keep striving for worldwide equality.

The League of Women Voters cele-brated its heritage by inviting 10 panelists, including UA Associated Students President Tara Taylor, to discuss the past, present and future of the women's movement.

The original conference in 1848 included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, who called for the abolition of slavery and laid the groundwork for the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote.

They drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which outlined the inequities men inflicted upon women.

Tucson panelists met a century and a half after their foremothers to review personal involvement in the women's equal-rights movement, each focusing on a different issue.

Discussion highlights included:

Sheila Tobias, author of Faces of Feminism: An Activist's Reflection on the Women's Movement, related her experiences at Forum '98, a week-long convention com-memorating the original women's rights convention.

A copy of the Dec-laration of Sentiments was etched in stone at the Wesleyan Chapel in celebration of women's equality.

Neeme Cochran, executive director of the Tucson Women's Com-mission, described her visits to India and Nepal, where she saw women performing slave labor.

The women are forced to work in deplorable conditions because em-ployers know the poor women must feed their families and that few employment options exist for them, she said. The global economy contributes to women's inequality, Cochran said.

"We must bear witness to abominations," she said.

Catherine Nichols, a women's studies professor at Brandeis University, said historical accounts of the feminist movement don't accurately depict internal struggles.

"We like to smooth over history to show unification," she said. "The missing pieces of history make things very appealing."

The term "taxation without representation" aptly described women at the time of the 1848 convention, she said.

Carol Thomas, a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she would like to see more minority women becoming actively involved in the feminist movement.

She also discussed the problem of teen-age girls dropping out of high school to care for their babies.

"I don't want any girl to have to make a second choice," Thomas said. "Education is the key to our future."

The panelists then focused on the future of the movement and sought to dispel the notion that feminism is dead.

"A need for equality is what is breaking down the barriers," said University of Arizona professor Naomi Miller, chairwoman of the UA Association of Women Faculty.

"Connections among women are how we can advance ourselves," Miller said.

Continuing in the fashion of their founding mothers, the league members stressed that they need to find a better way to achieve equality.

They said disunity among women's advance-ment groups hinders the progression of the feminist movement.

"We are in exciting times when we can all work together," said Sally Davenport, the league's voter service chairwoman.

"The phrase 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times' has never been truer," she said.

Taylor, who agreed that women have come a long way since the Seneca Falls convention, said there is still much to be ac-complished.

"I don't want to be a ballerina or a nurse," Taylor said. "I want to be the first woman president."

Stephanie Corns can be reached via e-mail at Stephanie.Corns@wildcat.arizona.edu.