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Women'space:
Volume 1 #2
- Women's Connections
- Beijing '95:
The Fourth World Conference on Women
- Using the 'Net as an Organizing Tool
Volume 1 #2 Part Two
Women's Connections
There are many women organizing in a woman friendly way out in cyberspace. Most of what they do is volunteer work, and is incredibly supportive of each other. Some have been working for years to get women "digitized" and have considerable experience they are happy to share. Check the manual (womanual?) and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) before asking them for help. If you haven't met some of these women before, then we'd like to introduce you.
Mailing Lists
Are like newsletters. You subscribe to them, by sending an e-mail message to their address, and in return they send you some instructions (such as how to get out of here-unsubscribe) and all their mailings. Lists can send the same information to thousands of people at the same time.
Subscribe does not mean sending money, it's just a term for getting yourself on the list.
If you want to see what's happening on a list you can subscribe and then "lurk" - read the mail, but not join in the discussion.
We particularly like "internet-women-help", "vs-online-strat", and "spiderwomen".
Amy Goodloe's list: internet-women-help comes out of San Francisco, and is one of 7 she runs. She's called the "The List-Mistress". A couple of her lists are for Bay Area women. Internet-women-help is for all those questions that seem unanswerable. You have to be subscribed to the list, and then you can ask questions, which are posted to the entire mailing list. Some woman, somewhere, will probably write back with a suggestion. Often she will write the answer to the entire list, or maybe send an e-mail message to you.
To subscribe, internet-women-help-request@lists1.best.com and in the body of the message type: subscribe
[Editor's Note: This is no longer a valid list]
Amy also moderates women-online-news, which is an international news, events and announcements list for all women online. To subscribe, e-mail women-online-news-request@lists1.best.com. In the body of the message type: subscribe
[Editor's Note: This is no longer a valid list]
Barbara Ann O'Leary's Virtual Sisterhood is a place to discuss women organizing electronically. When we started doing volunteer sessions showing women's groups around the 'Net we went there for advice. Women sent us their experience, advice, ideas and information, with great generosity. All were supportive. To subscribe, e-mail majordomo@igc.apc.org In the body of the message type: subscribe vs-online-strat
Spiderwomen, moderated by Stephanie Brail, is for women weaving on the Web. These are technical discussions about producing documents on the World Wide Web. We've seen lots of supportive sharing of information and help given. They even organized together electronically to produce some Web pages. It was a joy to watch. To subscribe, e-mail majordomo@lists.primenet.com. In the body of the message type: subscribe spiderwoman
[Editor's Note: This is no longer a valid list]
Par-L is a Canadian list out of the last days of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women (CACSW). As the government closed them down, they were able to send out e-mail messages about what was happening to them and about all the CACSW books and research being put in boxes and made unavailable to women. Par-L is now housed at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. It's a bit quiet for the summer. They are keen on discussing such areas as future directions for women's research in Canada, the effects of government policies on women, and how to organize together. To subscribe, e-mail par-l-server@unb.ca. In the body of the message type:subscribe par-l firstname lastname (that is, type in your own first and last name)
Visit the Web Sites
We can only select a few sites for you to visit, as there are thousands of them. Many of those listed here contain links to other women's pages, so you'll get a good start. All you need is more time....These sites can be visited from the library or school computers. If you only get e-mail on your computer you'll miss the pretty pictures, but still get a sense of the vast amount of information which is waiting for you.
Virtual Sisterhood is our first suggestion, as it's proved helpful to us and also because Women'space can be found through that site. Run by Barbara Ann O'Leary, and helped by the World Wide Web Development Team (all volunteers) this is a "global women's electronic support network". You will be invited to take part in the Virtual Sisterhood, and offered ideas how to do so. There are lots of ideas at this site, including lists and links to Women's Online Resources, and where to find Feminist print resources. Virtual Sisterhood now makes waves with Sea Change, an electronic magazine. The present issue contains many ideas, an interview with Susan Mooney coordinator of WomensNet, information about the Network of East-West Women's Electronic Communications Infrastructure by Victoria Vrana, a helpful write-up of the experiences of the Once and Future Network (OFAN) by Alice Mastrangelo, Women's Cyberspaces - A Sampler, plus a Beijing Electronic Resource List.
Women's Resources on the Web is run by Amy Goodloe.
[Editor's Note: This site is no longer in operationt]
It's a popular site for women, as it provides lots of information and links to other good sites. On the opening page there's an index which includes mailing lists, feminist activism, women's organizations and magazines, women helping women on the Net, where the grrls are, women's 'zines, rags and fun stuff, women's studies resources, women's resources and lesbian links.
You can click on any part of the index or scroll down the pages. Amy suggests a "great place to start" on the Net is under Women helping Women on the Net, where you'll find "Surf the Net With Cybergrrl!"
Feminist Activist Resources on the Net is created by Sarah Stapleton-Gray. She has provided links to resources on a range of current feminist issues including reproductive rights, sexual harassment and rape, domestic violence, women of color, work, health and global issues. She has more links to women's organizations, actions, events and feminist fun and games.
The major women's list keeper is Joan Korenman. Her opening page starts by focusing on Women's Studies. Under G. Electronic Forums for Women's Issues you will find "an extensive list of publicly accessible electronic forums (or lists) related to women or to gender issues."
Joan Korenman's lists include 4 discussion groups on Beijing alone. She describes each of the many women's lists and tells you how to subscribe to whichever one you are interested in. There is also a section on lesbian and women-only lists.
At the Queer Resources Directory you will find a massive archive of lesbian/bisexual/gay resources on families, youth, religion, health, sexuality, activism, culture, history, organizations, and more. Follow Electronic Resources and then Email for an extensive list of Internet mailing lists.
We'moon has a WWW page. The description is "We'moon is not just a calendar, it's a way of life...an astrological moon calendar, an ecofeminist appointment book, daily guide to natural rhythms, lunar perspective through the 13 months of the year."
The We'moon site is inviting contributions from women artists (it already has some graphics) and writers around the world and wants "an active network of womyn sharing work and ideas across the planet" This site also provides links to other related womyn's sites around the Net.
WWW by e-mail
If your only access to the Internet is through e-mail, then you can still access WWW sites. It's just not so pretty. All you need to know is the WWW address (the URL, Uniform Resource Locator - the ones that frequently start http://.....). Go to you e-mail program and type in this address: agora@www.undp.org.Then, in the body of the message type: send URL (URL is the WWW address you have).
So, if you wanted to see the Virtual Sister pages you would type in: send http://www.igc.apc.org/vsister/vsister.html. This sends you the written information in Virtual Sister. It also lists all the http (URLs) addresses used in Virtual Sister, so that you can follow through on a line of interest.
If you want all the information on a Web page, plus all the information on all the Web pages it is linked to, then type the same address, and in the body of the message type: deep URL. Beware you'll be sent a huge amount of mail.
More reading
The July/August issue of Ms magazine has a feature article by Aliza Sherman called Cyberspace: Debunking the Myths That Keep Women Offline. Aliza says "Women inherently have many of the skills and qualities required for Internet exploration" and goes on to show us how suited we are to cyberspace, and how we are being discouraged from taking our place in a very powerful arena.
Beijing '95:
The Fourth World Conference on Women
Action for Equality Development and Peace
September 4-15 1995
The Internet has been an important place where knowledge has been shared in preparation for Beijing. Now you can find a vast array of up to date information. You will be able to keep up with developments as they happen at the Conference, and then keep in touch after the Conference.
To start, get yourself onto a computer with a World Wide Web connection, and go to Womensnet's WWW page for Beijing This takes you to a choice of 7 places to start. We first went to the NGO Pavilion and got 18 groups including the Women of Color Resource Center, Media Watch, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission, and Isis International. Each of these led to more places and information.
We went back to the beginning choice of 7, and selected the Post office (the graphics here and throughout this site are lovely). Here we found a list of Beijing related Internet mailing lists, any of which you can subscribe to and keep posted on developments. We went to the Newsroom and checked out the latest developments, and to the Cafe "an informal place to look at on-line 'zines, newspapers, books, music info or to chat".
The Art Gallery is a treasure. Much downloads slowly, as there are lots of pictures. And they're all by women. You can find lists of women artists throughout herstory and around the world. The art is wonderful, and the first time we had ever been able to see the works of so many women.
For Conference watchers there is the official UN site, which you can also get to through Womensnet. Here you can read the official documents leading up to the Conference, as well as related information.
It's a vast site, so put aside some time to look around. It is frequently updated, particularly throughout the Conference. Keep watching.
In Sea Change there's a title "Sisterhood is Virtual -Beijing and Beyond" which leads to the Beijing Electronic Resource List, containing links to 4 WWW sites, 3 gopher resources, 2 lists and innumerable electronic conferences around the world.
Take the Train
Some women are going to Beijing by train. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom has 200 women on the Women's Peace train. In keeping with their 1915 beginning, they're crossing national borders for Peace, Development and Equality. You can find out how things are going and what they're doing, by reading Raging Granny Joyce Lydiard's diary. She's on the train and sending back her E-Journal to be placed on a site in British Columbia run by Judy Michaud. This site also links to the Tibetan Women's Association site where you can go and get their views on the Beijing conference.
Then there's the Beijing Express, a 7 day train journey filled with skills training for women, from conflict resolution to computer literacy, from a satellite feed so they can get online, to antique Russian samovars for tea and coffee.
Bring back our trains!!
Using the 'Net as an Organizing Tool
Okay, so we've started using e-mail and recognize the speed, and efficiency of the Internet as a cheap postal service. What else is it good for?
It's worth looking around at how organizations are using the 'Net for activist work. What can women's groups do to enhance our effectiveness in promoting equality? Here are some suggestions:
Increasing our visibility
The ease of sending messages by e-mail makes it possible to reach many more women with our information, resources and projects. Creating a web page about our work promotes community awareness about who we are, what we do and how to get involved with our groups. Often a community web site, such as freenets/community nets, will seek out information about local groups and offer us the opportunity to present ourselves in their pages. The Canadian Federal Government aims to have all public libraries, and schools, online by 1998. Soon, any woman who can get to a library can visit our Web sites.
Support groups for women
Mailing lists and Usenet discussion groups offer women the opportunity to share our experiences, ideas and practical solutions on general or very specific issues. Especially in rural areas and towns these sources of support are critical as there may not be enough women who share particular issues to form a support group. In larger cities too, health or domestic ties may make it difficult for women to access local support groups. Women who are in support groups can use mailing lists together -as an impetus for discussion and to share our own debates with others. Mailing lists may be open to men and women, or to women only, offering us the choice of where we feel most comfortable. Because the mailing lists communicate in writing, there are fewer barriers to women's participation based on race/class/disability/appearance and other prejudices which inhibit genuine exchange.
Networking
It is really wonderful to find women online who are engaged in similar activities and struggles. The understanding and support is such a relief and most importantly, we can solve problems together. Ideas about how to work effectively, and how to get over hurdles, flow freely and generously. Working out how to build with each others experiences is refreshing, and exciting. So far we have seen little of the territorial/control issues which can inhibit growth in women's groups. This is not to say such issues will not arise, but these are early days, and open-hearted ones online.
Sharing resources
The Internet is a great place to find resources, from how to get around in cyberspace to specific women's issues and actions. We really are looking at the library of the future and all it takes is a little know-how to search and find what we need to know. As in a library, a lot of the fun is finding other things along the way which take us on fascinating diversions. A tight schedule can keep you directed towards your immediate needs.
What this new library offers is the ability to share (publish) our own resources for others to use, on a scale we have not seen before. This makes the whole exercise much more democratic and grass-roots based, for there are fewer of the usual gatekeepers to exclude our information from getting out in the world. It is also a library which is able to keep up on the latest issues, resources, and debates for it constantly updates its information. Its global reach keeps us abreast of our sisters' efforts and issues everywhere the technology can be found, and this is expanding at a dynamic rate.
Monitoring government policy
The ease, low cost and speed of electronic mail offers us a powerful means of getting-the-word-out on government policies and actions. This was brought home to us on March 31, 1995. The CACSW (Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women) was closed down by the Federal government. The secretaries and Director of Research were given three hours notice that their services were no longer required. Because of the PAR-L mailing list run by the CACSW, women across Canada were informed and engaged in strategizing immediately. It was a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of electronic communication networks in action.
Feedback
When you put your work online you get to see the results of your labours. It's very rewarding to see what you can achieve. An added bonus is that, in our experience, lots of great women say supportive things.
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