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Steering Committee by
Chris Riddiough
CWLU was
formed October 31, 1969 at a conference in Palatine, IL. Among the bodies
set up at the initial conference was a steering committee that was to
be made up of representatives of work groups and chapters of the CWLU.
Membership on the steering committee rotated very frequently with some
groups having a representative that changed for each meeting of the
Steering Committee. The committee met on a more or less regular basis
every two weeks or a month. It was responsible for coordinating work
among the subgroups of the CWLU, for overseeing the office and staff
of the CWLU and for discussing CWLU-wide activities such as city-wide
meetings.
In 1972
a planning committee was added as a sort of executive committee to
the steering committee. The planning committee consisted of two co-chairs
elected at-large and three other at-large members. The planning committee
had greater authority to make decisions for the organization as a whole.
Both the
steering committee and planning committee were unique in the women's
movement of time. Much of the women's movement, particularly the left
and radical wings, abandoned any kind of structure. For these organizations
decisions were made by consensus and generally no one in a group had
any authority to speak or act for the group as a whole. CWLU rejected
this model.
As voiced
by Jo Freeman in her article, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," the
lack of structure found in many women's organizations did not result
in everyone playing an equal role, rather it often meant that leaders
were hidden, responsibility could not be assigned and no one was accountable
for the actions of the group. By rejecting this model, CWLU became an
organization that actually encouraged its members to be leaders, taught
them leadership skills and they could not only change their own lives
but the world around them.
Chris Riddiough is a former co-chair of the CWLU. She is currently
an Information Technology professional working in the Washington D.C.
area. She is active in the women's movement, the gay and lesbian movement
and progressive politics. She invites you to visit her website at www.riddiough.
org.
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