Women's Union Not Fulfilling Mission
By Amy McDaniel
A&F Editor

Inviting a discussion of the proper place of the Women’s Union (WU) reeks, unfortunately, of the age-old discussion of the proper place of women in society. As we know and should keep reminding ourselves, gender is fluid and negotiable, and only bad can come of prescribing what women or men should or should not say, do, wear, or screw.

The existing charter of the WU states, “The purpose of the Women’s Union will be to help provide the resources and space needed for women to secure positive changes in their personal and political lives and overcome gender-based constraints, in order to realize their full potential as human beings. This facility will be committed to addressing issues relevant to women in relation to their race, religion, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, economic status, health, and professional goals and opportunities.”

In effect, the WU purports to create a safe space for women, safe from the limiting and harmful effects of gender socialization and safe for free expression of female identity in any and all forms. True to the women’s movement mantra, “The personal is political,” the establishment of such a space recognizes the politically charged intrusions on daily life with which all women must cope and from which they need a haven.

Presumably, this safety zone need not be confined to the physical limits of the space above Walker Lounge but should instead reverberate through the campus and beyond, making the world a safer place for women by way of example and influence.

It is risky business to talk about the proper way for women to create and maintain their safe space, but the discussion is invaluable for the whole campus to attempt. It’s not an issue of propriety, as it turns out, but of responsibility.

The WU, with its expansive and comfortably appointed lounge and ample funding (from work-study funds for staff wages and $3,400 for this academic year for events, materials, as well as special projects), has a responsibility to address the changing and manifold needs of female students, as they struggle with gender identities, male-to-female relationships, and female-to-female relationships. I do not believe that the WU is currently fulfilling its responsibilities, as difficult as they may be to meet.

Blame is not easily assigned. The name “Women’s Union” is inherently democratic. In reality, of course, all women at Pomona do not have control over the allocation of the WU’s funds and space. The WU staff plans, organizes, and programs on behalf of the rest of Pomona’s women. The three women in charge of hiring and running meetings are called “facilitators,” further emphasizing the representative nature of the WU.

Any democratically defined organization depends on the civic participation of its members. The women of Pomona College have not done their part in expressing their needs, holding the WU to its mission, or even welcoming the organization as an advocate working on their behalf. It is not solely the job of the facilitators and their staff to do the kind of guesswork required by the inaction of the rest of us. Positive feedback for and participation in activities and programming that accurately reflect the needs of women students would help immeasurably, as would constructive criticism when programming fails to meet its purpose.

In this vein, I would like to explain why I do not feel that my needs are being met. I feel that I, along with many other women, am comfortable having fun and talking about sex, especially with other women. So far this semester, the majority of events sponsored by the WU—or the majority that are well-publicized—have tended to women’s recreational and social lives. Sex is the topic of a frequently women-only weekly discussion that I have never attended since I already talk about sex with other women and am tired of the “ladies’ night out” mentality.

I find it more difficult to talk to men about sex, and I do not think that is just because I am heterosexual. I also find it harder to talk to anyone about religion, class, and race, all of which have particular implications and pose unique problems for women. College women are currently dealing with and will continue to deal with diverse pressures and influences as they enter the professional world, consider lifelong romantic commitments, and choose whether or not to raise children.

As WU co-facilitator Rabiya Kassam-Adams ’04 told me, “For the past semester, especially in the last three weeks, the staff has been working collectively to develop a new mission statement, that would possibly eventually develop into a fuller and longer charter.” Under pressure from the administration in the past to stay as nonpolitical as possible, given the necessarily political motives for maintaining the WU, the facilitators and their staff are actively engaged in negotiating the role of their—our—organization in ways that respond to current needs, while also responding to external demands. Everyone on this campus who is concerned about the well-being, whether cultural, societal or political, of women must help to sort through the difficult problems faced by the one campus organization directed specifically at women’s issues.