HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:06:12 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.22
Last-Modified: Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:09:40 GMT
ETag: "b7fa-4707ddc888500"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 47098
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

 
<html lang="en">
<!-- #BeginTemplate "/Templates/arttemplate.dwt" --> 
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<!-- #BeginEditable "doctitle" --> 
<title>Feminist Activities at the 1988 Republican Convention</title>
<meta name="generator" content="BBEdit 6.1">
<meta name="description" content="Feminist Activities at the 1988 Republican Convention by Jo Freeman">
<meta name="keywords" content="Jo Freeman, feminist scholar, articles by Jo Freeman,1988 Republican Convention, feminist history, Republican History, Republican women, George Bush,NOW, NARAL, NWPC, abortion, Kate Michelman, Sen. Lowell Weicker, Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum, Lynn Glaze, Republican Women's Task Force, RWTF, child care, Deborah Steelman, anti-abortion, Feminist Republicans, National Federation of Republican  Women, Republican National Committee">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../Linkstyles.css" type="text/css">
<!-- #EndEditable --> 
<body bgcolor="#99CCFF" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">
<Basefont Size = "2"> <a name="Top"></a> 
<table width="600" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
  <tr bgcolor="#000099"> 
    <td colspan="3"><img src="../images/jfreemancom.gif" width="577" height="23"></td>
  </tr>
  <tr> 
    <td width="50" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" align="center" valign="top"><!-- #BeginEditable "Right%20Margin" --><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="40" height="800" border="0"><a href="#Top"><img src="../images/totop.gif" width="50" height="30" border="0" alt="To Top"></a><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="40" height="800" border="0"><a href="#Top"><img src="../images/totop.gif" width="50" height="30" border="0" alt="To Top"></a><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="40" height="800" border="0"><a href="#Top"><img src="../images/totop.gif" width="50" height="30" border="0" alt="To Top"></a><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="40" height="800" border="0"><a href="#Top"><img src="../images/totop.gif" width="50" height="30" border="0" alt="To Top"></a><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="40" height="800" border="0"><a href="#Top"><img src="../images/totop.gif" width="50" height="30" border="0" alt="To Top"></a><br>
      <!-- #EndEditable --></td>
    <td width="500" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><!-- #BeginEditable "Text" --> 
      <form><div align="right">
        <div align="right"><!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/Dropdown Menu.lbi" -->
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
function MM_jumpMenu(targ,selObj,restore){ //v3.0
  eval(targ+".location='"+selObj.options[selObj.selectedIndex].value+"'");
  if (restore) selObj.selectedIndex=0;
}
//-->
</script>
<select name="Main Navigation" onChange="MM_jumpMenu('parent',this,1)">
  <option selected>Site Navigation</option>
  <option value="../index.htm">Home</option>
  <option value="../books.htm">Books by Jo - online ordering </option>
  <option value="../whatsnew.htm">What's New </option>
  <option value="../aboutjo.htm">About Jo </option>
  <option value="../photos.htm">Photos </option>
  <option value="../buttons.htm">Political Buttons </option>
  <option value="../search.htm">Search </option>
  <option value="../links.htm">Links </option>
  <option value="../contactjo.htm">Contact Jo </option>
  <option value="../onlinearticles.htm">Jo's online articles by topic: </option>
 
  <option value="../feminism/feminist.htm">-- The Feminist Movement </option>
  <option value="../joreen/joreen.htm">-- Feminist Articles by Joreen </option>
  <option value="../womenyear/beijing.htm">-- 4th Int'l Women's Conference (Beijing) 
  </option>
  <option value="../womensociety/womensoc.htm">-- Women in Society </option>
  <option value="../academicwomen/academic.htm">-- On Students and Scholars </option>
  <option value="../lawandpolicy/pubpolicy.htm">-- Women, Law and Public Policy 
  </option>
  <option value="../polhistory/womenpol.htm">-- Women's Political History </option>
  <option value="conventions.htm">-- Women at Political Party Conventions 
  </option>
  <option value="../politics/womenprez.htm">-- A Woman for President?
  </option>
  <option value="../seniorwomen/seniorwomen.htm">-- Columns for Senior Women Web 
  </option>
  <option value="../socialmovements/socmovements.htm">-- Social Movements </option>
   <option value="../civilrights/civil_rights.htm">-- The Civil Rights Movement </option>
    <option value="../sixtiesprotest/sixties.htm">-- Social Protest in the Sixties 
  </option>
  <option value="../polparties/polparties.htm">-- Political Parties </option>
  <option value="../rightreport/rightreport.htm">-- Reporting on the Right 
  </option> <option value="../war/war.htm">-- War
  </option> <option value="../reviews.htm">-- Reviews
  </option>
  <option value="../cranston/cranston.htm">-- Cranston Campaign Diary (1984) </option>
</select> <!-- #EndLibraryItem --></div>
      </form>
          <p align=left><a href="conventions.htm"><img src="images/returnconventions.gif" width="288" height="20" border="0" alt="Return to Main Women at Political Conventions Page"></a> 
          <p align=left><font size="4" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000099"><b>Feminist 
            Activities at the 1988 Republican Convention</b></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000099"> 
            <br>
            <font size="3" color="#000000">by Jo Freeman</font></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
            </font></p>
          <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Published in  <u>off 
            our backs</u>, November 1988, pp. 10-11, 14.</font></p>
          <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            A feminist presence re-emerged at the 1988 Republican Convention after 
            an eight year hibernation. It was primarily focused on abortion, which 
            still divides the party despite the fact that the far right continues 
            to write the platform on all issues directly affecting women. However, 
            since delegate polls indicated that those going to New Orleans last 
            August distributed themselves on the political spectrum pretty much 
            the way they did in 1984, there was no consensus on what this means 
            for the future of a party headed by George Bush. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Feminists made their first appearance at the hearings before the platform 
            Subcommittee on Family and Community. Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans 
            spend the week before their convention hearing testimony and writing 
            their platform. In 1988 representatives from both NOW and NARAL presented 
            their proposals. This was a &quot;first&quot; for both organizations 
            even though neither Kim Gandy (NOW) nor Kate Michelman (NARAL) expected 
            changes in the platform to result. The NWPC, which has co-ordinated 
            past convention activities though its Republican Women's Task Force, 
            did not send any one to New Orleans this year, although New York Congressman 
            Bill Green had spoken for the NWPC at a May 31 Platform Committee 
            hearing in Kansas City. NWPC President Irene Natividad said the NWPC's 
            views were given by New York member Tanya Melich, who officially testified 
            for the New York State Republican Family Committee of which she is 
            the Executive Director. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Melich asked the Platform Committee &quot;to exclude all abortion 
            language from the platform, thus emphasizing the fact that we can 
            each hold our own strongly felt views and still be tolerant of others.&quot; 
            Michelman urged a reproductive choice plank. Neither was successful 
            as the final platform adamantly supported a human life amendment and 
            opposed &quot;public revenues for abortion ... [or] organizations 
            which advocate or support abortion.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            The road to this repeat of the 1984 planks was not a smooth one. In 
            1984, a motion to soften the language failed for lack of a second. 
            In 1988 more moderate voices were at least heard before they were 
            defeated. The first move was made by Lynn Glaze of Delaware who moved 
            to substitute Melich's proposal favoring family planning programs 
            to prevent unwanted pregnancies for the anti-abortion plank. Glaze, 
            who described herself as a &quot;ringer&quot;, had only met Melich 
            at the hearings. She had been a last minute substitute for Delaware's 
            Senator Roth and had only been involved in Delaware politics for a 
            few years. She said her daughter was a feminist lawyer in California 
            and urged her to speak out when she was appointed to the Platform 
            Committee. She had planned to do so anyway even though she had had 
            no prior contact with the NWPC or any other feminist advocate. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            When Bunny Chambers of Oklahoma successfully tabled her motion Glaze 
            tried again by moving to substitute the language from the 1976 Republican 
            Platform. That year the party favored &quot;a continuance of the public 
            dialogue on abortion&quot; while still supporting a constitutional 
            amendment to ban it. When this was also tabled John Easton of Vermont 
            moved to substitute the 1980 plank, which essentially added to the 
            1976 language an objection to the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion. 
            When Chambers once again moved to table, Glaze insisted on a roll 
            call vote. She and Easton were joined by Edgar Ross of the Virgin 
            Islands as the &quot;no&quot; votes. Not present to watch the platform 
            subcommittee vote against the party's 1976 and 1980 planks was Sen. 
            Lowell Weicker (Conn.), who had told the press that <u>he</u> would 
            be proposing pro-choice substitutes. Weicker had returned to Washington 
            the day before. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Throughout this tense maneuvering there was no actual debate on the 
            issues. Chambers said later that she had used the tabling route because 
            she didn't want the public to see the party bickering over an issue 
            that was long since settled. C-SPAN television cameras were present 
            the entire time. Their presence may also explain the lack of questions 
            of the feminist speakers when they testified the day before. In 1984, 
            when the NWPC's Mary Stanley and former Republican National Committee 
            chair Mary Louise Smith testified in favor of the ERA they were barraged 
            with questions about Geraldine Ferraro's finances. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Debate finally occurred when the issue was taken up by the full Platform 
            Committee the following evening. Sen. Weicker was back, with several 
            possible amendments, but as in the subcommittee there was no prior 
            plan or co-ordinated effort to present specific substitutes or articulate 
            particular positions on an issue the Republican Party would prefer 
            not to discuss at all. Indeed on at least one proposal, the debate 
            was so subtle that only insiders knew that abortion was the topic. 
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            During discussion of the section on &quot;Jobs&quot; Rep. Nancy Johnson 
            (Conn.) moved to delete the last two sentences from a paragraph on 
            foreign aid. The first criticized the World Bank and the second opposed 
            &quot;U.S. funding for organizations involved in abortion.&quot; Only 
            the World Bank was debated, but the real importance on the second 
            was demonstrated by the first actual vote of the Platform Committee. 
            This time it was Marilyn Shannon of Oregon who moved to table. Although 
            she had not sat on the Family Subcommittee, she was Bunny Chambers' 
            roommate at the convention and sat next to her on the Committee. Both 
            are former Democrats and members of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum 
            who earned their political stripes fighting against the Equal Rights 
            Amendment during the late seventies. Chambers told Shannon &quot;It's 
            your turn to make the motion.&quot; Johnson's proposal was tabled 
            by a vote of 36 to 30. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            When the Platform Committee shifted to the Family section, everyone 
            waited to see who would make the first move. It came from an unexpected 
            quarter. Marjorie Bell Chambers of New Mexico, another &quot;ringer&quot; 
            unknown to the other moderates, strongly objected to the last four 
            words in the sentence &quot;We believe the unborn child has a fundamental 
            individual right to life <u>which cannot be infringed</u>. She realized 
            that this particular phraseology elevated the life of the fetus above 
            that of the mother -- the most extreme position in the spectrum of 
            pro-life ideologies. Unlike Glaze, Chambers had not come to the convention 
            with the intention of making a statement. But as a former President 
            of the AAUW and chair of the National Advisory Committee on Women 
            after President Carter fired Bella Abzug, she knew a bad idea when 
            she saw one. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            In the interim between the Johnson motion and Chambers', several Committee 
            members complained to Bush campaign operatives about the use of a 
            tabling motion to cut off debate and they instructed Shannon not to 
            do so again. Subsequently Platform Committee Chair Kay Orr, Governor 
            of Nebraska, told the Committee that she would not recognize any more 
            tabling motions. Consequently the debate over the Chambers (no relation 
            to Bunny) motion to delete the four words was a lengthy one after 
            which Chair Orr announced its defeat by a hand vote of 55 to 32. Two 
            independent counters said the vote was actually 45 to 35. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Whatever the actual count, observers interpreted the final vote as 
            reflecting the strength of Republican moderates even though the plank 
            voted on was on far edge of possible opinions about abortion. Since 
            only 27 signatures are necessary for a minority report which could 
            be debated on the floor of the convention, the votes on the Johnson 
            and Chambers motions fuled speculation about whether the moderates 
            would unite behind specific language and take the issue to the floor. 
            Thus by the time Senator Weicker finally made his own motion -- to 
            provide Medicaid funding for abortions resulting from rape, incest 
            or to save the life of the mother -- its defeat by a voice vote was 
            barely noticed. If there was going to be a floor fight it would be 
            over whether the life of the mother could ever take precedence over 
            that of the fetus. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            The only time there was a floor debate at a Republican convention 
            over a feminist issue was in 1976 when Rep. Millicent Fenwick (NJ) 
            led a 2:00 am effort to remove all mention of abortion from the platform. 
            Efforts by anti-ERA delegates that year to obtain a minority report 
            removing the ERA from the Platform were discouraged by candidate Ronald 
            Reagan, even though the ERA had only received a bare majority in the 
            Platform Committee. In 1980 the Platform Committee voted down motions 
            for neutral recognition of the right to differ on abortion by 75 to 
            18 and on the ERA by 90 to 9. In 1984 there was nothing to debate. 
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Although both the Family Subcommittee and the full Platform committee 
            quickly voted down a motion to support the ERA made by Lynn Glaze, 
            the vote over abortion indicated that by 1988 many of the moderates 
            who had been run out of the party by the Reaganites were filtering 
            back in. What was not clear was whether the approximately one-third 
            of the 106-member Platform Committee were a reflection of the convention 
            itself. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            A delegate poll by <u>U.S.A. Today</u> found that just as many delegates 
            to the 1988 convention called themselves conservative or very conservative 
            as in 1984. John Leopold, a delegate from Maryland who had led the 
            &quot;neutral language&quot; forces in 1980 as a delegate from Hawaii, 
            claimed that the discrepancy between the platform committee vote and 
            the delegate polls was spurious. He explained that many more moderates 
            became delegates in 1988 as part of Bush's victory, but they were 
            more likely to call themselves conservative because that was the most 
            politically safe label. He thought that many who had worked for Bush 
            in his 1980 race sat out 1984 but were back in 1988. On the other 
            hand, several moderates on the Platform Committee, including John 
            Easton of Vermont and Nancy Thompson of the District of Columbia, 
            said they had made a particular effort to get on that committee and 
            they were aware of others like them who had also done so, even though 
            there was no co-ordinated plan to stack the committee. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Thompson had led the Republican Women's Task Force of the NWPC at 
            the 1980 Republican convention. That year, as in 1976, the RWTF's 
            sole concern was keeping the ERA in the Republican Party Platform. 
            The RWTF did not want the two issues &quot;to be confused&quot; and 
            felt they had the resources only for one. The decision to stick with 
            the ERA reflected a delicate balancing act Republican feminists went 
            through in the seventies as the party was taken over by the right. 
            The party has always looked with suspicion on any kind of organized 
            interest group within it in much the same way that labor unions have 
            been hostile to anything approaching &quot;dual unionism&quot;. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            As feminism became identified with the Democratic Party, feminist 
            organizations, such as NOW and the NWPC, were denounced as Democratic 
            Party front groups. Because affiliation with the NWPC gave RWTF members 
            the image of disloyalty to the Republican Party, they sought autonomy 
            within the NWPC. When this proved unattainable, Thompson said, the 
            RWTF &quot;became defunct.&quot; She explained the NWPC's absence 
            from the Platform hearings as an acknowledgement that it &quot;has 
            become identified with the Democratic Party&quot; despite its preference 
            for bipartisanship. &quot;Irene Natividad felt her presence at the 
            GOP Platform Committee was not appropriate,&quot; Thompson said. &quot;She 
            knew there were several people who would carry the water within the 
            party.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            These people operated as an informal network rather than through a 
            co-ordinated effort. Indeed the activities of Republican feminists 
            and other moderates at the Platform Committee closely resembled the 
            &quot;structurelessness&quot; favored by radical feminists when the 
            women's liberation movement began in the late sixties and early seventies. 
            There was no agreed on program and no one assumed leadership. Spontaneity 
            was the preferred mode of approach in promoting their positions. Rep. 
            Nancy Johnson said she had drawn up several pro-choice amendments 
            to different planks in the platform but shelved them when Chambers 
            made her motion. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Despite their willingness to speak out on abortion and some other 
            issues, the moderates were Republicans first and Bush supporters first 
            of all. A minority report on the Chambers proposal was drawn up but 
            withdrawn from circulation after only a few signatures were obtained 
            because Bush operatives made it clear that they didn't want <u>any</u> 
            minority reports or floor debates. Indeed, Marjorie Bell Chambers 
            told Bush's Western regional representative Tom Hardwick that she 
            wouldn't petition for a minority report before he could even ask her 
            not to. The petition that was briefly circulated was prepared by others 
            without her knowledge. Instead of a minority report, eleven moderates 
            held a press conference on the final day of platform deliberations 
            to express their pleasure at the completed document and their support 
            for George Bush. This is a &quot;progressive platform&quot; they said, 
            though abortion remained an issue on which they differed. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            As Bush operatives made clear, the 1988 platform was essentially the 
            one that had been drafted by the right in 1984, though a few new planks 
            were added. The conventional wisdom was that the platform was Bush's 
            concession to the right to keep them in line for the campaign. The 
            fight over abortion was consistent with that interpretation. Bush 
            operatives said the Vice President was happy with the Platform even 
            though it differed from his own view. Bush's current position is that 
            exceptions to a ban on abortion should be made for rape, incest and 
            the life of the mother, and public funding should be provided for 
            the latter. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Nonetheless, Gov. John Sununu of New Hampshire, the campaign's point-man 
            on the Platform Committee, tried to persuade reporters that the Committee 
            had been even handed in its handling of amendments. &quot;We held 
            off both sides who wanted to change the language on abortion and stuck 
            with the '84 language,&quot; he said. &quot;We fought it out then 
            and agreed on this language.&quot; When asked, John C. Wilke, President 
            of National Right to Life and Elaine Donally of Eagle Forum said they 
            were quite pleased with the draft that had been presented to the Subcommittee 
            and had not wanted any changes. Both organizations had representatives 
            present throughout the Platform debate and many supporters on the 
            Platform Committee. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left">Thompson 
            dismissed the willingness of the Bush campaign to concede the platform 
            to the right as any indication of its power within the campaign. &quot;The 
            Bush campaign is riddled with good women,&quot; she said. &quot;While 
            there is no longer an organized Republican feminist group, there is 
            a network of good women.&quot; She felt these would be the people 
            who influenced a Bush administration on women's issues and not the 
            far right or Phyllis Schlafly. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Of all the planks in the Family section, the least controversial was 
            the one which in fact was the most revolutionary. The final draft 
            of the Platform devoted roughly two percent of its space to child 
            care. Although the topic had received brief mention in previous Platforms, 
            it was one of the few new issues in 1988. Recognition of the importance 
            of child care marked a significant departure from the past. In 1971 
            President Nixon vetoed a child care bill because of its &quot;family 
            weakening implications.&quot; Ford and Carter also expressed disapproval 
            of bills in Congress during their Presidencies. Both the extent of 
            the testimony and the amount of attention to child care in the 1988 
            Platform indicate that it has finally been accepted as a legitimate 
            policy arena. The issue is no longer whether the government should 
            have any role in helping families care for their children, but what 
            kind. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Eagle Forum members Elaine Donally and Marilyn Thayer explained their 
            support for the child care plank with statistics. Labor force surveys 
            show that mothers of young children continue to pour into the labor 
            force, they said. It's no longer possible for mothers to stay home 
            with their children all the time; the alternative to child care is 
            latch key children. Rep. Nancy Johnson gave much the same answer when 
            asked why Sen. Orrin Hatch, not previously known for his support of 
            feminist issues, was a co-sponsor of her child care bill. The Hatch-Johnson 
            bill has been denounced by the Heritage Foundation as &quot;violat[ing] 
            all the principles of a true pro-family policy.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            As expected, the Platform's child care planks were not politically 
            neutral. Donally, a deposed Kemp delegate from Michigan who closely 
            monitored the Family Subcommittee proceedings for Schlafly, said the 
            &quot;battle had been won before the committee meeting.&quot; The 
            Bush proposal of a &quot;toddler tax credit&quot; for &quot;families 
            of modest means&quot; was favored, and the Act for Better Child Care 
            bill currently before Congress that is sponsored by Democrats was 
            denounced as &quot;a new federal program that negates parental choice 
            and disdains religious participation.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            The impact of the women's movement could be seen throughout the section. 
            The Republican Party asked that &quot;public policy ... acknowledge 
            the full range of family situations. Mothers or fathers who stay at 
            home ... should all receive the same respect.... &quot;Parental care&quot; 
            was deemed the best. The word &quot;maternal&quot; was not used. &quot;Individual 
            empowerment&quot; was lauded. Employers were encouraged to &quot;use 
            more flexible work schedules and job sharing to recognize the household 
            demands upon their work force.&quot; All of this was passed without 
            debate. The one amendment, made in the Subcommittee by Bunny Chambers 
            at the request of Schlafly lieutenant Colleen Perro, was to add &quot;Establishment 
            of a plan that does not discriminate against single-earner families 
            with one parent in the home.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            The only new proposal by feminists that did make it into the platform 
            was an idea that originated with NOW, though no one on the Republican 
            Party Platform Committee was aware of that fact. When Nancy Thompson 
            proposed to the full Committee that &quot;the Republican party strongly 
            supports the efforts of women to achieve parity in government, and 
            is committed to the vigorous recruitment, training and funding of 
            women candidates at all levels&quot; she caught the Bush campaign 
            by surprise. Deborah Steelman, director of domestic policy for Bush, 
            decided to signal support, but not before there was an erratic debate 
            that fractured all other factional lines. No one wanted to be against 
            women candidates in a Committee that was almost half women, but <u>parity</u> 
            for women candidates supported by <u>funding</u> didn't sit well with 
            conservatives. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Thompson was determined to see the plank in the platform and wasn't 
            particular about its final form. She accepted every proposed amendment 
            as a friendly one. Consequently, &quot;qualified&quot; was inserted 
            before &quot;women candidates&quot; and then taken out when Angela 
            Buchanan of California, wife of conservative columnist Pat Buchanan, 
            argued that if &quot;qualified&quot; wasn't necessary for men to be 
            candidates, it certainly wasn't necessary for women. Marilyn Thayer 
            of Louisiana, who had chaired the Family Subcommittee without getting 
            involved in the abortion debate, repeatedly objected to &quot;funding&quot; 
            even after it was pointed out that the three national Republican committees 
            have been funding women candidates for years. Thompson agreed to replace 
            &quot;funding&quot; with &quot;campaign support.&quot; &quot;Parity&quot; 
            was such an unRepublican word that even Rep. Nancy Johnson objected. 
            It was changed to &quot;seeking an equal role.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Throughout the debate no one observed that it paralleled a new plank 
            in the Democratic Platform on &quot;full and equal access of women 
            and minorities to elective office and party endorsement.&quot; This 
            plank had been the brainchild of Ellie Smeal, former NOW President 
            and founder of the Fund for the Feminist Majority. It had reached 
            the Republican Platform Committee by a circuitous route. The Women's 
            Campaign Fund gave it to Rep. Nancy Johnson's office in Washington 
            with a request that she sponsor it. Johnson, a recipient of campaign 
            assistance from the WCF when she first ran in 1982, was receptive, 
            but didn't want to add another item to her own Platform Committee 
            agenda. She asked Thompson to make the motion. Thompson was already 
            aware of the proposal as a member of the WCF Board. She didn't think 
            she was the best person to push it but couldn't find anyone else. 
            The final, amended, version, was passed by an overwhelming voice vote. 
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Needless to say Smeal was not present to see her idea incorporated 
            into the Republican Platform. But she did come to New Orleans on Sunday 
            for a march through the French Quarter sponsored by NOW and several 
            other women's groups. NOW had sponsored marches at the 1976 and 1980 
            Republican conventions, but had not organized one in 1984. The New 
            Orleans march compensated in color for what it lacked in numbers. 
            Only about a hundred women were willing to brave the oppressive heat 
            to ride in or walk around several mule-drawn carriages and one renovated 
            streetcar. In keeping with Mardi Graw style, Smeal, current NOW President 
            Molly Yard and other feminists threw doubloons, cups and plastic necklaces 
            to the thin line of onlookers on the march's route. The Joan of Arc 
            Statue outside the building where the Platform Committee had met the 
            week before was the obvious place for the concluding rally, but the 
            only Republican office holder who spoke was Rep. Bill Green of New 
            York. However, Reps. Jim Leach of Iowa and Claudine Schneider of Rhode 
            Island were also present. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Monday was Phyllis Schlafly's quadrennial affair. This time her convention 
            fundraiser featured a reception at the New Orleans Art Museum honoring 
            five conservative notables. Jeane Kirkpatrick, author of <u>Political 
            Woman</u> and runner-up for a 1975 prize given by the American Political 
            Science Association for the best scholarly work on women and politics, 
            was the only woman so honored. Approximately 500 people paid $55 each 
            to hear Kirkpatrick and the other honorees thank the Eagle Forum for 
            its leadership. Outside the Museum gay groups held a vigil. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            On Tuesday, feminist organizations resumed their assault on the Republican 
            Platform with a press conference by Faye Wattleton, President of Planned 
            Parenthood and Kate Michelman, Executive Director of NARAL, denouncing 
            it as &quot;anti-woman&quot; and &quot;out of sync with the American 
            people.&quot; Michelman said latter that the Republican Party had 
            &quot;shot themselves in the foot&quot; with their extreme anti-abortion 
            language. &quot;A year and a half ago reporters said this was a dead 
            issue,&quot; she said, &quot;but over the weekend every major public 
            affairs program on TV gave time to abortion.&quot; &quot;As a result 
            of the extremism of the party's platform, it has become a salient 
            issue again.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            That afternoon the NWPC brought several Republican notables to the 
            headquarters hotel to tell about two hundred non-delegates that feminists 
            <u>do</u> have a place in the Republican party, despite all appearances 
            to the contrary. Even though Bush appears to have pandered to the 
            party's right wing on the Platform, he knows he must appeal to women. 
            Pollster Linda DiVall said the way to do this is through &quot;family 
            issues such as day care, education and health.&quot; <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Feminist Republicans believe the party's biggest problem is the gender 
            gap -- women's preference for voting Democratic -- and that it would 
            be closed if Bush would support women's issues. However, surveys indicate 
            that the issues which are most salient for women compared to men are 
            traditional Democratic issues, such as day care, education and health. 
            The economic and foreign policy issues which differentiate Republicans 
            and Democrats don't appear to have much of an impact on how women 
            vote. Even abortion does not command the same allegiance of women 
            as public spending for social programs, though pro-choicers are somewhat 
            more likely to be Democrats. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Since the Republican Party has ceded sovereignty over social issues 
            to conservatives, it does not know how to woo the women's vote. Instead 
            it denies there is a problem. In the convention issue of <u>Republican 
            Woman</u>, National Federation of Republican Women President Judy 
            Hughes called &quot;this illusion a 'media gap'.&quot; Founded in 
            1937, the NFRW claims over 140,000 members. In 1956 it endorsed the 
            ERA. In 1967 Phyllis Schlafly was defeated for NFRW President by a 
            challenger hand-picked by the Republican establishment. While NFRW 
            President, Gladys O'Donnell became an ardent ERA activist who persuaded 
            the RNC to endorse the ERA in 1971. The NFRW no longer endorses issues. 
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Denial also marked the party's response to queries about the number 
            of women delegates, and why there were fewer than in 1984. A week 
            before the convention started the NFRW released figures showing that 
            only 28 percent of the delegates were female. Neither Judy Hughes 
            nor any other convention spokesperson would comment on the fall-off 
            from the 48 percent claimed in 1984. A few days later a fact sheet 
            released by the Media Operations Center stated that women were 40 
            percent of all delegates and alternates. This release, based on an 
            RNC survey with an 80 percent response rate, was not publicly displayed 
            with the other press releases. It was kept in a file and given out 
            only on request -- until the small print run ran out a few days later. 
            <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Rob Fairbank, an RNC delegate tracker, provided raw numbers in a phone 
            interview. These indicated that 36.4 of the delegates and 44.2 percent 
            of the alternates were women. Traditionally, women have been more 
            likely to attend the convention as alternates than as delegates, but 
            this was obscured by the numbers in the RNC fact sheet kept in the 
            Media Operations Center file. When asked about the drop off from 1984, 
            Fairbank replied that that survey only had a 40 percent response rate 
            and thus was not comparable to one with an 80 percent response rate. 
            He also claimed that the earlier figures provided by the NFRW were 
            based on their own survey and also not comparable to the RNC's. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Delegate surveys by the <u>Los Angeles Times</u> with a 97 percent 
            response rate and CBS news with a 99 percent response rate found that 
            33 to 34 percent of the 1988 Republican delegates were women. A <u>New 
            York Times</u> survey of 739 delegates selected at random indicated 
            37 percent were women. The <u>Times</u> quoted RNC Chair Frank J. 
            Fahrenkopf as saying that when the nomination was uncontested in 1984 
            the party pushed for women delegates. With a contested nomination 
            in 1988, this was not done. In the 1972, 1976 and 1980 conventions 
            between 29 and 31 percent of the delegates were women.<br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Unlike the Democrats, the Republican Party has no requirements for 
            representation by sex, race etc. to its quadrennial convention. Indeed 
            the 1988 platform counsels against &quot;discriminatory quota systems 
            and preferential treatment.&quot; It states that &quot;quotas are 
            the most insidious form of reverse discrimination against the innocent.&quot; 
            Nonetheless, the rules of the Republican Party have traditionally 
            provided for sex quotas in party and convention committees, though 
            these provisions have been occasionally been eroded. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            In 1924, the Republican National Committee was expanded to include 
            one man and one woman from each state. In 1952, over the vocal opposition 
            of women delegates to that convention, state chairmen were made automatic 
            RNC members. Virtually all state chairs are men. In 1944 the Platform 
            Committee was expanded to include one man and one woman from each 
            state. In 1960 this requirement was extended to the three other convention 
            committees. However, the states were only permitted, not required, 
            to send two people of the opposite sex. Since all committee members 
            had to be delegates, if a state had insufficient women delegates to 
            fill all four committee slots, they remained vacant. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Currently, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico can also send 
            one man and one woman to each committee, but the Virgin Islands and 
            Guam can only send one person. The 1988 Rules Committee added one 
            delegate from American Samoa. The rules also provide that the RNC 
            have &quot;a chairman and a co-chairman of the opposite sex&quot; 
            and eight &quot;vice chairmen, comprising one man and one woman&quot; 
            from each of four regions. At least four of the eleven members of 
            the RNC Chairmen's Executive Council must be women. <br>
            <img src="../imagehome/spacer.gif" width="15" height="10" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"> 
            Women have been named as co-chairmen of the different committees and 
            subcommittees though their equal representation in these leadership 
            positions was often more illusory than real. This practice has recently 
            been expanded to provide a larger number of titles to committee members. 
            In 1988, Platform Chairman Kay Orr had two (male) co-chairmen and 
            one (male) vice-chairman. They sat on the dias with her though she 
            chaired most of the Platform Committee meetings. The seven subcommittees 
            also had co-chairmen. Four subcommittees had female chairmen, and 
            one of these also had a female co-chairman. The other three had male 
            chairmen, one with a female co-chairmen, one with a male, and one 
            with one of each sex. &quot;Chairman&quot; is the preferred Republican 
            title. Only the Democratic Party has chairwomen or chairpersons. <br>
            </font></p>
        </div>
      </form>
      <!-- #EndEditable --> 
      <p align="right"></p>
      <!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/Bottom Navigation.lbi" --><div align="center"><br> <a href="#Top"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">To 
Top</font></a><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><br>
<a href="../books.htm">Books by Jo</a> | <a href="../whatsnew.htm">What's New</a> 
| <a href="../aboutjo.htm">About Jo</a> | <a href="../photos.htm">Photos</a> | 
<a href="../buttons.htm">Political Buttons</a> <a href="../search.htm"><br>
</a><a href="../index.htm">Home</a> | <a href="../search.htm">Search</a> | <a href="../links.htm"> 
Links</a> | <a href="../contactjo.htm">Contact Jo</a> | <a href="../onlinearticles.htm">Articles 
by Jo</a><br>
<br>
</font></div><!-- #EndLibraryItem --><p align="center">&nbsp;</p>
    </td>
    <td width="50" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><br>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<!-- #EndTemplate --> 
</html>

