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Now that we are into 1977, it is a fitting time to make an assessment of all the promises given by the Labour Government in International Women's Year. The Working Women's Charter Campaign's proposals for a National Rally to draw up such a balance sheet is a welcome move. However, it is absolutely clear to increasing numbers of women that this balance sheet cannot be but an extremely negative one. The articles in this issue of Socialist Woman bear testimony to this fact. The shining example of the equal pay strikers at Trico and the current struggle being fought in the North West of England around nursery facilities underlines the message which is being brought home to growing numbers of women and men; the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, and the Employment Protection Act - while representing a step in the right direction - are a mere pittance in contrast to the needs of women in a period of deepening economic and social crisis. As these struggles also show, the needs of women will only be met through their self organisation rather than relying on 'pie in the sky promises from the Labour Government.
Perhaps the clearest statement of where the Labour Government really stands is its attitude to the new threat to women's abortion rights. It has been the Government's flouting of the democratic decisions of the bodies of the labour movement calling for free abortion on request that has played an important role in paving the way for the introduction of this Bill. William Benyon's Abortion (Amendment) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons for its first reading on 22 December 1976. Despite a virtual press black-out of what this Bill will involve, The Times did "leak" the eight clauses which are expected to be contained. This Tory ex-whip from Buckingham has introduced a Bill most consistent with his role as chief speaker on many of the platforms organised by SPUC in its recent mobilisations.
According to The Times article, the following restrictions are on the way:
* lowering the time limits on legal abortion by a full two months! In the current situation of cutbacks in NHS spending, plus the atmosphere created by the anti-abortionists which intimidate doctors so that they impose an even lower cut-off date to safeguard themselves, this means that backstreet abortions are once again on the agenda in even larger numbers than we have today.
* increased police access to the medical files of women having abortions, so that simply the agreement of a magistrate enables police to scrutinise records of abortion clinics.
* continuing the attack on the private sector, particularly the charities, where 50% of women obtaining abortions are forced to go as a result of the run-down of the NHS. This is being done by calling for a complete financial separation between the counselling services and the abortion clinics, thus sounding the death knell for many of the charities.
restricting the two doctors who can approve abortions by making it necessary for one of them to have practised for 5 years. In addition, the Bill will permit signatures of doctors only if there are no links between them.
Any fight against this latest threat to the struggle for women's rights has to be placed firmly in the context of the fight against the Social Contract. The entire basis of the Social Contract was to get agreement between the labour leaders and the Government for a truce on the wages front. The trade union bureaucracy has capitulated yet again, selling out the interests of its members. But they have done so without even a struggle to demand their side of the despicable bargain. That is, the wage truce was to be in return for social benefits to the less well-off in society, of whom women were deemed to be a significant portion! The Social Contract therefore pitted women's interests against those of the organised labour movement. But even within its framework, it is becoming clearer that social benefits will not be forthcoming without a challenge to the Social Contract itself.
1977 will be a year of testing the growing commitment for the ideas of the women's movement. There is no indication that attacks on women's rights will be alleviated in the coming year. On the other hand, the victories won in local struggles over the past year have provided a firm basis for the emergence of a strong movement committed to freeing women from the chains which bind them to the home and the family.
The situation in other European countries is similar to that in Britain. Abortion has continued to be a focus for both a concerted attack against women's rights, as well as for the emergence of mass women's movements. In Italy, the organisations of the left have undergone a test of their commitment to women's liberation. As the article in Socialist Woman demonstrates, the Communist Party in particular has not stood the test. It has branded the Bill before the Italian Parliament — which calls for abortion on demand — a "social fascist measure".
In Spain, as in Italy and Ireland, the dominance of the reactionary Catholic Church continues to impose itself. The focus of many actions taken by Spanish women during the past few months has been adultery. The Statutes remaining on Spanish law books reflects the continuation of Francoism in Spain - with all of its implications for women's so-called "crimes" including abortion - despite the death of Franco. Nevertheless, the women's movement, which has virtually exploded on the Spanish scene over the last year, is an important one for socialists to monitor, particularly because the Iberian peninsula continues to be the centre of the highest form of the working class struggle at the present time.
With these developments before us, it is essential that socialists in the women's movement have utmost political clarity on many of the fundamental questions. To this end, we are continuing the debate on Domestic Labour for another few issues. In addition, we will be opening a debate on "The Origins of Women's Oppression". This will be timed in conjunction with the speaking tour by Evelyn Reed, authoress of Women's Evolution and a long time campaigner for women's liberation in America. Contributions welcome, subject to length considerations.
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