“On October 29, 1966, NOW convened its official founding conference in Washington, D.C. Of the three hundred women who became charter members, 120 came from the Midwest, which once again highlighted the indigenous female activism in this region of the nation.” ~ Ruth Rosen, The World Split Open, p. 78

“You can win battles, but there’s always the struggle.” ~ Millie Jeffrey, Detroit resident; labor, Civil Rights, and women’s rights activist & leader

Jewish women in Michigan, especially centered in the metro Detroit area, took on great participatory and leadership roles within feminist organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), and were active within a diverse array of issues and initiatives. The following themes and issues represent some of the major concerns expressed in the interviews, which connect to the significant themes that emerge in the historical record and literature as well.

Choice
Many of the women cited reproductive rights as one of the most important issues of the feminist movement, particular Susan Kurtzman who was quite active on these issues. According to Marj Jackson Levin in “Jewish Women for Social Justice,” “Freedom of choice was the issue that most galvanized the women’s activist movement” (Marj Jackson Levin, “Jewish Women for Social Justice” in Michigan Jewish History, Fall 2005, Volume 45: 31). Susan Kurtzman worked for Common Ground Crisis Intervention Center in Birmingham, worked on the campaign to legalize abortion in Michigan during the 1970s, and served as the Director of MARAL (Michigan Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) from 1982-1983. This issue has been enduringly important because as Maxine Berman put it, “Abortion has so many faces.” One woman interviewed, Jacquie Steingold described her personal experience with having abortion before Roe V. Wade. She left the state to have the abortion and says of her experience “there was such an underground you’d be amazed.” Several years later Steingold was active in clinic escorting, which allowed women seeking an abortion to cross the picket lines and enter the clinic untouched. Many of the protestors yelled horrible things at the escorters and women entering the clinic. Steingold says she still remembers the first time she was called a murderer, describing it as “visceral.”

Child Care
“One of the least dramatic but persistent protests was the constant demand for child care” (Rosen 208). Both Jacquie Steingold and Joan Israel were active members of the Childcare Coordinating Council, which was able to create an evening childcare center at Wayne County Community College to serve students with children. In its inaugural statement, NOW “called for a nationwide network of childcare centers, as well as national programs to provide retraining, after their children grew up, ‘for those women who have chosen to care for their own children full-time'” (Rosen 79). The veto of Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971 by Richard Nixon was a major disappointment and setback for the issue nationally. Jacquie Steingold participated in a “wet in” at a city council meeting, for this demonstration women brought their children to the meeting to prompt members of the council to provide free childcare to city workers. The absence of free, state-funded childcare remains an issue.

Credit
In 1974, along with Joanne Parrent, Allyn Ravitz was one of the founding members of the Feminist Federal Credit Union of Detroit, the first of its kind in the nation. According to Ravtiz, the first loans were for a motorcycle, a kiln, college tuition, and divorce attorney fees. “Within one year, the credit union had issued more than a third of $1 million in loans to women” (Levin 34) and proved itself with an extremely low default rate.

Politics and Political Office, and Leadership Positions in Professional Life
Upon her introduction to political involvement, Maxine Berman noticed that “women ran campaigns and men had all the titles, elected and party positions.” She became very instrumental in Michigan breast cancer legislation regarding informed consent about treatment options, as well as very involved in the Michigan Women’s Campaign Fund. She is concerned about women in office because “If you cannot see it, you cannot be it,” which applies to many other endeavors as well. Berman believes that it is important not to lose numbers of women in elected office so that people can grow accustomed to women holding elected positions—she cites Nancy Pelosi as the “biggest success” of her lifetime. The pattern of women’s exclusion from professional leadership positions is mirrored in Jewish organizations, in that “Women who do occupy professional positions in Jewish communal life consistently earn less than men in equivalent positions, and recent studies document the substantial barriers placed in the path of women’s professional advancement both by colleagues and by lay people” (Lipstadt 292). Joyce Ladenson had this to say about women in positions of power, “You can’t stop the tide of feminist consciousness, of the belief that women deserve equal rights, because even George W. Bush has put right up front and center women, very talented women, whether you agree with them or not.”

Media Representation
Both Harriet Alpern and Arlene Frank expressed their dismay at the portrayal of women as sexual objects and gender roles and stereotypes that are pervasive in most media. Early in the feminist movement, women activists sought more control over how the movement was being covered by the media, as well as attempting to reveal media as another site of discrimination against women, both through negative imaging and the inequalities faced by female professionals in the industry. “During the first media blitz about the women’s liberation movement in 1970, feminists all over the country, but especially in New York City, launched sustained campaigns against the various media” (Rosen 207) to pursue this agenda. The “No Comment” section of Ms. Magazine presents submissions of advertisements that are offensive or degrading to women. This section has been a feature of the publication since its inception, inviting readers to contact the companies and express their opinions about the ad. Harriet asserted the effectiveness of this type of tactic through the example of classified ads, which used to be separated by “male” and “female” jobs. She said that when people called and complained, the newspaper responded by saying “nobody called before” and changed the format of the ads. Joan Israel was very committed to this issue as well, running consciousness-raising programs for the staff of ABC News in Detroit, and coordinating conferences about the representation of women by the media. Jacquie Steingold spoke in her interview about the representation of feminism and the movement by the media, “The media still paints us with a broad f-word stroke, [to them] abortion is still our only issue…We’re not good at getting our message out.” The media was a huge tool in the backlash against feminism, and was often an enemy of the movement during its heyday. Many feminist media outlets such as Ms. Magazine and Off Our Backs seek to combat this negative image and bring the messages of feminism to the fore of public consciousness.

Aging
Joan Israel was quite active on various issues of women’s aging such as menopause and media representations of older women. This reflects the recognition of older women’s concerns that NOW sought to address through the establishment of a Task Force called Older Women’s Liberation (OWL). According to Ruth Rosen, “Within a decade, the discrimination and invisibility faced by abandoned older wives, their need for support, job training, education, and for planning for ‘a good death,’ had all been redefined as feminist issues” (Rosen 273). An OWL poster slogan highlights one dimension of gender discrimination in aging: “‘For men, they created retirement plans, medical benefits, profit sharing and gold watches. For women, they created Mother’s Day'” (Rosen 273). Israel hosted many conferences on women, again, and menopause, including a conference at the University of Michigan for which Susan Sontag flew in from Paris to be the keynote speaker. Israel also wrote two books on women in again and hosted programs such as “What’s wrong with Wrinkles?” which sought to point out the absence of portrayals of older women in the media and to make women’s aging issues visible and discussed.

Violence Against Women: Rape, Sexual Violence, and Domestic Violence
In 1975 Allyn Ravitz organized a fundraiser to support Inez Garcia and Joanne Little in their trials for murder of their rapists. “Widely covered by the national media, these cases not only helped publicize the ubiquity of rape, but also raised the question whether a woman had a right to kill her assailant after she was raped, in some cases, hours or days after the event took place” (Rosen 183). Jacquie Steingold worked at Interim House the first domestic violence shelter in Detroit. Michigan is among the states with the most progressive rape laws including a law on marital rape. Michigan NOW was instrumental in writing the language of these laws. NOW’s stance, according to Steingold is that “domestic violence is terrorism in the home.”

Jewish Identity
Allyn Ravitz says that “Judaism in general was inspiring to be involved in human rights.” Arlene Frank discussed the legacy of Jewish people’s involvement in progressive issues and social justice, and also pointed to problems within the Jewish community, such as domestic violence and the absence of women in Jewish community life. Harriet Alpern discussed the Jewish people’s historical experiences of inequality that contributes to Jewish identity and creates empathy with others’ experiences of injustice. Jacquie Steingold felt very connected to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or “heal the world” which motivated her to be involved in the Civil Rights movement and the women’s movement. Steingold says, “having core values really underscores how you see the world, the Jewish value is that you can’t sit back, you have to participate, you have to do something to ameliorate that [injustice that you see].” Her connection with Jewish identity helped her realize that “I had a part to play.”

The Feminist Seder
Arlene Frank has been very involved with feminist Seder ritual gatherings through the Detroit Women’s Forum. Jacquie Steingold and Joan Israel also spoke of the feminist Seder put on by the Forum. Steingold’s temple also hosts a yearly feminist Seder. The feminist Seder has become more normalized and incorporated into synagogue and family practices since its beginning in the 1970s. In the New York Times of April 16, 2005, Phyllis Chesler recalls that “The feminist movement was in full flower and the women who came together to elevate women’s roles in the story of Jewish liberation were motivated more by their political consciousness than a spiritual one.” In addition, the Times reports that “Women did not see themselves as religious or ritual leaders, said Esther Broner, a co-author of the original feminist Haggadah and an original “seder sister.”… Today, while women do serve as religious leaders, “we are still hungry for female role models,” Ms. Broner said.” Joyce Ladenson spoke of her own efforts to incorporate aspects of the feminist Seder into her own holiday such as including an orange on the Seder plate.
For more details regarding the true symbolism of the orange see: “Orange on a Seder Plate Tale is Flawed” by Aleza Goldsmith

Sense of Community & Sisterhood
Ritual events like the feminist Seder contributed to women’s sense of fellowship in a feminist sisterhood. As Allyn Ravitz put it in her encouragement to young people to get involved with issues they care about: “It’s a wonderful feeling to be involved in a group.” Joan Israel also treasured meeting other women in NOW, and made it her rule that feminist activism “has to be fun,” too. Jacquie Steingold spoke of the community she experienced when she decided to have a child as a single woman in her thirties and again when she experienced health difficulties this year. She says “[Local feminist organizations] have provided me with a security blanket of like-minded women…It’s beyond the goals of our lives and the opportunities; we care about each other.”

The Question of Post-Feminism
“As the movement split into hundreds of causes and organizations, gender-consciousness increased, but growing numbers of young women rejected the label ‘feminist'” (Rosen 274). Many women interviewed expressed doubt about the existence of “third wave” feminism, and expressed a variety of opinions on contemporary young women’s perception of feminism or attitudes of entitlement towards the gains of the movement. Harriet Alpern is concerned with young people being educated voters, and Allyn Ravitz cautions us to “be vigilant” and recognize “all the struggle that went before.” Joyce Ladenson, on the other hand, finds the third-wave exciting, saying that “It took a while for Second-Wave Feminists to be able to see and really practice the diversity and multi-cultural within oneself. . . . [The third-wave is] not confined by political correctness, not going along with the politics of only one group.”