Chicago Women's Liberation Union
| Founded | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Women's liberation |
| Location |
The Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, also known as CWLU, was a feminist organization founded in 1969 at a conference in Palatine, Illinois.Naomi Weisstein, Vivian Rothstein, Heather Booth, and Ruth Surgal were among its founders. The play The Last of the Red Hot Mammas, or, the Liberation of Women as Performed by the Inmates of the World was first performed at its founding conference, and Naomi Weisstein was one of those who performed in the play on that occasion.
Vivian Rothstein was the CWLU's first staff member, organized its representative decision-making part, and aided the establishment of its Liberation School for Women.
The main goal of the organization was to end gender inequality and sexism, which the CWLU defined as “the systematic keeping down of women for the benefit of people in power.” The purpose statement of the organization expressed that "Changing women's position in society isn't going to be easy. It's going to require changes in expectations, jobs, child care, and education. It's going to change the distribution of power over the rest of us to all people sharing power and sharing in the decisions that affect our lives." The CWLU spent almost a decade organizing to challenge both sexism and class oppression. The group is best known for the 1972 pamphlet “Socialist Feminism: A Strategy for the Women’s Movement,” by the Hyde Park Chapter of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (Heather Booth, Day Creamer, Susan Davis, Deb Dobbin, Robin Kaufman, and Tobey Klass). Nationally circulated, the publication is believed to be the first to use the term socialist feminism.
Campus chapters in the CWLU included but were not limited to University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Loyola, Northwestern, Roosevelt, Harold Washington, and Dominican University. Local chapters in the CWLU functioned as semi-autonomous groups. These chapters served as consciousness raising groups or groups involved in the planning of political strategies. Some local chapters combined both. Local chapters included the Hyde Park Chapter, the Friday Night Chapter, Brazen Hussies, Mrs. O’Leary, and more. These chapters worked to develop and strengthen peoples’ consciousness and skills, to provide free or inexpensive quality services for women, and to challenge politics through direct action.
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