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3 cookies for !1
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"... the best Chicago
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-Robert Christqau
Village Voice
"... a major blues talent
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—Peter Guralnick
Rolling Stone
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136 North 14th
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Agencies provide counseling, information and referral
Support services for women
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
There was a time, not too long ago,
when a woman with a problem was on
her own. She might be able to turn to
her mother, or to a friend. But more
likely the only place a woman could go
for help was her husband, clergyman or
some other male.
Today women have a lot more options.
Many organizations and agencies exist
in Lincoln where women can go to get
help from other women.
A good place to start is the Women's
Resource Center, in the Nebraska Union.
In addition to a library of over 1,000
volumes and an extensive file of articles,
papers and pamphlets on women’s
issues, the WRC provides a referral
service for women with legal, psych
ological, health and other needs.
Katherine Araigo, WRC coordinator,
said the center was established in 1970
by students who saw a need for dialogue
about women’s issues, and who wanted
to create a safe, free environment for
women.
The WRC is part of the University
Program Council, so in addition to its
educational mission, it’s also home to a
programming committee that brings
women’s writers, musicians and speak
ers to campus.
"1 would love it if any woman walked
into the Women’s Resource Center and
immediately felt comfortable,” Aratyo
said. The center has been renovated
over the summer, so now "it’s a very
pleasant facility to just be in," Araujo
said.
The Nebraska Commission on the
Status of Women, 301 Centennial Mall
South, is “here for the women and
children of the state of Nebraska," Jill
Staberg, the commission’s acting dir
ector, said.
Two years ago the commission, a
state agency, was defunded by the
state legislature, severely limiting the
center’s projects, Staborg said. How
ever, the center still provides advocacy
and referral services for Nebraska
women. Staborg said the center’s big
gest mission is taking crisis calls from
women “stuck in the system" — women
who just want to return to school or
who are being abused, or who are
coping with divorce — and providing
them with immediate support and refer
ing them to where they can get help.
The commission’s policy and support
decisions are made by 30 commis
sioners, from across the state who are
appointed by the governor for three
year terms.
The Lincoln/Lancaster Commission
on the Status of Women, 901 P St, Hoorn
330 is a separate organization from the
state commission. Sue Ellen Wall, the
commissioner’s executive director, said
the commission is technically an ad
visory board to the city and county
board, but the commission’s informa
tion is available to any interested
party.
Most of the commission s energies
are directed into fact-finding commit
tees and violence against women. The
commission also publishes informa
tional booklets.
In addition to 28 volunteer comm is
sinners the commission also has more
than 250 committee members, Wall
said.
The national League ofWomen Voters
was established in 1922, and the Lincoln
chapter formed shortly thereafter.
The league, headquartered at 808 P
St., Suite 207, exists to promote
political responsibility by informing
and educating citizens and helping
them participate in the democratic
process, said Sherry Miller, league
president.
In addition to conducting voter regis
tration drives and monitoring organiza
tional elections and conducting educa
tional programs on current political
issues, Miller said the league also
monitors governmental policies on cor
rections, national resources, child care,
women’s rights and other issues.
The YWCA, 1432 N St., has been part
of Lincoln for over 100 years. The YWCA
started as a service and residence for
young women in need of a temporary,
safe and inexpensive place to stay. The
Lincoln YWCA closed its residence in
1980, but it still provides services for
women and their families, Elizabeth
Meyer, the executive director said.
The YWCA offers counseling, career
counseling and support for women in
transition, fitness and recreational
activities for children through senior
citizens, and an extensive child care
program including comprehensive pro
grams for pregnant and parenting teens
and part-time child care for women
who might need a short break from the
rigors of motherhood.
Equality under the law:
Compiled By Jim Rogers
Major legal decisions regarding
women:
An Act for Regulating and
Orderly Celebrating of Marri
ages, 1640, with revisions 1672
and 1702 (Connecticut): This
statute required public notice and
celebration of wedding ceremonies,
prohibited a wide assortment of inter
relational marriages and granted courts
the power to assign up to one-third of
the estate to the wife in case of a void
marriage.
An Act Relating to Bills of
Divorce, (Connecticut) 1667 :Con
I necticut enacted the earliest divorce
| laws in America. A bill of divorce could
l be granted in the case of adultery,
fraudulent marriage contract ordeser
I tion.
| An Act Concerning the Dowry
| Widows, 1672 (Connecticut):
Widows were granted a ‘‘life estate"
■ (use for the life of the widow) in fixed
I property. Dowry rights became weaker
I during the nineteenth century as a
, result of the decreased holding of real
estate as a form of wealth. Without
I women’s property acts, married women's
| situations because more unsettled as
the impact of these laws were sapped.
Resolutions, Woman's Rights
Convention, July 19th and 20th,
I 1848, Seneca Fall, N.Y.: "Resolved.
| that we petition our state legislature
i for our right to the elective franchise,
every year, until our prayer be granted."
"Resolved . . . woman being taxed
equally with man, ought not to be
deprived of an equal representation in
the government.”
Declaration of Sentiments,
Woman’s Right’s Convention,
August 2, 1848, (Rochester,
N.Y.): "We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men and women
are created equal. ..
"The history of mankind is the history
of repeated it\juries and unsurpations
on the part of man toward woman,
having in direct object an absolute
tyranny over her.”
Married Women's Property
Act, 1860 (New York):This statute
extended t he economic rights of women
to include the right to make contracts
independent of her husband’s approval,
to take on debts, and made such
obligations not binding upon a bus
band’s property. It also declared women
joint guardians of their children.
Fourteenth Amendment to the
l.S. Constitution (1868): "No
state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United
States..."
Bradevell v. Illinois (1873):
Mr. .Justice Bradley, in a concurring
opinion wrote, "The claim that under
the 14th Amendment of the Constitu
tion ... (laws) can no longer be set up
as a barrier against the right of females
to pursue any lawful employment . . .
assumes that it is one of the privileges
and immunities of women as citizens to
engage in any and every profession,
occupation or employment in civil life.
"It certainly cannot be affirmed, as a
historical fact, that this has ever been
established as one of the fundamental
privileges and immunities of the sex ...
The natural and proper timidity and
delicacy which belongs to the female
sex evidently unfits it for many occupa
lions of civil life.”
Act for the Suppression of
Trade in, and Circulation of Ob
scene Literature and Article of
Immoral Use. (Law of the 42nd
Congress): The statute prohibited
possession of obscentity as well as any
literature or instruments relating to
preventing conception or inducing
abortion.
Minor v. Happersett, 1875
(U.S. Supreme Court): "The Con
stitution does not define the privileges
and immunities of citizens ... It
suffrage (for women) was intended t«>
be included wit bin (the Constitution's)
obligations, language better adapted
to express that intent would most
certainly have been employed ... No
argument as to the woman's need of
suffrage can be considered. We can
only act upon her rights as they exist.
Muller v. Oregon, 1908 (U.S.
Supreme Court): Oregon had limited
women's working days to 10 hours. The
Court upheld the Constitutionality of
the Law: "That the woman's physical
structure and the performance of
maternal functions place her at a
disadvantage in the struggle for subsis
tence is obvious.
"Differentiated by these matters from
the other sex, she is properly placed in
a class by herself, and legislation
designed for her protection may be
sustained, even when like legislation is
See LAW on 5