We began this Report with the suggestion that the problem of women and housing in this country is more than simply one of discrimination in the strict legal sense of disparate treatment by a landlord or broker or mortgage lender. It is that too. But more bluntly and basically, it is a problem of woman's historical and continuing exclusion, largely unperceived, from power over the institutions which control the Nation's housing stock and related shelter-services. Its consequences, for women and for men, are not yet fully understood. Some, but hardly all, are identified here. We end this Report with the recommendation that this exclusion be reversed; that power be shared as the predicate to ending sex bias in housing. But this will not just happen. It will be the result of women working together pursuing political strategies as well as employing appropriate legal and other tactics. For some women and for some women's organizations, this will require a new self-perception, a rejection of some old assumptions, embracing new allies, and an unfamiliar involvement in social change. For others already in the struggle, this will mean only an expanded agenda. Yet HUD need not be shy to help this process out of self-interest if not out of the conviction that government, too, can work for our common liberation and for justice. NOTES for Chapter 6 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Note, "Pioneering Approaches to Confront Sex Bias in Housing" Babcock, Freedman, Norton and Ross, Sex Discrimination and the Mandelker and Montgomery, eds., Housing in America: Problems and Perspectives (1973), quoting Coleman Woodbury's definition of housing at p.5. Testimony of Edith Witt, San Francisco Hearing, 83. Lucy Komisar, "Where Feminism Will Lead: An Impetus for Social Consuelo Nieto, "Chicanas and the Woman's Rights Movement", Helen B. Andelin, Fascinating Womanhood, (Bantam, March 1975) Komisar, op. cit., pp.8-9. Leon H. Mayhew, Law and Equal Opportunity: A Study of the Testimony of Mary Hartman NOW representative, Atlanta U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, Federal Civil Rights Enforce- League of Women Voters Education Fund, What Ever Happened to 1730 M Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20036 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Copies of these 10 Regulations can be secured from the U.S. League of Women Voters Education Fund, supra Note 12, at 56. Ibid., pp. 56, 59. Janice Law Trecker, "Women in United States History High Many of the references are cited in Tanya Neiman, "Teaching Woman Her Place: The Role of Public Education in the Development of Sex Roles", 24 Hastings Law Rev. 1191 (1973). William A. Blakey, "Everybody Makes the Revolution: Some Quoted in Budd and Lee, cited in Note 16, at p.iii. E. Marshall and A. Sheriffs, Children's Letters to God (1966), quoted in Neiman, cited in Note 17, p.1191. Appendix A HOW WE CONDUCTED THE PROJECT The Women and Housing Project was carried out under an agreement between the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The contract period was one year: July 1, 1974, to June 30, 1975. The The Women and Housing Project had two objectives. first, as stated in the contract schedule to H-3734, was .. to obtain a solid reference work on discrimination of women in the housing market. This data is to be used by HUD's E.0. staff, the courts and all other persons involved in expanding fair housing and educating the public to the effects of discrimination." Equally important, the Project sought to encourage, at the local level, a continuing private sector thrust directed at eliminating discrimination based on sex in five major metropolitan areas areas – Atlanta, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Francisco and New York City. To accomplish these goals, the Project Design called for: (1) (2) (3) Establishing an ad hoc Commission on Women and Housing to provide the nucleus of a new constituency at the local level whose goal is to expand housing opportunities under the Federal law prohibiting sex discrimination. Carrying out local field research to identify Conducting a local public Hearing in each city (4) Conducting a post-Hearing Workshop to increase (1) Ad Hoc Commissions To encourage, at the local level, a continuing private sector effort toward eliminating discrimination based on sex, we conducted various activities to increase the public awareness of the nature and extent of discrimination against women and what might be done about it. The first activity [1]. and perhaps the most important of these, was the establishment by the Contractor of a local "commission". To assist in convening local commissions, presidents from approximately 100 national organizations for women [2], were invited to Washington, D.C. for a Project briefing on September 14, 1974. The First Lady, Ms. Betty Ford, addressed the conference. Dr. Gloria E.A. Toote, former Assistant Secretary, Office of Equal Opportunity, Department of Housing and Urban Development, also spoke, relating the extent of the Federal government's commitment to equal opportunity for women and the need for a private/public cooperative effort to end discriminatory housing markets. The national organizations' presidents were requested to designate representatives for participation in the Project at the local level. The "commission", as the voice of women in the local community, served several purposes, viz., it was a vehicle for securing and dissemi- [1] The other two activities were the implementation of a planned publicity strategy in connection with the Public Hearing and the 2-day Workshop which followed the Hearing. [2] See Appendix D for a partial list of the organizations in- |