Degree Year
2015
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
Advisor(s)
Carol Lasser
Keywords
CWLU, Chicago Womens Liberation Union, Health, Feminism
Abstract
This thesis examines the organizing projects of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union from 1969-1977. This thesis will examine the relationship between the development of socialist feminism in the central organization and in the activist health projects. While the central organization cultivated the theoretical definition of socialist feminism, the health programs put this vision into practice, and often discovered tensions between the needs of women and the theory of the organization. These tensions centrally revolved around the white middle class identities of the members of the CWLU and their broader goal of being an organization to empower all women. Ultimately, this thesis seeks to engage with the tensions between identity and politics, theory and practice that are so central to an understanding of feminist activism.
Repository Citation
Griffin, Lara, "The Chicago Women's Liberation Union: White Socialist Feminism and Women's Health Organizing in the 1970s" (2015). Honors Papers. 261.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/261
