- National Child Care Ca "seventies will compel women - once again • to become responsible for the UNITY care of the young. old and sick:
The Employment Bill will make it doubly difficult for women to return to work after a pregnancy:
- will seek to force women to have children of women - as teachers, nurses, The meagre gains won in the - when women won increasing economic independence - are over. The central thrust of the Tories is to push women out of the workplace into the home where she is expected to provide those very services the state should provide.
That the Tories are aware of this can be judged by Social Services Secretary Patrick Jenkins reply when quizzed on the impact of cuts on women's jobs. If the good lord had intended us to have equal rights to go out to work, he wouldn't have created man and woman".
It is clear that, if the government's offensive is going to be halted, then country and different organisations (local child care campaigns, women's groups, trade unions It was agreed that further discussion on the aims & structure of the campaign should take place at the next conference in 6 months' time. Meanwhile, the steering cttee was given the brief-at its meeting in August - to discuss concrete proposals for the campaign stemming out These included producing a national newsletter - to advertise the aims of the campaign and its activities - and setting a 'day of LABOUR action' to formally launch it.
The fact that the conference was so well attended - mainly in terms of representatives from the labour movement - was a clear indication that concern over childcare is growing.
More and more women are realising that unless the cuts in child-care facilities are stop- Party. ped - and more facilities provided by the state - women will never be able to take an equal serious struggles will have to be waged. Women will need to seek the widest unity among themselves and the most powerful allies they can.
Yet, it is precisely at this stage when unity is needed • that the Women's Movement, which won some notable successes in the seventies around the abortion issue has become divided.
NAC This was dramatically shown on the mass NAC demonstration last year against the Corrie Bill. A number of women - chanting "Not the unions, not the state, women must decide their fate" - clearly opposed the TUC presence on the march.
Such a mood was apparent at the Conference Resolution:
"This conference, recognising that a comprehensive child care service is essential for women's equality, agrees to set up a national child care campaign. Its overall aim will be to build a mass national campaign around the demand for comprehensive flexible and free child care facilities provided by the State".
This is why such a campaignfighting for this basic right - is so urgent today.
Many people at the conference however, were aware that build ing a mass campaign - with roots in the local areas - could only be achieved by taking it into the labour movement.
This will involve not only fighting for the issue in union branches - forcing them to make the TUC implement its Charter for the under 5s - but also in the Labour The campaign should clearly see its focal point in forcing the Labour Party to pledge, in its manifesto, to halt all cuts in