06/23/1975 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Alvarado cited areas of sex discrimination - education opportunity, counseling careers, wages, advancement, policy making positions, and government appointments - and said t'he request for a women's commission was reasonable and an answer from the Council sHould be given at this time. Ms. Stewart as a staff member at Lane Com- munity College felt a women's commission would be invaluable to the College in keep- - ing it up to date with regard to education and employment needs of women in the community and in assisting women to reach their career goals. Ms. McDonald said the Skill Center would be training women in plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, that women versed in those skills, as well as the entire community, would benefit from a women's commission. Ms. Lauris thought creation of the commission would continue the tradition of leadership characteristic of Eugene. Ms. McConnaughey, chairman of the Mayor's committee for international co-operation, commented on her attendance at a united Nations disarmament conference as part of Women's Year 1975. The conference called for action at all levels of government, she said, to integrate women into the total development effort of nations to es- tablish equality between men and women in all fields, and recognition of the in- creasing role of women in establishing world peace through international co-operation. Mr. Klonoski said the affirmative action committees at all levels of the Democratic party recognized the increasing role of women in the Party and in politics in general. He urged the Council's endorsement of a women's commission. A representa- tive of the Women's Transitional Living Center supported the proposal, asking also that one of the commission's responsibilities should be to look at conditions of women in the Lane County jail and in other prisons. Phyllis Liddell, 1647 Mill Street, emotionally chastised the Council for negligence in its leadership role, perpetuating the two options women had in Eugene - legal (marriage) or illegal prostitution. Mayor Anderson expressed his dismay that some thought he was opposed to a women's e commission when the resolution was first presented at the Council's work session. He said this had given him opportunity to reflect on this very critical situation and the need for an overall change in the human rights program. He noted that women's rights had become a very strong factor, also other groups seeking special assistance made it evident that the Human Rights Commission as now structured did not adapt itself to those concerns. He noted it was difficult to appoint members to a commission to give broad, comprehensive representation to many, many areas. It was also difficult to set up an enforcement and investigative program that would provide impartial adjudication. There were too many fields,he said, for any single group to treat to the satisfaction of everyone. He thought r::le demand for a body concerned only with wome~'s problems was reasonable and that it was time to remove women from their stereotyped roles. So he proposed a new structuring of the human rights program to respond to the major areas of concern - women, age, ethnic minorities, and limited mobility, and possibly addition of others such as mentally retarded, youth, sexual orientation - a restructuring, he said, that would avoid fragmentation of staff assistance, conflicts and competition for funds, yet sufficiently flexible to meet new challenges and, most important, to provide services within available city resources. The Mayor proposed restructuring the Human Rights Commission as a Human Rights Council comprising four divisions - Commission on Women's Rights, Commission on Minority Rights, Committee on Limited Mobility, and Committee on Aging. Copies of his pro- posal were distributed in which the proposed council's membership and duties and powers, as well as membership and duties and powers of the four divisions, were spelled out. He reviewed the proposal calling for a nine-member Human Rights . Council, four of which members were to chair the four commissions and committees -" to be established, members to be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. The Mayor noted essential differences between this and the proposal pre- 6/23/75 - 16 3~