IP: Women Leaders Launch Massive Internet Campaign to Activate

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 14:26:57 +0000
From: Women Leaders Online <wlo () wlo org>
Subject: Women Leaders Launch Massive Internet Campaign to Activate Women


~*~*~ Please Repost Widely ~*~*~
For Immediate Release: July 11, 1996
For More Information Contact: Jeanne Clark
e-mail: wlo () wlo org / voice: 202-861-4730


Women Leaders Launch Massive Internet Campaign to Activate Women's
Rights Supporters for 1996 Elections and Beyond


Women Leaders Online, the first women's advocacy group on the
Internet, has launched a massive and unprecedented campaign to
mobilize one million women and supportive men for grassroots political
activism in 1996 and beyond.


The campaign, called Women Organizing for Change (WOC), is
headquartered in Washington DC. The Executive Director is Jeanne
Clark, who brings more than 25 years of feminist grassroots activism
and media expertise to the organization. The Deputy Director is Rhonda
Lees, a veteran political campaigner and an attorney who practiced
family law in New York. Bob Fertik, Editor and Publisher of Political
Woman Hotline and a co-founder of Women Leaders Online, will publish
alerts and organize support among men.


Women Organizing for Change will use the Internet to link a million
women in a powerful network that will rival extremist conservative
groups like Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition and the NRA. WOC will
also use the Internet to provide objective political information as an
antidote to propagandists such as Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the
conservative male-owned media. WOC intends to make a major difference
in the 1996 elections, an election in which women's votes are expected
to be decisive.


WOC is asking women and sympathetic men to pledge one hour each week
for grassroots political work for pro-woman candidates and causes.
This work includes on-line organizing, media activism, phone banking,
office work, and leafleting. Those joining WOC will receive regular
e-mail updates about political candidates, legislation, and media
campaigns. Emergency alerts will go out whenever women's rights are
threatened.


Activists can join WOC in one of three ways:
* completing an online volunteer pledge form at http://wlo.org
* sending an e-mail to volunteer () wlo org with the subject "volunteer"
* calling 1-800-WOMAN96
Donations can be mailed to Women Leaders Online at P.O. Box 57199,
Washington, DC 20037-7199. Those donating $10 or more will receive a
nifty "One in a Million" button.


The goal of Women Organizing for Change is to set a new and positive
agenda for the USA which will promote equality and justice in all
areas, including jobs, education, health care, family policy, taxes
and budgets, the environment, personal freedom, the media, and
political reform. Specific actions will also be taken to stop violence
against women, end sexual harassment and discrimination, preserve the
social safety net, and protect and expand women's reproductive rights.
WOC intends to redirect the country's overall priorities, making
women's views and women's voices key to all policy discussions.


Women Organizing for Change represents a dramatic alternative to the
agenda of the self-described Revolutionaries who took control of
Congress in 1994. That agenda was driven by extremist special interest
groups, drafted behind closed doors by high-paid lobbyists, and
railroaded through Congress by a PAC-addicted leadership. As polls
show, Americans -- especially women -- now see through the deceptive
rhetoric of the "Contract With America."


Founding members of WOC include former Vice Presidential candidate
Geraldine Ferraro, author and columnist Barbara Ehrenreich, economist
and political commentator Julianne Malveaux, Washington Feminist
Faxnet publisher Martha Burk, Michelle Bernard, attorney with Patton
Boggs L.L.P, and Dolores Briones, President of Createch Inc. of El
Paso. Founding sponsors include Planned Parenthood Federation of
America and many other feminist groups.


The Women Leaders Online web site at http://wlo.org, which was
designed by Laurie Mann and a team of volunteers, features feminist
news and issue alerts, links to women's resources on the Internet, a
10-point Women's Contract With America, an expose of anti-feminist
women, and details on WOC co-sponsors and endorsers.


Women Leaders Online, the mother organization of WOC, is a grassroots,
not-for-profit, non-partisan organization which was formed in New York
City in February, 1995. WLO has members in every state, with
occupations including artists, business owners, clergy, computer
professionals, community activists, doctors, elected officials,
homemakers, journalists, lawyers, professors, scientists, secretaries,
students, and teachers.






~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Women Organzing for Change
PO Box 57199, Washington DC 20037
Voice: 202-861-4730 / Fax: 202-861-4297
VoiceMail: 800-WOMAN96
E-mail: wlo () wlo org / Web: http://wlo.org
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