ONE OF THE most important trade union debates to date on the Issue of women's liberation took place at the National Union of Teachers confer ence over Easter. Discussion focused around a motion to adopt the Working Women's Charter.
The importance of this debate stentred from the fact that the Charter beings together the fight to end women's disadvantaged position at work in terms of training, opportunities and pay with all aspects of women's oppression in the family and society at large. The Charter recogruses that demands for equal pay and opportunities will only have real meaning if linked to demands for contraception, abortion and state-financed 24 hour nurseries which begin to challenge the general oppression of women in capitalist society:
The Labour and Communist Party dominated Exocutive campaigned ag ainst the adoption of che Charter. But the motion was nevertheless supported by over 300 delegates and won support froce broad sections of the left - including two wonen members of the NUT Executive ROLE OF SEXISM In proposing the motion Tina Paplin from Nottingham NUT elaboruted the way in which sexisin in education not only prepared giris for a future raje as wives and notiers but adverscly nffected the conditions of wien teachers as well. Despile Executive claims that women teachers get equal pay, over half of all women teachers ority of the NUTs members are On the lowest pay scale, while over half of all tale teachers are on seale four or aloye.
Cath Young from Hackney NUT pointed out in seconding the motiun that women will never gel equal pay without equal opportunity, und that they will never get cither without tackling the social probless brought about by women's double role in the home and at work CALL FOR CONFERENCE Unable to oppose the Charler without being exposed in practice assopponents of women's iberation. the Exerulive manoeuvred to substitute for the Charter a vague, noncommitral statement on women's righis, But even speakers for the Exccutive s amendment - as well as those who opposed it stressed the need for continued local action around the Charter.
The Executive is thus unlikely to succced in its attempt to forc stall the rapidly prowing Charter capan amongst NUT members. Calls to take the Charter back into local associations were well reccived by delegates.
ence -a large maiist-controlled "Rank and File group, despite the presence of two of their members on the Executive They refuse to openly support the Charter The failure of 15's sectoral politics led Beth Stone, a Kank and File member of the NUT Exccutive, to call the confercer "disappointing' But what disappointed her was the large number of delegates who want a broader framework af socialist debate and action than that offered by the confines of Kank and File policy.
socialises were able to provide a direct poutical challenge to the line of the bureaucracy and the Commanoppression. The struggle in the NOT must he a springboard for taking ther Charter into all other unions.
Marginalised in the debate on the and in the whole confer was the international Socialthen they would Despite Rank and File's decline, Ist Party on the questions of women's