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begin to break the power relations which so far
have kept us divided. Through a united working
class we can force the government to tax the
corporations, not other workers.

A posture of defeat also ignores the struggles
women have made against housework and what
we have been able to win in relation to this
work. It is no accident that after the massive
struggles welfare mothers waged in the 1960s
for more money from the government—the first
money we have won for housework —the num-
ber of female-headed families has dramatically
increased (doubling every decade) along with
the number of divorces, particularly among

L/

women with children, and the number of young
women who have been able to set up indepen-
dent households. This is not to glorify welfare.
Welfare does not even begin to pay for all our
work —we need much more and we need it for
all of us. But it is to recognize how even a little
money has begun to break down some of the
most powerful mechanisms of discipline which
traditionally have kept us in line.

Pat Sweeney is an active member of the Wages For House-
work Committee (288-B 8th Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215)
and one of the founders of the Nassau County Womens
Liberation Center.

THE WOMEN

OF THE WORLD

ARE SERVING
NOTICE!

WE WANT WAGES FOR
EVERY DIRTY TOILET
EVERY INDECENT ASSAULT
EVERY PAINFUL CHILDBIRTH
EVERY CUP OF COFFEE
AND EVERY SMILE

AND IF WE DON'T GET
WHAT WE WANT WE

WILL SIMPLY REFUSE

TO WORK ANY LONGER!

WAGES FOR HOUSEWORIK

CAILPAIGN OFFICE * 288 B EIGTH STREET (OFF FIFT

# AVENUE) BROOKLYN, H.Y.