Alliance Against Women's Oppression Records, 1980-1989

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the records of the organization. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." Individual authors in AAOW publications retain copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College as holders of the physical property.

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Historical Note

In August of 1980, the Alliance Against Women's Oppression (AAWO) was formed out of a process of transformation and struggle begun in the Third World Women's Alliance (TWWA) in late 1979. The newly formed organization resolved to focus its organizing activities primarily on the struggle for women's rights and equality and against the racialized, gendered, classed sexism of the developed North. The AAWO announced itself as a multi-racial alliance of lesbian and straight women. Women of color lesbian issues that had been stubbornly ignored by the mainstream women's movement were part of the political line of the AAWO.

Continuing work initiated and produced by the TWWA, the AAWO persistently clarified the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and sexuality in its political analysis of capitalism and the conditions of women in the transnational economy. AAWO work areas included infant mortality, reproductive rights, sterilization abuse, Central American and African Women's liberation struggles, and Lesbian and Gay rights. The AAWO also continued the political education work of International Women's Day (IWD). AAWO members produced discussion and position papers for AAWO members and the public. AAWO had chapters in Boston, New York, Louisville, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

In order to take up the struggle of women's oppression nationally and internationally, AAWO created coalitions and joined their efforts with other social justice organizations locally and globally. Some of the organizations they were closely associated with were Somos Hermanas, the Nicaraguan Women's Association (AMNLAE), MADRE, South African Women's Organization, Line of March (LOM), and the National Campaign to Restore Abortion Funding (NCRAF). The AAWO identified itself with socialist, womanist/feminist politics, and provisionally based their political line on a Marxist class analysis.

The AAWO joined their efforts with the Reproductive Rights National Network (R2N2) to advocate for abortion rights for low-income women while also calling attention to the involuntary sterilization of migrant and immigrant women of color. In 1984 in response to the U.S.'s continuing intervention in Nicaragua, AAWO organized a delegation, Somos Hermanas, in alliance with the Nicaraguan women's mass organization, AMNLAE.

AAWO dissolved by 1990. The Women of Color Resource Center (1989 to present) was formed with some members from the TWWA and AAWO. Activist organizational work stretching back to the civil rights movement, the Black Women's Caucus of SNCC, the Third World Women's Alliance and the Alliance Against Women's Oppression was evident in the activist and advocacy politics of the Women of Color Resource Center.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Alliance against Women's Oppression Records consists of 5.75 linear ft. and are primarily related to the Bay Area Chapter of the Alliance. The collection contains many documents that articulate and demonstrate the challenges of developing a revolutionary mass organization. The collection is a good source of position and discussion papers, drafts, and AAWO publications, produced by the Alliance. The "United Front Against War and Racism" is a political discussion paper that articulates some of AAWO's political strategy. Through the Coalition Against Infant Mortality (CFIM), 1979 - 1982, AAWO continued the infant mortality activism begun in the TWWA. For the beginnings of this important project of the AAWO, see the TWWA Records also held by the Sophia Smith Collection.

The collection has abundant documentation of the processes of coalition and social investigation that AAWO engaged in reproductive rights advocacy. The collection is rich in documentation of Somos Hermanas's activities in Nicaragua. Types of materials include committee reports; meeting notes; political discussion papers; study guides.

The bulk of the papers date from 1983 to 1988 and focus on the Alliance's many projects organizing activities primarily on the struggle for third world women's rights and equality nationally and internationally.

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into seven series:

• I. ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS
• II. POLITICAL PAPERS
• III. PUBLICATIONS
• IV. AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
• V. SUBJECTS
• VI. PHOTOGRAPHS
• VII. OVERSIZE

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SERIES I. ADMISTRATIVE MATERIALS (1979-1988) 4.25 linear feet

This series consists of the organization's reports, financial materials, meeting agendas, meeting notes, histories, and committee reports. The bulk of sub series Committees is comprised of organizational materials from the Coalition to Fight Infant Mortality (CFIM). The CFIM was originally organized within the Third World Women's Alliance (TWWA) and continued its work when the TWWA disbanded and reformed as the AAWO. Among the CFIM files are their community investigation into Alameda County's high mortality rate, correspondence to and from the Alameda County Grand Jury, the Grand Jury report, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency report to the board of supervisors of the Alameda County Hospital, and the house hearings on infant mortality. The subseries, Reproductive Rights contains information from national committees that fought for reproductive rights such as the Action Committee for Abortion Rights (ACAR), the National Committee to Restore Abortion Funding (NCRAF), the Reproductive Rights National Network (R2N2) and the Seattle Reproductive Rights Alliance (SRRA). The subseries Somos Hermanas contains memos, correspondence, publications and planning notes from the organization, as well as photos and details from a delegation's trip to Nicaragua in 1986.

SERIES II. POLITICAL PAPERS (1982-N.D.) .25 linear feet

This series consists of papers created by the AAWO on issues that they recognized as intersecting with their goals.

SERIES III. PUBLICATIONS (1963-88) .25 linear feet

This series consists of brochures, discussion papers, flyers, the history of the organization and other publications produced by the group.

SERIES IV. AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS (1980-1987) .5 linear feet

This series consists of information on, and publications from, the organizations listed in the finding aid.

SERIES V. SUBJECTS (1978-1985, n.d.) .25 linear feet

This series consists of research materials on the subjects listed.

VI. PHOTOGRAPHS (1984-1986, n.d.) .25 linear feet

This series consists of undated group photographs.

VII. OVERSIZE MATERIALS

Consists of posters from Nicaragua.

SERIES I. ADMINISTRATION

SERIES II. POLITICAL PAPERS

SERIES III. PUBLICATIONS

SERIES IV. AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS

SERIES V. SUBJECTS

SERIES VI. PHOTOGRAPHS

SERIES VII. OVERSIZE