background

Women and Life on Earth Unity Statement (1980)

In August 1979 "Women and Life on Earth" was formed by activists in the northeastern United States. Their reasons for coming together were expressed in this

UNITY STATEMENT

We are women who have come together to act on a common hope in a fearful time. We enter the eighties with alarm for the future of our planet. The forces that control our society threaten our very existence with nuclear weapons and power plants, toxic wastes and genetic engineering. A society and world economy organized for the profit of a small number of white men has created the conditions for wide-spread unemployment, violence at home and in the streets, oppression of third world peoples, racist attacks, inadequate food, housing and health care, and finally, the ecological devastation of the earth.

We see connections between the exploitation and brutalization of the earth and her people and the physical, economic and psychological violence that women face every day. We want to understand and try to overcome the historical divisions of race, poverty, class, age and sexual preference that have kept women apart and politically powerless. Our concerns are many, but understanding the problems that confront us helps us imagine how we would like to live.

We are women whose lives and work demand a shared expression of a new vision for society. The vision we seek to express and finally realize is an affirmative one. Our hope for the future is based on a feminist perspective, a growing understanding and appreciation of racial, sexual, and ecological diversity and an end to militarism. We want to live in decentralized communities based on interdependence, self-reliance and other basic ecological principles. These principles are not abstractions. They are conditions for our survival.  

"Women and the phases of the moon", the symbol of Women and Life on Earth, was designed by artist Bonnie Acker in 1980.