| Summary: | Cobber named to county tobacco-use prevention committee. ws v.: --r: Hi A pi ^ini^ K-H U— 1 0 "•"""* —-If Two heroic shots by Cathy Johnson lifted the Lady Cobs to West Region title. 13 MAR 9 1990 the CONCORDIAN Concordia College Moorhead Minnesota Volume 86 Number 20 March 9, 1990 Icelandic Women's Alliance gains momentum Leaders to speak March 14 by Lllja Olafsdottir staff writter On March 14th, two members of the Women's Alliance in Iceland will be on campus with information about the Alliance and their policies. The two women are expected to discuss political atmosphere in Iceland and women's involvement in social issues there. Kristin Halldorsdottir, a former member of Parliament, is slated to talk about women in Icelandic politics at a convocation in the Knutson Center between 9:40 and 10:20 a.m. Later in the day, she and another member of the Women's Alliance, will be visiting classes and talking about their policies. Iceland is a small country in the Atlantic Ocean, between Norway and Greenland. It's a little smaller than half of North Dakota and there are a little over 250,000 Icelandic people in the world. Even though the country is small and its inhabitants are few, Iceland tries to keep up with the bigger nations. There is at least one area where it is equal with - or even ahead of - other nations: women's rights. Old sagas, documents from the ninth and tenth centuries onward, show Icelandic women in that era had more power and were more respected than women elsewhere in Europe. They had to be tougher than the other European women to be able to survive the poor living conditions that existed in Iceland until the 20th century. The Icelandic Parliament is the oldest existing Parliament in the world. It hasn't been easy for women to follow the road to Parliament. But since 1908, when Icelandic women got the right to vote in Reykjavik municipal council elections, the road has gradually become broader and easier to follow. The municipal council elections were in 1908 the first of five major steps in Iceland toward equal rights in politics and in almost everything else. Seven years later, in 1915, women were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time -- another major step. In 1922, a woman was elected to hold a seat in Parliament. In 1980 came the next step, when Iceland elected Vigdis Finnbogadotlir as president from a field of three male contenders. Finnbogadottir became the first democratically elected female head of state in the world. In March 1983, the Women's Alliance in Iceland was founded, the first organization of its kind in the world. The Women's Alliance is a leaderless grassroots movement, which believes in equality among men and women. To demonstrate this, the organization has implemented a policy to share work and responsibility as much as possible. Each member of Parliament from the Women's Alliance maintains her scat in Parliament only for a specific number of years, and then resigns for another woman to lake her seat In the parliamentary elections of 1983, the Women's Alliance got 5.5 percent of the votes and three members elected to Parliament. Four years later, in 1987, they amassed 10.1 percent of the votes and six members of Parliament. By this they established themselves as one of Iceland's major political parties. They have contributed to the ever increasing number of women in Parliament. The policies the Women's Alliance stands for are especially appealing to women in Iceland who arc now leaving their traditional housekeeping jobs to work outside of their homes. Below is a portion of the Women's Alliance's policy statement from 1983. "In the Icelandic Parliament it will be our role to defend the interests of women and children . . . we want to emphasize equally both the issue of child-rearing and housekeeping (with shared responsibility of men and women in carrying out these duties,) as well as the importance of enabling women to join the job-market to become economically independent.*1 Loiterin' Students take a break to catch jtworid" photo by Whltey. Washington trip cancelled by SA by Todd Rosencrans news editor Top Student Association leaders decided not to travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the United States Student Association (USSA) and Financial Aid Conference. The conference, which was held March 2-5, is designed to coordinate National Student Lobby Day, held on March 5th. The decision not to make the journey was made jointly by SA executives, Kurt Thompson and Cathie Melin, as well as Political Affairs Commisioner, Steve Smith. "We all thought it was in the best interest of students not to make the trip," said Thompson. "In the past the trip was taken under questionable circumstances, and we hope maybe our decision will set a precedent." Top SA leaders have been making the journey to the nation's capitol off and on for the last ten years, with three of the trips made in the last five. Last year's SA executives Jeff Johnson, Kent Knutson, as well as former political affairs commisioner Chip Ott made the journey. This year, however, according to Smith, the decision to cancel the lobbying effort will save an estimated $2,300 of Student Association funds. "In the past, the trip was made as sort of a perk for being an SA leader," said Smith, "but the actual benefits gained were questionable." Thompson concurred with Smith, asserting that the results of the trip weren't "tangible," and didn't translate into justifiable benefits for Concordia students. "The results of the trip just didn't justify the cost," said Thompson, "which was the major factor in our decision not to go." In addition to the poor cost-benefit ratio, strict affirmative action policies laid out by the United States Student Association made it difficult for Concordia to fulfill requirements for their delegation. In order to ensure diverse campus representation, USSA requires that delegations of three, four or five members include at least one student of color and at least one women. Delegations of six or more must include at least one disabled, veteran, non-traditional, lesbian, gay or bisexual member. As a result of last year's SA delegation, consisting of three males, Concordia was placed on probation by the USSA. Student Association seeks to fill 12 Senate positions Student Association will be holding student senate elections March 27 in order to fill 12 positions for the 1990-91 school term. Petitions for a slot on the ballot will be available Monday, March 12,1990 in the Student Association office above the PO's. Petitions are due back in the SA office on March 19. Student senate, whose primary job is the allocation of the student activity fee, is made up of four members per class. Next years sophomores, juniors and seniors are elected this spring, with incoming freshman selected in the fall. Political Affairs Commisioner Steve Smith encourages all interested students to run for a post Senators elected this spring will serve for the entire 1990-91 school term. Any questions can be directed towards Smith in the SA office at 299-4507.
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