Historical Overview of the Commission on the Status of Women
By: Electra Alessio, Past Commissioner

CSW was clearly born as a result of the women's movement that began in the 1960's, and it certainly has evolved over time.

Governor Peterson appointed the first commission in 1969. CSW held hearings and produced studies and pamphlets on employment, state laws, marriage, divorce, credit, health, name changes, discrimination in state employment, and women in law enforcement.

Throughout its 29-year history, funding was a constant problem, and subject to the vagaries of political whims. In 1977, for example, the legislature voted against funding for CSW. After this loss, Governor Thomson asked the Executive Council to grant CSW $7,800.00 in federal funds. The Council agreed to the grant for CSW with the understanding that the governor would accept the Council's recommendations on future appointment to CSW.

The Commission used to meet in restaurants, in libraries, in member's homes - anywhere they could in order to formulate the issues, strategize its positions, and to prepare testimony on legislative items that impacted women. They met on Saturdays, and weekdays, and they met more than once a month. And in the early days, a lot of the costs for mailing, printing, and receptions were borne by the commissioners themselves.

CSW used to have monthly speakers representing various women's organizations, state legislators, representatives from the Women's Bureau at the US Dept. of Labor, and issue specialists - all individuals that came to share their knowledge and to educate the commission on issues that affected women.

Women's groups throughout New Hampshire looked to CSW for leadership, guidance, and most importantly, information on legislative issues.

In fact, the very essence of our being was our legislative focus. CSW was very informed on the many issues affecting women in NH, and it was very interesting to read about the various bills that CSW championed that reflected the societal changes being enacted as women strived for equality.

In the early 1980's, CSW concentrated on three (3) major issues: Violence against women, employment, and divorce.

1. Violence Against Women: CSW sponsored and held the first Take Back the Night in 1981, and passed several bills concerning domestic violence and sexual assault. CSW organized a women's legislative, education and information project that "supported legislation that eliminated discrimination against women and enhanced opportunities for women to lead socially, politically, and economically healthy lives." This project gave birth to the formation of the Women's Lobby. CSW and the Coalition Against Family Violence co-sponsored a Sexual Assault Conference, and developed a Speakers Bureau, which focused on violence against women, and developed a Film Lending Library on violence against women.
   In 1985, the film library was expanded to include material concerning employment, sexual harassment, women's history, and other relevant topics.
2. Employment Issues: employment issues were of major concern because of job discrimination against women. CSW also held a series of public hearings on women's employment issues such as fear of retaliation, sexual harassment, age discrimination, non-traditional occupations, and blue-collar issues. The hearings were summarized in a published report in November 1991. The report made recommendations for legislative changes and even asked the Governor to appoint women to the CSW who had a particular interest or expertise on women's employment issues. During this time, CSW worked with the Dept. of Education and the Human Rights Commission on a massive public campaign effort to develop a series of PSA's that focused on raising public awareness on women's employment issues.
3. Divorce Issues: In 1983 and 1984, CSW held public hearings on women and divorce and printed a report on these hearings. CSW recommended legislative changes, and coalesced with other women's groups to draft legislation. CSW worked closely with the NH Women's Lobby to support these legislative changes.

The Commission also had ad hoc task forces. CSW worked with the NH Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission and co-sponsored a Women and Substance Abuse Conference that offered workshops on healthy lifestyles, societal expectations, alcohol and drugs as a family disease, intervention, and physician treatment alternatives.

CSW had a Violence in Media task force that looked at legislative attempts to ban pornography, collected information on pornography and censorship, contacted video stores, and in general, worked hard to publicize the negative effects of portraying women as victims.

In honor of Women's History Week on March 3, 1985, CSW in co-operation with the Title IX office, held a reception for women legislators in the Governor's home. Since then, CSW offered exhibits, speakers, films, and other special events to recognize Women's History Week.

In 1981, CSW formed a Comparable Worth Task Force that had a sex equity project which involved researching the number of women administrators in NH school districts, the number of girls in interscholastic athletics, and the number of boys and girls in non-traditional vocational/technical programs. The commission's goal was to educate parents and community members as to the inherent inequities.

In 1986, CSW formed a Day Care Committee whose goal was to establish quality day care in the workplace. They reviewed tax incentives and federal support, sought out companies that offered day care, and studied various models to help draft proposals for other employers to use.

Legislative items on the table that year included statute of limitations for child sexual assault and incest, referrals of child abuse cases to the police, selection of guardian ad items in marital cases, divorce based on irreconcilable differences, alimony and property settlements, child abuse and neglect prevention programs, child care licensing, continuation of certain insurance benefits for divorced or separated spouses, study of services to children and families, and defining valid marriages.

In 1986, CSW established its first Unsung Heroine Award, which was held in conjunction with Women's History Month, co-sponsored a state conference on volunteerism, and worked with the Women's Resource Center on a Victim's Bill of Rights. CSW also worked on a survey of Manchester business employees and what they were looking for other than day care support, and held the first formal statewide meeting of the presidents of all major women's organizations.

In order to focus its efforts, CSW developed a six (6) year plan to work on day care, sexual harassment, pay equity, divorce laws, child support, and an advocacy network. CSW was also asked to help in the study of women's prisons in New Hampshire but were unable to do so because of limited resources. A Commission member did, however, work on the State Day Care Advisory Committee to develop a state sponsored childcare center for state employees in Concord.

That same year, the legislature's Sunset Committee reviewed the merit of all commissions and boards, and CSW spent a lot of time defending its existence. The Sunset Review results directed CSW to institute more structure to its organization, to hold formal meetings, and to develop by-laws. By-laws were later ruled out by the Attorney General's Office as unnecessary because CSW did not have rule making authority. Another result was to revamp its six (6) year plan to a two (2) year plan and to change the director's title to Executive Director.

In the meantime, CSW was getting closer to having the women's directory ready for printing and the possibility of an "800" number was first discussed. Plans were made for a Networking Conference in October 1987, members reviewed, updated, and replaced films in the video library, and they developed the first CSW brochure. CSW held a joint press conference with the Women's Lobby to support upcoming day care legislation, and held a public hearing in Portsmouth on Child Care Issues in the Seacoast. CSW also spearheaded a statewide coalition to advocate for pay equity legislation.

The 1988 legislative agenda included support for bills regarding payment for forensic medical exams for sexual assault victims, child care provider recruitment and training, coordination of child day care services under Health and Human Services, and requiring employers to offer health insurance to part-time employees. CSW also served on the planning committee for Rockingham County Extension to address financial issues of divorced and widowed women, and worked on plans to host a regional conference for commissions from throughout New England.

In 1988, CSW made the Scholar Athletes award a formal, annual event to be held in Legislators Hall, followed by a catered reception in the Executive Council Camber, and hosted by the Governor's wife.

CSW worked on pay equity, purchased new films for the video library, worked on the "Beyond Start-up" conference for women business owners, and protested the VFW in Littleton for barring women from its meetings.

The two-year plan for 1988-1990 focused on welfare reform, pay equity, childcare, and recognizing women. CSW was committed to continue working with the state and federal agencies to promote the Apprenticeship and Training Program, sponsor conferences and workshops, provide the film rental library, engage speakers, and to publish its newsletter quarterly. CSW supported passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, supported the Department of Education Sex Equity Resource Manual, finished the directory of women's organizations, and helped draft legislation to assist older women and divorce problems.

The Women's Bureau of the US Dept. of Labor gave us a $1,000.00 grant to help pay for a directory of non-traditional jobs. CSW also met with representatives from the NH Bar Association, the Women's Lobby, and women legislators to discuss legislative issues and to coordinate efforts with other women's groups to pool resources.

In November 1989, CSW held an outreach meeting in Littleton to gather input from area women on the issues they were most concerned about, and, a year later, coalition to host a Gender Neutral Insurance Conference.

Also, in 1990, CSW revamped the criteria for the Student Athlete Awards and moved to hold the program in February in support of National Women in Sports Day. There was an increase in the number of students being nominated and, since seating was limited in Legislators' Hall, each school was limited to naming only three (3) students. That year, Mrs. Gregg was asked to host the reception.

The Executive Director asked individual commissioners to spend a couple of hours a month in the office to answer phones and become aware of the types of calls being received and to become familiar with the publications, books, films, and files on hand. A new project being proposed was to develop a pictorial essay of Women in New Hampshire for Women's History Month.

Commissioners also discussed forming an Executive Committee for CSW that would meet separately to set the agenda, review projects and the budget, and to set legislative priorities. But this was ruled out because there were still so many vacancies on the commission that it would be hard to implement a dual structure.

In the meantime, CSW continued its work on the NH Child Care Advisory Committee, the School Age Child Care Council, and the Humanities Council, as well as sponsored bills for gender-neutral insurance policies.

Funding for CSW was once again an agenda item and budget cuts forced the Commission to eliminate one of its two phone lines, abandon all hopes of an "800" number, canceled the reception for the Scholar/Athlete Awards, and eliminate another issue of the newsletter.

In 1991, CSW participated in the NH Displaced Homemakers Conference, the NH Health Connection Conference, Take Back the Night, Alliance for Access to New Careers, Seminars for Women Veterans, and worked with the Women's Lobby to co-sponsor the Legislative Conference.

The 1992 legislative agenda focused on the passage of three bills: achieve gender balance on commissions and boards, extend the study of committee on gender equity in sports, and equal access to Title XX Child Day Care for AFDC clients in higher education programs.

In order to capitalize on the commissioners' individual expertise, the Executive Director proposed that each commissioner prepare a report on their personal views and experiences with a particular task force(s), volunteer groups, organizations, topics of personal interest, and to bring forward specific areas of concern.

By June 1992, the commission had run out of funds for the newsletter, the project for the directory for non-traditional occupations was given to the Department of Education to complete, and "PC" (politically correct) entered our vocabulary.

In August 1992, CSW was asked to reproduce the Sexual Assault Directory it had first done in 1983. The Commission would work with the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault, along with other women's organizations that would help raise the funds needed to have the directory updated. All 5,000 copies of the original directory had been distributed and xeroxed copies were continually being made available upon request. The compilation of a Speakers Directory was also being considered.

In 1993, in addition to the Student Athlete Awards ceremony in February, the schools were asked if they would like a representative from the Commission to attend their awards night to present a pin to the student. Fourteen (14) schools chose to have a commissioner attend. And the Commission was still extending invitations to Lyn Jennings to address the Awards ceremony - still to no avail!

The Commission again considered holding an outreach meeting to make itself more visible and more responsive to the public. Laconia was being considered as a possible site for this public forum. CSW also talked about participating in daylong seminars and workshops by hosting a table at the conferences and distributing information about the commission as well as distributing resource material. Fund raising was always a topic of discussion, and members discussed holding a Gender Equity Gala as well as selling tee shirts at the Student Athlete Awards ceremony.

The Commission also worked on the Nontraditional Occupations Conference with the NH Jobs Training Council, the Breast Cancer Symposium with the American Cancer Society, and the Women's Economic Resource Consortium which met monthly and worked on establishing a statewide calendar of events to eliminate duplication of efforts by various organizations.

The Commission came out and strongly supported Susan Sarno and spoke out against Carroll County Superior Court Judge O'Neill's comments at sentencing that indicated violent acts are not completely unprovoked. A letter was also sent from the Commission to various women's organizations and concerned citizens asking that they, too, write the Governor and Jeffrey Howard, the Attorney General, that this case in particular, and domestic violence in general, be carefully and thoroughly examined. The Governor eventually established a Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and CSW's Executive Director was asked to participate on this commission.

In September 1993, CSW held a program in Laconia on Personal Safety and Self-Defense and the ways a woman could protect herself from being a victim. This event was the beginning of the Commission's work with Corporal Sharon Cavanaugh of the Laconia Police Department.

A concerted effort was made to publicize the commission through a series of press releases sent to 150 newspapers throughout the state, as well as interviews on cable, radio, and channel 9. The response from the public was overwhelming but frustrating because of the limited assistance available through the CSW office due to lack of funding. The primary areas of concern focused on divorce and child custody issues.

Governor Merrill attended the August 1993, meeting in recognition of Women's Equality Day. Commissioners had the opportunity to review a number of concerns with the Governor, including the Sarno case, commission vacancies, funding, and our request for a larger office.

By 1994, the commission had developed a schedule of "regular" programs: Student Athlete Awards in February, Take Our Daughters to Work in April, Women's Equality Day in August, and Women's Self-Defense Program. Also in 1994, as a result of a federal grant, CSW helped with the Summer of Safety Program. Through the Americorps Victim Assistance Program, 30 victim advocates were placed in crisis centers, district courts, and prosecutors' offices for ten (10) weeks. The program actually received $481,000.00, which funded the program for two (2) years, through December 1995.

In 1996, CSW received a $5,000.00 grant from the NH Bar Foundation to develop and print a Legal Handbook for women. A task force was formed to draft and prepare the handbook, and it was completed in 1997.

Through 1996 and 1997, the Commission also updated its brochure, worked on the Women in Business Conference sponsored by the SBA, continued its efforts to address sexual harassment issues, sought funding to compose a Resource Directory for NH Schools on sexual harassment, sent congratulatory letters to women who had been publicly recognized for their achievements on behalf of women and their families, supported the Women's Vote Project which was sponsored by the US Council of Presidents of women's organizations whose goal was to increase the number of women who voted, and continued its work with other commissions and organizations.

To celebrate Women's History Month, a member of the Commission worked with the NH Historical Society for two (2) years on an oral history project of New Hampshire women. CSW also supported legislation on child support, custodial rights and visitation, and domestic violence. Discussion and debate on the Spirit of Beijing Conference and CEDAW legislation both generated continued dialogue amongst Commission members, as did proposed legislation to establish a Commission on the Status of Fatherhood.

The Commission continues to monitor legislation that impacts women and continues to strive to recognize women throughout New Hampshire whose accomplishments assist in overcoming discrimination against women in public and private employment, as well as regarding civil and political rights.