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1. Governance of UU Women’s Groups
Edited by Mary Junge, this article was derived from records of the UUWF Women’s Group in Lincoln, Nebraska. The article was written by Lois Hansen.
Imagine this scenario: It is 1995 and you live in Lincoln, Nebraska. The women’s movement across the country, and in your own congregation, is dormant. Women in earlier times fought hard for equal rights with men, including the right to equal pay and opportunities for employment. Now, women who are busy with paid employment find themselves more independent. Today, women make only 74 cents for every dollar earned by men. Today, women sit face-to-face with men in the boardroom; we have sacrificed plenty to get where we are. With family, community, and work responsibilities, we have precious little free time and add “leisure” activities with an air of caution. For some of us, friendships with other women languish.
Since 1963, when the Unitarian and Universalist denominations merged, the UU Women’s Federation has had a strong impact. In 1968, fewer than 2% of the decision-making volunteer positions in the denomination were held by women. The UUWF organized for General Assembly that same year and demanded that women be more fairly represented in volunteer leadership positions. The UUWF continued to lead in making both national and church/fellowship meetings more participatory and democratic.
In 1970, in response to demands by the UUWF, the General Assembly called for the equal participation of women in the denomination. This resolution called for special efforts to place greater numbers of qualified women in policy-making positions and to secure equal opportunities and pay for women in the ministry and other church occupations. Since 1970, the Federation has continued to push for equal rights for women in the church in a variety of ways: honoring outstanding women, enabling the ordination of women in our denomination, and raising awareness about sexual harassment and the exploitation of women in our congregations.
By 1984, female ministers in our denomination had reached a critical mass of 15%. By 1995, our female ministers served nearly half of our UU congregations. Today, women are elected to the church boards and executive committees and to denominational offices with an ease that makes it difficult for some young members to appreciate that it hasn’t always been this way.
Early in the 20th century, Nebraska women of the Lincoln Unitarian Church (then called All Souls’ Unitarian Church) organized themselves in “The Women’s Alliance” and joined the American Unitarian Association’s General Alliance of Unitarian Women. In the mid-thirties a “Mother’s Club” was formed by younger women, evolving in a couple of years to “The Unitarian Women’s Club”, and then “The Alliance Guild”, which operated as a branch of “The Women’s Alliance”. By the mid-fifties, this younger group was separate from the local Alliance, and later from the national organization. It became officially “The Alliance Guild” and was referred to simply as “The Guild”. In 1964 an official letter went to the church board, signed by five remaining members of the original Women’s Alliance: “This is the announcement of the disbandment of the Unitarian Women’s Alliance as an active group of our church.” With younger women attending the evening Guild, the aging membership could no longer maintain the group. Ironically, thirty years later, in 1995, the Alliance Guild contributed its treasury to the church building fund and made a similar announcement: “The young women of the Alliance Guild have grown older and for the last few years have had no regular meetings.”
However, the story doesn’t end here. Late in 1995, four energetic women—Karen Dienstbier, JoEllen Polzien, B. J. Wheeler, and Lois Hansen—still believed that there was a place in the church for a women’s organization and they had the inspiration to try to start one. Dienstbier and Hansen were past presidents of the church. Hansen had experience as president of a UUWF group in Omaha in the 1960’s and in Minneapolis in the 1950’s, in addition to having worked as RE director in Omaha and in Lincoln. Both Polzien and Wheeler were long-time UU’s.
Aware of their need for new ideas, the four learned that the UUWF Biennial Convention was to be held in Minneapolis, less than a day’s drive from Lincoln and they decided to make the journey to gather ideas about organizing a UU Women’s Federation chapter in their congregation. They hoped to learn new ways of meeting women’s needs based on age, interests and time available.
After the convention, they returned to Lincoln with new zeal for their task. The four became a steering committee and they held a series of planning meetings to think through an organization proposal that was flexible, non-hierarchical, and would meet the needs of women, most of whom were employed outside the home and had limited free time.
Tasks were identified and work was divided among the four. The first umbrella meeting was held January 27, 1996, publicized in the weeks before with written announcements, posters, and word of mouth. To the amazement of the steering committee, nearly fifty women attended the first meeting and soon, one hundred women had paid dues to become charter members. Dues for the organization have varied from $15 to $25 per year with the opportunity to give more to support anyone who can’t afford it. The treasury is used for the incidental costs of subgroups of the organization and also for a halfway house for women. The organization has deliberately structured itself so that there is a minimum amount of routine work to be done. All groups are announced in the regular church newsletter and calendar, and there are periodic invitations and explanations, usually before umbrella meetings.
At the first umbrella meeting of the organization, participants brainstormed a list of values that we hold as UU women. From this list a statement of purpose or mission for the group was developed and brought to the following meeting for consideration and adoption. Also at the first meeting, participants listed activities through which they could express their values. Anyone interested could volunteer to take responsibility for bringing a group together. Only groups with a volunteer organizer formed. Those which have endured in the four years since the inception of the group are: a book discussion group, a lunch group, a Tai Chi class, a dinner group, a spirituality group and a service project. New interest groups are formed by proposal at an umbrella meeting. Existing ones disband as participants choose.
Except for supporting the Fresh Start Halfway House, groups and programs are not action oriented, but instead offer a time for renewal. However, women’s issues do emerge in book and other discussions and in the sharing of joys and concerns. The only requirements of subgroups are that all meeting times and places must be listed in the church newsletter and groups must be open to new members. Members of the interest groups are encouraged, but not required, to join the UUWF.
The UUWF umbrella organization provides stability for the organization through the steering committee. Umbrella meetings, four times a year, bring together all interested women in the church for a potluck luncheon, a simple ritual that includes chalice lighting, singing, sharing of joys and concerns, and a program. Umbrella programs are connected in some way to the mission statement: “Our purpose in the Lincoln Unitarian-Universalist Women’s Federation is to join together for mutual support, personal growth, spiritual enrichment, fun and community. Through our combined strength and vision we commit ourselves to seek a future of wholeness and integrity in a world at peace, where the worth and dignity of each individual is valued.”
Note: The success story of Lincoln, Nebraska, is featured in this manual because its changes were dramatic and clearly documented. Other churches and fellowships have success stories too. The First Universalist Church (FUC) of Minneapolis has an active women’s program with 100 members from approximately 400 female church members and its structure resembles, in many ways, the umbrella model. FUC offers childcare, box lunches or catered meals, and e-mail to serve their busy members. Minnesota Valley Fellowship has a very stable group of mostly retired women, some of whom have known each other for decades. Michael Servetus, a small fellowship in Fridley, has had success with a variety of small circle groups for their female members. Finally, an active women’s group is not the only sign that women are giving each other support. At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka, while there is no ongoing women’s organization, a popular and well-attended yearly retreat serves a means for women to get to know each other and seeds short-term temporary groups among retreat participants.
Lois Hansen was one of the founders of the Lincoln, Nebraska UU Women’s Federation group. She has served as president of the Lincoln Unitarian Church, chaired its Decision for Growth Committee, and currently serves as the coordinator of the Program Board.