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The Federation of Chamorro^* Women's Organisations

The Federation of Chamorro Women's Associations is analysed here. This umbrella organisation is chosen for several reasons. Its membership consists of grassroots Chamorro women representing a wide cross-section of villagers and it draws women from all socio-economic strata, age groups and occupations, including housewives and the unemployed. In addition, the Federation was a product of the UN Decade for Women.

Its founder, Lagrimas Aflague laid the groundwork for the Federation in 1980 by convening a board of trustees to develop a constitution and by-laws to set organisation objectives and to assist in organising district clubs. She stated that her reason for initiating the Federation was simply that there were many community needs which should be addressed. This woman took it upon herself to establish a Federation because she identified the need and then convened a board of trustees, before the actual member affiliates were established. The Federation came into existence before district clubs were created which gave legitimacy to the Federation.

More importantly, the Federation's founder believed Chamorro women needed a non-sectarian and non-partisan organisation to which they could belong. Her interest in later Federation projects also was a strong motivation for organising; two of her projects have become major projects of the Federation.

Eight District Clubs have been established in the last seven years, using an organisational structure patterned after the Federation. These clubs meet monthly and charge $14 annual membership dues, $2 of which goes to the Federation as an individual membership assessment. Only Chamorro members can be full voting members but women of other ethnicities can be associate members though they cannot vote, nor can they hold office. Meetings are conducted in the Chamorro page 53 language. In no other official situation is Chamorro used in the fashion that the Chamorro Women's Association uses the indigenous language to conduct its business. The Clubs embark on projects in the villages.

There are approximately 300 voting members in the Federation. These seemingly ordinary facts represent a bold step: Chamorros' clubs are very organised, and are accused of being discriminatory. The same principle, however, does not apply to other ethnic organisations on Guam. Anybody who has been to Guam will know that there is a proliferation of Filipino Women's organisations representing every province in the Philippines, Micronesian Women's Organisation representing various island groups of Micronesia, and Chinese, Japanese, and Korean women's organisations. But when Chamorro women organised, it was automatically considered a discriminatory act against other ethnic groups.

The Chamorro identity is one of the Federation's most notable contributions. The Federation is financially self-sustaining. It sponsors bingo games three times a week for fundraising and nets approximately $15,000 (US) a month. This is used to support its projects and selected charities; it is a wealthy organisation. The money raised is used to support its projects and selected charities. This year, members decided to donate to the American Red Cross, the Cancer Society, the Heart Association and, most significantly, to the Hospital Volunteers Association for the purchase of a machine. When women are suspected of having breast cancer, or have any kind of a shadow on an x-ray, they have to go to Hawaii to get a mammograph, or they are operated on without knowing whether it is a cancerous growth. The purchase of that machine cost about $150,000 and all the women's organisations are collecting funds for it. They also donated to a new organisation trying to assist abused and handicapped persons, and to provide a shelter for battered wives.

The Federation also helps individual members who are in need. It acts as a kind of life insurance policy - if members have a family crisis, they can go to the association for funding, much in the way that an extended family works. A recent example is of page 54 a member whose home was destroyed by fire. The Federation gave her $1,000 to relocate her family and she was able to pay three months rent with that money.

The bulk of the funds are earmarked for two on-going projects - that is, Miss Cinderella Scholarship Programme and the Civic Centre Building Fund. These are the two projects that are the pet projects of the founder.

One of the nine objectives identified in the by-laws is a women's centre, to bring about a spirit of cooperation among the Chamorro women. This objective has served to put women in touch with each other, especially with women whom they would otherwise not have known or had any reason to meet or have contact with. The opportunity to work with the variety of women on projects has extended the social and support networks for many members of the Federation. Whatever motivation for creating the Federation it has served a good purpose for individual members.

On a collective level, the Federation's most successful and visible contributions are community oriented. Most of the energies of its members and almost all its profits from fund-raising activities are channelled to the Federation's two projects. They also assist charities and work with village commissioners. In every village are page 55 municipal governments based on a commissionership, with one commissioner and a municipal council. The organisation does work with the village commissioners especially at the district level (there are eight districts) to assist in problem areas in the village. If the commissioner identifies a problem - for example, the lack of enough trash cans in the village creating a sanitation problem - the Federation will go in and provide trash cans for the village, or raise funds to do so. If there is a high incidence of vandalism in the village, the mothers, through neighbour networking, try to identify the vandals and work with them, redirecting their activities to sports, etc. In the general sense then, the Federation's activities have improved living conditions, both directly in the villages and indirectly, through its monetary contributions to other charities.

In the other areas of interest to this workshop, however, the reality is painful. An evaluation of women's organisations in Guam today, and in the past decade, would lead to one conclusion: while development and feminism as concepts many appear, albeit rarely, in organisational literature and sometimes surface in discussions, no substantial contributions to the understanding of either “development” or “feminism” have been made. A major problem is that women's organisations become too involved with project detail and forget to look at the big picture. That is something that was raised this morning in the discussion on feminism and is a constant problem needing attention.

However, women's organisations in Guam, including the Federation of Chamorro Women's Association, have had a better performance record in raising the standards of individual women, as distinct from improving the status of women collectively. The Federation does not identify improved status as a specific organisational goal. Consequently, club activities are not planned to foster the innovation or improvement in the status of women. Nevertheless, the Federation has had a positive impact on many of its members. A number of Chamorro women who have joined the Federation, but were never involved in organising all before, had not felt comfortable joining other women's organisations because of the predominance of non- page 56 Chamorros who usually assumed leadership roles and make Chamorro women feel inadequate or inferior. Sometimes a preoccupation with organisational skills which define leadership ability is overemphasised and if some women do not appear to have these skills, they are never asked to become a member of any organisation. This attitude prevents Chamorro women from wanting to join other organisations.

Because the Federation is comprised of Chamorro membership, the environment of the organisation itself and of its meetings, attracts women who would otherwise not think of joining. Women are encouraged to contribute to decision-making; they ask everybody's opinion about issues, so, women are actually encouraged to formulate opinions when they have never even been asked before.

By taking on these responsibilities and organising activities in their organisation, women are strengthening skills that they use both in the home and at the work place, if they are employed. They also acquire new organisational skills. Members who were previously shy and self-evasive are slowly changing, and are developing a confidence and pride in the discovery that they do have talents, and that these talents can benefit the community. It is too early to tell whether this new cadre of organisers, who are working alongside the more seasoned women leaders, will become more active in the public sphere or whether they will confine their involvement to the Federation and its activities.