Selma James
Encyclopedia
Selma James is a co-author of the women's movement
classic The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community, founder of the International Wages for Housework Campaign and coordinator of the Global Women's Strike.
, one of whose three leaders was CLR James
.
In 1952 she wrote the classic A Woman’s Place, first published as a column in Correspondence, a bi-weekly newspaper written and edited by its readers with an audience of mainly working class people. Unusually at the time the newspaper had pages dedicated to giving women, young people and Black people an autonomous voice. James was a regular columnist and edited the Women's Page. In 1955 she came to England
to marry CLR James, who had been deported from the United States
during the McCarthy Period
. They were together for 25 years and were close political colleagues.
From 1958 to 1962 James lived in Trinidad
where, with CLR James, she was active in the movement for West Indian independence and federation. Returning to England after independence, she became the first organising secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination
in 1965, and a founding member of the Black Regional Action Movement and editor of its journal in 1969.
by providing a reading of Marx's Capital from the point of view of women and of unwaged work.
In 1972 James founded the International Wages for Housework Campaign which demands money from the State for the unwaged work in the home and in the community. A raging debate followed about whether caring full-time was "work" or a "role" — and whether it should be compensated with a wage.
A number of autonomous organizations were formed in 1975—Black Women for Wages for Housework, Wages Due Lesbians, the English Collective of Prostitutes
and some years later WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities). James is the first spokeswoman of the English Collective of Prostitutes, which campaigns for decriminalization as well as viable economic alternatives to prostitution.
From 1985 James co-ordinated the International Women Count Network which won the UN
decision where governments agreed to measure and value unwaged work in national statistics http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/institu.htm#object3. Legislation on this has since been introduced in Trinidad & Tobago and Spain
, and time-use surveys and other research are underway in many countries. In Venezuela
, Article 88 of the Constitution recognizes work in the home as an economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and social welfare, and entitles housewives to social security.
She is general editor of Crossroads Books.
She lectures in the UK, US and other countries on a wide range of topics including Sex, Race & Class, What the Marxists Never Told Us About Marx, The Internationalist Jewish Tradition, Rediscovering Nyerere's Tanzania, CLR James as a political organizer, and Jean Rhys: Jumping to Tia http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/USA/SelmaTour.htm.
In April 2008, James (along with Edinburgh based couple Ralph Ibbott & Noreen Ibbott, both members of the Britain Tanzania Society in the 1960s), visited Edinburgh on the Anniversary of Tanzania Muungano Day Tanzania
which falls on the 26th April. She gave a talk in a session hosted by Tanzania Edinburgh Community Association (TzECA) on Julius Nyerere
's Ujamaa
(African socialism
) in the 1960s in Tanzania
with reference to the subject of Ruvuma Development Association (RDA)http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/405/509 and the Tanzania
Arusha Declaration
. The session took place at the "Waverley Care Solas" Abbey Mount.
In May 2008, James signed the Letter of British Jews on 60th anniversary of Israel published in the Guardian explaining why she will not celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary.
Feminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
classic The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community, founder of the International Wages for Housework Campaign and coordinator of the Global Women's Strike.
Socialist activist
Selma James was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1930. As a young woman she worked in factories and then as a full-time housewife and mother. At the age of 15 she joined the Johnson-Forest tendencyJohnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
, one of whose three leaders was CLR James
C. L. R. James
Cyril Lionel Robert James , who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts...
.
In 1952 she wrote the classic A Woman’s Place, first published as a column in Correspondence, a bi-weekly newspaper written and edited by its readers with an audience of mainly working class people. Unusually at the time the newspaper had pages dedicated to giving women, young people and Black people an autonomous voice. James was a regular columnist and edited the Women's Page. In 1955 she came to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to marry CLR James, who had been deported from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the McCarthy Period
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
. They were together for 25 years and were close political colleagues.
From 1958 to 1962 James lived in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
where, with CLR James, she was active in the movement for West Indian independence and federation. Returning to England after independence, she became the first organising secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination
Campaign Against Racial Discrimination
The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination was a British organization, founded in 1964 and which lasteduntil 1967, which lobbied for race relations legislation...
in 1965, and a founding member of the Black Regional Action Movement and editor of its journal in 1969.
Wages for housework
In 1972, the publication Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community (authored with Mariarosa Dalla Costa) launched the "domestic labour debate" by spelling out how housework and other caring work women do outside of the market produces the whole working class, thus the market economy, based on those workers, is built on women’s unwaged work. The 1983 publication of James' Marx and Feminism broke with established Marxist theoryMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
by providing a reading of Marx's Capital from the point of view of women and of unwaged work.
In 1972 James founded the International Wages for Housework Campaign which demands money from the State for the unwaged work in the home and in the community. A raging debate followed about whether caring full-time was "work" or a "role" — and whether it should be compensated with a wage.
A number of autonomous organizations were formed in 1975—Black Women for Wages for Housework, Wages Due Lesbians, the English Collective of Prostitutes
English Collective of Prostitutes
The English Collective of Prostitutes founded in 1975, campaigns for the decriminalisation of prostitution, sex workers’ right to recognition and safety, and financial alternatives so that no one is forced into prostitution by poverty....
and some years later WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities). James is the first spokeswoman of the English Collective of Prostitutes, which campaigns for decriminalization as well as viable economic alternatives to prostitution.
From 1985 James co-ordinated the International Women Count Network which won the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
decision where governments agreed to measure and value unwaged work in national statistics http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/institu.htm#object3. Legislation on this has since been introduced in Trinidad & Tobago and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and time-use surveys and other research are underway in many countries. In Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Article 88 of the Constitution recognizes work in the home as an economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and social welfare, and entitles housewives to social security.
Recent activity
Since 2000 James has been international coordinator of the Global Women's Strike, a network of grassroots women, bringing together actions and initiatives in many countries. The Strike demands that society "Invest in Caring Not Killing", and that military budgets be returned to the community starting with women, the main carers everywhere. She has been working with the Venezuelan Revolution since 2002.http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1282133,00.htmlShe is general editor of Crossroads Books.
She lectures in the UK, US and other countries on a wide range of topics including Sex, Race & Class, What the Marxists Never Told Us About Marx, The Internationalist Jewish Tradition, Rediscovering Nyerere's Tanzania, CLR James as a political organizer, and Jean Rhys: Jumping to Tia http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/USA/SelmaTour.htm.
In April 2008, James (along with Edinburgh based couple Ralph Ibbott & Noreen Ibbott, both members of the Britain Tanzania Society in the 1960s), visited Edinburgh on the Anniversary of Tanzania Muungano Day Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
which falls on the 26th April. She gave a talk in a session hosted by Tanzania Edinburgh Community Association (TzECA) on Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....
's Ujamaa
Ujamaa
Ujamaa was the concept that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania just after it gained independence from Britain in 1961...
(African socialism
African socialism
African socialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a "traditional" African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Many African politicians of the 1950s and 1960s professed their support for African socialism, although definitions and interpretations of this term varied...
) in the 1960s in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
with reference to the subject of Ruvuma Development Association (RDA)http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/405/509 and the Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
Arusha Declaration
Arusha Declaration
The Arusha Declaration was made by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere on 5 February 1967, outlining the principles of Ujamaa to develop the nation's economy...
. The session took place at the "Waverley Care Solas" Abbey Mount.
In May 2008, James signed the Letter of British Jews on 60th anniversary of Israel published in the Guardian explaining why she will not celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary.
Works
- The Power of Women & the Subversion of the Community (Published in 1972)
- Sex, Race & Class (published in 1974)
- Women, the Unions and Work (publishedin 1972)
- Marx & Feminism (1983)
- Hookers in the House of the Lord (published in 1983)
- The Ladies & the Mammies: Jane Austen & Jean Rhys (published in 1983)
- Strangers & Sisters: Women, Race and Immigration (published in 1985)
- The Global Kitchen (1985, 1995)
- The Milk of Human Kindness: Defending Breastfeeding from the Global Market & the AIDS Industry, co-author (published in 2003)
- Introduction to Creating a Caring Economy: Nora Castañeda & the Women's Development Bank of Venezuela (published in 2006)
- Introduction to The Arusha Declaration, Rediscovering Nyerere's Tanzania (published in 2007)
- Forthcoming publication: Editor of Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners Vs the USA by [Author:[Mumia Abu-Jamal]]
External links
- Selma James, The Tory 'Big Society' relies on women replacing welfare The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
22 October 2010. Retrieved on 22 October 2010. - Global Women's Strike Campaign
- Selma James, An Antidote for Apathy, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 13 August 2004. Retrieved on 8 January 2008. - Selma James and Maria Dalla Costa, The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community. Retrieved on 8 January 2008.
- Selma James, Sex, Race, and Class. Retrieved on 8 January 2008.
- Selma James and the Wages for Housework Campaign
- Open Letter by British Jews on the 60th Anniversary of the founding of Israel, 30 April 2008 The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Sex, Race, and Class Audio Recording of a Lecture given by Selma James at Dickinson CollegeDickinson CollegeDickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
on 7 November 2007. - Rape, Race, Prostitution and the Cash Connection Video Recording of a Lecture given by Selma James in San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.