Women's State-Wide Legislative Network of Massachusetts.

The Women's State-Wide Legislative Network of Massachusetts (the "Network," or WSLNM) was formed to educate women and girls about the legislative process, advocacy, and how to shape public policies that affect their lives. The Network grew out of a series of meetings held by women's organizations from the Greater Boston area and the Caucus of Women Legislators between 1982 and 1983. The Network was formally incorporated in 1983, with feminist and peace activist Diane Balser as its first executive director. Representatives from Boston area women's organizations also served on the board of directors. The Network received its initial funding from the Ms. Foundation for Women, establishing it as one of the first organizations in Massachusetts to focus solely on gaining legislative empowerment for women. Subsequent funding from the Boston Foundation, Boston Women's Fund, Resist Foundation, and other grant-funding agencies, helped the Network expand its outreach strategies and attract a diverse range of women and girls, including immigrants, women of color, poor and low-income women, and the elderly, through training programs, thematic workshops, annual conferences, and public forums that addressed their special needs.

The Network's educational focus, proven effectiveness, and ongoing interaction with legislators and state officials, led to a growing advisory role. In 1988, Governor Michael Dukakis appointed Diane Balser chair of the Governor's Advisory Committee on Women's Issues. During the 1990s, Network staff served on the advisory councils, steering committees, and planning groups of various organizations, including the Girl Scouts Council, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the National Center for Policy Alternatives, Working Massachusetts, Welfare Dollars and Corporate Sense, and WomenIn. The Network's membership benefitted through legislative updates, action alerts, newsletters and training workshops, and roundtable discussion series led by its board of directors.

In response to impending laws restricting non-profits from lobbying, Network members began exploring the possibility of initiating a women's lobby. They formed the Women's State-wide Legislative Alliance (the "Alliance") in 1991 as a non-partisan, grassroots, sister organization. Similar to the Network, the Alliance was directed by Diane Balser, with Sandy Tarrant serving as assistant director, and a board of directors representing various women's organizations. Its organizing committee included Linda Johnson, who subsequently organized poor and low-income women under the Women's Educational and Empowerment Network, a sister group to the Alliance. During its first year of operations, the Alliance raised $15,000 by organizing house parties and legislative forums. As a result, it was able to expand and train its members and volunteers as senate district coordinators and to form highly effective "phone trees."

In 1994, following Diane Balser's resignation, former lobbyist and attorney Kelly Bates assumed the role of executive director of both the Network and the Alliance. This position subsequently became two co-director positions with Bates serving full-time as director of public policy and external relations and Taciana de Campos Ribeiro serving as director of coalition building and programs. Additional staff included Yael Foa, a state-wide organizer, and Amy Cobeta, the Network's office manager, aided by student interns. By the mid-1990s, the Network's membership, which included 1,000 individuals and 49 member organizations, played a central role in prioritizing its yearly legislative agenda, shifting legislative goals toward single issue campaigns with greater emphasis placed on coalition building. The Network and Alliance became lead organizers and provided key public testimony in numerous campaigns resulting in the successful passage of critical legislation, including the Sexual Harassment Education and Training Act; the Fulfill the Promise Campaign, which secured nearly $2 million from the Federal Highway Administration to create jobs in highway construction; and Paid Family and Medical Leave. The Network also played a critical role in the Campaign for Real Welfare Reform, one of the largest coalitions in the state. The outreach committee of the Campaign produced two important subgroups: the Women and Welfare Action Coalition, comprised of 25 women's groups, and the People of Color Task Force. Both subgroups continued as projects of the Network after the Campaign's demise in December 1995. Headed by Marlena Rose, the People of Color Task Force organized educational workshops, advocated for social reforms, and produced theater skits to dispel stereotypical images of welfare mothers.

The Network also gave public testimony and endorsed several smaller collaborative projects aimed at improving prospects for affordable child care, family economics, women's health, and housing reform. In 1996, the Network successfully lobbied for the Childbirth Bill in Massachusetts, sponsored by Senator Lois Pines and Representative Harriet Chandler. The Network was also a partner in the Family Economic Initiative, Working Families Agenda, and Up and Out of Poverty projects, as well as the Massachusetts Women's Health Care Coalition, which addressed proposals for greater access, education, research, and preventative care.

Two influential studies published by the Network further underscored their efforts to draw media attention to issues impacting women's lives. Women and the State Budget Report (1989) was the first publication to provide a comprehensive analysis of the state budget and its impact on women and girls. The release of the publication generated forums in Boston and Somerville. For its second publication, funded by the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the Network collaborated with Dr. Randy Albelda and Dr. Chris Tilly of the University of Massachusetts to produce Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women, Income, and Poverty (1994), the first comprehensive study on women, income, and poverty in Massachusetts. The study was later published as Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty (1997). Between 1994 and 1995, the Network organized the Glass Ceilings tour, a series of educational forums held in Springfield, Framingham, Roxbury, Amherst, Pittsfield, Cape Cod, New Bedford, and the North Shore.

In 1996, mounting debts led to the dissolution of the Alliance and layoffs of several staff members, a situation attributed to a proliferation of women's groups working on legislative issues, and limited funding. Kelly Bates resigned her position in 1996 and was replaced by Linda Johnson. In 1998, Johnson co-founded the Low-Income and Welfare Organizing Coalition to educate women about welfare rights. She also employed an innovative use of on-line advocacy campaigns to broaden membership. In 1999, the Network received an award from the Massachusetts Commission for Women for their leadership role in the success of the Paid Family and Medical Leave coalition. In 2002 the Women's State-Wide Legislative Network of Massachusetts changed its name to the Women's Action Network to reflect a renewed commitment to equality and justice for women.

From the guide to the Records of the Women's State-Wide Legislative Network of Massachusetts, 1982-2003, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)