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• Somewhere To Go, Someone To Hear: Battered Women Speak

  Chicago, Eleanor Boyer, Videomakers

  Four women, who were victims of physical and emotional abuse, find support in a self-help group. This video, edited from material recorded at one of their weekly meetings, gives insight into the nature of domestic abuse and the problems women face in overcoming that situation. The self-help project was originated by Barbara Stewart, Chicago Department of Human Services Victim/Witness Advocacy Program, and Marcia Alpert, Loop Center YWCA Women’s Services Staff.

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  Festival De Mujeres

  Chicago, Communities, Eleanor Boyer, Latinx, Videomakers

  Taped at the first-ever women’s street fair held in Pilsen, a predominantly Latinx, working-class neighborhood in Chicago. The event was organized by Mujeres Latinas in Accion to showcase Latinx women’s culture and to provide information about social services, health services and recreational opportunities available for women. The video captures the activity and color of the fair and features readings by poets Salima Rivera and Marta Callazo. Comments by organizers, participants and local residents give insight into the role of Latinx women in society at that time. Produced, videotaped, and edited by Eleanor Boyer and Karen Peugh with a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

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  Bonne Bell: 10,000 Meter Race For Women

  Chicago, Eleanor Boyer, Videomakers

  This video documents Chicago’s first 6.2 mile race for women. Organized and hosted by the Loop Center YWCA in April,1978, it was billed as one of the largest, if not the largest, sporting event for women to that date. Over 2000 entrants completed the race. The tape vividly captures the excitement of women of all ages, races and economic status, many of whom were motivated to run by the desire to do something ‘just for themselves.’ Loop YWCA organizers, Sharon Mier and Erma Tranter appear in the tape as does then mayor of Chicago, Michael Bilandic.

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  Joann: My Sister The Mail Carrier

  Chicago, Chicago Slices, Eleanor Boyer, Videomakers

  A brief portrait of Joann Elam who delivers the mail in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. She talks about being a woman in a traditionally male job. She comments on responses from job supervisors and how she derives personal benefit from this kind of employment. Produced for the Chicago Video Makers’ Coalition program, SLICES OF CHICAGO, a show for broadcast consisting of small format “alternative” videos on subjects not normally seen on broadcast television.

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  Getting Strong: Self Defense For Women

  Chicago, Eleanor Boyer, Videomakers

  In the early 1970’s Chicago’s Loop Center YWCA implemented a variety of anti-rape programs to combat societal beliefs and institutional practices that negatively impacted women. Self defense for women was one of these programs. In this video, comments by men, women and interviews with women self-defense instructors, Carol Whiteside, Sue Gould and Andra Medea, document prevailing attitudes about women’s ability to defend themselves from physical attack. The video shows techniques taught in the women’s self-defense classes at the Loop YWCA.

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  Women Working: Pioneers in Carpentry

  Chicago, Eleanor Boyer

  Jobs in construction carpentry and cabinet making, and the good pay derived them, traditionally have been the domain of men. This video gives a first-hand look at carpentry apprenticeship as experienced by some of the first women to enter these trades in the 1970’s. The camera follows women carpenters at work on job sites including a high-rise under construction, a carpentry shop at a sewer project and in a production cabinet shop. They talk about the training they receive, the working conditions, the kinds of responses they get from male co-workers and the benefits derived from their support-group, Chicago Women Carpenters. Produced by Audrey Denecke for the Women’s Pre-Apprenticeship Project, Midwest Women’s Center, Chicago. Certificate of Merit, Chicago International Film Festival, 1981.