Seeing Allred Page #5

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Most people thought, you know,

she's really way out there on the fringe.

People really would look at her

like she was nuts.

I would go to Back to School night,

and she'd look at the books

we were reading,

and they were all written by white men,

mostly dead white men.

She'd say why aren't

we reading anything by women?

Why aren't we reading

anything about women?

Why aren't we reading anything

by or about African Americans?

I was embarrassed, as kids often are.

I felt, you know,

"Mom, why do you have to do that?"

[Allred] So that's my point.

You just can't play nicey-nice

You know, you have to make a shock

into the psyche.

And I want to ask you,

do you think we've come a long way, baby?

-I can't hear you.

-No!

And do you think we still have

a long, long way to go?

Yes!

[Caplan] It was the days

of women's rights.

She came with Bill Allred

to our home to visit .

My husband, Allen, and Bill

got along really well.

And Gloria and I took a walk,

and she said, "Fern, you know,

you have a responsibility

to women who don't have what you have,

to fight for them.

And I remember saying very clearly to her,

"I am very busy teaching,

being a parent to two children,

a wife.

I don't have time to fight

for other people's rights."

And she said,

"You have the responsibility.

You have to to do it."

And we didn't-- we weren't in touch

for seven years after that.

[woman] What do you consider

to be your most outstanding feature?

Well, I suppose

I feel that it's my commitment,

my total commitment

to making social change.

See, I feel that if each one of us

made that sort of commitment

to other women,

to supporting other women,

that we would have social change

very quickly.

It's the most beautiful oven

I've ever seen.

She has a twist-and-turn waist

so you can pose her

to serve lemonade to Ken.

Twist Barbie

[Bloom] There was a Sav-On drug store

near our home,

and I pointed out to her

that there were signs in the toy aisle

that said "girls toys" and "boys toys."

Of course, all the money

is on the boys' side.

And all of the toy vacuum cleaners

and brooms are on the girls' side.

By the way, why anybody needs

a toy vacuum cleaner, I don't know.

We think that children should have

the freedom to explore,

to chose any toy.

[Bloom] I think she sued them

for sex discrimination,

but she also organized a protest

with a lot of moms and kids.

And we marched around and said,

"Why don't you just have toys?

Why does it have to be

girls toys and boys toys?"

The idea that a boy

might want to play with a doll

or girl would dress up as a firefighter,

you know, that was considered

fairly extremist

to say that kind of thing.

Let's accept your point

that too many fathers

just do not pay child support.

What would you do about it?

I think that the answer is

a payroll deduction for child support.

Let that amount be taken

right out of the father's check,

like health insurance, like union dues.

The system that's being proposed

just isn't going to work.

How good can this law be

if it's just one state?

Won't the fathers that are not

paying child support move?

I think if we pass this bill in California

as I hope and expect that we will,

it will set a model for the whole country.

Explosions of consciousness

tend to happen

more or less at the same time.

When we say to ourselves,

"Why does my blouse cost more

at the dry cleaner

than my husband's shirt?"

What Gloria Allred was able to do

was to at least begin to bring

women's concerns

into whole areas of law that weren't

written with women in mind,

that saw women as property

in the beginning.

[man] L'Orangerie restaurant

caters to an elegant clientele

and provides elegant service ,

which includes a menu with prices for men

and a menu with no prices for women.

Now enters Gloria Allred

who says that they are entitled

to equal services and privileges,

and that includes paying

for a man's dinner if a woman desires.

We contend that since women

are always asked to pay for their dates

in one way or another,

that it's only fair that they know

what the investment is

before they decide on a dividend.

[Goldberg] We sued ultimately, and we won.

And that was one of the first cases

that really got a lot of media attention.

[woman] She sued a department store

for charging women

more for alterations than men.

This case is a class action

on behalf of all females.

Before we knew it,

we became known as the law firm

that didthese types of cases.

The settlement of this case

marks the beginning

of a more enlightened treatment

of female prisoners and their babies.

They will no longer have to suffer

the degradation and humiliation

of giving birth in chains

[Goldberg] We had a woman who

claimed that she had been molested

by seven different Catholic priests.

We had her come in.

She seemed credible.

We started representing her.

Once we file the lawsuit,

all the priests

literally disappeared overnight.

They were like-- they were all gone.

That was the first case

where that kind of issue had come up.

It was almost 20 years before we got

some justice for this woman.

Gloria just wouldn't give up,

wouldn't give up, wouldn't give up.

I got sexually involved with Rita,

I admit my fault.

I failed to rescue her from other priests.

I am truly sorry.

When I went off to law school,

we had our weekly call,

and we're chit chatting

and I'm talking about school,

and I asked her what was

going with her,

and she said, "I'm locked

into the District Attorney's building

and I've been here overnight."

First of all,

why did you not lead with that?

Are you kidding?

What are you doing there?

[Allred] Ira Reiner was district attorney.

He didn't show up for a meeting

that he had promised to have

with me at a certain time .

If the Los Angeles County

District Attorney is not willing to sit

and hear from these mothers

what the problems are

in raising children without being able

to get their child support,

then he doesn't really care

about child support.

She's lying, she never had

an appointment--

never did.

Uh, if she keeps up this,

chances are she never will.

[Maroko] All the sudden, there's a thing.

Gloria Allred's in a sit-in.

I said, "Are you out of your mind?

Are you going to sit there all night

until he meets with you?

What happens if it's a week or two weeks?"

The next morning, they decided

they weren't gonna lock me in again.

They were gonna just throw me out.

You should be using these resources

to arrest these fathers

who are breaking the law.

Supporting their child is part

of their responsibilities.

Would you move in there, please?

We want our child support

for these children.

We want every law obeyed,

and we don't want

innocent mothers and children arrested.

We want those fathers arrested

who are not paying their child support.

Ira Reiner, where are you?

Why aren't you taking

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