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AIMS AND ACTION CONFERENCE Saturday 11 April from 11 am. to 5 pm. Delegates from labour movement bodies- £2 deology as a materia LETTER Dear Editor, I very much welcome the article in Socialist Press 236 on "Man Made Language" as a continuation of the discussion about sexist language.

However, the article implies that writers like Spender, who raise sexist language as an issue see "ideas, ideology and consciousness as the primary issue to be confronted" while ignoring the fight against other aspects of women's oppression.

This may be true of Spender, but it not true of all opponents of sexist language.

This misunderstanding derives from Lister's contention that "ideas and ideology flow from material conditions; that it is the material world of oppression which leads to sexist language and not vice versa". For Lister, the English language is a reflection of capitalist relations of production and the domination of the bourgeoisie.

I would argue that language part of the material condiAND ACTION CONFERE Redefield School Blackbird Leys, Oxford y 11 April from 11 am. to 'om labour movement bod Unwaged £1 Creche provided factor tions: it structures our thought, provides the concepts by which we perceive ourselves and others and hence guides our practice. Thus sexist language itself plays a determining role in the maintenance of women's oppression.

Moreover, since sexist language did not emerge with the rise of capitalism, and is not co-extensive with capitalism, the establishment of socialism not, of itself, guarantee the liberation of women, although it will obviously secure the basis for our liberation.

Thus, while the fight against the : oppression of women cannot be restricted to the sphere of consciousness and ideas, it demands a recognition of the part language and ideology play in women's oppression, and that the struggle against that oppression must be waged over language as well as over economic and political issues.

Wilkins