Women To Hold Rally Today in Boston; Almost 200 Attend Black Panther March

Today is International Women's Day. A rally protesting "sexism and imperialism" will take place at noon on the Boston Common.

Last year was the first time the event was celebrated in the United States, when about 1000 women rallied at the Boston Common. The event is celebrated annually in socialist countries.

After speeches by members of various women's collectives, the demonstrators will march to the State House to discuss legislative issues such as abortion and day-care.

From there, they plan to gather at the Playboy Club, where a speech will be given on the sexual oppression of women-"a rather appropriate topic for the Playboy Club," said Amy Brodkey '71, an organizer of the march.

The marchers will discuss the issue of women as political prisoners at the Charles Street Jail. "In a broad sense," Brodkey said, "prostitution and shoplifting are political crimes, as they are necessitated in some instances by a political system which economically and sexually oppresses women."

The final planned event is a takeover of a vacant building in Boston, where a permanent Women's Center will be established.

The rally is being sponsored by the Committee to Defend the Right to Live, which was set up in Saigon by Vietnamese women. The committee says that it allies itself with the Saigon committee because "both the war and sexism foster dominance and oppression by the same white, male ruling elite."

Consistent with the goals of the committee, free day-care help will be available to all women participating in the demonstration, the organizers said.