TTTTZPZZZí ^syrj'/tr/v/yjm/Mr,,s%r

^^sssaBsssgss^i^^fcsss^s^^»^^^^
 m

TREASURES
OF
WORLD ART

102

People's
Democratic Rep.
of Yemen

Aban, bearer
of cornstalks

This young woman bear¬

ing a bunch of cornstalks
in her left hand lived some

1,800 years ago in Qa-

taban, an ancient king¬
dom of southern Arabia,
lying northeast of pres¬
ent-day Aden. Her por¬
trait, sculpted in polished
limestone (detail shown
here) embellishes her
tomb on which her name

"Aban, of the clan of

Mahdar" is inscribed in

the Semitic language of

Qataban. The top of her
head, as is usual in pre-
Islamic South Arabian

portrait busts, is cut off

above the forehead, per¬
haps to carry some ad¬
junct to represent hair or
a head-dress. Aban's por¬
trait is 32 cm. high by
25 cm. wide.

Photo i British Museum

London
 Courier Page

5 'I DIDN'T CHOOSE MY HUSBAND. . .

An inquiry on the situation of women villagers in Upper Volta
By Claudia Fonseca
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1975
13 JAPANESE WOMEN RAISE
28TH YEAR
THE RICE SPOON OF REVOLT
By Michiko Inukai
PUBLISHED IN 15 LANGUAGES 17 THE CRUSADE OF JAPAN'S WOMEN
AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF POLLUTION
English Arabic Hebrew
By Matsui Yayori
French Japanese Persian 18 'IN THE NAME OF THE LAW, HUBBY,
Spanish Italian Dutch WASH THE DISHES !'
A law just adopted in Cuba obliges husbands
Russian Hindi Portuguese
to help with housework
German Tamil Turkish By Jorge Enrique Adoum
23 A NOTED ALGERIAN WRITER PRESENTS HER VIEWS
OF MUSLIM WOMEN TODAY
Published monthly by UNESCO
By Assia Djebar
The United Nations
Educational, Scientific 27 THE VEIL DROPS IN AFGHANISTAN
and Cultural Organization Photo report
Sales and Distribution Offices 29 THE NEW FEMINIST EXPLOSION IN THE U.S.A.
Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris By Isa Kapp
Annual subscription rate 28 French francs 32 $65 MILLION: ONE COMPANY'S PENALTY
Binder for a year's 'issues: 24 French francs FOR SEXIST DISCRIMINATION

The UNESCO COURIER is published monthly, except in

By Lynn Payer
August and September when it is bi-monthly (11 issues a 34 WOMEN PAINTERS OF NORTHERN INDIA
year). For list of distributors see inside back cover.
Individual articles and photographs not copyrighted may Four pages in full colour
be reprinted providing the credit line reads "Reprinted from
the UNESCO COURIER," plus date of issue, and three 39 A UNESCO INQUIRY
voucher copies are sent to the editor. Signed articles re¬
ON WOMEN'S STATUS IN FIVE COUNTRIES
printed must bear author's name. Non-copyright photos
will be supplied on request. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot By Antony Brock
be returned unless accompanied by an international reply
coupon covering postage. Signed articles express the 42 BOYS COME INTO THE WORLD
opinions of the authors and do not necessarily represent
GIRLS COME INTO A 'THIRD WORLD'
the opinions of UNESCO or those of the editors of the
UNESCO COURIER. By Elena Gianini Belotti
The Unesco Courier Is produced In microform (micro¬ 49 TEXTBOOKS. STEREOTYPES
film and/or microfiche) by: (1) University Microfilms AND ANTI-FEMININE PREJUDICES
(Xerox), Ann Arbor, Michigan 48100, U.S.A. ; (2) N.C.R.
By Renée Miot
Microcard Edition, Indian Head, Inc., 111 West 40th
Street, New York, U.S.A.; (3) Bell and Howell C° 53 THE UNREWARDED HOUSEWIFE
Old Mansfield Road, Wooster, Ohio 44691, U.S.A.
The Unesco Courier is indexed monthly in the
By Kirsten Ording Haan
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, published by 56 WHERE THE HUSBAND IS HEAD COOK
H. W. Wilson Co., New York, and in Current Con¬
AND BOTTLEWASHER
tents - Education, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
By Elsa Rastad Braaten ;
Editorial Office 58 MASCULINE, FEMININE OR NEUTRAL?
Unesco, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris France By Aron I. Belkin
Editor-in-Chief 62 THE SITUATION OF WOMEN
Sandy Koffler
IN TWELVE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES
Assistant Editors-in-Chief
René Caloz
65 NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
AND THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN'S EMANCIPATION
Olga Rodel
By Jeanne Henriette Chaton

Managing Editors 67 THE FIRST WORLD CONFERENCE OF WOMEN

English Edition : Ronald Fenton (Paris) By Marie-Pierre Herzog
French Edition : Jane Albert Hesse (Paris)
69 UNESCO-NEWSROOM
Spanish Edition : Francisco Fernández-Santos (Paris)
Russian Edition : Georgi Stetsenko (Paris)
German Edition :
70 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Werner Merkli (Berne)
Arabic Edition : 2 TREASURES OF WORLD ART
Abdel Moneim El Sawi (Cairo)
Japanese Edition : Kazuo Akao (Tokyo) People's Dem. Rep. of Yemen : Aban, bearer of cornstalks
Italian Edition : Maria Remiddi (Rome)
Hindi Edition : Syed Asad Ali (Delhi)
Tamil Edition : N.D. Sundaravadivelu (Madras)
Hebrew Edition : Alexander Broido (Tel Aviv)
Persian Edition : Fereydoun Árdala n (Teheran)
Dutch Edition : Paul Morren (Antwerp)
Portuguese Edition : Benedicto Silva (Rio de Janeiro)
Turkish Edition : Mefra Telci (Istanbul)
Cover
Assistant Editors

English Edition : Roy Malkin

In the province of Mithila, in northern India, only the women are
French Edition : Philippe'Ouannès
artists according to an ancient custom. Cover reproduces in colour a
Spanish Edition : Jorge Enrique Ad ou m
Mithila painting entitled "Gopis" (see also page 34 and 4 pages of
Illustrations : Anne-Marie Maillard colour). At a time when women are waging a global campaign against
male domination and anti-feminist prejudices, the works of Mithila's
Research : Christiane Boucher
women painters refute the outmoded idea that women are not artists.
Layout and Design : Robert Jacquemin In a previous issue devoted to International Women's Year (March 1975)
the " Unesco Courier " examined the situation of Women in Burma,
All correspondence should be addressed to
Africa and Latin America (the myth of "machismo") and the problems
the Editor-in-Chief in Paris
of girls and women in schools, universities and jobs.

rüMi975 © Yvej^0."3"«1' Paris

On the occasion of International
Women's Year, the "Unesco Cou¬
rier" devotes this double number
(a follow-up to its March 1975
issue) to different aspects of the
status of women today and to the
global struggle to eliminate the
discrimination of which women
are still the victims. From this

struggle there emerges the image

of a new woman who rejects the
taboos and outdated and humilia¬

ting stereotypes so long applied

to her sex. Thrusting aside
constraints, she intends hence¬
forth to play her full part in social,
cultural and political life. The
World Conference of International

Women's Year, which has just

taken place in Mexico City (see
article page 67) has demonstrat¬
ed the vigour and spirit of the
world-wide movement for wom¬
en's liberation.

Shy at being "taped", but smiling happily, a

woman from Upper Volta talks about her
life, her ideas and her experiences.

4
 'I DIDN'T CHOOSE
MY HUSBAND
MY FATHER
GAVE ME TO
An inquiry by a Brazilian sociologist
on changing and unchanging conditions
of African village women in Upper Volta

by Claudia Fonseca

Debates on the status of women abound, but seldom does one have a chance to hear
directly from a "typical" village woman (if such a person actually exists). Often
illiterate, living beyond the reach of radio or television, she probably knows nothing
of abstract discussions on women's rights.
Yet, as I recently found during several months of interviews and field study in Africa,
the rural dweller, faced with simple but direct questions on the subject, has very
definite opinions.
The six persons five women and one man introduced below belong to the Kassena
people and live in the Pô region of Upper Volta, 150 km south of its capital,
Ouagadougou. The Kassena, numbering around 70,000, occupy an area of wooded
savannah on both sides of the Ghana-Upper Volta border.
A long dry season and mediocre soil severely limit farming in this region, although
over 90 per cent of the population are farmers who eke out a near subsistence level
existence on four kinds of millet and a few vegetables. For the most part, they are
scattered in villages of two to three hundred inhabitants, each composed of several
polygamous households organized on the basis of male descent and inheritance.
Except for a few recently converted Christians and Muslims, the Kassena observe
their traditional religion a mixture of animism, and cults of land and ancestors.
Modern commodities such as electricity and running water exist only in the district
capital, in the homes of a few officials.
None of the people interviewed has ever had such comforts. They are part of the
illiterate and often overlooked rural world that accounts for a large majority of the
country's population.

l/AUrr Kawe, about 35 years old, is the third wife of him. I'm so old, I can't even remember how long ago
IXrlilL Aliru, a small farmer. Her travels have never it was. I was very young and only knew that my older
carried her beyond this village of 500 inhabitants and her "sister" (1) who was married to Aliru wanted me to come
birthplace, 40 kilometres away. We find her seated on the and live here and help her cook and fetch water. I didn't
patjo in front of her mud and straw hut, bathing her two- know I was to be her co-wife.
month-old daughter. Then, when I became a woman, I went home to my
father's house for the excision ceremony. It was only
How does a girl get a husband? then that they said I must return and stay always with
Aliru because he was my husband. My sister decided the ^
I didn't choose my husband. My father gave me to marriage. I had no choice. Perhaps if I wanted to leave V

CLAUDIA FONSECA, Brazilian social anthropologist, spent several

months in Upper Volta as adviser to Unesco's experimental project to
promote equal access to education for women and girls In that
country. She has also carried out considerable on-the-spot research
on the role of women in national development in Taiwan, Micronesia and
more recently in Brazil, where she is studying problems of the adaptation (1) Any woman connected by blood or marriage to a household Is
of secondary schooling to rural areas. termed "sister".

5
k now, I could, but why should I? My children are here, to get her back. If he doesn't... well... it's like losing
and my peanut field. a chicken. If it goes to a neighbour's house, you must go
and get it back. Otherwise it'll belong to the neighbour.
Why do people divorce ? But if a man has already made the ceremonial visits and
paid the bride-price to his wife's parents, he's sure to
If a woman does not like her husband, does not make
insist that she return to him. Besides, the girl's father
wouldn't want to keep her with him, where she might set
his dinner, and is cold towards him, the husband may
a bad example for his own wives.
send her back to her family. A husband may beat his
wife if she refuses to do the things he tells her. But
Who work harder, men or women ?
a woman had better not hit her husband if she does,
she'll get the worst of it. I cannot even insult Aliru. If Ha! Women of course. The men have only their field
I did, his grown children would take his side against me. of millet to worry about. We must help the men in their
If a woman feels her husband does not want her, if he fields and plant our own fields of peanuts, corn, and
doesn't come to her house even to drink water, or eat, condiments too. It's hard to get everything done, especially
then she may leave him. He must go to her father's house in the planting season. And then there .are meals to

Top left, a familiar scene in rural Africa : balancing
calabashes on their heads, women villagers fetch
water from the well for their families a traditional
woman's job. Left, an all-male meeting of villagers
grouped around their chief. But in Africa's develop¬
ing countries today, long-established
ideas about women's role and responsibilities are
changing. Above, an Upper Volta schoolgirl lifts a
questioning finger. She belongs to a generation
in search of new ideas and eager for knowledge.
prepare, flour to grind, and the house to clean, not to
mention looking after the babies. How often do you see
a woman wasting her time drinking in the dolo hut (a bar
selling millet beer) like the husbands? Why do you think
I'm so skinny? I eat plenty, but I have too many worries.
Do you have any money of your own ?
I don't have a very big peanut field, just enough for the
family, so I don't have much to sell. Last week, though,
I had some spare time so I made some shea-butter and
got a good price for it. Normally I might spend the money
on food, maybe onions or tomatoes, or some hot peppers.
But this time, my husband took the money. He needed
it because another wife, the young one, had just had a baby
at the dispensary, and besides the medicine, they made him
buy sheets and some clothes for the baby.
Who decides which children, boys
or girls, will go to school?
None of our children are in school, so I can't really say.
To enroll a child, you need a birth certificate, and only the
men know how to get that, so I guess they would decide.
The children really belong to my husband's family, so the
important thing is what the family wants.
I don't think any of the girls in our village have ever been
to school. It's too far away, and people are afraid the
girls will elope and not come home. I think it is better
perhaps to send a boy to school. After all, the boys will
bring their money back to their parents. A girl keeps
hers for her husband.
What responsibilities do you give
your sons and daughters ?
It's the mother's job to educate a daughter. She teaches
her to crush millet, to make millet cake, and fetch water
from the well. When she is nearly a woman, a daughter
may follow her mother and help her in the fields, or even
have her own field.
A son's education is the father's job. Young boys look
for termites for the chicks, and get water for the animals.
Later, they help their fathers in the fields. A boy obeys
his father more than his mother. If the mother sends her
son on an errand he doesn't want to do, the father may
say, "He's not a girl, so why send him on your business?"
Girls obey their mothers.
PAIII INF Pauline, 25, is her husband's only wife. She
rnULIIIL ¡s a Catholic and goes regularly to mass.
In addition to the traditional tasks of mother, housekeeper,
and farmer, she is a successful market trader.
Who work harder, men or women ?
I suppose men do, but really we each do our part.
Women take care of the home and children, but men do
the harder work in the fields. They clear all the land,
for our crops and theirs, and then they must cultivate the
big fields of millet far out in the bush. We only help
in the planting and, during the harvest, by winnowing
the grain and carrying it home. We only cultivate our
own small fields of condiments, closer to the house, and
even then, a lucky woman will have a few sons-in-law
to help her. So you see men and women both work hard.
Do you have any money of your own ?
Yes! I go to the markets, maybe every three or four
days, if I'm not sick or working in the bush. I sell millet
for my husband, and my own sumbara cheese or shea-
butter. But what brings in the most money is the millet
beer I make and sell on market day here in town. I make
good beer and good talk so I have lots of customers.
The money I get for the millet goes to the chief (her
husband's older brother). I keep some of the beer earnings
to buy condiments for our food, though most of that goes
to the chief too. But I keep all the money I make from ^
7
my butter and cheese. With it, I can afford fine gifts for is spending. If there is plenty of millet, she simply says,
the funerals and feasts in my parents' house. I also buy "Why do you ask me to sell millet every day? Are you
all my own kitchen equipmentenameled pots and pans, going to buy something new?" So he tells her, and she
earthenware jars, some spoons, and even a painted table. says "fine". If there is not enough millet, she will say,
My husband is ignorant of this sort of thing, so I take "How can you sell all this millet to buy a radio (or a
care of it all myself. plough)? We won't have enough left to eat at the end
of the year."
The chief helps to buy clothes for me and my children.
But when I see something I like, I want to buy it right away,
without asking anyone. Sometimes, when I don't have Can women have their own money?
enough money, I go to the chief. He may complain that
A woman who earns money at the market will either keep
I spend too much don't all men? but he'll help me get
it herself or give part of it to her husband for some big
what I want. The chief pays all our taxes and buys us
expense. She cannot give it to her parents. But the
medicine when we need it.
husband cannot force her to share it with him unless he
helped to finance her market deals. A rich woman may
What responsibilities do you give buy animals and give them to her sons, but rarely owns
your sons and daughters ? animals herself. If she does, sooner or later she will tend
to lose respect for her husband because she can do
In general, boys and girls do pretty much the same everything he can.
work. I have only sons, so they often help me at home.
They never cook millet cake, but they often fetch water
Who decides which children, boys
for me, or sweep the house. If they disobey me without
or girls, will go to school?
good reason, their father punishes them. Like other boys,
they go hunting for termites and drive the cows home Normally the father knows all about these things and
at night. But in other families there are many girls who the wife knows nothing. But he will not enroll a child
watch the animals, especially when there are no sons. without telling the mother. If she has a good reason for
not sending the child, she will say so. This year, I took
five children to the school in the district centre. One girl
Al/IIVAM Avuyan is the young, robust chief of a village was too old, but the other four, two girls and two boys,
Hi U I nil 0f 1400 inhabitants. He has recently taken
were accepted. It is good to educate girls because they'll
a second wife with whom he spends much of his free time.
either become government employees or else they'll marry
Although as a teenager he worked in Ghana's plantation
one. Either way the girl's family will profit because she
areas, and now is often busy with village responsibilities,
or her husband will be able to bring fine gifts and sometimes
like most men he is basically a farmer. At dusk, we find
money to her parents.
him relaxing after a day in the fields, holding his two-year-
old son in his lap.
I/AOOA All* Kassaana, the only wife of a much older
How does a girl get a husband? rvnOOnrllln man_ ¡s about 50 years old. She is in her
kitchen hut shelling néré seeds. Her husband is sitting
Her father chooses a husband for her but not without on the terrace sewing some skins. He listens throughout
asking his wife. If the wife has a good reason for refusing the interview but only adds a word here and there.
the choice, she may do so. Of course, they also ask the
girl what she thinks, but if both parents agree and the How does a girl get a husband?
daughter refuses, they will be very upset. When they
see that a girl is growing breasts and that young men are How do they get husbands in your country? It's probably
showing an interest in her, then it's time to find her the same way. My husband had already married twice,
a husband. It's not a good idea to promise a girl in but both wives were gone when I arrived. You can choose
marriage too early, because that gives her several years a girl's husband for her if you like, but who's to say that
to think about her husband and she may decide she doesn't she'll stay and be happy?
want him. Then it's a problem to return the dowry and
Take my daughter. Didn't you see her dancing last
placate the husband. But, if a woman is already mature month at the feast? Well, after that, she left with a
when she is promised to a man, she may have a baby "sister" who's married and living in the next district. That
soon after she marries and then she won't be able to
girl told her she was lonely. She said they would have
leave her husband so easily.
more fun if they returned together to her husband's village.
Now we've heard our daughter is living with a younger
Why do people divorce ? brother in the house. My husband sent three times for
her to come home, but she won't. She just called in once
If a man asks his wife to do something for him and she
to say she wanted to stay there for a while yet. We can't
refuses, he will begin to wonder what's wrong maybe
order her to come home since she chose herself to go
thinking she has found another man. If she still refuses to this man.
the third time he asks her, they will fight, and she will
probably return to her family or go to another man. On the other hand, my son, who is older than his sisters,
If a husband makes his wife do hard work that is not
is looking everywhere for a wife. He has already asked
two girls, but they just laughed at him. I hope it will be
meant for women, she may protest, but she'll do it. If the
next day, he asks her again, and she's too tired, she may
then go back to her parents who will tell her she has
done right to leave him.
If a man beats his wife a lot, the parents will try to find
out who is in the wrong. If it's the man, the wife will be
taken back by her family. If it's the wife, she will be made
to stay with her husband and be scolded by her own family.

How do you and your wives decide

about big expenses ?

The husband and wife will probably discuss together a big

purchase such as a radio or a plough. The wife always
knows when her husband is planning to buy something,
since she sells his millet and knows how much money he

8

This young woman lives in Pô, the Upper Volta
village 150 km south of Ouagadougou, the capital,
where the interviews with African women published
here took place. Like all the women of her village
she does the housework (top) brushing the floor
of her hut and polishing the calabashes and kitchen
utensils which hang on the wall. Below, standing on
her doorstep she rolls up a strip of matting before
storing it away. Looking after the home is a woman's
work, and one woman interviewed explains that
if she sends her son on an errand he does not wish to
do, her husband may scold her saying, "He's not a girl,
so why send him on your business?"
easier when his sisters marry. Then, we will receive many
animals we can use to buy a wife for our son.
Why do people divorce ?
How can I say? My husband has never mistreated me
and I've never wanted to leave him. How could I leave
him now he is blind and weak? He wasn't like that when
I came to him. Just as a husband would care for his sick
wife, she must care for him.
And what about your daughter?
She's not married yet. The man she's living with hasn't
come to make the traditional salutations, and we don't
mind waiting. Because once he comes, and we accept
his gifts, the girl will no longer be so free to leave him.
As things are now, she can leave whenever she likes,
with no problems.
Is it good to be your husband's
only wife ?
It is not for me to say. Some women think that to be
alone means hard work. But I'm lucky because I have
my "sisters" here and we help each other like co-wives.
We take turns at cooking and we eat together. Sometimes
I eat with my husband, but not when his friends visit him.
They would not be at ease and eat their fill if I were there.
When a man has many wives, he never eats with them.
I think I am happy to be with my husband.
Who work harder, men or women ?
We are old, my husband and me, so neither of us works
so hard any more. To keep busy, he makes ropes or
pretends to sew, washes his clothes or potters about in
my peanut fields close to the house. But mostly he just
stays around here and chats with our friends.
When he was younger, though, he worked very hard, .
and following traditional habit, he didn't want me to work
much in the fields. Some men don't want their wives to
work at all. Why, Avuyan's new wife doesn't even know
how to use a daba (short-handled hoe).
I always insisted on helping. When you see your
husband working so hard to feed his family, how can you
not go too? But there are other activities that women
cannot do, because they are really too weak like making
a lettuce patch or growing tomatoes. For that, you must
dig a well, and water the garden every day. It's the same
for cotton too much work for one woman alone.
Who decides which children, boys or
girls, will go to school?
My children didn't go to school. When they were the
right age to begin, we'd hardly even heard about such
things. But now my husband says it would be fine if
I learned how to read and write just so long as I stayed
at home and took care of him as I always do.
If A VI DA Kayira, aged about 65, lives in her brother's
IVniirtrt household. While chatting with several older
women visitors, she sews together a sarro (straw mat)
with an iron needle and leather strips. The younger
women show interest in our questions, but maintain a
respectful silence while she answers.
How does a girl get a husband?
My father found me my husband. I was married first
with a man who courted me in a way that wins young girls,
but he was very poor. After I bore him a son, he was
unable to pay my father the bride price, and even his
brothers couldn't help him, so my father took me back.
Later I married again, but my parents kept my son.
My second husband was a good man and I stayed witiV
him a very long time, but he was also very poor. I wasr
9
 'TIME-BUDGETS' OF AFRICAN
AND EUROPEAN WOMEN

The strip cartoons at right show how an African woman

(above) and a European woman (below) spend their day,
from getting up in the morning until putting their children 5 :30 to 1 5 :00
to bed, late in the evening. A comparison of the way
people spend their time (a "time-budget") may reveal more
about their lives than a study of the way they spend their
money. Not every kind of human activity is reflected
in income or expenditure, but everyone has exactly
24 hours or 1440 minutes a day at his or her disposal, and
how he or she uses it can be measured. Drawing on a study,
published by the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa ("Women of Africa, today and tomorrow," 1975),
cartoonist Alain Roussel has drawn these cartoons specially
for the "Unesco Courier".

k his only wife. But now that he is old, he can no longer has no children of her own so she claims all her rightc
farm the land. We have no sons and no sons-in-law in the family.
to help us. We had nothing to eat, so I returned to live She took my daughter away when she was just a girl.
here with my father. That frequently happens here but it's not like getting
married. It just becomes the older "sister's" responsibility
Who decides which children, boys to find the girl a husband later on.
or girls, will go to school?
Why do people divorce ?
The husband. It's natural that a woman should follow
her husband in all matters, get his food when he needs it, I have been with my husband since we married many
bring him water, and always obey him. years ago. But once I went back to my father's house
to stay for a long while during all the growing season.
Girls don't go to school. They must stay with their
I was much younger. My husband took a new wife which
mothers to help prepare the meals and fetch water. Then
is only right, but then he gave her millet to sell for him
they will become wives and mothers. When would they
in the market the millet I had helped to plant and harvest.
have time for school? It is much more important that a girl
stay with her children. She's the one who suffers for them The older women here came to whisper in my ear that
in childbirth, who cleans them, and cares for them when it was unjust, but I couldn't complain, so I simply took my
they are ill. The husband knows nothing of these things. new-born child and went back to my father's house. My
husband apologised correctly, sending friends with presents
for me and my father. I came back, but you can be sure,
CATA Sata, about 40, is busy grilling millet. She has I waited until all the work had been finished for that
Onln two sons and a daughter, all grown. She has season, so that my new co-wife would know what it was
been to the nation's capital three times, twice with her to work hard and alone.
husband, and once to visit her brother who is a nurse
there. They are all Muslims. Who decides which children will
go to school?
How does a girl get a husband?
The man decides. The wife takes no decisions where
My father chose mine, but it is my husband's sister the children are concerned. It is easier to send boys to
Azanga who tells my daughters what to do. It is because school than girls because for girls you have to get the
she became a rich merchant in Ghana and could afford permission of the aunts as well as that of the father. Also,
to give many horses and fine clothes to her brothers. She you can't count on a girl to finish school because as soon

10
 16:00 17:30 20:30
to 17:30 to 18:30 to 21 :30

18:30
to 19:30

15:00 to 16:00 19:30 to 20:30 21 :30

13:15
to 16:30

_ÍlT:55
to 1 2 :30
19:30 to 21 :30

as she marries, her husband makes her stop. He knows Hence, they do all the traditional jobs cooking, fetching
an educated woman would not accept to stay with a simple firewood and water, cleaning, caring for the children and
farmer husband. take an increasing part in farming responsibilities. The
traditional masculine realm of duties has not widened in
a corresponding manner.
To draw a coherent conclusion from the
CONCLUSION ideas of these six people we should No woman, not even of the new generation, would ever
keep two things in mind. Firstly, rural life is based on say that anyone but her father chose her husband, nor,
traditions that change; and secondly, due to the influence in most cases, that she'd been married more than once.
of traditional ideals, there is often a discrepancy between Yet according to our informants, such things happen not
what people say happens and what actually occurs. infrequently.

Kayira gives us a fair picture of the ideas and values Other traditional values such as "business is for men,"

concerning women fifty years ago. A girl first of all
obeyed her father (she married, divorced, and even relin¬
quished her child according to his orders), and then her
husband whom she "followed in all matters".
not look after animals or have "important" family responsi¬
bilities, nor did they go to school.
Bit by bit, we see these ideas changing: in Kawe who
recognizes that her daughter will probably choose her
own husband, in Pauline who thinks boys and girls do more
or less the same work, and in Avuyan who believes it is
just as good to educate girls as boys.
But if change seems to be working in favour of women
in certain areas, it may not be so positive in terms of
workloads. As Kassaana tells us, women traditionally did
relatively light work in the fields. Recently, however, it
has become accepted for wives to take on more of the
heavy duties in their husbands' fields and some are even
starting their own millet and cotton crops.
"girls don't go to school", and "boys don't help their
mothers" are also challenged by particular cases. Yet
most women still believe that men work harder than women,
Girls did because that is the accepted theory.
An explanation of these seeming contradictions is that
the interviews encompass not only traditional ideals, but
also the wider spectrum of tacitly accepted behaviour.
The differences between the people interviewed here
point out the difficulty one has in trying to generalize about
any society. The Kassena are only one of nearly a
hundred separate ethnic groups in Upper Volta, each of
which has its own traditions concerning women. Just
where a person fits in on this elastic scale of behaviour
depends very much on individual character and circum¬
stances. So in order to gain some insight about the life
of rural African women, one needs to maintain a completely
open mind, and take into account many different viewpoints.
B Claudia Fonseca

11
 "I'm afraid to go shopping," proclaims one of these spoon-shaped picket-signs brandished
by members of Japan's Union of Women (Shu-Fu-Ren) during a demonstration against
rising prices. The rice spoon is the emblem of this million-strong movement which
has on several occasions forced big Japanese companies to reduce their prices, and which
crusades not only for women's rights but for the protection of the environment,
international understanding and many other causes.

12
 Japanese women
raise the rice spoon
of revolt
by Michiko Inukai

WHEN in 1948 a Japanese (Land of Abundant Rice the ancient real and lasting peace and equality
woman senator, Mumeo Oku, name of Japan). It was the supreme in society through a fair distribution
chose a flat wooden rice spoon called means of reconciling individuals and of goods; 3) to promote better eco¬
a Shamoji as the emblem of her newly classes: eating rice cooked in the nomic and political development In
organized Union of Women (Shu-Fu- same pot meant sharing a single society through the use of reason,
Ren), few Japanese were surprised at offering, a single prayer, a single not power".
her choice. For most people it clearly source of life and in this way sym¬
indicated what she wanted to achieve. All this may seem rather idealistic,
bolized one brotherhood.
but in fact the. union's activities are
Ever since then huge picket signs
The Shamoji was the only utensil very much down-to-earth. Every day
bearing the Shamoji emblem have which could be used to handle rice. the headquarters receives telephone
become a familiar sight to the Japa¬ calls and letters from hundreds of the
It became a symbol of participation
nese public at demonstrations against
in the nation's economic and political union's million members, who unfail¬
political corruption, price-fixing by big
life, as well as representing the idea ingly report any new developments
business, or other economic scandals.
of reconciliation and peace in Japa¬ social, political or economic which
Throughout our history of some nese society. And women had a pri¬ may be against the public interest.
2,000 years, the Shamoji has been vileged role as keepers of the
One member may notify head¬
inseparably associated with something Shamoji.
quarters of a sudden rise in the price
of vital importance to all Japanese
By choosing the Shamoji as its em¬ of soja sauce' (an indispensable item
rice. Rice not only formed the basic blem, Madame Oku's Union of Women in Japanese cooking). Another may
diet of the people; until the end of the
thus proclaimed that it was aiming to report that a factory manufacturing
19th century it was also a substitute
reaffirm and strengthen the traditional dangerous chemicals is to be built
for money, playing a central role in
role of Japanese women in response near a kindergarten. Information of
finance as gold does today. This to the needs of the modern world. this kind is first of all sorted out at
explains why in Japan rice-growers headquarters and then if the union
were always esteemed more highly The traveller who walks out of the
considers that it is sufficiently impor¬
than merchants or artisans. Yosuya Railway Station in Tokyo
tant for action, it forms an emergency
Rice was also the finest of all cannot fail to notice a greyish six-
committee to investigate the matter
storey building on the opposite side
offerings one could make to the gods and fight if necessary.
who watched over Mizu-Ho-No-Kuni
of the station square. From its summit
hangs an enormous sign bearing the For these women with their spoons
words Shu-Fu-Kaikan (Headquarters of are fighters to be reckoned with. Once
the Union of Women) in Japanese they set out to get to the bottom of
characters. Since it was built in 1956 a question, the investigation com¬
with donations from about one million mittees never let up until they have
women from all over Japan, this modest got a satisfactory answer.
building has been a source of conster¬ Three years ago, for example, after
nation to big business monopolies and a long inquiry and a fierce tussle with
a place where popular causes have one of Japan's biggest industries, the
always found a hearing. union won a 30 per cent price cut in
colour television sets, to universal
In the entrance hall hangs a huge
applause.
placard bearing the union's declar¬
ation: "This is the headquarters of the One of the union's strongpoints is
associated union of all the women that its members include women
MICHIKO INUKAI, Japanese author, has and of various women's organizations specialists in many different fields,
twice won Japan's "Fu/in-Koron" literary prize. whose aims are: 1) to enable every whose expertise the union can call on
A member of the Japanese Writers' Association,
woman to develop her talents and at any time.
she was the first woman to join the Prime
Minister of Japan's "Think Tank" (1965-1970). interests to the full; 2) to establish The union's big fight in 1975 is being'^

13
f1 waged against a powerful chemical paper, its own adult education centre
company whose cosmetics, the union and its own nation-wide chain-store

believes, contain too many dangerous network. In most parts of Japan,

chemicals, as well as being overpriced. these are called "honest shops",
To the company's horror, the union chosen, supported and sponsored by
has ordered a general boycott of its the union. These shops, conspicuous GOOD-BYE
products. for the huge signs hanging on TO THE

The union also has its own labora¬ their doors reading " Shu-Fu-No-Mise" HOMEBODY
(authorized by the Shu-Fu-Ren) sell
tory for chemical analysis, again IMAGE
a wide variety of reasonably priced,
thanks to permanent collaboration by
good-quality products. The traditional image
its own chemists, doctors and other of Japanese women as
scientific experts, where new synthetic The remarkable thing about the Shu- little homebodies is
products and foods are tested to find Fu-Ren is that though it defends the fading fast. Modern
out whether or not they contravene cause of women, its horizons stretch Japan has a steadily
current laws or regulations on such beyond feminism: it believes that one rising number of work¬

products. cannot promote the welfare of women ing wives and mothers,

without doing the same for men. This although many big em¬
The union has long waged an anti¬
ployers consider mar¬
pollution campaign. True Shamoji is a viewpoint long rooted in the tra¬
riage incompatible
holders cannot ignore this modern ditions of Japan.
with real commitment
enemy of peace and health. Last No discrimination between the sexes to a job. Japan's Labour
year, groups were formed to examine existed in Japan until the end of the Law carefully defines
the "quality of the air" in various areas 11th century. Previously, women of
the status of women

of Tokyo. The results of their investi¬ workers, governing

the wealthier classes were allowed by
their hours of work
gations were sent to the Ministry of law to possess "their own piece of
and holidays and pro¬
Health, with a strongly-worded demand land" (usually rice-fields). Each
hibiting their employ¬
that anti-pollution policy should be woman land-owner had to pay taxes. ment in dangerous or
stepped up. Married or not, she had to make her harmful jobs. Here
Many Shamoji members have seats own income tax declaration bearing two young Japanese
In the Japanese Parliament or in local her seal and signature. mothers carry their
assemblies. Some members who are babies piggyback as
In Japan, as in other agricultural they wait for a train in
economists sit on Japan's National
Price Control Committee, and are thus
countries, women worked long and a provincial town.
hard on the land. Since they did half
always available to make a political
the work in the rice-fields and fishing,
issue out of rising prices. Whenever
they were paid the same wages as men.
they think it necessary, the union's
executive members ask for a half-hour
Until the 11th century, Japan had a
(or even an hour) interview with the prosperous, stable society, as Japanese
Prime Minister or the Finance Minister literature testifies. The earliest Ja¬
on a nation-wide television network.
panese poem to have survived was
To turn down such a request would be written in the middle of the 4th century
to guarantee a mass demonstration of and its author was a woman. formerly enjoyed by women began to
women with their spoons. deteriorate, and it was not long before
The 8th century saw the compilation they lost their right to own land and
The Shamoji women may be comba¬
of the anthology of poems known as
tive, but they do not simply fight for their equal status in the eyes of the law.
Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand
fighting's sake. They keep themselves During the dominance of the Sa¬
Leaves). Among the works in this
fully Informed on all the economic, murai, only one thing counted: the
classic anthology, which still holds a
political and social problems of Japan power of one man over another. The
powerful appeal for young Japanese
today, and when they fight it is with feudal Samurai lord commanding 1,000
today, are a long poem by a girl
the idea of achieving better solutions men wanted to lord it over 2,000; a
farmer, a lyric by a poor soldier's wife,
to these problems. Samurai with one son wanted two.
a passionate song by a princess, an
Since 1949 a summer university And so women of the Samurai class
epic by a fisherwoman, a love poem
session has been organized at union soon came to be regarded simply as
by an empress.
headquarters to give non-specialist a means of "providing more men".
members a better understanding After these poems, Japanese roman¬
Yet in place of what they had lost,
of current events through lectures tic literature reached its apogee, women of the Samurai class gained
by leading Japanese educators and crowned by the immortal figure of Lady a new status as mothers, provided they
specialists. Murasaki (978-1016), whose multi-
were lucky enough to give birth to
volume "Tale of Genji" has appeared
The union's interests are not limited sons. Motherhood and all the rights
in Unesco's Literature Translation
to Japan's domestic problems. It has that came with it gave these women
an international relations office where
series. (See "Unesco Courier", June authority not only over their sons but
1957.)
current reports from overseas on such over the entire household.

questions as the status of women, But Japanese society was radically For the lower classes, however,
environment policy, the problems of transformed with the spectacular rise things were somewhat different.
world hunger, etc., are assembled. Last of the Samurai (the warrior class),
The harsh demands of daily life
year the international relations section whose struggle for power plunged
meant that anyone, man or woman,
sent a group of its members to the Japan into a turmoil which lasted until
who worked hard and well was highly
People's Republic of China to study the end of the 15th century.
esteemed as a person in his or her
the conditions of women workers.
The Samurai wanted to fight and own right. Chronicles of various
The union also has its own hotel for conquer and this was an affair of men, Japanese villages reveal that women,
members and visitors, its own monthly not women. Inevitably the position in fact, were often the family bread-

14
winners and thus had an influential study at state universities until after of these publications was "Fujin-
say in local community decisions. World War II, private universities were Koron" (Central Review for Women),
opened to them at the beginning of first published in 1915, which became
In the 17th century, Japan's long era the 20th century, enabling a large the standard-bearer of freedom, eman¬
of internal strife finally ended and number of women to train for the cipation, equality and peace for all.
a rich merchant class began to emerge. professions.
Its small group of regular women
In flourishing centres of commerce
Japanese women also became active contributors, led by Madame Raicho
such as Osaka and Sakai, many Hiratsuka, a member of the famous
in the fight for social justice. In 1886
remarkable women rose to prominence
girl textile workers launched Japan's Sei-to-sha (Blue stocking women)
in business. In these towns even
first strike in support of improved group exerted a remarkable influence
today the tradition of giving able
working conditions. And it was a on Japanese thought at that time. One
women an opportunity to run busi¬
group of women workers in northern of these talented writers was a young
nesses is still maintained.
Japan who in 1918 organized the first woman named Mumeo Oku, the future

It is a myth that Japanese women demonstration against current govern¬ founder of Shu-Fu-Ren, the union of
ment price policies. the spoons.
only achieved emancipation after World
War II. Long before 1945 they were Between 1900 and 1920 many Michiko Inukal
active in every field of Japanese life Japanese women writers whose works
in social work, teaching, literature, are now considered as classics were
economics, politics and the law. associated with the movement against
Fascism and militarism. They were
The way was opened to them in
not afraid to risk persecution and
1869 by a law setting up Japan's
torture at the hands of the police,
modern education system. Over
believing that "the pen is mightier than
53,000 elementary schools and 256
the sword" and that it was their duty
secondary schools were set up; by to work for national and international
1872 half of the country's school¬
peace.
children were girls and Japan's illiter¬
acy rate had dropped to less than The appearance of many women's
5 per cent. magazines is another aspect of
women's literary achievement in 20th-
Although women were not able to century Japan. The most outstanding

15
 V
AFTER Blind and dumb from birth, Tomoko Uemura (above) is a tragic victim of Minamata Disease,
which struck the inhabitants of a fishing village on Japan's Minamata Bay (below)
in the late 1950s. The disease, which killed 100 persons and poisoned hundreds more,
THE TRAGEDY was caused by eating fish contaminated by mercury waste from the Chisso Corporation's
plant, which had polluted the waters of the bay. Women's organizations have been in
OF MINAMATA the forefront of campaigns that have won compensation for the victims. Below right, the
acting president of the Chisso Corporation expresses his regrets in the home of
a Minamata Disease victim.
 The crusade
of Japan's women
against the ravages
by Matsui Yayori of pollution
Text © Copyright Reproduction prohibited

MATSUI YAYORI, Japanese writer and jour¬ TO most foreigners, the prevailing industrial enterprise that dominated the
nalist, ¡s a leading figure in Japan's women's
liberation movement. She currently writes for image of the Japanese woman Minamata district.
the Tokyo daily "Asahi Shimbun." specializing must be that of a subservient wife and
But there was one woman visitor to
in the question of women's rights as well as
problems of the environment, social welfare
protective mother, shy and gentle, this fishing village who called at the
and the consumer movement. Her article is wearing her kimono elegantly, and homes of these pitiful victims. She
adapted from a special study published In gracefully enjoying the arts of the tea
"Japan Quarterly" magazine (January-March was Ishimure Michiko, a poet and
1975). ceremony and of flower arrangement. housewife. She kept records of all
The role of the Japanese woman has she saw and heard during her visits.
traditionally been fixed as that of a In a spirit of profound sympathy and
housekeeper. understanding, Ishimure Michiko wrote
So it is remarkable that an increasing a documentary account, entitled "Our
number of Japanese women have begun Minamata Disease", in 1969.
to make efforts to break out of their
This book brought home vividly to
traditional life-style of subjugation. the Japanese people the effects of
In fact, recent years have witnessed industrialization and sparked off an
a powerful explosion of Japanese enormous reaction. The book frankly
women's long pent-up energies, which and convincingly questioned the "pro¬
has shaken some aspects of Japanese ductivity and profit-first" attitude of
society. Those newly awakened ener¬ industrialized Japan.
gies have been chiefly directed into
Ishimure Michiko herself organized
movements either opposing environ¬
a civic group to assist victims of
mental pollution or supporting the
Minamata Disease and launched a
protection of consumers' rights.
movement to secure adequate com¬
One tragic occurrence, symbolic of pensation for them from the Chisso
Japan's worsening environmental pol¬ Corporation.
lution, was the outbreak of Minamata The Kumamoto District Court ruled
Disease, which claimed a hundred lives in the spring of 1973 that the Chisso
and inflicted organic mercury poisoning Corporation should pay compensation
on several hundred (see "Unesco to the victims and their families.
Courier", July 1971). In 1964, a disease called the Second

The tragedy occurred in a small Minamata Disease broke out among

fishing village in Minamata Bay, more than 200 persons living along the
towards the end of the 1950s. banks of the Agano River in Niigata
Prefecture on Honshu, Japan's largest
Japanese scientists discovered that
island. Ten persons died. The dis¬
Minamata Disease was caused by
ease was caused by the waste water
waste from the Chisso Corporation's from the Shôwa Denkô K. K. chemical
plant, located in Minamata City, which plant.
had polluted not only the coastal
waters but also fish and shellfish. But the chemical firm rejected any
Women who had eaten the polluted
responsibility for the organic mercury
poisoning, and so the victims filed a
fish and shellfish gave birth to babies
lawsuit against the firm. The court
who were paralyzed or blind and dumb.
finally ruled that Shôwa Denkô K. K.
Victims of this terrible disease were was responsible for the waste water
poverty-stricken fishermen in no pos¬ which had polluted the river and .
ition to press claims against the huge caused the disease.

17
k The first accusations had been
voiced by three young women em¬
ployees of Shôwa Denkô, who attacked
their company's irresponsible attitude
toward environmental pollution. At
that time, trade unionists were un¬
critical of the firm's policy and
continued to take what they called
a "neutral" stand in respect of this
Second Minamata Disease.

It had become taboo for company

employees to discuss the problem of
pollution, and the workers pretended
to know nothing about the disease and
its victims. Infuriated by such an
attitude of indifference, three young
girls planned to stage a demonstration
for the victims in front of the firm's
head office.

Finally some ten women workers

carried out their plan. "Don't shut
your eyes to environmental pollution.
Workers and victims should be united",
they declared. Three women who
took part in the demonstration had
their rights as trade unionists sus¬
pended for alleged violation of union
regulations.

They went to Niigata to see the

victims and to find out the truth for

themselves. They returned determined

to win the fight. They reproduced and
distributed pamphlets to inform people
about the pitiful plight of the victims
and to reveal the truth.

It required much courage and deter¬

mination to make such a bold appeal
at that time. The accusation of the
three young women made a strong
impression upon public opinion in
Japan, where employees have seldom
criticized their employers' business
policies.

Since 1972, the emphasis within

movements against environmental pol¬

IN THE NAME
lution has shifted from efforts to secure

adequate compensation for damage or

injury to campaigns to halt the building
of factories and power plants that could
cause pollution. In this new type of
movement,
played a leading role.
Japanese women have
OF THE LAW - HUBBY
They have also been active in the
consumer movement, with women from
the
women
cities taking
have also taken
the lead.
a
Japanese
significant
WASH THE DISHES !
part in bringing about changes in Ja¬
pan's politics and society. The popu¬
lar movements led by women are
motivating and directing a new demo¬
Since March 8, 1975, a law
cratic trend in Japan.
adopted in Cuba obliges husbands
Japanese women are slowly but
steadily changing, and we may soon to help their wives with housework
expect that the country will rid itself
of its reputation as a society in which
women are treated as inferior to men.

MatsuI Yayorl by Jorge Enrique Adoum

18
 Women have played a major part in Cuba's nation-wide campaigns to improve literacy, education
and health, while also making an important contribution to the country's economic development.
Many of their rights are now clearly established in Cuba's Family Code which, in reappraising
responsibilities in the home, requires men to share in housework and care of the children.

A church council meeting in of the favoured treatment given to about equality. On the contrary, they
Rome in the 16th century came animals in some places, one might became aware of their rights day by
to the conclusion that the Indians well ask what real benefits this has day as they fought to change their
encountered by Columbus in the New brought them). society, in a struggle culminating in
World did, after all, have souls. About the victory of January 1, 1959, a
the same time in France, Montaigne
In Cuba, which is from many points
struggle in which many of them be¬
recounted that the nuns in a certain of view an exception on the map of the
came heroines and martyrs.
Americas, women are treated like
convent had one day made the start¬
human beings. Of the 270,000 volunteers in the
ling discovery that a peasant was a
great Literacy Corps which reduced
man. But whatever Cuban women have
illiteracy in Cuba from 23 per cent
won thus far has not come to them on
to 3.7 per cent in one year, some
Today Latin Americans are becoming a plate, as a gift from the powers- 60 per cent were women. Similarly,
aware of the fact that women are that-be. History gave them no time women have helped to retrain dom¬
human beings (though when one thinks to engage in theoretical discussions estic servants for productive work, to
establish nursery schools, to carry out
vaccination campaigns and other public
JORGE ENRIQUE ADOUM, Ecuadorian poet and writer, was formerly
health measures.
National Director of Culture In Ecuador. For several years he collaborated
in Unesco's studies on Latin American cultures. He has made
They have also co-operated in the
many visits to Cuba and was there most recently early in 1975
as a member of the jury of the annual literary competition held by the elimination of prostitution, not by
House of the Americas, in Havana. An anthology of his poems, "Informe repressive measures but through
personnal sobre la situación" (Personal report on the situation) has just
been published in Havana. He is now a member of the editorial staff education and by making available jobs^
of the "Unesco Courier." in other sections of the city or in other r

19
towns, to prevent the past from being more than half a million rural students Since then, however, changes have
an obstacle to the incorporation of who are now receiving scholarships; taken place in some societies. (In
these women in the new society. special schools with 4,000 places for some marriages as well: "There was
children with learning problems; 49 new a man who beat his wife when he was
Today in Cuba women are "in
transition" on the road to equality. By hospitals, 110 polyclinics, 19 clinics, drunk and who was beaten by her the
1970, girls accounted for 49 per cent 51 homes for old people and 16 homes rest of the time" is not only the
for the disabled. beginning of a short story but the
of children In elementary schools,
55 per cent of those in secondary Referring to the need for a funda¬ epitome of a situation which, though
schools, and 40.6 per cent of students infrequent, is none the less true to
mental change in attitude, he added:
in higher education. "We still have to ask ourselves when life.)

Prior to 1959 Cuba's 194,000 women will we eradicate the age-old ways of Male supremacy in its extreme form
workers 70,000 of them domestic thinking, when will we overcome all is known as "machismo" and is

servants represented only 9 per cent those prejudices?" And he declared, attributed to Latin Americans as if it

of the country's total labour force. By "...when the objective of national were, an exclusive legacy from
1974 the figure had reached 590,000, liberation is finally attained, women ancient times, or something inherited
or more than 25 per cent of all will still need to continue the fight for from Hispanic tradition. Its remote
workers, thereby freeing a large seg¬ their own liberation in human society." origins are surely to be found In the
ment of manpower for other occu¬ Following the proclamation of Inter¬ economic dependence that has always
pations, such as sugar-cane harvesting. national Women's Year, and even been woman's lot, first under her

before, some of women's claims to father (who at least considers it a

Cuban women considered they had
equality were immediately and uni¬ moral and legal duty to provide for
won a victory when a provision stating
versally acknowledged (almost as her), and subsequently under her
that every business enterprise should
though no thought had been given to husband (who often hands her money
reserve a certain number of posts "for
the sweeping economic and social as if he were giving alms, disdain¬
women" was removed from the Labour
reforms they imply). fully like a millionaire or grudgingly
Code. Today women are even work¬
like a poor man).
ing in the docks and on building sites, But no matter how reasonable such
doing jobs which were traditionally legal or political changes may be, they But when women are economically
men's. can never be fully effective if they are independent, as they are in Cuba, the
considered in isolation from the -die-hards who still defend the old
Whereas scarcely 20 per cent of
general context of a country. This is way of life turn to biological argu¬
Cuban women could afford hospital
proved by the vigorous struggle that ments, such as the weakness and
and clinical services before 1959,
usually has to be waged before a timidity of women (even though they
today 95 per cent benefit from them.
This has reduced the death-rates of principle, such as "equal pay for equal serve as soldiers and paratroopers),

babies and deaths in childbirth in work" or "men and women are equal or to historical such as arguments,
Cuba to the lowest levels in Latin before the law", is actually put Into their supposedly greater aptitude for
practice. housework than for creative activities
America. Death-rates of babies in
other Latin American countries are
(though it now appears that both
It is open to question, for example,
sexes are equally capable of both
sometimes as high as 150 or 200 per whether the mere exercise of the right
types of work), or even to some
1,000, but in Cuba only 26 babies died to vote, which Ecuadorian women have
distant justification taken from the
for every 1,000 births in 1973 and enjoyed since 1929, has brought them
bible to the effect that woman was
fewer than six mothers out of every a more favourable social situation than
10,000 died in childbirth. created to be man's companion (in
that of Paraguayan women who have
which case man should automatically
Nevertheless, just as everywhere only been voting since 1961. Or
become woman's companion).
else in the world, Cuban women have whether Uruguayan women, who can
been, as it were, an occupied terri¬ divorce without having to prove any¬ Cuban men, like all other men, have
thing whereas their husbands must been accustomed to make a distinction
tory, and liberation has not brought
instant emancipation from the colon¬ establish grounds for divorce are between Woman, as idealized in life

ized mentality, and still less from the better off than women in Argentina and literature, and woman spelt with a
where there is no divorce. small "w". Woman with a capital "W"
occupying power, the male.
Cuba has made it clear that "the is the archetype of tenderness and
At the closing session of the Second
moral perfection if she is a mother,
Congress of the Federation of Cuban struggle for the equality of women is
and if she is a fiancée she is the
Women, in November 1974, Prime not only the task of women but of
society as a whole," in other words, archetype of beauty as well. On the
Minister Fidel Castro referred to the
that an out-and-out battle must be other hand, woman, the wife, is stripped
fact that "(after more than fifteen years
waged against the ideology of the
of her capital "W", along with all the
of revolution)... there are still objective
qualities once extolled in her, all her
and subjective factors that result in occupying male.
rights, and even her family name.
discrimination against women." This ideology finds its ultimate
Latin Americans have been carica-
expression in the reaction of the
Fidel Castro explained what struc¬ turized as sex overlords, and what is
Indian woman whose husband was
tural changes would be made by the
striking her. When someone inter¬ worse we have accepted this image,
State in Cuba's next five-year plan to which portrays us as keeping our sub-r
attack various forms of discrimination. vened and tried to defend her, she
turned on her would-be rescuer and
Such measures include the construc¬
cried: "But he's my husband, so he
tion of 400 nursery schools (in addition
may beat mel" A young mother anxiously waits for her
to those being built by volunteer
baby to be given medical attention at a
groups) with facilities for 150,000 chil¬ A century ago, Engels claimed that
hospital in Honduras. For most women
dren (three times the present number); monogamie marriage is a repro¬
in Latin America, motherhood and the
400 dey-boarding schools, which will duction in miniature of relations in
raising of children bring problems whose
increase the present number of pupils society, the husband corresponding to harsh reality contrasts sharply with
by 120,000; no fewer than 1,000 the oppressor and the wife to the the idealized image of a mother
secondary schools, with places for oppressed class. seen on the wall above.

20
21
missive little wives huddled and trem¬ his abilities and his economic capacity. Divorce no longer depends upon
bling in a corner, preferably in the Nevertheless, if one of the spouses the usual grounds required in other
kitchen, waiting for us to come home. only contributes to that subsistence Latin American countries, such as
through housework and care of the "adultery" which in most of them is
Yet paradoxically we break into
children, the other should contribute only deemed a transgression when
tears in our love songs, be they from
[financially] ... by himself alone, but committed by the woman or "mental
Mexico, Cuba, Argentina or Brazil,
without being exempted from sharing cruelty" or "abandonment of the
over the Woman who has jilted us home".
in the housework and care of the
heartlessly or because unkind fate has children.
willed it. When we squarely face the Indeed, in some countries divorce
fact that she left us for another man, In her book La Mujer Cubana Ahora for adultery requires the testimony of
we insult her, but since we were not ("Cuban Women Now"), published in eye-witnesses, which, for obvious
yet married to her, we do so in verse Havana by the Instituto Cubano del reasons, is almost impossible to
and to music. Libro in 1975, Margaret Randall, a obtain. The Code allows other more
North American writer who lives in
human reasons, such as "mutual
As for woman with a small "w", she Cuba, examines the interviews that
consent", and grounds that are more
only rarely finds a place in our songs, she carried out over a three-year just, such as "causes as a result of
such as the one that runs: "Victory, period. She makes a fair analysis of which the marriage has lost its meaning
victory I am in paradise, My wife has the current situation, after which she for the spouses and for the children,
gone." On the other hand, she is the recounts some of the arguments she and hence for society as well."
favourite target, along with mothers- heard presented when the bill was
in-law, alcoholics, the mentally sick, In a society that thus establishes
being discussed at all levels of the
etc., of jokes and stories that women the bases of human dignity (in which
population before being passed.
themselves sometimes repeat blithely women have achieved economic

and at others listen to with a sad "During a lively debate in which equality with men; children receive an
smile of resignation. both sexes took part, one woman education that combines study and
stood up and shouted: 'If they are work so that by the end of their
Such an. attitude is still prevalent in going to incorporate us in the labour secondary schooling they have a good
Cuba, though the radio and television, force, they will have to incorporate grounding in a freely chosen occu¬
as well as cartoonists, are now being themselves in the home, and there is pation; a society in which money has
encouraged to desist from this often no more to be said!' " She was given ceased to be a fetish and has once
vicious type of humour which is either a standing ovation. again become the medium of exchange
an import or a throwback to the past.
Other women stated that they did that it originally was; and in which the
The survival of this feeling of superi¬ not really expect the older men to State provides medical care and
ority in men coincides with an un¬ change. "One woman said: The medicines and guarantees a serene old
conscious acceptance of that superi¬ women around here drafted this law age) the many dreary arguments that
ority by women. In Cuba, in the before the Government even thought are usually put forward in Latin
province of Matanzas, the number of of it . . . and there is nothing for the America as reasons for marriage all
women candidates standing for elec¬ young men to do now but accept itl' " fall by the wayside.
tion to the Poderes Populares (the The sole valid motive that remains
Such a re-appraisal of housework
bodies through which government is
and insistence on its being shared the Cuban Code does not say as much
decentralized and which function at
frees woman from her status as head but it is obvious is love itself, or the
the level of the city block, the neigh¬ closest thing to it, even if it is
servant in the home or as someone
bourhood, town, city and province)
supported by her husband. Formerly if occasionally only a mirage.
was only 7.6 per cent of the total, and
a young man earning a good salary
a mere 3 per cent were elected, even Equality, Cuba's Prime Minister has
married a teacher or a nurse, for
though women make up half the said, is not to be confused with a lack
example, he thought it unnecessary for of consideration. And he adds: "If
population of the province.
her to work, and thus the country lost
there are to be any privileges in human
Prime Minister Fidel Castro, in the services of a teacher or nurse.
society, if there are to be any in¬
stressing the fact that these figures Young men also used to object to equalities in human society, then these
should be of concern to all Cubans, their fiancee's being involved in must be small privileges and small
added: "The day will have to come political activities "because it was inequalities in favour of women"...
when we have a Party of men and obvious that such participation re¬ "because women have tasks and
women, a Leadership of men and leased women from the direct control functions and human responsibilities
women, a State of men and women, which society had taught men to want that the man does not have."
and a Government of men and women." and to demand" (M. Randall).
This applies with even more rel¬
On the other hand, some men raised These prejudices have been neutral¬ evance to those Latin American

objections to Cuba's Family Code in ized by Article 28 of the Code which societies which are so full of privileges
the discussions that took place in the stipulates: "Both spouses shall have and inequalities that have never been
various organizations of workers, the right to practise their professions in women's favour.

farmers, women and students through¬ or trades and shall have an obligation
to show consideration and be helpful We may know or we may search
out the country. This legal document,
for the reasons for this situation and
which was promulgated on March 8, to one another in that respect, and
also as regards studies or the improve¬ we may even be aware where the
1975, is perhaps the fairest and most
ment of their knowledge. . .". And it responsibilities lie. But one thing is
human legislation in the world govern¬
adds, with a true sense of realism: certain: since it is impossible to
ing relations in the home.
". . . but they shall in any case strive conceive of man's happiness indepen¬
The article that aroused the most to organize life in the home in such a dently of woman's, the tragic and
heated discussions was the one which way that these activities are co¬ shameful practice of discrimination is
lays down that the husband and wife ordinated with the fulfilment of the a game in which all of us are losers.
must contribute to meeting the needs obligations that this Code lays upon
of the family. . . each one according to them."
Jorge Enrique Adoum

22
 Photo H W. Silvester © Rapho, Paris
The modern Muslim family reflects a
gradual but unmistakable change in the
traditional status of Muslim women.
Photo shows three generations of
Tunisian women. The mother, still
veiled (left) belongs to a generation
whose lives until recently were secluded
and limited to housework and
motherhood. Life for her teen-age
student daughter means freedom
A noted Algerian writer
to choose her job, husband and
life-style. Between them, the
grandmother, whose age now allows her
to discard the veil.
presents her views
of Muslim women today
by Assia Djebar

ASSIA DJEBAR, Algerian writer and pro¬

FOR several decades .the stirrings to Indonesia. Over the last half
fessor of literature at the University of Algiers, is
of nationalism have drawn a century it has been shaken time and
currently carrying out a sociological study on
women and the rural exodus, in Algeria. A spotlight on the Muslim world a giant again by the fever of political ferment
number of her novels have been widely translated, crescent with its centre in the Middle while pouring out its life-blood in oil,
and her study " Femmes d'Islam " has been
East stretching across the globe and and in places suffering from the .
published In English (Women of Islam) by
André Deutsch Ltd., London. spanning the deserts from the Maghreb festering sores of underdevelopment. P

23
. But for centuries it has remained silent a dense arabesque-like pattern) sud¬
on the subject of its women. denly seems to be enfeebled by this
Today, as we embark on the conquest narrowing of its scope.
of space, the pioneers of Muslim Debilitation or reform, retreat or
feminism are boldly demanding the renewal such is the dilemma which
right to venture outside the confines Islam must resolve if it is to return
of their homes and look at last upon to its essence as a faith dwelling in
their fellow beings before lifting their the individual consciousness, as an
eyes to the stars. Men have already evolving system of thought, as an
travelled to the moon but to this day affirmation rather than a negation, as a
most of the houses lining the traditional critical appraisal of time-honoured
Arab streets are windowless; in order habits.
In the Muslim world constant
that women shall remain invisible, they The Muslim who is forced to come changes are taking place in the status
are still deprived of sight. to terms with concrete problems (the of women.' Below, girls leaving
, But one cannot attempt to define the brotherhood of the real New World the secondary school at Batna in
Muslim woman without first defining of the 20th century with its hordes the Aurès mountains (Algeria).
the Muslim man. of beggars, its illiterate peasants, its Right, a young woman researcher
in a medical laboratory in
Is the Muslim the same today in culturally uprooted intellectuals, its
Alexandria (Egypt) studies the
Morocco as he is in Pakistan, for military politicians and its political
tiny worms which cause
example? Let us be quite clear that militants the problems, in fact, of this bilharziasis, next to malaria the
in speaking of the Muslim man, we modern community which extends far world's most serious parasitic
do not necessarily mean the devout beyond the confines of the Islamic infection. In Egypt the worms are
believer who, as he turns towards the crescent) whether he is overwhelmed carried by snails living in the
or inspired with new life, nevertheless waters of the Nile.
Kaaba in Mecca for the set prayers
five times a day, sheds his historical
and geographical heritage and is at
once immersed in the source of his
faith in the far off year 622, the date
of the Hegira; the devout Muslim,
whether in Constantine or Ispahan,
renounces the present and embraces
the eternal he bestrides the centuries
and exists beyond time.
But the Muslim who is simply
satisfied to be a passive member of
the Islamic community is open to the
full impact of political events and
developments: grandeur followed in
turn by decadence, lethargy, sub¬
jection and lastly the bloody and
chaotic upheavals of the slow awaken¬
ing. Af the end of such a road what
does a Muslim living in Mesopotamia
have in common with another in the
south of Hoggar?
Everywhere he is called with a
truth that transcends this fashionable
expression and journalistic tag a
"Man of the Third World". The
characteristics of this new community
are by now all too familiar: indepen¬
dence newly wrested from European
(and Christian?) colonialism dating
back to the last century or earlier;
an underlying economic paralysis and
social inflexibility (due to the partial
or total disappearance of the old
tribal society, the suffocation or
erosion of traditional village life);
the pre-eminence of politics eagerly
embraced as a community objective
and seen as a crucible of future
aspirations; and finally, a situation
which, in many cases, is a revolution¬
ary one or potentially so, because
ideas and attitudes which have served
for centuries are today unable to with¬
stand the shock of confrontation with
technological and industrial society.
Moreover, for young people who are
aware of and feel consciously involved
in the process of historical change
throughout the world, religion is losing
ground as a collective fact of life. The
faith of Islam, conceived in the sands
of Arabia as a pure entity embracing
the whole of life (encompassing prob¬
lems of hygiene, politics and diet as
well as metaphysics and woven into
Photo © Georges Viollon. Paris

24
 she has been unjustly "consigned to
the shadows". Now, suddenly, she
finds herself in the spotlight, and the
ancestral ¡mage crumbles; the picture
loses its definition before the sharp
outlines of reality emerge.
The image of woman which is
preached, as a cautionary ¡deal, by
intellectuals, politicians and moralists
in the Muslim world now carries little
weight. The proletarian woman, worn
out by continual childbearing, who for
centuries has always borne the brunt
of the exploitation of labour, is assailed
by the modern world; new economic
needs are increasingly thrusting towns-
women, widows or divorced women in
the cities and ardent intellectuals into
occupations outside the home.

Political strife and bloody wars like

the recent struggle in Algeria or the
continuing conflict in Palestine, have
not merely thrust into the limelight
countless heroines, celebrated or
anonymous; they have given millions
of women the opportunity to shoulder
everyday material responsibilities either
as individuals or within the now un¬
settled traditional family.
Certain countries such as Tunisia

feels himself to be alone. He is iso¬ Should one see the role which the
have made changes in their laws to
demonstrate that the Coranic law is
lated perhaps because he can no longer man of Islam assigns to women as
not immutable and absolute but that
regard his religion as an umbilical cord. being a result of the strict prohibition
it Implies in the first place, an effort
As his ties with tradition gradually imposed by Islamic law on the inter¬
("ijtihad") to reach a new spirit of
crumble away he feels that he is losing marriage of women with non-Muslims?
liberal interpretation.
for ever the innumerable small ways Throughout the period when the
in which he once asserted his identity. Muslim world was under Western Today, more than ever before, the
colonial domination (in the East, the continued existence of two separate
Amid these shifting sands, there is
Middle East, the Maghreb and else¬ worlds In Islam seems an anachronism:
one reassuring point of stability, one
where in Africa) no racially mixed according to the traditional ethic, the
element which gives him inner coher¬
civilization emerged. two parallel planes masculine and
ence: his image of woman.
feminine, external and internal each
Every Muslim more or less con¬ Admittedly, a mingling of races, had its own momentum and the re¬
sciously views the woman of his which in all ages has been a source lationship between the two was
dreams whether as sister, wife or of human progress, took place governed by codes of rules which
loved one in one particular guise, within the crescent itself: between
remained unchallenged by either side:
that of the "Umm", the "Mamma" of Berbers, Persians, Arabs, Turks, with the wisdom of hindsight one may
Mediterranean countries. She, unlike Spanish Muslims and others. Never¬ debate whether this equilibrium was
the Father too often bereft of his theless, although a foreigner in Islam necessary, but it remained an Inescap¬
former prestige by collective defeat is entitled, as a guest, to every mark able fact.
has retained an unchallenged authority of hospitality, he may choose a wife
The causes of tensions and conflicts
in the eyes of the westernized intel¬ only on one condition: that he
lay elsewhere: in confrontations be¬
lectual, the traditionally minded, but renounce his original faïTîi. Once he
has embraced the faith of Islam all
tween different social classes, national¬
nowadays ill-at-ease, middle-class
ities or regions, or between those who
citizen, or the countryman newly roads become open to him and he is
held power.
transplanted to the city. free to marry.
The world of women, overshadowed
The Tribe is no more than a memory, But no historical or sociological both socially and politically, was
the earth no longer feeds the members explanations can now prevent the affected indirectly by all that went
of the patrilineal family; the old woman, woman of Islam from thinking of herself on although, alas, no written testi¬
with her apparent serenity, a vigorous as an individual in her own right. mony of this has survived; women's
archetypal mother figure, thus stands Having for so long been secluded, role reasserted itself (and, in a sense,
like a living image of the past to which apparently more on account of the took its revenge) in the sphere of the
every masculine consciousness clings, anguish of fathers, brothers and hus¬ growing consciousness, education,
and increasingly so as this conscious¬ bands than as an act of high-handed sensibility, the "quality of life" here
ness is undermined by ever new and arbitrary masculine authority, she it was in advance of the masculine
aggressions. nevertheless feels more and more that world.
CONTINUED PAGE 28

25
 \ 5:

- ' .
 The veil drops
in Afghanistan

She has come far, this young Afghan professor of history,

lecturing at the University of Kabul to a respectful and
attentive class of students (below right). For until recently,
motherhood, domestic chores or work on the land were
almost the only occupations of Afghanistan's women. But
this university professor belongs to today's avant-garde of
women for whom educational and job opportunities have
opened up : the 160,000 of the country's eight million women
who, in the cities, and unveiled, attend co-educational uni¬
versity classes, study to be doctors or do skilled jobs in
public services or private firms. These women can also
press their claims for equal rights through the Democratic
Organization of Afghan Women, led by its energetic president
(photo right). A move for women's emancipation in Afgha¬
nistan was made about 1930 by King Amanullah when he
abolished the "chadri", the traditional heavy veil. In 1959
members of the royal family and the government appeared
at a public ceremony accompanied by their unveiled wives
and daughters. Many women, however, still wear the
"chadri", although wives of farmers at their unending labour
in the fields discard it. Ninety per cent of Afghanistan's
15 million people are villagers, most of whom live in the
mountains, like this woman in the province of Nuristan
(left) carrying heavy goatskin sacks of corn, or the
Hazajarat family (below left) whose one-room is home
lit by a single ray of sunlight coming from a hole in the ceiling.
During the winter, the women and children are cloistered in
the silent villages while the menfolk are away working in
the towns. How many of these women are aware that only
a few hundred kilometres away, in Kabul, others are campaign¬
ing for reforms that would help to ease their lives?

~M

27
. So much for the past. Today in mother, has lived or still lives a
other words in the course of at least completely cloistered life; under the
the past fifty years two generations same roof lives the teen-age girl, keen
of women have discovered that, on sport or politically committed, full
although the ferment of social conflict of youthful confidence as she pre¬
denotes an awakening, and thus a kind pares to embark on a life in which
of progress, women can no longer be she will accept and exercise personal
content to play a subsidiary role (as responsibilities.
wives, mothers or sisters never Between these two extremes there
Youthful Women's Lib
being considered as individuals in are sisters, aunts and cousins who, at militants on the march
their own right) and to be swept along the stage of puberty or a little later, in New York. Since the
by the headlong advance of society. were "shut in" and "veiled" as though mid-1960s the U.S'

The modern family with its new they were somehow incapacitated women's rights move¬
structures the restricted family of and for whom this remains a painful ment has erupted with
memory. Some of them are clearly remarkable force in a
father, mother and children is the
aware that they have paid the price spate of demonstra¬
seat of new conflicts: women in
tions, manifestoes,
general not all of whom are femin¬ of the petty middle-class fears and
new feminist organiza¬
cowardice of fathers or elder brothers.
ists are conscious of the fact that tions and publications.
the Muslim man, however revolution¬ Any dialogue between the sexes is
ary he may be within his own union therefore bound to be rendered more
or party or in discharging his civic difficult, as elsewhere in the world, by
responsibilities, all too often clings in feelings of bitterness and even rancour
his domestic life to the old ways. on the part of women. Any expression
of optimism often seems little more
When a modern Muslim couple is
than rhetorical.
alone (whether the partners are
But what of the situation among
intellectuals, 'an industrial worker and
women themselves? In Islam, one
his wife, a fellah and his wife who
labours with him in the fields, or an
factor which makes a useful, tangible

unemployed townsman and his wife contribution to any determined move¬

who works both in and outside the ment for their advancement is the

home) the woman is still expected to solidarity which exists among women
submit passively to the weakened and precisely because women exemplifying
ineffective authoritarianism of the hus¬ different stages of emancipation live
band: a passivity concealed in such in close proximity.

imposed social stereotypes as women's The grandmother, mindful of tra¬

"goodness", "meekness", "modesty" ditional proprieties, may sometimes
or "femininity". disapprove of what she regards as her
grand-daughters' boldness, but this is
Indeed, Muslim women are all too
of small importance.
often silent, and they appear to be so
On the other hand, all women, at the
all the time. The assumption, some¬
times overstated, that they exercise crucial stages of life education,
a measure of authority behind the marriage, choice of job feel that they
scenes is small consolation and one are joining a long line of sacrificial
victims whose fate must inevitably
which is generally offered to oppressed
lead to the liberation of their suc¬
minorities.
cessors.
Women themselves, their children
It Is as though the young women
and the entire community would benefit
of Islam, in their inexorable advance,
if women spoke out plainly on this
feel themselves to be vicariously
issue and came to terms with it but
reliving all the wasted lives of former
centuries of traditional feminine reti¬
days.
cence are against them. Any cour¬
This is the new harem, an almost
ageous attempt by women to criticize
meets with a prompt response by instinctive alliance welded together by
Muslim men who, unlike those in a singleness of purpose; when the
Western bourgeois societies, are un¬ struggle to overcome material in¬
willing to mitigate the force of future security and the exploitation by the
women's demands by adopting an unemployed father or the working
brother harden the resolve of the
attitude of male reformism and pa¬
ternalism, such as one finds in Europe daughter in school or the sister in her
today. office job, the impetus of feminism
will be strengthened by a truly prolet¬ by Isa Kapp
For the Muslim woman, therefore,
arian vigour.
the outlook is all the more constricted
What can be said of the future while
because of the lingering memory of
only insignificant and intermittent
the Arab horizons of bygone days the
progress is apparently being made but
freedom of the desert, the intoxication
when at the same time, an upsurge of
of warlike fantasias, the refinement of
the Andalusian courts of love.
hope has already taken shape and is
seeking to make itself heard?
All the tensions and frictions which
The future of Muslim society rests
have succeeded each other during the on a new form of energy lying beneath
past hundred years in Europe as the the surface: I am not making an
situation of women gradually improved ironical reference to oil I am referring
are to be found simultaneously within to a real, even if sporadic awakening
the typical urban Muslim family today. of ideas among women. A new ethic ISA KAPP, U.S.writer and journalist specializ¬
ing In social and cultural questions, is a regular
The Muslim family is becoming a must be in the making if there is to
contributor to American and European maga¬
sort of kaleidoscope in which each be any possibility of a modern Muslim zines. She Is currently working on a book about
woman represents a stage of evolution: community. Assia D/ebar manners and morals in the United States, to be
the grandmother, or sometimes the See also p. 39: Unesco inquiry in Lebanon. called "Love among the Middle Classes ".

28
 The new feminist

explosion in the U.S.A,

SINCE the mid-1960s, a formidable of rights under the law shall not be political, cultural and personal concerns
conglomeration of organizations, denied or abridged by the United of women.

programmes and manifestoes known States or. by any State on account of

The title is pronounced miz, a new
as the Women's Liberation Movement sex.") "liberated" form of address which
has erupted in the United States with
Finally passed by Congress in 1972, avoids identifying women on the basis
extraordinary force. Dedicated to the
after being introduced and ignored by of their marital status (1). A more
assertion of equal rights in all fields
the federal legislature each year since recent entry Into the journalistic com¬
work, education, law the movement
1923, this constitutional amendment is petition is womanSports, published by
has grown at an astonishing rate, and
still short by four states of the 38 re¬ tennis star Billie Jean King and her
by now hundreds of thousands of husband.
quired to ratify it, but its progress to
women have participated in at least
this point represents a considerable The new movement has wielded
one of its groups or activities.
success by the liberationists. enormous political strength it has
There have been mass demon¬ In addition, there has been a flood intimidated male legislators, changed ^
strations and energetic campaigns of books dealing with women's position
directed at opening up a wider range in society, and several new feminist
of life alternatives for women, and an magazines have been launched. Most (J) Editor's note : In English the same
word "Mr" is used to designate an unmarried
ardent struggle for the enactment of prominent of these is Ms, which has and married man. "Ms' is the female equi¬
the Equal Rights Amendment ("Equality a circulation of 400,000 and covers the valent.

29
iW laws, enjoyed increasing access to the So why, when women as a whole machines and frozen foods have

media. But impressive though its exert unprecedented influence both on relegated the female to the most minor
impact has been, it is not really a new family and public policy, have modern chores of homemaking.
phenomenon in American life. feminists been moved to characterize
No wonder that she needs to recover
the female role in society as being an her lost value and self-respect by
Despite the feeling of many of its
outrageously subservient one? seeking new roles in the outside world.
participants that they are engaged in
a radical contemporary cause, the For one thing, they point to what Possessing leisure and often a college
feminist movement actually goes far they see as glaring inequities in the education, caught up in our current
back in American history, to the early work world. Of the 35 million women passion for questioning all traditional
19th century, when the "woman issue" employed in the United States a third values and institutions, she has become
was extensively debated in the national are secretaries or clerks, and over a a recruit for the revolution of rising
press, in political gatherings and from fifth are service workers, such as expectations.
church pulpits. waitresses or domestics. They are Yet all of these grievances simmered
poorly represented in the professions below the surface until the mid-1960s.
This early wave of feminism also
and in management. There were hints of restiveness
sprouted in a period of ferment
geographic expansion, industrial devel¬ The average yearly income of full- directly after World War II when
opment and social reform. Its Initial time female workers is less than two- thousands of women who had worked

efforts were aimed at expanding thirds of the male average. (Of in defence industries relinquished their
women's educational opportunities, and course, this differentiation is to some jobs to demobilized veterans, and dis¬
extent one of circumstance rather than covered that full-time homemaking was
in 1833 Oberlin (Ohio) became the
first college to open Its doors to both of discrimination: women tend to leave an anticlimax after the status and
men and women. jobs, for family reasons, before they excitement of going to work.
reach the highest salary level, and
But it was in the abolitionist move¬ ln_ 1952, an English translation of
men in blue-collar jobs tend to belong
ment of the 1830s that the women's The "Second Sex, by the French phil¬
to unions that have won high wage
rights movement as such had its osopher Simone de Beauvoir, stoked
rates.) the fires of intellectual rebellion. But
political origins. When women began
working in earnest for the abolition Further, when men and women do despite these provocations, the rumble
of slavery, they learned that they could equal work, women often get lesser of feminism was hardly audible in the
not function as equals with their titles and lower pay. Women who 1950s, partly because most women
male friends. They were barred from are full professors earn an average of were deeply relieved to have their men
membership in some organizations and ten per cent less than men, and the home from the battlefields.
often forbidden to speak in public. disparities are even greater in other
What brought all these dormant dis¬
fields.
One hears the stark accents of satisfactions to consciousness was the
The women's movement cited ad¬ publication in 1963 of Betty Friedan's
today's feminists in the sentiments
voiced by abolitionist Sarah Grimke ditional grievances. Some states still The Feminine Mystique. Based mainly
in 1837: discriminated against women in in¬ on interviews with her classmates
heritance rights and in the control 15 years after graduation from a
"All history attests that man has sub¬
of their own property in marriage. women's college, her book formulated
jugated woman to his will as means Some universities still denied women what the author called "the problem
to promote his selfish gratification, to
equal access to professional schools that has no name," an unspoken
minister to his sensual pleasures, to be
or to scholarships. And some state discontent that prevailed among thou¬
instrumental in promoting his comfort; laws still treated women more harshly sands of educated women.
but never has he desired to elevate
than men for certain types of crimes.
her to the ranks she was created to Many of them had eagerly embarked
fill. He has done all he could to There is no doubt that these are upon marriage and domesticity in an
debase and enslave her mind; and now legitimate areas in which to demand effort to compensate for the loneliness
he looks triumphantly on the ruin he reforms, but there were also larger of the war years, yet a decade later
cultural and social forces which ac¬ she found them tired and unfulfilled,
has wrought and says the being he has
thus deeply injured is his inferior." counted for the urgency and energy victims of "the feminine mystique", the
of the Women's Liberation Movement. view which educators, the media and
But while the battle for abolition
In this view, modern woman is at the business conspired to impose: that
succeeded in emancipating the Negro mercy, not so much of men, as of rapid motherhood and housekeeping were
slaves, the concomitant demand for
social change urbanization, science the most rewarding occupations for
women's rights did not have an equal and technology. women.
triumph. Feminist groups remained
active and sometimes militant in the In the predominantly rural society Against this notion Mrs. Friedan
that America was up to around 1900, argued vehemently: "The only way
period following the American Civil
War of 1861-65, but it was not until a wife and mother was often employed for a woman, as for a man, to find
from early morning until late at night, herself, to know herself as a person,
1920 that they won the fight for
baking bread, preparing meals, wash¬ is by creative work of her own." The
women's suffrage. With that victory,
ing, sewing, knitting, and fetching water impact of her book was enormous it
the feelings of injury abated, and femin¬
from the well. But today small mobile sold one and a half million copies and
ism lay dormant for some 40 years.
families have made the home less the women's liberation movement as it
What is it that has just this past central and stable than it once was; now exists in America must date itself
decade brought the vocal minority to and electric refrigerators, washing from its publication.
such a crescendo of protest? This is,
after all, the period when women in the In 1966, Betty Friedan formally
U.S.A. have come to make up more launched the National Organization of
than 40 per cent of the university Women (NOW), a moderate group that
acted, for the first time in the United
population, when liberalized divorce
laws, varied birth control methods, States, as a lobby to press for equality
and technological improvements have of women in all spheres. Its member¬
guaranteed them tremendous personal ship was composed mainly of pro¬
fessional women and middle-class
freedom, when women on their own
merit have achieved distinction in housewives, its language was sober,
politics as members of Congress, and its goals were largely political and
economic.
mayors of cities, state legislators, and
when the important New England state NOW's strong support was in good
of Connecticut now has a woman part responsible for the rapid passage
governor. by the U.S. Congress of the Equal

30
 Rights Amendment and its subsequent her widely discussed book, Sexual for women. To cite only two examples:
approval by 34 state legislatures; and Politics, argues that ever since the between 1965 and 1973 female enroll¬
for removing specification as to sex establishment of patriarchal society, ment in medical schools nearly doubled
from the "help wanted" section of the status accorded women has been and in law schools more than tripled.
newspapers. It also worked for a demeaning one, that of chattel and
Many inequalities, of course, still
vigorous enforcement of the Equal Pay homemaker.
exist. Women still earn considerably
Act of 1963, and by 1974 more than
A very different perspective is pro¬ less than men in all major occupations
$50 million in back wages had been
vided by anthropologist George Mur- at a time when more and more U.S.
awarded to over 100,000 female em¬
dock who found that even in pre- families are headed by women, many
ployees.
patriarchal times, in 224 primitive without incomes other than their
But if it was relatively militant in societies, war-making has been exclus¬ salaries. While inequities are nar¬
terms of practical reforms, NOW did ively a male function and child-rearing rowing in education, women are not
not seem to meet the emotional re¬ exclusively female; and that it was yet even near parity with men at the
quirements of younger or lower-class always males who performed the postgraduate level or in professional
women, who were in search of some strenuous, risky tasks, while women schools. Labour unions have been
more primary confrontation with men. took on the more sedentary, nurturant accused of resisting the admission of
A number of splinter groups and new ones. In this view, the sexual division women to full equality in job-training
organizations were formed, many of of roles was simply an efficient tech¬ and apprenticeship programmes.
them calling for a total revaluation of nique for survival, rather than a delib¬
In the effort to eliminate such griev¬
male-female relations. erate male conspiracy. ances, the Women's Liberation Move¬
Some questioned such traditional Another question that has touched ment has been successful in gaining
support from an increasing number of
working-class women, as well as from
a surprisingly large proportion of men
who, in public opinion polls, show a
Contemporary en¬
greater approval of the movement's
graving of the first
goals than women.
women's rights con¬
vention in the U.S., Without doubt, the next decade will
held at Seneca Falls,
see a growing movement of women
New York State, in
into all occupations and areas of
1848. Led by Eliza¬
American life: in the professions, in
beth Cady Stanton,
the convention made
politics, and in the academic world.
the first organized Even today, despite remnants of
demand for women's
discrimination, a woman can choose
suffrage in the U.S.. how she wishes to order her life. She
as well as calling for
can devote herself to marriage, or
improvements in
women's economic,
pursue a career, or opt for both and
derive considerable satisfaction from
political, social and
domestic status. managing the practical difficulties this
Photo USIS
may present. She may decide on a
part-time career and deliberately give
precedence to home and motherhood.

Women are not homogeneous. Some

institutions as the "nuclear family"
(consisting of only parents and chil¬
dren); others even argued that marriage
must be abolished because "it has the
same effect the institution of slavery
had." (The passionate rhetoric and
often disruptive tactics of these radical
groups were clearly borrowed from the
civil rights movement which reached
are eager to make their way in the
off a lively and still ongoing debate is:
outside world, and some prefer not to
how much of the differences between
compete with men. Perhaps for the
men and women are biological and
first time in history, the variety of
how much cultural? Clearly, men are
choices open to them will correspond
generally taller, stronger and more
to the variety of their impulses.
muscular; while women have their own
special genetic and hormonal makeup,
Isa Kapp
which is rooted in their capacity for
motherhood.

its peak of activism and success in But do these differences explain

the mid-1960s.) the differences in social attitude and

In my opinion, most American women behaviour e.g., dress and demeanour,

still look for emotional security and personal adornment, sexual initiative
gratification in their own families, and of male and female? The evidence

are not aware of any far-reaching so far is inconclusive because it is

exploitation by men. Indeed a number hard to isolate specific behaviour from

of women might admit, if they are the larger cultural context. But
honest, that they themselves are often some of the traditional notions about

In the role of exploiter. And they women's inferiority in abstract intel¬

might willingly accept the anthropo¬ lectual work or in administrative ability
logical view that the family was created have been placed in doubt as women
precisely for the protection of women have moved in larger numbers into
these fields.
and children during the periods of
their helplessness. The Women's Liberation Movement

Nevertheless, the feminist movement has clearly done an important service

has acted as an intellectual spur. It in bringing feminine discontents and
has ensured public debate on a number desire for self-improvement into the
of fundamental questions that have not, arena of public discussion. By doing
until now, received lively consideration. so it has changed the emotional ambi¬
ence of male-female relationships and
The question that has aroused most made them in some ways more resilient
controversy is: what roles have women and elastic. The movement can also
played throughout civilization and take credit for the rapid opening up
why? Militant feminist Kate Millet, in of educational and career opportunities

31
 $65 million :
one company's penalty
for sexist discrimination
The consequences of an anti-discrimination law
passed by the U.S. Congress in 1964

AN aluminium company in the what has been made possible by the

by Lynn Payer United States was recently Civil Rights Act which was passed by
ordered to pay $190,000 in back the United States Congress in 1964.
wages and court costs to 276 women Although most Americans recognized
who alleged that the company had that the law would have far-reaching
maintained sex-segregated job classi- . consequences for Negro rights, few
fications by changing jobs formerly were aware at the time that it con¬
classified "male" and "female" to tained a clause that would provide
"heavy" and "light". much of the muscle behind equal em¬
A U.S. finance corporation paid ployment opportunity for women.
more than $125,000 to white-collar For among the many amendments
LYNN PAYER, American medical journalist
now working In Paris, was directly concerned female employees who charged that to the original act, a Southern Con¬
with the problems of equal working opportunities they were denied- promotion because gressman, anxious to defeat the bill,
for women when she served on the employment of their sex.
committee of the National Organization of slipped the word "sex" into Title VII,
Women (NOW) in New York. These are just two examples of that portion of the Civil Rights Act

aiiuiiiiiiiiiaiiiii-iiiii.ifii
min»

lln»»IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHI!IMiy|||S

If .- \vM
6

^H^M^m^m^f^
 m ni in m

iti ut mm m

1:1 ii in tn

IV > III in tl

ç.»

00 NOT CROS!

J]

Photo Leonard Freed © Magnum, Paris

Even through a magnifying glass you will find it hard to pick out a single woman
among these assembled white collar workers, left, at a U.S. automobile plant.
On the other hand numerous men supporters have joined in the New York
Women's Lib demonstration above. In its fight to assert equality of rights for
women in all fields, the Women's Liberation movement in the USA has made a
special target of the job discrimination so often practised against women. Under
the Civil Rights Act, many women victims of this discrimination have
successfully taken legal action against offending companies.

pertaining to equal employment oppor¬
tunity. Title VII, as it was finally
voted, therefore, prohibited discrimi¬
nation because of race, colour, religion,
sex, or national origin, in any term,
condition or privilege of employment.
mination, or lack of it, must lie in the
result. If all executive positions, or
most of them, are filled by men and
all or most secretarial positions are
filled by women, this constitutes strong
evidence that sex-discrimination is

Thus while the U.S. courts have not consciously or unconsciously practised
by the company.
consistently interpreted the U.S. Cons¬
titution to mean that U.S. women, as The law works this way: If a woman
well as U.S. men, enjoy equal protec¬ thinks that she has been discriminated
tion under the law, and while the Equal against in advertising, recruitment,
Rights Amendment has not yet been hiring, firing, salary, promotions, etc.,
ratified by a sufficient number of sta¬ she files a complaint with the commis¬
tes, women have been given the legal sion or with other agencies at the
basis for equal rights in one important local, state, or federal level. (For
area, that of employment. example, if the company receives fed¬
eral contracts, she may file her com¬
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is
plaint with the Office of Federal Con¬
administered by the Equal Employment
tract Compliance).
Opportunity Commission and is inter¬
preted by the U.S. courts. Both have The Equal Employment Opportunity
tended to broaden their view of what Commission or the other agency con¬
constitutes discrimination. When the cerned then sends investigators into
equal employment laws were first the named company. These investi¬
enacted, it was generally believed that gators have the right to question em¬
discrimination took place primarily ployees, including top executives, and'
through conscious, overt actions also have access to company records.
against individuals. Now, the view is If they find that the proportion of
that discrimination also takes place women in a given job category differs
through seemingly neutral employment from the proportion of women in the
practices. labour pool, discrimination is assumed,
The commission and the courts
unless the company proves otherwise.

thus decided that the proof of discri Thus, if they find that all telephone
CONTINUED PAGE 68

33
 Colour pages
WOMEN PAINTERS
OPPOSITE PAGE. Portrayal of Shiva, god of
creation. He is both man (in blue) and woman (in

OF NORTHERN INDIA yellow). According to Hindu tradition, yellow

symbolizes the creative energy of the universe.
Snakes on each side of Shiva represent the unfolding
of life.

CENTRE DOUBLE PAGE. Shiva,

the ascetic of the mounta/n, in
meditation. From his piled-up hair
tumble streams flowing to form the
The paintings reproduced on the following colour pages have been produced Ganges. The god is seated on a
by village women of Mithila, a province in Bihar State, in northeast India. tiger whose skin is represented by
squares. Traditional border of small
The women create these masterpieces in their spare time from the daily
yellow and black squares within a
routine of cooking, caring for children and working in the fields. red surround is the "signature" of
the family which produced the painting.
Mithila's women conjure up vivid colours by skilful mixing of minerals and
vegetables: blue from the leaves of the Indigo plant, yellow from orpiment Surabhi, the "Cow of Abun¬
dance", is revered as the re¬
(a natural mineral form of arsenic), red from logwood or sandalwood.
presentative of the Earth
Mixtures of these colours give them green and orange hues. Their paintings, Mother goddess. On her back
full of grace and elegance, portray scenes from the lives of the gods Krishna are the god Shiva and his wife
Parvati. Border of parrot-fishes
with his flute, Shiva with his wives, some gentle, some fearsome to behold,
symbolizes air and water.
as well as episodes from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana, depicting exploits
of men and animals who are none other than gods in disguise. Delicately
executed with brushes improvised from bamboo splinters to which wads
of wild cotton are attached, the paintings are executed on the occasion of
various ceremonies and celebrations. They adorn the walls
chambers, embellish the wrapping paper for ritual gifts, and also decorate
of marriage O
the letters, known as "kohabars" in which Mithila's girls traditionally ask Chandra ("The Shining In this well-known epi¬
for a husband's hand. Using rice-water and dung, Mithila's women trace One") the Moon God, sode from the great
traditionally depicted Hindu epic, the Rama¬
out remarkable images on courtyard floors, to mark the altars, or "Arlpanas",
with a crescent moon. yana, the monkey-
where household rituals are performed. general Hanuman finds
the heroine Sita captive
In these many ways the women of Mithila apply their creative talents to on the island of Lanka
(Ceylon). He gives her
various aspects of everyday life, while adding colour and lustre to festivals
the ring of her lover
or prayer. Long unknown outside their province, their exquisite work is Rama as proof of his
today much sought after by art collectors and museum curators, and, identity and tells her she
will soon be freed. (See
recognizing their talents, the government of Bihar now provides these women "Unesco Courier", Dec¬
with paper for their work. ember 1967).

Their art has now been revealed to the Western world through collections
brought back from Mithila a small province which 1,500 years ago was
PAGE 38. This remarkable paint¬
one of India's first kingdoms by a French writer and teacher, Yves Véquaud. ing depicts a traditional Tantric
Exhibitions have been held in Paris at the Musée de l'Homme (in 1973), and theme: the goddess Kali cutting off
her own head to nourish her two
at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (early in 1975). They have shown how
other forms. Beneath her feet lie her
Mithila's ancient traditional art, created entirely by the skill and talents of god and goddess parents. The work
women artists, has been preserved and enriched. symbolizes the unity of the cosmos.

Photos Yves Véquaud, Paris

Mother and daughter at work on

a painting in a village of Mithila
(India). In wall painting at rear,
Krishna plays the flute for two
milkmaids, a country scene dear to
Hindu art. Mithila girls learn to
draw in Indian ink at an early age,
sometimes using a twig as a brush.

34
 BHHB^BBS

/»////////"'

^^H
^B
]l T

\
¡ 1
maai

' 'i
t~M uMW .....

sàWKR
m
' ...i

(9 m -J _
_]_
I I
I
Lennox
 Just carried out by Unesco National
Commissions in Argentina, Ivory Coast,
Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka
for Unesco and ILO

A UNESCO INQUIRY
ON WOMEN'S STATUS
IN FIVE COUNTRIES

husband in everything "which is not

forbidden by law". This means that
Aj o i n t Unesco - International do not enjoy in practice the equal status she needs his authorization to choose

Labour Organization inquiry with men to which the law entitles a profession or carry on a trade and
into the status of women in five coun¬ them. They have not yet achieved she has no right to any allowance
tries Argentina, the Ivory Coast, Leb¬ equality in education (fewer women from the husband if she continues
anon, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka than men are studying in schools and working without his consent, although
was completed on the eve of Interna¬ universities); in earnings (most of them she may be obliged to pay an
tional Women's Year. have poorly paid jobs); or in job allowance to her husband from her

Carried out during 1974 by the opportunities and responsibility (few income if it is he who is in need.
Unesco National Commissions, of the women occupy top posts) (1).
A poll carried out with a small
five countries, the studies focussed on
sample of Lebanese men and women
the opportunities open to women in
(1) See also a new Unesco study entitled showed that it was age and tradition
education, training and employment. "Women, Education, Equality: a decade of which most influenced the attitude of
They revealed that in all these experiment" describing three projects to
men towards women being educated
promote equal educational opportunities for
countries, which differ widely geo¬ women in Upper Volta, Nepal and Chile. and taking jobs, with the 50-65 year-
graphically and culturally, women still (See inside back cover). old group showing the most opposition.

The attitude of Lebanese women,

however, varied according to the
Take the case of the
by Antony Brock LEBANON degree of education they themselves
Lebanon, which stands had received; those with only primary
at the crossroads of East and West.
and secondary education gave priority
The Lebanese woman is equal before to the roles of wife and mother and
the law and enjoys the same rights thought that for this reason a girl's
and duties under the Constitution as education should differ from a boy's;
men.
those with university education saw
But although women are full citizens no reason for making a difference and
with the right to vote at 21, not one believed that women ought to be able
woman representative was in parlia¬ to take the same posts as men, urging
ment at the time of the inquiry. the establishment of child-care centres
Legally speaking, as a minor a woman to help working mothers.
is subject to her father who may
Despite some recent break-throughs
betrothe her to a man of his choice
into traditional "men's jobs" (in the
once she is nine years old, as long
police, serving in restaurants, working
as she consents and the marriage does
in precision engineering factories), the
not take place before she reaches
major obstacle to women's progress
puberty. in the Lebanon is still the idea of
At 18 she may marry without parental "men's work" and "women's work",
ANTONY BROCK, British writer and journalist
consent but once she is married the women's work being generally associ¬
specializing in educational questions, is English
language editor In Unesco's Press Division. Family Code requires her to obey her ated with housekeeping, minimum ^

39
qualifications and minimum wages. in some areas was considered a

State-run training institutions make good reason by some employers for

no distinction between boys and girls not providing training facilities" thus

but provide residential accommodation extending the vicious circle whereby

only for boys. So few girls go to women are regarded as not useful
these centres. because they are untrained and are
left untrained because they are not
A poll of girl students showed that useful.

teaching was the first choice of

But the employer's attitude is
profession (31 per cent) with medicine
matched by an ambivalent attitude of
and nursing second although some
women themselves. Although a job
way behind, with 12 per cent. This
is now regarded as a long-term pro¬
order of priorities showed the same
basic idea of what constitutes position if not always a vocation, some

"women's work", as in other countries. unmarried women workers "still regard

employment as a temporary expedient
In Sri Lanka, for to spend their time profitably between
SRI LANKA example, women make school and marriage" and so fail to
up the largest proportion of unqualified take advantage of training if offered.
teachers and the vast majority of the
Sri Lankan girls are also dis¬
nursing profession both traditionally advantaged in a vocational education
women's jobs. However, women system which fails to meet the needs
doctors, forming only 5 per cent of the of a large-enough proportion of school UNESCO
medical profession some ten years
leavers and puts them even farther
ago, now total 33 per cent, as women AND THE STATUS
behind in the competition for jobs,
move into the decision-taking area of while the schools tend to reserve OF WOMEN
medicine.
woodwork and metalwork classes for

This progress of women into the boys and home science and needle¬
ranks of the professionally qualified work for girls, "thereby creating an
not in itself surprising in Sri Lanka, artificial division between the sexes."
where a woman became Prime Minister
Although Sierra
back in 1960 is in line with a trend SIERRA LEONE Leone, in Africa,
for girls to receive more education:
has a different economy, tradition,
more of them are enrolled than boys
history and culture, the conclusions
in secondary schools, while the number
of its study show some striking
of women entering university has risen
similarities with those from Lebanon,
sharply during the last decade to the
Sri Lanka and the other countries
point where they outnumber boys on
co-operating in the investigation.
one campus.
In Sierra Leone women have the
The Sri Lanka study shows that same constitutional rights as men and
women make up a quarter of the the law bars any discrimination in
labour force and those who work are
education. While successful pro¬
protected by a number of legal pro¬ fessional women are no rarity and
visions governing employment. Equal while for the educated woman the
pay is the rule in State jobs which, opportunity of developing her capa¬
like those in a number of the better
bilities to the full exists, real equality
private firms, provide for maternity has still not been assured.
leave with pay.
Women in Sierra Leone may opt for
But this does not mean that women a Christian or monogamous union when
in Sri Lanka can count their battle won. they marry or may marry under Muslim
Despite their equal access to edu¬ or Customary Law, in which case they
cation, less than a third of the women may have to share their husband and
in the working age group are employ¬ conform to a system of seniority in
ed. Half of those who work are in which the husband decides who Is to

farming an occupation where skills be head wife. With the spread of

and pay are low. education, many women are choosing
monogamous unions whatever their
In Sri Lanka women are regarded religion. II/Í1DV PflAQT ^ne otner African
I V Ul\I uUnOl country investi¬
as the weaker sex, who need pro¬
Economic independence for women gated, Ivory Coast, shows some
tection and whose primary function is
was not generally approved of in marked differences from what might
that of homemaker. Many employers
Sierra Leone. Over 66 per cent of appear to be the general rule. To
share this view, the study shows, and
men and 48 per cent of women inter¬ begin with, a high proportion of the
regard employment outside the home
viewed felt that a wife would then women doing paid jobs are qualified
as a secondary need to supplement
"want to leave her husband on the (about 43 per cent) even though only
family resources. And since the
slightest excuse", while a slightly a tiny proportion of wage-earners
country has a high level of unemploy¬
lower percentage (65 per cent men (3.8 per cent) are women.
ment they tend to give preference to
and 46.5 per cent women) believed Furthermore, there seems to be no
men for employment and promotion.
that the economically independent complaint that women are more prone
As the report notes: "The instability wife would not give her husband his to absenteeism than men and com¬
characteristic of women's employment due respect. paratively little regard for the division

40
 The Unesco National Commissions of
Argentina, the Ivory Coast, Lebanon,
Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka recently
carried out studies into the

opportunities open to women in

education, training and employment
as part of a joint Unesco-International
Labour Organization inquiry. The
investigations, carried out by means
of polls, statistical research and
interviews with teachers, employers,
workers and the general public showed
the extent to which women still
suffer from the effects of

discrimination and inequality.

of labour into men's work and women's cation has brought with it the idea of approval of girls studying seriously
work: male nurses, secretaries and sex equality, leading some girls to and regularly: fewer girls than boys
social workers outnumber women in refuse to marry illiterate husbands. fail to enter school, they attend more
these fields. regularly and more of them complete
ADPrilTlUA Some of the features
However, as elsewhere, fewer girls AlfUtnllNA of women's life in their primary education. Even in
than boys are in school at all levels, Argentina, fifth country in the study, higher education, Where until recently
there is no possibility ' for them to also serve as a warning against too- men outnumbered women by two to
become apprentices, and educational one, the proportion of women is now
easy generalizations and particularly
institutions reserved for boys out¬ against seeking to equate access to rising rapidly.
number those for girls by more than education with access to work which At this level, if the results of an
four to one. The introduction of cash is personally or financially rewarding. investigation at one university are
crops has meant that women are less Although education is uniform for typical, women tend to qualify more
and less willing to provide free labour both sexes, girls seem to have the quickly than men. Moreover women ,.
on the land, and the growth of edu edge over boys. There is general students are enrolling in science, r

41
L engineering and agricultural courses.
At the University of Buenos Aires,
women
numbering
have recently
men
been

biochemistry and pharmacy courses.

out¬
in

There is little declared opposition to

natural sciences,
Boys come
women working outside the home but
the
"despite
Argentinian

ations. . .when
all the
study
favourable
one comes to
notes
declar¬
medium
that
into the world
or higher level posts men are preferred
to women." This situation may now
be

gress
evolving
striking features
in
rapidly

education
followed by a proportional increase of
noted
but

is
is
one
that
not
of the
"pro¬
being
Girls come into
integration into paid work."

below
The
employed in
national

20
average
industry in Argentina is
per cent
women waiting for their first job out¬
and
of women

unemployed
a 'Third World'
number men by nearly two to one in
several big cities.
Three classes of obstacles in the
way of full integration of women into
the productive system are picked out
by the report. They are:

social: family structure continues

to dominate ideas, the woman being
allotted a secondary role and her
work regarded as a complementary
source of family income;

cultural: one aspect of Latin

American "machismo" (see article
page 18) is the scorn of some men
for the affective side of life compared
with the productive side, with women
being regarded as unsuited to pro¬
duction work. Such prejudices also
bar women from executive posts "since
men will not accept decisions taken by IT is obvious that biological differ¬
by women outside the family circle"; Elena Gianini Belotti ences between male and female

economic: unemployment affects exist and are essential to procreation.

more women than men, and women But it is not obvious that these biologi¬
unable to meet the demands of cal differences are responsible for
technological development for higher psychological and intellectual differ¬
professional qualifications are thus ences.

excluded from considerable areas of

employment. It is even less justifiable that bio¬
logical dissimilarities should be trans¬
If unemployment problems are solv¬
lated into social differences implying
ed, the study notes, women will be
that men .are superior to women. Such
more favoured in the future. But this
differences could equally well be seen
alone will not speed the promotion of
women in employment; to do this "an as feminine superiority and masculine
aggressive policy of cultural change" inferiority.
is required not only for women but
A female mammal normally cares for
also for employers and trades unions
and protects her young only when they
in order that joint action can gradually
need her, and not throughout her life,
wear away the prejudices against
as does a woman the human female
women in productive life.
mammal. On the contrary, the female
This applies to all five countries
ELENA GIANINI BELOTTI is director of the animal behaves exactly like the male
covered by the Unesco-ILO investi¬ Montessori Birth Centre in Rome, which gives
of the same species, with the same
gation. Any real progress in improv¬ psychological and practical training on the role of
parents to expectant mothers and future fathers. independence and aggressivity, except
ing the status of women will involve
She is the author of a study on the influence of
not sb much a change in present during the strictly limited period of her
social conditioning in developing the feminine
role during the first years of life ("Dalla parte motherhood.
structures as a change in the mentality
délie bambine L'influenza dei condizionamenti
which finds these structures tolerable.
sociall nella formazione del ruolo femminile nei It is clear that women are conditioned
primi annl dl vita") published by Feltrinelli,
Antony Brock Milan in 1973. from infancy for their future role^

42
 This baby girl chortles happily as she splashes around
in the kitchen sink. Will she still smile in a few

years time when her mother says "Do the washing

|
up" while her brothers are outside doing more
adventurous things ? But perhaps by then the
traditional idea that only girls should help
with housework will be a thing of the past.

.wr -

Was mothers and that all aspects of that is almost always in women's
their lives are marked by this condition¬ hands. So what happens is that
ing, even though they may never have young boys get one kind of education
children. Motherhood has thus been and young girls another.
made an Instrument for woman's social
An understanding of how this train¬
and cultural subjection, through man's
ing operates calls for a patient and
control of her sexual and reproductive
systematic examination of the relations
functions.
between adults and between adults and
In other words, the patriarchal children as we see them in everyday
system, a social structure linked to life.
property and the possession of women, We need to examine the significance
has made women second class citi¬
of small actions and apparently trivial
zens, with well-defined duties and func¬
remarks that, having been used so
tions that are more limited than men's.
often, have become mechanical, auto¬
But the cultural and social subordi¬ matic reactions which we accept
nation of women is only one aspect without analysing their significance
though a major one of the "values" and purpose.
that Western culture fosters in order to
We need to look at disputes,
preserve itself. Others are the
hardships and sufferings of which we This pattern is repeated in the vast
"superiority" of the white man, of
women are victims when we fail to majority of children's books.
capital over labour, of adults over
conform to majority behaviour; to The masculine-feminine roles are
children and old people, of the healthy
examine ideologies that we accept as already established when children are
over the sick, of the "normal" over
absolute and eternal though times infants. Girls are passive and in¬
those who are "different".
have changed and experience has active; they play mainly with dolls and
Western culture considers efficiency, shown how many other ideologies have help their mothers with household
competitiveness, success, money and proved to be neither absolute nor tasks. Boys are active; they study,
productivity as desirable and valuable eternal; and to re-appraise usages and they play adventurous games and never
assets, even if they are detrimental to customs and rigid codes that we dare do housework unless there is some
the social fabric, to personal fulfilment, not infringe. prestige attached to it and a certain
to social solidarity and conviviality.
This conditioning and these values freedom to make independent de¬
Education that conditions people to are transmitted virtually unchanged cisions.

accept things as they are is typical from one generation to the next, at an
Parents too are presented as
' of Western society. It does not wel¬ age when we accept fully and un¬
come those who criticize and disturb it.
stereotypes in children's books, as
critically everything we are taught.
part of an established hierarchy with
It wants consenting individuals who Sometimes as adults we realize
father as the figure of authority at
accept its rules, its values, and its
that we have been victims of real home and the breadwinner outside,
demands. And the consent of women
oppression and of manifest injustice. and mother at home, responsible for
to this state of affairs is essential,
But the task of regaining our own the housework.
since they provide a vast number of
proper identity is a daunting one
free "services". If parents expecting the birth of a
because it means open contestation
Women who rebel against being child are asked their preferences,
with the consenting majority.
a marginal and exploited caste are fathers-to-be almost always say they
a threat to the masculine role and all Conditioning starts with parental and hope a first-born child will be a boy.

its privileges. That is why there is social expectations about the birth of This bears out perfectly what is
a widespread effort to contain feminine a child. Attitudes differ for a boy or a expected of a man, who will naturally
revolt. girl, precisely because different social want a boy who will perpetuate him
values are given to the two sexes. and his privileges.
The preservation of patriarchal
The birth of a boy is clearly preferred; Women are less . explicit, either
society and of capitalism requires not
naturally so in a patriarchal culture. because they are expected to have
only that they should be accepted
by women but also that women should Opinion polls and cartoons show less definite opinions, or because their
transmit their values to" oncoming that the ideal family consists of two views are genuinely ambivalent, or
children, of whom the elder is a boy. because of idealization of the maternal
generations through the early training

44
role (which is another aspect of the The result is that even before they motherhood is their only way to self-
oppression of women) according to are born, girls are prepared for a future fulfilment. A girl is taught from her
which a mother should have no pref¬ of intellectual and social underdevel¬ earliest years to regard work which
erences but ought to want and love opment. would give her economic freedom (but
all her children equally well. not necessarily psychological freedom
The different training given to
children according to their sex is quite
also) as merely a way of filling in the
If we analyse these preferences we-
time before she meets her man and
find that the expectations that go with simply outrageous. Girls are forced
prepares to play her role as wife-
them are profoundly different for the to suppress their innate impulse to
prove themselves as individuals (an
mother-housekeeper.
two sexes. A boy is wanted because
it is hoped he will succeed in life, impulse as strong in girls as in boys), So the type of work towards which
make his mark professionally, acquire so as to conform to a stereotyped a woman's choice is canalized is defi¬

prestige and authority, and "honour" second-class model, below their poten¬
tialities.
the family name which he alone will
pass on. A boy therefore is wanted Strong psychological
and awaited for what he will be. on the authority of the male is induced
nitely subordinate, with little prestige
or remuneration. Often the job will
dependence be part-time, in order to allow her to
fulfil her principal role in the home.

in a girl through education or through Careful analysis of the day-to-day

On the other hand, a girl will be
having to model herself on her own behaviour of parents towards a child
expected to provide "services" that
mother, who herself is dependent on from the time it is born, reveals some
right from the start will mark her status
as Inferior. What will be expected the male figure. interesting facts especially in the
from her is gratitude, company, Later this psychological dependence case of the mother. Though the
domestic help, affection, support, on a father figure will be extended to mother is the most important person
good manners, a pleasing appearance all the men that the girl will meet as in the child's life for a long time, she
and psychological dependence on the a woman. Her energies will be placed is not free to act independently. She
family. The girl therefore is wanted at the disposal of men, so as to give reacts to what the cultural and social

for what she will give. them the material support and affection environment requires of her; and she

they need for their own personal is profoundly influenced, in bringing

Clearly, the desire to have children
achievement. up the child, by the authority of the
of different sexes and the marked
father.
preference for boys would lose much Thus the little girl becomes an indi¬
of their importance if parents believed vidual programmed to be at the ser¬ Even if a man has little to do with
that both sexes had identical possi¬ vice of others, and is satisfied to be
the daily needs of a child still being
bilities of succeeding in life that is, so, or is made to feel guilty if she is breastfed, he is and remains the
dissatisfied.
if they were considered socially equal authoritarian figure within the family.
and therefore treated as such. From infancy little girls learn that The woman depends on him and p

45
 "Putthose fists up I Don't be a sissy I
Be a man like daddy I" these are the
kind of exhortations parents often
make to their sons. In the hurly
burly of the boys' playground (right)
toughness is also the order of the day.
For little girls, mummy is the model.
The trio of budding mannequins
dressed up in their mother's clothes
(opposite page) are taking their first
teetering, high-heeled steps to
womanhood. Already in children's
games the barriers between the sexes
are clearly marked out.

jV complies with his wishes and expec¬ Girls are led towards an early choices. They are allowed more time
tations. After all she has been brought autonomy in little matters (eating by to play, and more time to be idle.
up to consent to and accept masculine themselves, keeping, clean, playing
values. alone, tidying up after play, etc.), but A recent inquiry into the toys parents

all within the restricted family orbit. buy for their children showed that
Daily relations between mother and
Only small choices are allowed to they not only spend more on boys but
child are marked by a series of
them, never those that imply a real buy them a wider range of toys than
repeated rituals: meals, washing, bath¬
psychological autonomy. they give to girls, who are usually
ing, hygiene, sleep, bowel movements,
limited to gifts of dolls, miniature
all of which help to "structure" the A girl's aggressivity is constantly kitchens and such like.
child psychologically and can be suppressed, and so is her need to
carried out in different ways. The restrictions imposed on little
move about, to explore, to learn. There
is a tendency to make her into an
girls are shown more clearly if the girls
A closer look at these seemingly
inactive little creature who has no are "hypertonic" that is, lively, in¬
banal rituals reveals an emotional
other choice than to foster certain quisitive, active and enterprising
atmosphere that differs with each
qualities that are considered typically
mother and therefore for each child. abilities that are typical of sedentary
masculine.
In it the sex of the child plays a people, such as manual dexterity.
crucial role. (Prisoners, deprived of liberty and "Hypotonic" girls those who are
By and large a mother creates a movement, also tend to develop quiet, passive and sedentary are the
manual skills to compensate for their
more tolerant and indulgent atmos¬ perfect stereotype and correspond to
lack of freedom.) their parents' expectations. Because
phere if the child is a boy, while for
a girl the atmosphere is more rigid Little boys, however, are required it is easy to see them as "objects",
and disciplined, though it is also more to display a more genuine kind of they are caressed, protected and
affectionate. independence that leads to wider indulged; but this helps to accen-

46
tuate their dependence and passivity. and women. The little girl will accept If we consider how much masculine

The hypertonic boy also cor¬ the inferiority of her sex, and the boy affectivity has been repressed and.
responds to a stereotype, and is the superiority and the privileges that distorted by our Western kind of edu¬
accepted as such, while the boy who go with being a man. cation, and to what extent competi¬
is naturally hypotonic is pushed and If only the two parents resembled tiveness has been exalted, together
stimulated towards action and aggres- each other more, filled the same social with aggressivity, hostility towards
sivity. In this way his natural tem¬ roles and had the same level of others, lack of co-operation and of
perament too is violated. education and intellectual develop¬ social solidarity, and what the results

ment; if they enjoyed the same esteem, have been, then it becomes clear that
Conformity to masculine and femi¬
the objective is much more revolution¬
nine cultural models is not simply social dignity and economic equality,
obtained through training, whether then the children's identification ary than that of achieving parity be¬
with either father or mother would not tween the sexes.
this comes from the family or from the
school. The child himself contributes produce such profound differences. Children must be educated as
In two ways that are natural to very We would reach the point where male individuals who have the right to the
young children: by imitation and by and female roles were obliterated and same freedom, autonomy and self-
identification. individuals would be valued as such realization irrespective of their sex.
and not, a priori, as belonging to one But the values we teach them must
Impelled by the need to identify
sex rather than to the other. all be re-examined. They must be
with an adult of the same sex, the
child finds such a model and adapts So we should not aim to train little taught sociability, co-operation, convi¬
to it, naturally with personal variations viality; in other words, values that
girls to behave like boys. The mascu¬
due to his particular temperament. It line model as it has been seen through
teach them to live side by side, not
in confrontation.
follows that a child will come to the centuries should be rejected
accept a conventional model of men outright. Elena Gianlnl Belotti

47
48
 Girls always play with dolls. They learn to /nof/ier them.
It's just a game but also an unwitting apprenticeship.
Here, a bevy of dolls pose in a Paris arcade.

TEXTBOOKS, STEREOTYPES
AND ANTI-FEMININE PREJUDICES
Conclusions of an inquiry in France
applicable to many other countries

by Renée Miot

FRENCH primary school textbooks status, but leave many others in Women appear in a position of
perpetuate stereotyped images obscurity without giving any expla¬ superiority to children only when they
of women and anti-feminine prejudices. nations. are depicted as teachers: a firm, com¬
This was revealed by a recent survey Women characters figure frequently petent schoolmistress, for example,
commissioned by Madame Françoise in books for six-to-eight-year-olds, but manages to bring a difficult boy under
Giroud, French Secretary of State with with wide variations from one set of her control.
textbooks to another. In books for
special responsibility for the status of Another point worth noting is that,
women, to investigate "questionable nine-to-eleven-year-olds, male charac¬ with the exception of Marie Curie, very
stereotypes which might give an out¬ ters predominate. Adults gradually few famous women are held up as
dated or disparaging image of women fade out and their place is taken by models for children in the nine to
and domestic life." a teen-age society in which young eleven age group.
people act out the roles of adults. Some passages in school textbooks,
Impressions and ideas picked up in
childhood can strongly Influence adult Girls hardly ever figure in these mostly taken from nineteenth-century
outlook, and textbooks used in primary groups, and when they do they behave literature, do however show women

schools play no small part in this like women, either imitating them in who appear to be impelled by some
process in France and in many other
their games or actually replacing them inner force which contrasts sharply
countries. (as when the mother of a family is ill, with their physical weakness and
for example). vulnerability.
French teachers are nowadays urged
Women are described insuch a way Women in these cases are shown
to make less use of textbooks, but
as to show them as always weaker living in dreadful conditions, beset by
there is one subject the French
than men. Little girls are fragile and illness and poverty. By hard work,
language, or at least learning to
sickly. In innumerable fairy stories, endless devotion and self-sacrifice
read where there is no getting away
older girls need a fairy's magic wand they manage to overcome
their
from them. The French study of the
or the arrival of a man (prince or adversities, thus offering an example
image of women therefore concen¬
shepherd) to make their dreams come to be admired and emulated. In one
trated primarily on reading, vocabulary true.
and grammar books. case a poor widow wears her fingers
In a modern setting, women are to the bone in order to feed and
The study showed that the same shown as being incapable of mastering clothe her children and in another,
themes and the same texts recur in mechanical devices, and more than a mother dies to save her daughter.
various sets of reading and vocabulary one textbook makes fun of women This moral force enables them to do
books, at both the "elementary" (six to drivers who cause traffic jams and unaided what most women are shown
eight years) and "intermediate" (nine are accident-prone. Women turn to as being able to do only with the help
to eleven years) levels. The books men for support and assistance, of men. It is noteworthy, however,
highlight some aspects of women's without which they would be quite that all these outstanding women are
defenceless. mothers.

The few examples of equality be¬ Indeed, in school textbooks women

R E N Ë E M I OT, French teacher and psychologist,
is currently engaged on educational research at
the Institut National de la Recherche et de la
Documentation Pédagogique, in Paris. She has
devoted many years to the study of learning
problems experienced by teen-agers and students
for the University Statistics Office, in Paris.
tween the sexes are found only among
children or in teen-age games. In one
instance, a calm, sensible, kindly girl
gives new heart to a boy who has been
left alone to fend for himself.
are above all shown as mothers, and
among humans and animals alike, the
mother is essentially the one who
feeds the young and gives them their
basic education. ^

49
STEREOTYPES
IN SCHOOLBOOKS

Traditional stereotypes which perpetuate the idea of a

rigid distinction between the roles of men and women
in daily life are still found in the texts and images
of school textbooks and continue to influence the
ideas of children from an early age, reports an inquiry
into this question carried out in France. On these
pages we present a few examples of illustrations taken
from schoolbooks in France (1). Turkey (2), USSR (3)
and the German Democratic Republic (4). Women are
almost always shown in their role of mother; daughters
are seen using a vacuum cleaner, serving at table
or helping mother. Boys apparently never do such jobs.

has replaced the long-suffering figure

of the older reading books.
But the most significant ideas are
conveyed in an insidious way through
words and pictures. Their impact is
reinforced by the manner in which
teachers use these texts for written
and oral work.

Texts are chosen in accordance

with the interests of children in the
age group concerned, but their setting
is not that of everyday life. Some of
them are stories specially written for
children, some are legends and others
are basically true or realistic, but are
deprived of their realism by being
situated either in the distant past or
a remote country. All of them per¬
petuate the myths which underlie the
status of women.

These myths are transposed into

a world remote from the world of
W The ¡mage of the mother feeding her children to read or do the everyday adults, a kind of wonderland where
young comes up again and again, jobs about the farm. If a mother is they become "disembodied" and thus
though rather less often in books for away or has died the eldest daughter readily assimilable by children. Simi¬
nine to eleven year-olds: "Mummy mothers the other children in her place. larly, the pictures and short texts used
helps baby to eat, takes his plate, cuts Sometimes, particularly when the as the basis for exercises of grammar,
the pieces that are too big, breaks up mother is a widow, she has to feed vocabulary or oral expression reintro¬
the bread..." Even in stories about and bring up her children under the duce these myths into everyday life
shipwrecks, it is still the mother who most trying conditions. In such cases, when children are required to describe
she is admired and loved even more holidays and various other real life
sees to the feeding of the family.
Mother animals also teach their by her children. events.

young: "Come along, says Mummy It is mainly in the older reading

It is interesting to compare what
bear, come and learn to climb the books that children give expression
appears in the textbooks with the
tree..." and gradually she teaches the to their love and gratitude, rather than
in the more recent vocabulary books,
generally accepted criteria for measur¬
young bear to overcome bigger and
ing the status of women, such as
bigger obstacles. Generally speaking, as if this were a literary genre which
is now outdated. In more recent
marriage, family, social facilities, edu¬
the mothers portrayed are good at
cation, employment, social life and
teaching their children, but they teach books, children show their affection on
leisure.
only practical skills and techniques Mother's Day by offering presents and
flowers. have at least one
such as sewing and ironing. They All textbooks

have difficulty in imposing their auth¬ In nearly all the textbooks, particu¬ passage about marriage. It thus
ority: "Mummy used to tell us off for larly the more recent ones, the mother's comes to take a very important place
misbehaving and often threatened to image is associated in text, illustrations in children's minds. In reading books,
tell father what we had done wrong." and exercises with flowers: she buys marriage is placed in the non-realistic
Grandmothers are presented in the them, gives or is given them, grows context of animal stories and fairy
same way as mothers; they do the them and arranges them. This picture tales, and thus becomes a kind of
family cooking, teach their grand of the mother surrounded with flowers sacrosanct and universal myth.

50
 include New Year's Day, and Cand¬
lemas (February 2) In addition to
Christmas. The success of the fes¬

tivities depends on the womenfolk

mothers and grandmothers who make
splendid meals for these occasions.

Illustrations in more recent textbooks

show comfortably, even richly, ap¬

pointed homes filled with household
appliances such as vacuum cleaners,
refrigerators, washing machines, etc.,
and modern kitchens straight out of
glossy magazines. What we see,
particularly in vocabulary books, is the
¡mage of an urban middle-class society
in which the housewife is surrounded
by every material comfort.

Women are rarely shown doing

professional work, and in one set of
textbooks only 27 women's jobs are
mentioned as against 59 for men.

Women are most often seen working

as schoolteachers, saleswomen or
nurses although all the books contain
a few outstanding examples of women
horse riders or journalists.

An obvious effort is made, however,

to show boys a wide range of
occupations which have a certain
appeal for children, though perhaps
not for adults.

Women are never shown producing

anything. Strangely enough, there
are no women doctors in the more

recent books, even those whose

illustrations show school medical in¬

spections, which are in fact usually

carried out by women doctors.

Women's social life seems to be

restricted to shopping. They are

shown as indefatigable shoppers and
every single vocabulary and grammar
book has at least one section on going
to market and another on shopping in
The study of many examples reveals goes hunting or builds the house."
the big stores.
a simple pattern: marriage is a kind
The same general pattern emerges As for leisure activities, illustrations
of two-way arrangement in which
from passages by modern authors. show women watching television and
males are on the lookout for beauty
The many illustrations and vocabulary knitting (with their women friends or
and youth, and offer in exchange
exercises where the mother is shown
strength, skill, riches or royalty. The in the family circle) while men read the
knitting while the father reads and the newspapers or do odd jobs.
female is after security and wants to
children play drive home the point that
be provided for, and will accept only On holiday or on weekend excur¬
a woman's place is in the home, and
the best, the handsomest, the richest
that it is men who go out to work and sions, picnicking or camping, women
or the strongest, in any case the one still do the cooking, while men go off
do the most difficult jobs or those
who will look after her; In exchange, hunting and fishing, climbing and
which have most prestige.
she offers her beauty and her youth, skiing. Women only appear to relax
which she endeavours to show off to The family, as depicted in French at the seaside, where they are depicted
advantage by means of her finery. textbooks, is usually quite a large one. in bathing costumes lying on the beach.
Feelings are not shown as entering In school reading books, grandparents
into the choice of partner. In the modern world, whose values
are usually shown as living a long
tend to be economic ones, the text¬
A clear distinction is made between way away, but in the more recent
vocabulary books they share in the life book image of woman is one of well-
the rôles of husband and wife. The
of their children and grandchildren. fed contentment; she receives gifts,
most widely used reading system
buys clothes and fills shopping bags,
shows the father and mother engaged
The overall Impression is one of but nowhere is she seen doing
in stereotyped activities, arbitrarily
a large, united, happy but inward- anything productive.
presented as universal: "In all the
looking family with relatives but no
countries of the world, among the friends.
It seems obvious that from an early
Eskimos and in Japan, in Africa and age children are being conditioned by
India, mother prepares the food and The whole family gets together for school textbooks to regard people as
cares for the children, while father holiday celebrations, which in France falling into two categories: strong and ^

51
weak (men and women) with unequal ASSEMBLY- LI NE MUMS
status and functions. The former
AND SEAMSTRESS DADS
exercise authority and make decisions,
while the latter are dependent and
Illustrations on this page, taken from children's books, present an
submissive, even though their inferi¬
unaccustomed image of the traditional masculine and feminine roles.
ority is concealed behind the facade Above right, dad sews on a button (Norway) ; left, a little boy does the
of an affluent consumer society. dishes (Sweden) ; below, sonny boy has mother in a stranglehold (England) ;
bottom, assembly-line mums in an automobile factory (USA).
This division creates one more ob¬
stacle to the advancement of women,
since- it is unlikely that an adult will
shake off this biased, oversimplified
view of things which has been so
strongly impressed on him in child¬
hood.

The solution can only lie in the

hands of teachers. They need to have
a new and broader concept of their
role, and perhaps all that this new
approach requires is a new way of
using textbooks.

They should use the material in text¬

books, drawn from the literature of the
past, in a free and imaginative way, as
the starting point for a genuine give-
and-take of ideas.

In this way, without any drastic

break with past traditions, there might
be some hope of developing young
people's critical faculties and thereby
an awareness of the reality of human
life in all its diversity and complexity.

Renée Mlot

t. Drawing © Gumllla Wolde,

from Trotle Baker, Almqvist and
Wiksell, Stockholm, 1974

2. Drawing © H. Heisters, from,

Aurora I Blokk Z, Tiden Norsk For-
lag. Oslo, 1974

3. Drawing © Helen Oxenbury,

from Meal One, Wm. Heinemann
Ltd , London, 1971

4. Drawing © Benl Montresor,

from Mommies et Work, Alfred
A. Knopf, New York, 1961

52
 The
unrewarded
housewife

by Kirsten Ording Haarr IN the eyes of the law, we These women are told over and
Norwegian women have equal over again that they have no occu¬
rights with men. But we have still not pation and do no real work. For in
answered two vital questions: What our modern society, to work is to do
part do we intend to play in our things, no matter how harmful or
country's economic, social and cultural useless, which you are paid for.
life? To what set of values should
A man said recently that a woman
we commit ourselves?
working in the home today is as
In Norway 579,000 women regard obsolete as the horse that once
work in the home and caring for their worked on the farm. In other words,
children as their main occupation labour-saving devices have taken over
(although many also do up to 20 hours the housewife's jobs, just as tractors
a week paid work outside the home). have taken over from the horse.
But only 45,000 of them have joined the
Norwegian Housewives' Association. His way of thinking seems to me
Very few of these 579,000 women bereft of logic. As I see it, just as
are present when economic, social and tractors have made farm hands super¬
human questions are discussed and fluous, thus rendering the farmer
himself indispensable, instant food
when priorities are established and
resources are allocated. The few products and modern household equip¬
ment have pushed all other human
women who are present seldom dare,
or even wish, to stand up against the hands out of the home, making the
men who dominate these discussions. housewife indispensable.
Should we then conclude that Payment is a poor criterion of
women have no influence on the "work". What. happens every time
development of our modern society? another woman steps into a house¬
Not at all. As I see it, women live wife's shoes to do part of her work
according to a set of values which do for parr of the day? The answer is
not figure on the politician's priority that everyone regards her as the most
list. On that list there are only things important, hardworking, competent
that can be measured in quantity or in and indispensable person in the
terms of money. house, for the simple reason that she
And yet society as a whole and receives money and social benefits
for her work.
each of its individual members are
dependent for their survival upon A man once asked the Labour
women's values being maintained by Exchange to send him three home
women themselves, of course, but helps. "Why three?" he was asked.
preferably by men and women working "My wife is ill and we have small
together. children so she has to be on duty
Mothers of small children have a 24 hours a day as I am away all week.
24-hour working day (a 168-hour As each helper works only eight hours,
KIRSTEN ORDING HAARR of Norway is a
working week). They get no pay, have you must send us three."
leading figure in the Norwegian Housewives'
Association and was a member of its board in no fixed working hours, no spare time From the moment a woman has a
1974-1975. She has published numerous to call their own, and no holidays child in our modern society, she is
articles on social questions and is the author of
"Parents as Partners In Schools' a book published
with or without pay. They get no sick condemned to a working day which
in Oslo in 1971. She has been particularly pay and are not insured against never ends, and she often finds herself
active in promoting parent participation in accidents while working at home. suddenly isolated with her child from
schools and from 1969 to 1971 served on a
Very few of them have their own the rest of society. Our economic
committee set up by the Ministry of Education
names on the front door or in the experts and politicians have done ,.
to develop shared responsibilities in Norway's
state school system. telephone book. precisely nothing to find out how herr

53
Mother's 24-hour

working day
in the land

of the Midnight Sun

Mothers of young children who also

do a job outside the home are on call
24 hours a day. They have to look
after their children (right), keep the
home clean and tidy, make and mend
clothes, cook, do the washing, etc.
As for the housewife with no outside
job, she gets no pay and nobody has
ever calculated the value of her ?

household work in monetary terms.

Almost 600,000 women in Norway
(population 4 million), like the young
mother seen here consider working
in the home as their main occupation
(although many also work part-time
outside the home). Opposite page,
the port of Aalesund, north of Bergen
on Norway's west coast, with its
architecture typical of Norway's
coastal towns.

working day can be shortened and She keeps her home, clothes, the Gross National Product? And, by
made easier. furniture and linen in good repair to the way, why is it that they do not
avoid having to buy new things before increase the GNP?
Furthermore, the only remedy they
can offer for her isolation (which may it is really necessary. It is sheer insolence to tell us that
eventually lead to a mental break¬ She buys material and wool In order we are not helping to build society nor
down), is to put her child into a to make clothes and knitwear. taking an active part in the develop¬
nursery school for 9 or 10 hours a day, She obtains or produces food and, ment of our country. On the other
under exclusively female supervision, if she lives on a farm, sows and reaps. hand, I think we should rejoice when
and to offer her an additional job a people say that we are not playing
She joins study groups to make
poorly paid one at that. our part in building today's "brave new
herself better qualified.
Why is it that children are increas¬ world" of -technology ruled by com¬
She does social work in the local puters.
ingly regarded as an expensive and
community and persuades the local
superfluous burden, as a nuisance and Men in our modern society have
authorities to give priority aid to
a problem? Are we not forgetting made themselves a gigantic play¬
activities for the benefit of children,
that the world's future will be decided ground and filled it with machinery,
teenagers and old people.
by the chances of growth and devel¬ money and finance, technological
opment which we give to our children, She is in fact, without realizing it, subtleties, weapons, and intellectual
and by the values which we foster a practising ecologist. exaggerations.
in them? Women in all parts of the world Some women want nothing better
have much in common. More than
As her children grow up, the mother than to go into the male playground
working in the home can move around men, in my view. and work under their orders. Today
more freely. But even then she may For biological reasons we are unable our men try to entice all Norwegian
still have her hands full, doing things to escape life's deeper realities. We women into the playground because
which are vital to her family and to are all faced with pregnancy, birth, they need manual helpers. But their
the community. nursing, the daily care of children, thinking is schizophrenic. They want
She has time to look after others, parents, friends, the sick and the old. the women in their playground, but
healthy and sick, young and old, Attending to primary needs is first they find it impossible to envisage their
and foremost our business, wherever homes without the "little woman".
members of her family and others.
we live.
(At the end of 1972, we had In Norway Women who pack chocolates for
456,712 children under seven years of So why do we not protest loudly eight hours every day are said to be"
age and room for only 19,000 of them when we are told that we are econ¬ finding fulfilment by taking part in the
in day nurseries. There were 194,910 omic burdens on our husbands? Why "inspiring process of production". In
Norwegians aged 75 or over, but only do we not rise up in anger when people some mysterious fashion, the word
32,000 places in various old-age call us an encumbrance on society, "production" has become synonymous
institutions.) because what we do adds nothing to with "paid work".

54
 Photo © G Bern, Pans

It is quite true that many of these no less intense than her joy in having Two different cultural patterns seem
women do find fulfilment but not passed the exam. To my mind this to be developing throughout the world,
through packing chocolates. They do woman has a real sense of values. one made and used by men and the
it by producing vital goods and other by women. There is a real
On the same day that I talked to
services in their own homes after conflict between the two, a silent
her, I read in the paper that computers
working hours, at night, on Saturdays worth billions of kroner are thrown on struggle between one set of values
and Sundays and during the summer connected with money, technology
the scrap heap every year because
holidays. new and more advanced models come and everything measured in terms of
I can see no valid reason why we on the market. "living standards" and another based
should not calculate this productive on meeting the fundamental physical
We know that the "development" and mental needs we call the "quality
work in the home in terms of money.
instigated by highly educated men in of life".
All we need is to work out special
the world's industrialized countries
rates for pregnancy, child-birth, and We, the women of the world, must
has brought us all to the brink of
nursing and let's not forget that begin to use our heads. Let us start
human milk is a valuable food and disaster. And to our eternal disgrace
thinking. Let us talk to our menfolk.
we, the women of the world, have done
rates a high price. Let us step outside our homes and
very little to stop them.
We also need special overtime rates make our men step outside their play¬
for work over and above an 8-hour Men squander raw materials which ground; let us meet as partners and
day, as well as holiday pay and decent can never be replaced. They waste equals, listen and talk and work
good soil and turn it into sand and together.
wages for inconvenient working hours,
asphalt. They jeopardize the food
night work and work on Sundays, etc. Let us find out together how we can
supplies in the sea without which the
The bill would be astronomical. harmonize the cultural patterns of men
world's people cannot survive. and women and make a common effort
And at long last our economic experts
They are like drivers who back their to save the world our children will
would have to admit the reason why
inherit.
women's work in the home has never cars towards a precipice while staring
ahead through the windscreen. The Kirsten Ordlng Haarr
been valued in monetary terms:
although it can be calculated, there is cars have not yet gone over the edge
simply not enough money in the world because women have acted as brakes.
to pay for it.
The many vital goods and services
A woman with four children once women provide in the home do not
told me that she had just passed a involve a large consumption of natural
university exam, and in the next breath resources. It is only «when women
she described how she had just step into the male playground and
mended 12 pairs of trousers. Her accept men's values that they help to
pride in her mending was obviously impoverish the earth.

55
Where the husband
is head cook
and bottlewasher
by Elsa Rastad Braaten

THE United Nations has solemnly Up to now women have been forced searched for a solution that in some
declared that there shall be
to accept so-called equal opportunity way would strengthen the family
equality between the sexes. But it is in working life on men's conditions. within a framework of equality between
one thing to talk about equality, They have had to meet the demands the sexes.
another to make it work in reality. For of employers accustomed to the ser¬
It was not so difficult to find the
you certainly can't change the present vices of men who are supported by
answer in theory. If men and women
position of women without affecting housewives at home.
the status of men. Men have so long were to have equal opportunity outside
Women workers, on the other hand, the home, they must also have the
been used to accepting women as a
usually have the full responsibility of same responsibility for home and
kind of ground crew, servicing the
home, husband and children in addi¬ children. Full time work for both
male flight towards the upper heights
tion to their paid jobs. Married women parents had proved to be no solution
of society, that they will feel a little
"wing-clipped" if women withdraw their especially with small children thus if they had small children. But, if part
services. take on a double work load when they time work was acceptable for women,
accept full-time work outside the home. why not for men ? The idea was
And what effect will this have on
That is why many of them prefer part- reasonable, but would it work ?
their personality, their self respect,
time work. So what becomes of equal
and what they conceive as their mas¬ In 1971, the Family Council, together
opportunity?
culine image ? Lots of men firmly with the Institute of Sociology of the
believe that masculinity dissolves in And what about the children ? If University of Oslo, launched a research
dishwater. They would rather die than both parents are working full time, experiment called "conjugal work-
be caught washing the baby's nappies. small children will certainly be deprived sharing families".
of some of the affection and care to
The project was in two parts. First
which they are entitled. Yet at the
it was necessary to create public
ELSA RASTAD BRAATEN, a member of the same time, the traditional family with interest and get the support of workers
Norwegian parliament, has been active in the a mother at home all day and a father and employers. Secondly, research
Norwegian women's rights movement for out at work often means too much was required to explore the causes
nearly 40 years. She has been an under¬ mother and too little father.
secretary of state to the Minister of Justice and and motives that were leading families
a consultant on women's employment to The Family Council of Norway has to adopt the new pattern and to find
Norway's Labour Directorate. A former journalist, out what happened when they did.
she was for some time editor of the women's been anxiously following a situation
magazine published by the Norwegian Labour that seemed to be undermining the A preliminary report on this exper¬
Party. family in modern industrial society. It iment, published recently, shows that

56
 "It's daddy's turn tonight". And why shouldn't fathers share responsibilities
in the home? In Norway some families have taken part in a "conjugal
work-sharing" experiment, husband and wife each taking part-time jobs
and arranging for one or the other to be always at home to look after
the children, do the housework, cooking, etc. Free of adult prejudices,
children are quite happy to have a father who's good at nursing, cooking,
dusting and other home chores.

conjugal work-sharing is at least a the reasons why working class parents cations he has a Master's degree
were less interested: they simply from a business school and that his
possible way of life.
couldn't afford the drop in income. career will probably suffer. But he
The couples taking part could share thinks his wife and children are more
their working time as suited them best. Surprisingly enough, equality be¬
important.
The ortly condition was that neither tween the sexes was not the main
the husband nor the wife should work consideration of the majority of those The new way of life also gives him
taking part in the experiment, though, more time for community activities.
away from home more than 28 hours
or /ess' than 16 hours a week. They of course, it did count to some extent. He doesn't feel less respected as a
had to synchronise their work-hours The parents mostly felt that the male, in spite of being accepted as
children needed more attention, es¬ a member of the local Housewives
so that one of them would always be
at home. \ pecially from the father. Clubl Aud Fjelland perhaps has met
with more disapproval. She has been
There were of course some diffi¬ One of the couples who opened
accused of selfishness because say
culties. At first it was rather hard to their home life to public scrutiny was
some people she lets her husband's
get employers to accept a man part- Aud and Svein Fjelland in Bergen. career suffer to make life more
time. It didn't seem right to them Both agree that for them, at least, the comfortable for herself. More often,
that a well educated man should prefer arrangement turned out well. They
however, friends say they envy the
to stay at home half the time to do have more time together and share
couple their courage in trying out
housework and look after children more interests, which has enriched
something new.
when he had a wife who in their view their married life.

could do it better! The report shows that most of the

About 25 families agreed to partici¬
pate in the experiment, but only
16 were able to get suitable part-time
work for both parents. In most of the
families, both parents occupied posts
such as teachers, nurses, dentists,
lawyers and so on.
The women usually earned less than
the men, so the family income generally
went down. This is probably one of
The children love having a father,
conjugal work-sharing families had
as well as a mother, to help with the
similar experiences to the Fjellands.
school work, someone who is an
On the one hand they noted a mild
expert bun, cake and bread baker,
who knows how to blow on a bruised
curiosity and envy among their friends,
a little hostility among a few who feel
knee so it doesn't hurt any more and
threatened by a change of the familiar
a lot of other tricks that usually only
life-style, and difficulties in finding
a mother is supposed to know about.
suitable jobs; and on the other, better
Svein Fjelland says that part-time marital relations and happier children.
employment has forced him to accept
work that is a bit below his qualifi Elsa Rastad Braaten

57

by Aron I. Belkin
AN extremely important problem
related to the profound changes
which have occurred in Soviet, society
is raised in this letter (on right) which
appeared recently in the Moscow
literary review "Litteraturnaia Gazeta".
The access of women to equality
with men raises a whole series of
problems. For example, having won
equal rights and freedom in what
direction should women develop their
personality?
In her letter, Madame Lvova is in
fact claiming that there should be no
distinctions between women and men
at work, in social life or in the family,
that boys and girls should be brought
up in exactly the same way and that
equality of rights implies identical
behaviour and outlook In men and
women.
But opinion in many countries has
been seriously disturbed in recent
years by an increasing tendency for
men to become "feminized" and for
women to become "masculinized".
The legal equality of the sexes, the
radical changes which have occurred
in the professional, social and family
life of men and women, the growing
tendency to apply the same standards
of morality and conduct to men and
women, and finally a certain "hybrid"
character in the physical appearance
of many persons all create the im¬
pression that the distinction between
the "stronger" and the "weaker" sex
is becoming blurred, a situation which
causes heated controversy and some
alarm.
Where are these changes in our
civilization leading us? Are we, in
fact, witnessing the disappearance of
ARON 1SAAKOVICH BELKIN, an inter¬
nationally-known Soviet scientist, is head of the
psychiatric endocrinology laboratory at the
Moscow Institute of Psychiatry (Ministry of
Public Health of the Russian Federation). He
is the author of over 60 studies on problems of
psychiatric endocrinology.
58
Masculine
feminine
or neutral ?
" If the word ' emancipation ' nowadays elicits a sceptical smile it is
because as a concept it has so many inherent contradictions. What do sta¬
tistics tell us about it in their unemotional language? That in 1969, for
instance, there were 62 times more women with higher and specialized
secondary education in the U.S.S.R. than there were in 1928 : 9,500,000 wo¬
men altogether or 60 per cent of all graduates from those levels of education.
There have been many changes in the status of women, and yet something
is still lacking... I believe that women are psychologically unprepared for
the rights and freedoms which have been heaped on them.
Centuries of oppression have given women a mistaken view of their
own abilities which by the force of inertia still survives in the consciousness
of women today. It is time that women took stock of their new social status.
But how are they to do this?
Education, environment, books and works of art, as we know, play an
important role in the awakening and development of the human mind.
Women must therefore be given, from their early childhood, the kind of
moral training that will prepare them for the immense social changes that
have taken place in our country.
But so far, the education of girls has been characterized by an inertia that
persists with astonishing tenacity. Parents themselves instil in their daugh¬
ters specific attitudes which explain the gap that opens in later life bet¬
ween the basic aspirations of men and women.
Upbringing exerts an enormous influence on a woman's life and I believe
that if girls were guided correctly in developing a proper sense of values
all the arguments about the influence of women's biological characteristics
on their psychological make-up would be shown up as baseless. Polish
sociologists have concluded that feminine psychological characteristics,
to the extent that they actually exist, are more the result of cultural factors
than of inborn, sex-related ones. They result primarily from the way girls
are brought up, and this in turn depends to a large extent on society's concept
of the role of women."
N. Lvova
(Irom a letter to the Moscow "Litteraturnaia Gazeta")
the lines of demarcation between male many species have developed a
and female psychology and behaviour? division into sexes which presents a
number of important advantages from
Obviously one should first consider
the nature of the psychological differ¬ the point of view of adaptation to the
ences between men and women. Are environment and of survival. These
they purely biological in origin or are advantages are not merely a matter
they caused entirely by social factors? of genetics but also of behaviour the
Would identical upbringing for both natural division of functions more than
sexes really disprove all the theories proves its worth when it comes to
about the influence of the biological rearing children, obtaining food and
characteristics of women on female resisting an aggressor. Thus, with each
psychology? sex evolving independently, strongly-
In the course of biological evolution, marked differences in physical appea- ^
In 1974, 20 million children in the Soviet Union spent their summer vacations
in nursery schools or holiday camps at the seaside or in the country.
These facilities are a tremendous boon to mothers in a country such as
the U.S.S.R. where 51 per cent of industrial and office workers are women.
Below, happy homecoming in Moscow.

59
( ranee, in behaviour and in "character" choice of a sexual role. The ease and dependent. When they reach
' have become firmly established. with which the individual can accept adulthood, such children often prove
his role depends on a biological pre¬ incapable of fulfilling the role which
In the case of human beings,
disposition, further reinforced by the society requires of them.
masculine and feminine roles are of
influence of the social environment.
course determined not so much by In many modern families, the roles
The child thus gradually comes to feel of man and woman have become so
biological factors as by social, econ¬
omic and cultural ones. But this does
that it belongs to one or other of the
indistinguishable, the demarcation lines
sexes, works out a particular type
not mean that today any more than in between them so unclear, that a child
of conduct and becomes definitively
the past, the nature of men's and has no possibility of choice between
aware of its own identity as a man different models of behaviour. The
women's social roles can be changed
or woman.
at will: they are based upon biological ¡mages of the strong, brave, strict,
foundations, and any failure to take Biologically speaking, human beings determined father and the tender,
this fundamental truth into account are born either men or women, but gentle, understanding mother have
could have serious consequences. socially speaking they become men become blurred and indistinct. Which

or women through their contacts with of them should the child imitate?
The shaping of the individual per¬
other people and under the influence With whom should it identify? The
sonality is closely linked with the un¬
of society. Every social role which an problem has become so complex, as
conscious choice of a particular pattern
individual takes upon himself burdens we have personally seen from many
of conduct, a choice which the child
him with a heavy responsibility cases, that by no means all children
makes under the influence of those
towards society, which calls for con¬ are able to find an answer.
around him.
siderable effort on his part if he is to
Another aspect of the difficulties
To begin with, the child merely fulfil that role successfully.
that boys and girls today have in
imitates certain of the outward charac¬
It may be that those who vocifer¬ establishing their own sexual identity
teristics of the person whom he has
ously demand a single "identity" for is the gradual, inexorable disappear¬
involuntarily chosen as a "model",
the sexes, or who call for a "sexual ance from the lore of children of
such psychological characteristics as
revolution" and for freedom from daily fairytales, nursery rhymes, etc., which
kindness, gentleness, responsiveness
routine are merely demonstrating a used to help them to build up a mental
or determination, courage and firmness.
selfish and irresponsible desire to ideal of masculine or feminine charac¬
Stereotypes of behaviour accepted escape from the role which nature and teristics to which they could aspire.
for the sex of the child are encouraged society assign to every individual. In most modern poems, stories and
and those which are not accepted are songs for children the conduct of
For many centuries the belief has
discouraged: boys, for instance, are heroes and heroines is often indis¬
been firmly held that the psychology
shamed out of crying, while girls tinguishable, and the child's deep need
and behaviour of girls and boys
are told off for tomboyish behaviour. to set up an ideal of masculinity or
should be different. The fact that this
It has been shown that parents, femininity is left unsatisfied.
conviction is now being reappraised
particularly the mother, unconsciously creates serious consequences both Differences in psychology and behav¬
adopt a different attitude to a baby for the individual and for society as iour between men and women are thus
boy or girl right from its birth. a whole. becoming less distinct with every
Research in the United States has generation, and there is every reason
Attempts by parents to "transform"
shown that in the first six months to fear that this process will continue.
their sons into daughters or to make
mothers hold and handle sons con¬
little girls out of boys lead to equally Modern science has now sufficient
siderably more often than daughters. unfortunate results. Research shows evidence to show beyond doubt that
But after the period in which baby that mothers who have never played a feeling of one's own sexual identity
boys are frequently fondled, mothers with dolls during childhood often lack as a man or a woman is an essential
try to wean them away. A year-old motherly feelings and maternal skills, attribute of one's personality and the
girl is allowed' to spend much more while boys who have been pampered person lacking this is incapable of
time with her mother and comes into grow up physically weak, cowardly leading a normal life in society.
physical contact with her more often
than a boy of the same age.

As this lessening of the contact with

the mother increases the independence
of a child, researchers have concluded
that mothers intuitively try to develop
such Independence in their sons,
encouraging them to explore and
"master" the world around them.

But why does a child choose a

particular model of male or female
conduct? The' answer is that the
child's reactions depend on its bio¬
logical characteristics. A child chooses
the father or the mother as its model
primarily according to whether a
masculine or a feminine role comes
more easily to it.

This "principle of facility" is ex¬

tremely important in the choice by an
individual of a particular social role,
since it demonstrates that the role
in question corresponds with the
individual's natural characteristics. A
boy, for instance, may dream of
becoming a boxer but if by nature
he is highly sensitive to pain he will
soon give up this impossible ambition.

The same thing happens in the

Photo Henri Cartier-Bresson

60
 Today doctors have unfortunately The intolerable feeling of "sex- shaping of human character, and many
to deal more and more frequently with lessness" expresses itself in anti¬ are the problems that science still has
social behaviour such as alcoholism, to solve ¡n this field.
people who for one reason or another
have to some extent lost this feeling drug-taking and homosexuality. This One thing is certain, however:
in turn creates bitterness and emotion¬
of identity. The study of such cases equality of the sexes should not lead
al instability that are sometimes re¬ to the blurring of the psycho¬
shows quite clearly that any voluntary
sponsible for crime and for unhappy, logical boundaries between them, to
or involuntary psychological deviation broken lives that not infrequently end "asexual" behaviour. The best guaran¬
from the sense of belonging to one in suicide.
or the other sex can lead to serious tee of harmony in sexual relations is
These misadventures, of course, the recognition that the natural roles
psychological disturbance, to severe
of the sexes are distinctive and
pathological troubles and ultimately threaten above all those who have
different, not identical.
to tragic consequences. suffered a profound disturbance of the
sense of sexual identity. Such cases For centuries the need to restrain
Loss of this sense of belonging
are relatively rare, but there are many the sexual urge was propagated by
brings about profound changes in the
others in which similar symptoms are society, but no attention was paid to
whole personality, along with symp¬
present In a milder form. the significance of sexual awareness
toms of "depersonalization". The
in the development of the human
individual Is no longer sure of his place There are of course no simple or
personality. Today science must
in society. His whole system of ready-made solutions to the problem.
contribute to the urgent task of
relations with others is disturbed and Many contradictory ideas and preju¬
investigating the true laws governing
he loses his sense of attachment to dices have emerged in the course of sexual behaviour.
friends and relatives, to familiar places, human history concerning the signifi¬
to his work and to life itself. cance of sexual awareness in the Aron I. Belkln

DADDY WHEELS

AND MUMMY WELDS

In the Soviet Union, the majority of

workers in heavy industry are women.
On automated production lines, 77 per
cent of the personnel are women. Left,
two women workers fix an automobile
door in a Moscow factory. Right, two
father; wheel their babies along Gogol
Boulevard, in Moscow.

61
 The situation of women
in 12 socialist countries
An international seminar held in Moscow on the eve of International Wo¬
men's Year brought together representatives of women's organizations from
12 socialist countries. The discussions focussed on women's participation
in productive work. The article published below is based on the conclusions
of the seminar.

THE degree of women's eman¬ against women retards human pro¬ of countries or stipulated by law, inter¬
cipation is a criterion of general gress. national experience shows that the
emancipation", wrote the great French i
proclamation of equality does not
This is even more true today when
Utopian Charles Fourier (1772-1837). necessarily mean its implementation.
one-third of all the material wealth
But long before Fourier phrased this Only an active participation of women
essential for human existence is pro¬
fundamental principle, others had af¬ in productive work can ensure their
duced by women.
firmed that women should have equal full and genuine equality with men.
rights with men in every sphere of Although women's rights are written
This viewpoint was reaffirmed by
human activity, since discrimination into the constitutions of the majority
representatives of women's organi¬
zations from twelve countries (1) who
took part in a seminar on the parti¬
cipation of women in productive work,
held in Moscow on the eve of Inter¬
national Women's Year.

Speakers at the seminar described

how governments in their respective
countries are working to create condi¬
tions which enable women to take
regular jobs outside the home while
still being able to care for their chil¬
dren and do housework.

This probably explains why nearly

half of all industrial and office workers
in these countries are women : 45 per
cent in Bulgaria and Romania, 46 per
cent in Poland, 48.5 per cent in
Czechoslovakia, 50 per cent in the
Korean People's Democratic Republic
and 51 per cent in the U.S.S.R.
The number of women workers is
increasing in all parts of the world,
but in the twelve socialist countries the
proportion of women holding paid jobs
is particularly high while the number
of women contributing to economic
growth and engaged in studies is espe¬
cially impressive: 84.5 per cent in
the German Democratic Republic,
85.6 per cent in Czechoslovakia and
92.5 per cent in the U.S.S.R.
These figures show that for women
work is not only an economic neces¬
sity it is increasingly becoming a

(1) Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Demo¬

cratic Republic of Vietnam, German Demo¬
cratic Republic, Hungary, Korean People's
Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Ro¬
mania, U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia.

Right, invitation to the dance in

Prague (Czechoslovakia). Left, fun
at the fair for a mother and her
children in a Romanian village.

62
moral requirement (to be useful to women. Though they are equals, strictly applied.
Girls usually make
society). A recent sociological survey socially and economically, men and up 50 per cent or more of the chil¬
women have basic psychological dif¬ dren enrolled in schools.
in the U.S.S.R. revealed that 30 per
cent of the women polled gave this ferences, which must be considered Out of every thousand Soviet work¬
as their primary reason for working when choosing an occupation. ing women 717 have higher, second¬
and about 67 per cent had both eco¬ The Moscow seminar stressed that ary or partial secondary education.
nomic and moral motivations. The figure for men is 718 so there is
professional orientation should aim
This difference of opinion as regards not merely to provide equal job op¬ no gap between the sexes in terms
motivation is explained by the diver¬ of the average level of education.
portunities for men and women, that
sity, in terms of education, profes¬ is, their "equal representation" in In Poland, 48 per cent of women
sional training, jobs and also family every occupation, but should see to have had higher, secondary or partial
status, of working women. And this it that women are given jobs for which secondary education, in Bulgaria 51.6
in turn accounts for other problems, qualifications and pay are the same as per cent and in Czechoslovakia,
of which perhaps the most serious is those of men. 54.2 per cent.
the extent to which women lag behind
Some jobs, though well paid, are At the turn of the present century
men in professional skills.
hard and unhealthy and cannot be it was not easy for women to enter
Women's social role as workers the medical profession. Today from
done by women for physical and phy¬
and mothers indeed reveals a certain 50 to 85 per cent of medical and
siological reasons. The code of female
contradiction. labour and motherhood in the twelve nursing staffs in the twelve socialist
countries are women.
Professional training and skills are socialist countries prohibits the em¬
usually acquired between the ages ployment of women for this kind of In Mongolia, for instance, all women
of 20 and 30. But it is generally job, although this entails no discri¬ were illiterate before 1928. Today
between these ages that women bear mination in remuneration, and wages women make up 24.5 per cent of the
children and raise families and so are fixed according to the quantity, country's specialists with higher edu¬
have to leave work, which means that quality and value of work done. cation, 37.6 per cent of all persons
they also begin to lose their pro¬ In all 12 countries, it was stressed with a secondary education and 50
fessional skills. per cent of those with technical secon¬
at the seminar, measures to exclude
So in this context it is especially dary education.
the possibility of discrimination start
important to make the right approach with access to general education, in The gap between "men's" and
to the professional orientation of which the principle of equality is "women's" jobs has narrowed sharply. ^

Photo 0 Czechoslovak Life, Prague

63
^ in all socialist countries. In the
U.S.S.R., heavy industry is now staffed
largely by women, while light industry,
traditionally a women's sector, now
ranks just below it. Women today
make up between 65 and 67 per cent
of workers in the machine-engineering
industry and electronics and 77 per
cent of workers on automatic assembly
lines in industrial plants.

Women's work does not interfere

seriously with their being mothers,
thanks to a system of law under which
mothers receive benefits that in some
instances are considerably above
the standards laid down by ILO
conventions.

In Bulgaria, the German Democratic

Republic, Hungary, Czechoslovakia
and the U.S.S.R., periods of mater¬
nity leave range from 3 to 6 months,
and women there are entitled to ad¬
ditional leave In order to care for
their babies.

Thus, in Hungary, in addition to a

20-week maternity leave, a woman is
entitled to additional leave for baby-
care, during which she receives one-
third of her pay for 30 months. In the
Korean People's Democratic Republic
women with more than two children
receive a full day's pay for only six
hours' work.

The participation of women in work¬

ing life, as the Moscow seminar
stressed, promotes their cultural ad¬
vancement, increases their qualifi¬
cations and raises them to a new posi¬
tion in society. More than half a mil¬
lion Soviet women are In charge of
factories or collective farms and wom¬
en occupy 32 per cent of senior posts
as managers and heads of departments
in industrial plants.

Women's professional work is one

criterion of their participation in the
political life of their countries. In
Czechoslovakia, for instance, 24 per
cent of government officials are wom¬
en, in the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam about 30 per cent and in the
U.S.S.R. 31.3 per cent.

Of course it is not statistics alone

which count, although they help to

give a general idea of women's status
in the socialist countries, where their
equality with men, as seminarspeakers
pointed out, enables them to play a
truly active part in society.

But figures do reveal, the particular

nature of social and economic devel¬
opment in these countries, each of
which is distinguished by its own ap¬
proach to the problem of women's
employment.

Speakers at the Moscow seminar

expressed the hope that International
Women's Year will mark the beginning
of concerted efforts to achieve equal¬
ity for women in all countries, to
ensure their participation in economic,
social and cultural development and
to enhance their role in promoting
world peace.

64
 Non-governmental organizations
and the struggle
for women's emancipation
by Jeanne Henriette Chaton

IN^ its March 1975 issue, the undertaken by women, howeverlimited,

Faces of Greece (above),
Morocco (left)
and India (below).
Photos © Gar Smith,
Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris
Tlnesco Courier" published a has demonstrated the need for women's
brief chronology of milestones in the organizations and the work they do.
emancipation of women, which listed
The foundation of the League of
some of the women's organizations Nations after World War I was a land¬
founded in the 19th and 20th centuries.
mark in the development of women's
Inspired and led by women whose organizations. It encouraged them to
names hold an honoured place in the make international contacts and gave
history of some countries, these organ¬ them an opportunity to make known
izations campaigned for wide-ranging their views to the League's specialized
or specific objectives, drawing women committees dealing with women's
into a global and irreversible movement questions.
whose definitive history has still to be
written.
The League also heard proposals
for banning, in any form whatever,
Women's organizations owe their "the sale or trade in women and child¬
existence to a number of special ren, either for work or prostitution, or
circumstances. One was the right, only even marriage" but it failed to approve
then recently accorded in some count¬ the proposals at that time.
ries, to form associations. Another
was the extension of education to Thus, following the foundation of
women in a widening range of social
the League of Nations, international
women's organizations became in¬
classes and occupations.
creasingly active in the League's var¬
Industrialization was a third and de¬
ious social, humanitarian and econ¬
cisive factor. Until the 19th century
omic committees. Joining forces, their
women's activities were largely confin¬ delegates presented petitions in sup¬
ed to the family circle; they helped port of peace and disarmament and
run the family business or farm, bar¬ made direct appeals to heads of gov¬
tering or selling their produce locally. ernments.

Industrialization and the development

These activities, at meetings of the
of a market economy reduced the
League and of the International Labour
role of women as producers of goods Office in Geneva and of the Institute
for local consumption and led them
of Intellectual Co-operation in Paris,
to seek work outside the restricted
led to the foundation of still more
family group, and to earn money to
international women's organizations.
pay for some of their household needs.
But World War II disrupted their
Thus, the demands put forward by
work, even though they tried, often
a handful of highly educated women
at great risk, to keep their internatio¬
were gradually taken up step by step nal links alive and to aid war victims
by others grappling with new problems
and refugees.
and social and economic handicaps.
One can say that every new activity As soon as the conflict ended,
women's organizations showed their
readiness to play a still more important
JEANNE HENRIETTE CHATON, of France,
role in helping to repair the ravages
of war.
has played a leading part In the work of many
international women's organizations, including
the International Council of Women, the Inter¬
Their eagerness to play a full part
national Federation of Business and Professional in the post-war world was recognized
Women and the International Federation of at the San Francisco Conference
University Women, of which she was President
from 1953 to 1956. A member of the French
(1945), which, in drawing up the Char¬
committee for International Women's Year, she ter of the United Nations, made pro¬
has also represented France on the United vision for the U.N. Economic and So¬
Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
cial Council to work with non-govern¬
A history teacher, she was a consultant to
Unesco for its programme on the equal access
mental organizations on a consultative
of girls and women to education between 1949 basis. Since then, many women's asso-.
and 1952. dations have been given consultative r

65
^ status with the U.N. and its agencies, what they must do in order to achieve retraining and helps members who
including Unesco. equality in law and in daily life. Its have emigrated.
International women's organizations special concerns are problems of em¬
The International Federation of Busi¬
have played a growing part in pro¬ ployment, health, family, social welfare,
ness and Professional Women (found¬
moting international solidarity and un¬ rural development, living conditions in
ed in 1930) working with a wide variety
derstanding, and as membership of the cities, and education.
of professional groups also seeks to
United Nations has increased so has The International Council of Women improve women's professional qualifi¬
their influence and importance. (also founded in 1888) operates on cations. In developing countries car¬
The World Association of Girl Gui¬ similar lines. In countries such as eers are now opening up for women
des and Girl Scouts, for instance, Nepal, Pakistan, Cameroon and Peru, which call for specialized training
today groups 90 national organizations it has helped women group-leaders in notably in legal and economic fields.
and 6.5 million members covering rural areas to carry out literacy cam¬
These careers are -related to priority
every continent. The International paigns and community development
activities such as family welfare, con¬
Alliance of Women has branches in and training courses, with the help of servation of the environment and the
nine African, eight Latin American, Unesco's Gift Coupon Programme or
development of marketing and trade.
11 -Asian and 14 European countries through its own project contracts.
as well as in the United States and The International Council of Social
Associations of women of the same
Australia. The Associated Country Democratic Women (founded in 1955)
religious faith, such as the World
Women of the World has 8 million promotes contacts between women's
Union of Catholic Women's Organiza¬
members in 69 countries. The World organizations in the social democratic
tions (founded in 1910) or the Inter¬
Union of Catholic Women's Organi¬ national Council of Jewish Women movement in over 30 countries, sup¬
zations has 125 affiliated associations. porting their efforts to achieve equality
(founded in 1912 it ceased its activi¬
between the sexes.
All these women's organizations ties during the two world wars, and
are voluntary and non-governmental was restarted in 1949) do not re¬ Two clubs working in conjunction
bodies. They are financed by members' strict their work to persons of their with Unesco have similar aims. They
dues and occasional gifts or legacies,
but they rarely receive large subsidies.
All have affirmed their determination
to contribute to the maintenance of
peace and world understanding and
to the fundamental freedoms laid down
in the U.N. Charter and the Universal
"Welcome
Declaration on Human Rights. aboard. This is

Some of the women's groups which your captain

are concerned with the overall problem Margaret
Williamson
of women's status in the world have
speaking. Will
focussed their activities on education,
you please attach
job training and family welfare as well
your seat
as on economic, civic and political belts..."
problems. They have also worked to
improve the conditions of the world's Drawing by Richter
Photo USIS
poorest and most neglected peoples.
-^Ä7
One of these, the World Young Wom¬
en's Christian Association (founded
in 1894) operates in many parts of
the world. It provides emergency and own faith, although they aim to main¬ are the Soroptimist International Asso¬
long-term aid to refugees in areas tain fundamental religious values. ciation (founded in 1928) and Zonta
with acute refugee problems, such as Their objectives are to protect women International, whose name is derived
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Middle East, children and young people and to en¬ from a Sioux Indian word meaning
Pakistan, Hong Kong and Mauritius. sure their moral welfare. "honest and trustworthy".
It also helps immigrants to adjust The World Union of Catholic Wo¬
A number of organizations are in fact
to their new surroundings by running men's Organizations is particularly open to both men and women; trade
literacy courses in the language of active in Venezuela, Colombia and
unions, for instance have large num¬
their host country, provides job train¬ Mexico. Besides promoting literacy bers of women members. In the early
ing, helps to integrate refugees and technological development, Catho¬ days of trade unionism, women were
into the community, regularises the lic and Jewish women's groups alike either rejected outright or only reluc¬
situations of illegal immigrants and, are engaged in the struggle against tantly accepted as members, but since
when necessary, helps those who wish economic and social injustice. then they have actively participated in
to return to their country of origin. The Women's International Demo¬ worker's organizations including those
The Associated Country Women of cratic Federation (founded in 1945) is which have consultative status with

the World (founded in 1930) tackles concerned primarily with the problems Unesco. The same is true for some

the same problems in rural areas by of women as mothers, workers, and professional bodies (teachers, lawyers
training women teachers for widely citizens. It works to promote peace, and others).
scattered farming communities. It has accession to national independence
So long as discrimination exists, so
launched literacy programmes in and better living conditions and also to
long as world opinion has not con¬
Indonesia, Brazil, Trinidad and East combat hunger. demned and abolished discrimination
Africa, and it provides basic training in The International Federation of Uni¬ both in theory and in practice, the
farming, market gardening and stock- versity Women (founded in 1919) stri¬ need for women's associations and
raising. It shows people how ves to bring women greater access their world-wide action will remain.
best to use local resources and how to
to higher education, more posts in The proof that they are needed is
combat vitamin deficiencies and also
basic and applied research and jobs of shown by the fact that the United
teaches about sanitation, family plan¬
greater responsibility. In developing Nations and its specialized agencies
ning and care of children.
countries it promotes the growth of so frequently call on women's orga¬
The major goal of the International education so that women can have nizations to help them carry out their
Alliance of Women (founded in 1888), access to the further studies that open programmes.
whose motto is "Equal rights, equal the way to better jobs. It provides
responsibilities", is to show women many grants for studies, research and Jeanne Henriette Chaton

66
 The first
world conference
by Marie-Pierre Herzog
of women

FROM June 19 to July 2, 1975, the general political discussions which took The Mexico City conference drew up
United Nations-sponsored World place in Mexico City? and adopted a 10-year World Plan of
Conference of International Women's Action, a Declaration of principles and
This first world conference on the
Year took place in Mexico City. 34 resolutions which form an un¬
status of women showed, not un¬ precedented set of guidelines and
Attended by more than 8,000 women
surprisingly, that it could not escape, targets for action to improve the
representing 133 countries and 113
to some extent, reflecting the tensions status of women, comprising a wide
non-governmental organizations, the
that affect the life of the entire world
immense gathering was an unparalleled variety of clearly-defined and practical
community: the problems posed by measures to be taken in all fields
event in the history of the struggle for
racialism and apartheid, by the gap affecting women, at national, regional,
women's rights, by the number and
between poor and rich countries, the and international levels.
standing of the delegates, the range of
problems of armed conflict, of peace
issues they discussed and the keen The Plan vigorously reaffirms that
and disarmament, human rights, the
controversy revealed by some of the creation of a new world economic the objective of International Women's
debates.
order, the population explosion, etc. Year is to build a society in which
An event which drew global attention women can fully participate in a real
(some 1,200 journalists from every How would it have been possible to and full sense in economic, social and
continent were in Mexico City to report discuss the three main themes of political life. It urges governments to
on its deliberations) the conference International Women's Year equality ensure for both women and men
naturally gave rise to some criticism between men and women, the inte¬ equality before the law, equal access
and misgivings, and even drew some gration of women into development to education, job training and employ¬
sarcastic comments, but everywhere and the promotion of peace without ment as well as the right to equal
it aroused great interest. also taking into consideration these conditions of employment, including
major world problems and their conse¬ pay and adequate social security.
Were specifically feminist demands
quences for women?
and issues in fact submerged in the Among other steps towards a more
equitable society, the Plan of Action
But something more than social and
stresses the need for the establish¬
political commitment by women is
ment of a new international economic
MARIE-PIERRE HERZOG is director of needed if effective campaigns are to
Unesco's Human Rights Co-ordination Unit and
order as envisaged in the U.N. General
be waged against the countless forms
was previously head of Unesco's Philosophy of discrimination of which women are Assembly's declaration of May 1974.
Division. She represented Unesco at the recent
World Conference of International Women's still the victims and against which all Many proposals deal with specifi¬
Year, in Mexico City. women in the world must be protected. cally feminist demands and problems
of the family. The basic condition of
any real equality between the sexes,
affirms the Plan of Action, is the right
of individuals and couples "to deter¬
mine the number and spacing of their
children and to receive all the infor¬
mation and the means to do so."

In retrospect, the texts, resolutions

and proposals emanating from the
conference on the major problems of
improving women's status will increas¬
ingly be seen as an achievement
whose long-term effects will mark a
turning point in history.
Parallel to the conference itself, an
International Women's Year "Tribune"
was successfully organized in Mexico
City by non-governmental organ¬
izations. Attended by nearly 6,000
women, from every kind of organ¬
ization, it was a forum of wide-ranging
Drawing
and lively debates and produced a host
of ideas and proposals.
This raises the question of how the
ideas which came out of the unofficial
Tribune can be applied in practice to
help solve the many problems of
"One difficulty in carrying out a plan of action for women's liberation is women's rights. It is inconceivable
that men occupy all the top posts at the decision-making level." that such vigour and momentum should
fail to produce positive results, even ^

67
(.though it did not find adequate means are even greater when it comes to Another world conference for Inter¬
of expression during the conference improving the status of women owing national Women's Year will meet in
and among governments and inter¬ to the fact that the top posts at the East Berlin (German Democratic Re¬
national organizations. decision-making level are usually held public) from October 20 to 24, 1975,
And how, for that matter, will the by men. organized by the Women's International
Plan of Action be implemented? For Another question of fundamental Democratic Federation. Once again
every plan of this kind tends to pose importance concerns the concept of thousands of women will take part and
the same problem: how can govern¬ the family, its size and its role in it will be interesting to see how they
react to the results obtained and the
ments and groups of all kinds be society, and what is nowadays
persuaded to carry out recommen¬ referred to either as "responsible problems raised by the Mexico City
conference.
dations drawn up at an international parenthood" or "family planning".
level which are not legally binding? Discussions at the conference re¬ At all events, the Mexico City
A big effort will be needed to ensure vealed many divergencies on this conference has been a pioneering
that countries incorporate into their question, so that final decisions are achievement and it can be hoped that
national policies and programmes the still left to the discretion of each the East Berlin congress, the second
maximum number of these international outstanding event of International
government. This is seen as a defeat;
recommendations. Women's Year, will serve to develop
for a great many women it is a bitter
The difficulties involved in im¬ disappointment and it will be a serious and complete its work.
plementing any world plan of action handicap in the years ahead. Marie-Pierre Herzog

$ 65 million penalty for sexist discrimination (Continued from page 33)

operators are women and all telephone into the Civil Rights Act; but their strengthening of the commission in
repair staff are men (usually earning benefits from it would have been 1972, women's groups still say it
much higher salaries) this is con¬ minimal had they relied on luck alone. is too weak, and that the backlog of
sidered proof that the telephone com¬ When people finally realized that complaints, with the consequent
pany practises discrimination. Sex dis¬ sex discrimination was prohibited by delays, is so large as to make it
crimination is permitted only in those Title VII, they first tended to regard it unworkable.
positions where sex is a bona fide as a joke, and even the Equal Employ¬ But universities and businesses don't
occupational qualification; and offi¬ ment Opportunity Commission didn't
like to be told whom they can hire, and
cials have suggested that about the take women very seriously in the 1960s, they object to the arbitrariness of some
only positions where sex is such a feeling that its main job was to elimin¬
of the quotas they must fill. Further¬
bona fide qualification are those of ate discrimination against minority more, if quotas are set for the
sperm donor and wet nurse. groups.
hiring of Negroes, Women, Spanish
If a company is found guilty of dis¬ Women, however, began to realize Americans, Asians, and American
crimination or if it wishes to avoid that they could make Title VII work Indians, other minority groups wonder
such a possibility, or if it is a federal for them. An investigation by the why they, too, cannot have a quota.
contractor, it must draw up an "Affir¬ commission cannot be started until a
Women's suffrage had many links
mative Action Program" showing not complaint is filed by someone actually with the emancipation of the Negro in
only how discrimination will be elimi¬ interested in the job in question. The American history, but Negroes, who
nated in the future, but how it intends women's movement thus set out to
once again find themselves bracketed
to correct the results of past discri¬ help women file their complaints. with women, feel that women are
mination. Groups such as the National Organ¬ reaping greater benefits than they are.
ization of Women trained members to
This may mean recruitment of women
act as employment counsellors, to White males just entering the job
machinists in a higher proportion
show more women where and how to market feel that they suffer from
than the general average, or it may
file and to give them moral support reverse discrimination, as companies
mean company training programmes
try to meet their quotas of women and
for women so that they may be promo¬ during the long process, particularly
if they faced (illegal) harassment.
minority groups, although the president
ted " to higher company positions,
of one American company has said
rarely occupied by women. The action Moreover, the commission's tremen¬ "what the white male is losing is not
programme must include goals and dous backlog of complaints often opportunity, but the favoured place he's
timetables.
means a delay of two years or more held over the years in relation to that
Some companies found guilty of between filing a complaint and an opportunity."
discrimination have been faced with investigation. Employment counsellors
While it is still too early to evaluate
expensive payments. For example, in have tried to speed up this process in
the long-term effects of Title VII and
one key action against a telephone individual cases, for example by filing
other acts that prohibit sex discrimi¬
company, approximately $15 million complaints with the state and local
nation in employment, it would seem
back pay was given to women and agencies, which have tended to act
that, just as today's women's move¬
minority groups considered to have more rapidly.
ment has pushed for enforcement and
suffered from discriminatory employ¬ The women's movement has been expansion of the law, the law has in
ment practices; and an additional
active in other ways, such as organ¬ turn benefitted women.
$50 million in yearly payments for
izing demonstrations against some
promotion and wage adjustments to companies where discrimination was The refusal of federal legislation to
minority and female employees was most blatant; and it made a cause recognize "male" and "female" jobs,
ordered. Recently the same company célèbre of a Southern woman who has opened new occupations, with
was ordered to pay even more for
filed a complaint because a telephone
their promotional and pay benefits, to
failing to comply with earlier agree¬ women, many of whom would have
company had denied her a job as a
ments to end employment discrimi¬ never applied for such work because
switchwoman.
nation. nothing in their experience or education
The movement has also seen to it suggested that a woman could do it.
Companies and universities receiving that women are included in other
federal contracts may find their govern¬ And the woman who knows what she
legislation pertaining to equal employ¬
ment contracts held up until an appro¬ wants is no longer totally powerless
ment opportunity. The commission is
priate action programme is presented. when told "We don't hire women for
criticized on the one hand for not doing
this job."
Women were perhaps extremely enough and on the other for doing too
lucky that the word "sex" was slipped much. In spite of a significant Lynn Payer

68
 IÜ
BOOKSHELF
n -
B Gfl
RECENT UNESCO BOOKS

Education on the Move. A

companion volume to Unesco's housing for disaster victims and the home¬
International
Learning to Be. Excerpts from less generally, consists of folding aluminium
81 papers written by experts
Fair Play awards frames with plastic coverings, assembled
to form a block of 10 living units. Easy to
representing a broad cross-section The international Pierre de Coubertln
pack, transport and erect it could find wide
of countries, cultures and political Fair Play awards for 1974 were presented
uses in many countries.
systems and used as source to the Swiss karate competitor Claude
Ravonel and to the Romanian discus-
material for Learning to Be.
thrower Lia Manoliu at a ceremony in 500 years
Co-publication : The Ontario Unesco House on June 6, 1975. Claude
Institute for Studies in Education Ravonel's award was made because he of Hebrew printing
(OISE) Toronto/Unesco. 1975. refused to benefit from a mistake by an
A major exhibition of 500 years of Hebrew
opponent on which he could have demanded
307 pp. (50F). printing was a principal feature of the 1975
a disqualification penalty. Lia Manoliu was
Jerusalem International Book Fair, held from
honoured for the sporting spirit she has
An Introduction to Lifelong April 28 to May 5, 1975. The first printed
displayed throughout her career. Diplomas
Education, by Paul Lengrand. books in Hebrew which contained the
of honour were awarded to the national
name of the printer and the place and date
Co-publication : Croom Helm/ football teams of the Federal German
of publication were issued in two Italian
Unesco. 1975. 156 pp. (39F). Republic and the German Democratic Re¬
towns, Reggio di Calabria and Pievo di
public and to the British pentathlon competi¬
Saco, both in 1475. Today Israel has
Case Studies in Special tor Jeremy Fox. Presenting the awards,
become the world centre of Hebrew printing,
Unesco's Director-General, Mr. Amadou
Education. Studies on education with close to 2,000 titles produced in 1971-
Mahtar M'Bow recalled that Unesco's
for the handicapped in Cuba, 1972, in addition to 500 periodicals, including
Member States are to hold the first
daily newspapers, weeklies, monthlies and
Japan, Kenya and Sweden. conference of ministers of physical edu¬
quarterlies.
1974. 195 pp. (24F). cation and sport in March 1976 to examine
the place that should be given to these
Educational Innovation in subjects in and out of school. Flashes...
Singapore, by Ruth H.K. Wong.
Student enrollment in universities and
1974. 82 pp. (10F). World Environment Day 1975 other higher education centres of Latin
Educational Innovation in Iran,
America has increased by nearly 500%
World Environment Day, June 5, was
by Iraj Ayman. 1975. 35 pp. (6F); (from 550,000 to about 2.5 million) during
created by the U.N. General Assembly in
Educational Innovation in the past 75 years.
1972 as a means of focussing world
the Republic of Korea, attention on the state of the global environ¬ The U.K. plans to contribute about
ment and the risks posed by man's $18 million towards the cost of a nitrogen¬
by Dr. Yung Dug Lee.
activities. The theme for 1975, "Human ous fertilizer plant in Bangladesh (35% as
1975. 43 pp. (6F). Studies a grant and 65% as a 25-year interest free
Settlements", spotlights problems of the
prepared for the Asian Centre man-made environment in which some loan).
of Educational Innovation for 60 per cent of an estimated world popu¬ A set of ten coloured postcards, each
Development. (International Bureau lation of 6.5 billion may be living by the showing a site or monument Unesco is
year 2000. With man's habitat under helping to save, is now available from the
of Education; Experiments and
increasing pressure, the United Nations Public Liaison Division, Unesco, 7, place
innovations in education, Nos. 9, has convened a 100-nation conference on de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris (price 6.50 F).
10 and 12, Asian Series). problems of human settlement, "Habitat Grain lost each year in India due to
"76", for June 1976, in Vancouver, Canada. rodents, pests and poor storage (10 million
The Conservation of Cities.
tons) is twice the amount imported by
Co-publication Croom Helm/Unesco. India in 1974 and would have more than
Global growth met last year's food deficit of 7.5 million
1975. 186 pp. (50F).
of educational TV tons, reports "Action", the U.N. Develop¬
Promoting the Reading Habit, ment Programme publication.
From a world standpoint, "Westerns" and
by Richard Bamberger (Reports
"soap operas" are not the staple TV diet,
and Papers on Mass Communication reports "World Communications' Unesco's
No. 72). 1975. 52 pp. (8F). recently published 200-country survey of
press, radio, TV and films (the last edition
World Communications. was published 10 years ago). Cuba devotes
A 200-country survey of press, only 20% of TV viewing time to entertain¬
ment, and in several African countries TV U.IM/S
radio, television and film.
has been introduced primarily to promote 30th
Co-published by Gower Press/ education, as in the Ivory Coast, where a
Unipub/The Unesco Press. 1975. nation-wide educational TV system is being BIRTHDAY
533 pp. (88F). See news item built. India plans to use a communication
YEAR
satellite to bring education programmes to
this page.
5,000 villages. In China, the Peking TV
Mass Communication : teaching
University broadcasts courses at secondary
and university levels. See Bookshelf.
and studies at universities. World¬

wide survey on the role of

universities in the study of the mass
media and mass communication,
by May Katzen. 1975. 278 pp. (45F).
Training for Mass Communication
(Reports and Papers on Mass
Communication No. 73).
44 pp. (6F).
Indian students win
This stamp, commemorating the 30th an¬
Unesco architecture prize niversary of the United Nations, was issued
by the U.N. Postal Administration on June 26,
The 1975 Unesco Prize for Architecture 1975. It marks the signing of the U.N. Char¬
has been awarded jointly to two Indian ter on June 26, 1945 at the close of an inter¬
students, Vidhyadhar Chavda and Alka national conference meeting in San Fran¬
Shah, a husband and wife team, for their cisco. The U.N. officially came into existence
1975. project one of over 150 entries from on October 24, 1945 when the Charter had
91 schools of architecture in 36 countries been ratified by a majority of signatories.
on the theme "Emergency Habitat". Their October 24 is now universally celebrated
design, a simple but effective system of as United Nations Day.

69
 Letters to the Editor
AUSTRALIA, A PIONEER OF new mineral resources with circum¬ ted from one prepared by our agency.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS spection so as to avoid falling into a We were very pleased by the adap¬
trap of his own making. tation and honoured by its appearance
Sir, Jan Kleinlangevelsloo in your journal; but we have noticed

The chronological table in your March, Heino, Netherlands an inaccurate place designation which
1975 issue on International Women's we would like to bring to your attention.
Ed. note: while in a few special cases The world's greatest 42-minute rainfall
Year has caused some consternation
extraction of minerals might have occurred in Holt, Missouri not Holt,
in this area. We have had complaints
local effects on one or two species of Montana.
to the effect that the table omits the
fact that under the Australian Govern¬
plants and animals, the greatest damage We are enclosing a copy of our
is caused by the mineral dérivâtes that recently updated map, which contains
ment's Electoral Act of 1902, women
man puts back into the natural cycle in a record from Montana as well as the
over 21 years were granted the right
the form of industrial waste. Wastes
to vote and the right to sit in Parliament. one from Holt, Missouri. As you can
from industrial processes using mercury, see, the two states are some distance
Indeed some of the States making up
for example, are often released into apart, and we have used different ab¬
the Commonwealth had earlier granted
rivers or the sea causing unnaturally breviations of the state names.
this right to women e.g. South Aus¬
high local concentrations which can
tralia in 1894, Western Australia in 1899. Pauline Riordan
have disastrous effects on plant and
Australians are rather proud of their Geographer
animal (including human) life. The ac¬
early recognition of women's political Environmental Criteria Branch
tual process of extraction can (as in
rights. U.S.A.E. Topographic Laboratories
the case of strip-mining), completely
Patricia Cook Fort Belvoir, Virginia, U.S.A.
change the ecology of the region in
U.N. Information Centre which it takes place to the detriment PHILAE REBORN
for Australia, Fiji and New Zealand of both the local plant and animal com¬
Sydney, Australia munities.
Sir,
FUTURE GLOBETROTTER INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC Congratulations on Henri Stierlin's
article "Philae, a masterpiece of archi¬
IN WOMEN
Sir, tecture reborn", (November 1974 issue).
The February 1975 edition of the Ever since you published the first of
Sir, your articles on these Pharaonic tem¬
"Unesco Courier" was very delightful
On the occasion of International ples, I have read everything I could
to read. I thought the article "Architec¬
ture without Architects" in Tunisia was Women's Year we would like people find about these masterpieces of world
to be reminded of the fact that so far art.
done very well.
only 49 countries have signed the U.N. I was profoundly moved to read of
The article was very inspiring and
Convention for the Suppression of the the resurgence of Philae in Henri Stier¬
when I get older I hope to go to Africa
Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation lin's article, and even more impressed
and Asia and see Tunisia. I go to
of the Prostitution of Others, approved to learn how various countries have
Orchard Road School in Belle Mead,
by the U.N. General Assembly on 2 responded to the appeal launched by
New Jersey, and we sponsor other kids
December 1949.
from different parts of the world to Mr. René Maheu, when he was Unesco's
Between January 1974 and June 1975 Director-General, by contributing finan¬
stay in our country and go to our
schools. We call this A.F.S. (America our organization ("Teams for Action cially to the campaign to save these
Field Service).
against the Traffic in Women and Chil¬ temples.
dren") brought 175 cases against pro¬ Prof. Daniel Eduardo Sontona
We have one boy from Tunisia. His
name is Hatem ben Salem. He showed
curers, acting Individually or in orga¬
Havana University, Cuba
nized networks, before the French
us some slides and told us about his
courts. Laws based on internationally THE HERITAGE OF NEPAL
land. I was greatly interested and I
accepted principles are absolutely ne¬
was even more happy when I saw your
cessary in order to take action against Sir,
article.
procurers who carry on their traffic I found your whole issue on the con¬
Margrett Pinto regardless of frontiers. servation of the cultural heritage of
Aged 11
Jean Scelles Nepal (December 1974) extremely fas¬
Belle Mead, New Jersey, U.S.A.
President, Equipes d'Action Contre la cinating and encouraging in terms of
UNFORESEEN DANGERS
Traite des Femmes et des Enfants the importance of that heritage to the
Paris, France whole human race. As a restoration
OF MINERAL EXTRACTION
architect, I found the articles very well
SEVENTH CENTENARY
presented, particularly In their coverage
Sir, OF AMIR KHUSRAU of the complex issues involved.
I greatly enjoyed reading Konstantin I. Ash Randev
Lukashev's article "Our Hidden Mineral Sir, Don Mills, Ont Canada
Resources" in your February 1975 issue. This year, celebrations of the 7th
The facts and figures he gave concer¬ WINDOW ON THE WORLD
centenary of the great poet, mystic
ning the minerals in all kinds of rocks and musician, Amir Khusrau, are being OF ART
and the colossal amount of gold in sea organized throughout India.
water were of particular interest. The tolerant and catholic attitude of
Sir,
However, the author does not answer Amir Khusrau... are qualities which are
Your round-up of Unesco's 1975-76
the crucial question of whether scientists much needed today and give him a
will be able to measure the effects of
programme (February 1975 issue) men¬
direct relevance to our times.
increased mineral extraction on animal
tions that a project will study how art
The celebrations, which culminate in
teachers and students can help to pro¬
and plant life. October 1975, are aimed at reviving
mote a better public understanding of
Let's hope that man acts less rashly wide Interest In this popular poet.
art. Next year will be my third year of
in this field than he has in exploiting Hasanuddin Ahmed teaching art in this tiny (population 175)
the resources of tropical forests. Some
General Secretary Montana community. Often I wish I had
believe that the unbridled felling of such National Celebrations Committee for more opportunity to bring Unesco Ideas
forests, which Is still going on today, is 7th. Centenary of Amir Khusrau Dehlavi into this remote community which is
jeopardizing the world's oxygen sup¬ New Delhi, India culturally isolated from the world beyond
plies, while others are convinced that
Montana for most of its citizens, parti¬
It is bound to cause climatic changes. WORLD RAINFALL RECORD
cularly the younger ones. Your wonder¬
For me the very fact that scientists
ful Window on the World will inspire
cannot accurately foresee the eventual Sir, me.
consequences of this exploitation Is In your very fine issue on weather
sufficient reason for halting it. (August-September 1973) you included Shirley L. Luhrsen
Man would be well advised to exploit a map of world weather records adap Judith Gap, Montana, U.S.A.

70
 Just published

Women
education Published on the occasion of International Women's Year,

Women, Education, Equality: a decade of experiment, reviews

and analyses three experimental projects in Unesco's
equality long-term programme to promote equal educational
opportunities for women.

Carried out in countries with very different cultural traditions

and at various stages of development, the Unesco projects
centered on education for rural women (in Upper Volta),
training for women primary school teachers (in Nepal) and the
access of women to technical careers (in Chile).

Written for the layman as well as the educator, the study offers
guidelines to other countries for integrating women into
development through the channel of education.

109 pages 8 French francs

Where to renew your subscription

and place your order for other Unesco publications
Order from any bookseller or write direct to the National
Distributor in your country. (See list below; names of
distributors in countries not listed, along with subscrip¬
tion rates in local currency, will be supplied on request.)
AUSTRALIA. Publications: Educational Supplies Pty.
Ltd , P.O. Box 33, Brookvale, 2100, NSW, Periodicals: Do¬
minie Pty, Limited, Box 33, Post Office, Brookvale 2100,
NSW. Sub-agent: United Nations Association of Australia,
Victorian Division 5th floor, 134-136 Flinders St., Mel¬
bourne (Victoria), 3000. AUSTRIA. Verlag Georg
Fromme & C., Arbeitergasse 1-7, 1051, Vienna BEL¬
GIUM. "Unesco Courier" Dutch edition only N V Han-
delmaatschappij Keesing, Keesinglaan 2-18, 2100
Deurne-Antwerpen. French edition and general Unesco
publications agent. Jean de Lannoy, 112, rue du Trône,
Brussels 5. CCP 708-23. BURMA. Trade Corporation N"
9, 550-552 Merchant Street, Rangoon CANADA. In¬
formation Canada, Ottawa (Ont ). CYPRUS. "MAM",
Archbishop Makanos 3rd Avenue, P. 0. Box 1722, Nicosia
CZECHOSLOVAKIA. S N T.L, Spalena 51, Prague 1
(permanent display); Zahranicni literatura, 11 Soukemcka
Prague 1. For Slovakia only. Alfa Verlag - Publishers, Hur-
banovo nam. 6, 893 31 Bratislava - CSSR DENMARK
Munksgaards Boghandel, 6, Nörregade, DK-1165, Copen¬
hagen K EGYPT (ARAB REPUBLIC OF). National
Centre for Unesco Publications, N° 1 Talaat Harb Street,
Tahrir Square, Cairo, Librairie Kasr El Nil, 38, rue Kasr El
Nil, Cairo ETHIOPIA. National Commission for
Unesco, P 0 Box 2996, Addis-Ababa. FINLAND. Aka-
teeminen Kirjakauppa, 2 Keskuskatu, Helsinki
FRANCE. Librairie de l'Unesco, 7, place de Fontenoy,
75700-Paris, CCP. 12598-48. GERMAN DEMOCRATIC
REP. Buchhaus Leipzig, Postfach 140, Leipzig or from In¬
ternationalen Buchhandlungen in the G D R. FED. REP.
OF GERMANY. For the Unesco Kurier (German ed only)
53 Bonn 1 , Colmantstrasse 22, C.C P. Hamburg 276650 For
scientific maps only. GEO CENTER D7 Stuttgart 80, Post¬
fach 800830. Other publications; Verlag Dokumentation,
Possenbacher Strasse 2, 8000 München 71 (Prinz Ludwigs¬
hohe) GHANA. Presbyterian Bookshop Depot Ltd., P O.
Box 195, Accra ; Ghana Book Suppliers Ltd , P O Box 7869,
Accra; The University Bookshop of Ghana, Accra, The
University Bookshop of Cape Coast, The University Books¬
hop of Legon, P 0. Box 1 , Legon GREAT BRITAIN. See
United Kingdom GREECE. Anglo-Hellenic Agency, 5,
Koumpari Street Athens 138. HONG-KONG. Federal
Publications Division, Far East Publications Ltd , 5 A Ever¬
green Industrial Mansion, Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aber¬
deen Swindon Book Co., 13-15, Lock Road, Kowloon.
HUNGARY. Akadémiai Könyvesbold, Váci u. 22, Buda
pest V; A K V Konyvtarosok Boltja, Néopkóztársaság utja
16, Budapest VI. ICELAND. Snaebjórn Jonsson & Co ,
H F., Hafnarstraeti 9, Reykjavik. INDIA. Orient Longman
Ltd , Nicol Road, Ballard Estate, Bombay 1; 17 Chittaranjan
Avenue, Calcutta 13; 36a, Anna Salai, Mount Road, Madras
2; B-3/7 Asaf All Road, New Delhi 1; 80/1 Mahatma Gandhi
Road, Bangalore-560001; 3-5-820 Hyderguda Hyderabad-
500001. Sub-Depots. Oxford Book & Stationery Co. 17 Park
Street, Calcutta 16; Scindia House, New Delhi; Publica¬
tions Section, Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, 72
Theatre Communication Building, Connaught Place, New
Delhi 1. INDONESIA. Bhratara Publishers and Booksel¬
lers, 29 Jl. Oto Iskandardinata III, Jakarta, Gramedia Book¬
shop, Jl. GadjahMada 109, Jakarta; Indira P.T., Jl. Dr. Sam
Ratulangie 37, Jakarta. IRAN. Kharazmie Publishing
and Distribution C°., 229 Daneshgahe Street. Shah Avenue,
PO Box 141486, Teheran. Iranian National Commission
for Unesco, Avenue Iranchahr Chomali No 300, B P. 1533,
Teheran. IRAQ. McKenzie's Bookshop, Al-Rashid
Street, Baghdad; University Bookstore, University of
Baghdad, P.O. Box 75, Baghdad. IRELAND. The Educa¬
tional Company of Ireland Ltd., Ballymount Road, Walkms-
town, Dublin 12 ISRAEL. Emanuel Brown, formerly
Blumstein's Book-stores, 35 Allenby Road and 48, Nachtat
Benjamin Street, Tel-Aviv; 9, Shlomzion Hamalka Street
Jerusalem. JAMAICA. Sangster's Book Stores Ltd.,
P.O. Box 366, 101 Water Lane, Kingston. IAPAN. Eas¬
tern Book Service Inc., C.P O. Box 1728, Tokyo 100-92.
KENYA. The E.S.A Ltd , P O. Box 30167, Nairobi KO¬
REA. Korean National Commission for Unesco, P.O. Box
Central 64, Seoul KUWAIT. The Kuwait Bookshop Co ,
Ltd , P.O. Box 2942, Kuwait. LESOTHO. Mazenod Book
Centre, P O Mazenod, Lesotho, Southern Africa LIBE-,
RIA. Cole and Yancy Bookshops Ltd , P O. Box 286, Mon¬
rovia LIBYA. Agency for Development of Publication &
Distribution, P O. Box 34-35, Tripoli. LUXEMBOURG.
Librairie Paul Brück, 22, Grand-Rue, Luxembourg MA¬
LAYSIA. Federal Publications Sdn. Bhd., Balai Berita, 31,
Jalan Riong, Kuala Lumpur. MALTA. Sapienza's Li¬
brary, 26 Kingsway, Valletta. MAURITIUS. Nalanda
Company Ltd , 30, Bourbon Street, Port-Louis. MO¬
NACO. British Library, 30, Bid des Moulins, Monte-Carlo.
NETHERLANDS. For the "Unesco Koerier" Dutch edi¬
tion only- Systemen Keesing, Ruysdaelstraat 71-75,
Amsterdam-1007 Agent for all Unesco publications: N. V.
Martinus Nijhoff, Lange Voorhout, 9, The Hague
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. G CT. Van Dorp & Co. (Ned
Ant). N.V.,Willemstad, Curaçao.N A NEW ZEALAND.
Government Printing Office, Government Bookshops at:
Rutland Sireet, P O. Box 5344, Auckland; 130, Oxford
Terrace, PO. Box 1721, Christchurch, Alma Street, PO
Box 857 Hamilton; Princes Street, P.O. Box 1 104, Dunedin;
Mulgrave Street, Private Bag, Wellington. NIGERIA.
The University Bookshop of Ife The University Bookshop
of Ibadan, P O Box 286; The University Bookshop of
Nsukka; The University Bookshop of Lagos, The Ahmadu
Bello University Bookshop of Zana. NORWAY. All pu¬
blications- Johan Grundt Tanum (Booksellers) Karl Johans
gate 41/43, Oslo 1. For Unesco Courier only; A.S. Narve-
sens Literaturtjeneste, Box 6125, Oslo 6. PAKISTAN.
Mirza Book Agency, 65 Shahrah Quaid-e-azam, P O. Box
No. 729, Lahore 3; The West-Pak Publishing Co. Ltd.,
Unesco Publications House, P.O. Box 374, G.P.O , Lahore;
Showrooms: Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, and 57-58 Murree
Highway, G/6-1 Islamabad. PHILIPPINES. The Modern
Book Co , 926 Rizal Avenue, P.O. Box 632, Manila D-404.
POLAND. All publications: ORWN PAN Palac Kultury i
Nauki, Warsaw. For the Unesco Courier only RUCH, ul.
Wronia, 23, Warsaw 10. PORTUGAL. Dias & Andrade
Ltda, Livrana Portugal, rua do Carmo 70, Lisbon. SIN¬
GAPORE. Federal Publications Sdn Bhd., Times House,
River Valley Road, Singapore 9 SOMALI DEMOCRA¬
TIC REPUBLIC. Modern Book Shop and General, P.O. Box
951, Mogadiscio. SOUTHERN RHODESIA. Textbook
Sales (PVT) Ltd., 67 Union Avenue, Salisbury. SRI
LANKA. Lake House Bookshop, 100 Sir Chittampalam
Gardiner Mawata P O B. 244 Colombo 2. SUDAN. AI
Bashir Bookshop, P.O. Box 1118, Khartoum. SWEDEN.
All publications- A/B CE. Fritzes Kungl. Hovbokhandel,
Fredsgatan 2, Box 16356, 10327 Stockholm 16. For the
Unesco Courier: Svenska FN-Forbundet, Skolgrand 2, Box
150 50 S- 104 65, Stockholm SWITZERLAND. All pu¬
blications. Europa Verlag, 5 Ramistrasse, Zurich. Librairie
Payot, rue Grenus 6, 1211, Geneva 11, CCP. 12-236.
TANZANIA. Dar-es-Salaam Bookshop, P.O.B. 9030 Dar-
es-Salaam. THAILAND. Nibondh and Co Ltd , 40-42
Charoen Krung Road, Siyaeg Phaya Sri, P O. Box 402,
Bangkok, Suksapan Panit, Mansion 9, Ra|damnern Ave¬
nue, Bangkok, Suksit Siam Company, 1715 Rama IV Road,
Bangkok Librairie Hachette, 469 Istiklal Cad-
desi, Beyoglu, Istanbul. UGANDA. Uganda Bookshop,
P O. Box 145, Kampala. SOUTH AFRICA. All publica¬
tions: Van Schaik's Bookstore (Pty) Ltd., Libn Building,
Church Street, P. O Box 724, Pretoria. For the Unesco Cou¬
rier (single copies) only. Central News Agency P.O. Box
1033, Johannesburg UNITED KINGDOM. H M Statio¬
nery Office, P.O. Box 569, London, S E.I., and Government
Bookshops in London, Edinburgh. Cardiff, Belfast, Man¬
chester, Birmingham, Bristol. UNITED STATES. Uni-
pub, a Xerox Education company. Box 433, Murray Hill
Station New York, N Y 10016. U.S.S.R. Mezhdu- na-
rodnaja Kniga, Moscow, G-200. YUGOSLAVIA. Ju-
goslovenska Knjiga, Terazije, 27, Belgrade; Drzavna Za-
lozba Slovemje Mestni Trg 26, Ljubliana.
 77?zz&zsz2^y;j/j///^/s?ï?.

H.
, ¡V

m
íí.í-¡,:::;

Jg^SSSSSSSSSS