Women on the Move
All over the world there are women who are getting a worse deal than men. Although the situation
has improved for many women in recent years, and many governments are commited to equality, women still loseout when it comes to working conditions, pay, education and rightsSecond, in nearly all societies, women have occupied a subordinate position.This doesn’t necessarily mean that women have been cruelly treated (though some have) nor that men despisedthem (though some did) nor that all women disliked their role.A conference to mark the mid-way point of the United Nations Decade for Women produced a plan of action with some surprising statistics: ‘While women represent 50% of the world adult population and one third of the official labour force, they perform for nearly two thirds of all working hours, receive only one tenth of the world income and own less than one percent of the world property.’ Other interesting facts emerge from looking at the position of women on a worldwide basis: for instance, in Africa the vast majority of the food produced is grown by women, labouring unpaid in the fieldsWomen can be Prime Ministers, cosmonauts, brain surgeons and long-distance lorry drivers- though again these are exceptions. The women with their views on nuclear weapons have attempted to wield politicalpower of a specially feminine kind.This applies to both men and women. As the 1979 UN convention says: ‘A change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society is needed to achieve full equality between men and women.’ Engels said that ‘the modern individual family is founded onthe open or concealed slavery of the wife.’ Many wives would not agree.Helping women can make a major contribution to the relief of poverty, Women hold the key to a more productive and dynamic society. Even more, women provide the key to the future through their influence on the next generation. One of the big challenge in the developing countries is to promote the conditions that will allow women to play their full partin the development process.In our own day, for the first time women have the chance to reach the top in competition with men_like Margaret Thatcher who was Britain’s Prime Minister for eleven years and was called the Iron Lady. Do these women succeed by renouncing femininity and adopting masculine values and attitudes?