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p The question of the status and role of the woman in society has long been of interest to thinkers, scholars, writers and public figures belonging to the most varied philosophical and political trends. Many academic and artistic works have been written on the subject and many lively debates have been held.

p Marxist theory links the solution of the question of women’s rights with the class struggle of the working class for revolutionary transformations and socialism. Marxists consider that only in a society in which there is no private ownership of the means of production and no exploitation of one class by another and in which the social equality of all people, both de jure and de facto, has been achieved, will women really become emancipated and be able to participate in all spheres of material and spiritual life on a par with men. This thought can be traced throughout many works by Marx, Engels and. Lenin.

p Stressing the indissoluble link between the complete emancipation of women and the victory 8 of socialism, Lonin pointed out that the social emancipation of the working people was impossible without the social emancipation of women. He wrote: "The proletariat cannot achieve complete liberty until it has won complete liberty for women."’  [8•1 

p He regarded working women as an important force in the struggle for the fundamental restructuring of society. According to Lenin, "There can be no socialist revolution unless very many working women take a big part in it. ...The experience of all liberation movements has shown that the success of a revolution depends on how much the women take part in it."  [8•2 

p Lenin saw the most important condition for the genuine emancipation of women to lie in their participation in the building of a new society. He said that "to effect her complete emancipation and make her the equal of the man it is necessary for the national economy to be socialised and for women to participate in common productive labour. Then women will occupy the same position as men".  [8•3 

p A woman’s participation in social production encourages the all-round development of her personality and the growth of her social activity, and assists the moulding of her world outlook. However, it is essential to implement the equality between men and women in social production, bearing in mind the need to protect the labour of women due to their particular physical capabilities and their performance of the vital social function of motherhood. "...When 9 socialists speak of equality,” Lenin explained, "they always mean social equality, equality of social status, and not by any means the physical and mental equality of individuals."  [9•1 

p In Lenin’s view, the state and society must shoulder the responsibility for creating conditions which liberate the woman from generally unproductive domestic labour. Lenin saw the key to this complex problem to lie in the development of a network of child-care centres and also in the development of the public services. He considered that within the framework of the socialist restructuring of society it was necessary to do the utmost to emancipate women from housework, which was "the most barbarous and the most arduous work a woman can do. It is exceptionally petty and does not include anything that would in any way promote the development of the woman."  [9•2 

p Lenin further declared that it was impossible to solve the problem of the complete social equality of women or to convert them into active participants in the building of the new society without involving them in state administration and without developing their social and political activities. He insisted that "working women must take an increasing part in the administration of socialised enterprises and in the administration of the state".  [9•3 

p Moreover, Lenin stressed that it was insufficient to grant women political rights; it was necessary to create conditions that allowed them to take part in the management of society.

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p Lenin regarded the socio-economic and political equality of women as the main basis for their equality in the family. He came out decisively against laws which debased the woman and gave men privileges in matrimonial legislation and as regards children and family property.

p While attributing decisive significance to the role of socialist revolution in the emancipation of women, Lenin did not, however, consider that socialism could immediately abolish the vestiges remaining from thousands of years. Speaking in 1920 of the principal task of the women’s working-class movement, he declared: "The chief thing is to get women to take part in socially productive labour, to liberate them from domestic slavery, to free them from their stupefying and humiliating subjugation to the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery. "This struggle will be a long one, and it demands a radical reconstruction both of social technique and of morals. But it will end in the complete triumph of communism."  [10•1 

p Lenin developed the theoretical propositions concerning the social emancipation of women and led the drive to give practical effect to the solution of the question of women’s rights in the Soviet Republic, devoting a great deal of attention to the development of the international women’s movement and expressing his thoughts and wishes concerning its development.

p Lenin’s propositions on social emancipation of women are internationalist in character. As experience in the USSR has shown, their practical implementation leads to the solution of the question of women’s rights. The October 11 Revolution, accomplished under the guidance of the Leninist Party, swept away all the legislative obstacles to the elimination of the inequality of women, and created real conditions for their fruitful participation in the building of socialism and communism. Guided by the Marxist-Leninist teaching, the Soviet state consistently carried out a whole complex of measures designed to achieve the complete and real equality of women with men. These measures were initiated during the very first days of the new state’s existence.

p The teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin on the question of women’s rights was further developed in the documents of the international communist movement. The Communist and Workers’ Parties are constantly evolving and are making creative use of the stipulations of Marxism-Leninism, bearing in mind the specific historical and socio-economic conditions of their respective countries.

p The socio-economic and political shifts that are constantly occurring in the world influence the change in the position of women in production, in public life and in the family. However, the degree of their participation in the life of society is not the same everywhere. It depends on the level of economic, political, social and cultural development in the various countries and, primarily, on their social system.

p In the countries of the world socialist system, in which the exploitation of man by man has been abolished, women have received equality with men and the real possibility of taking part in all spheres of the life of society. Their right to labour is guaranteed by the whole social.and economic system of socialism. The policies of the socialist states are designed to see that conditions 12 are created which allow women to combine their participation in production and in state and public life with their role as housewives and as the upbringers of children.

p The successes of the countries belonging to the world socialist system in economic and cultural construction and their achievements in conferring equal rights on women act as a stimulus to women the world over in their struggle for social and national emancipation.

p In the developed capitalist countries the governments have juridically proclaimed the equality of women with men, but have not ensured its real and complete implementation. Women are subjected to discrimination as regards employment, pay, general and vocational education, and as regards civic, public and political life. As they struggle for true equality the working women of these countries merge with the workers’ and general democratic movement, and constitute an important part of the revolutionary forces of modern times.

p As for the developing countries, once they had secured political independence, they were faced by the urgent task of involving women in the sphere of social production, of raising their general educational and cultural level and vocational training standard, and of improving their working and living conditions. During the years of national consolidation a series of major socio-economic transformations were carried through in these countries, which encouraged the emancipation of women. However, the heavy legacy of the colonial past, the low level of economic development, the influence of the foreign monopolies, and neocolonialism are hampering the involvement of women in the sphere 13 of social production and state activity. Women in these countries are waging a struggle for their emancipation as members of democratic women’s organisations.

p When analysing the women’s movement, it is necessary to bear in pind not only the features of the social systems in various countries, but also the differentiation in the class interests of women, which in present circumstances does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle to cooperation and unity in the struggle for their rights. Marxists have always emphasised the unity of the class interests of men and women in the struggle for social progress. Women do not form an independent class, but are a component part of each class, and, despite their outward similarity, their demands cannot be completely identical. This explains why different political parties approach the question of women’s rights in different ways, in accordance with their particular ideological and political orientation. In order to conduct practical work among women, the parties set up, in addition to women’s sections, mass women’s organisations which, to a greater or lesser extent, are under the influence or even under the direct control of these parties. This gives rise to the heterogeneity of the women’s movement and to the variety of the trends active in it.

p The status of women and their struggle to secure full rights are constantly kept in mind by today’s international communist and workingclass movement. The International Meetings of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in 1957, 1960 and 1969 assigned to Communists the world over the task of intensifying their work among the female masses as a vital condition 14 for the peoples’ successful anti-imperialist struggle.

p Guided by these decisions, the Communist Parties of many capitalist countries devote a great deal of attention to work among women. They are striving to involve them in the active struggle against exploitation and for social and democratic changes. Relying on Marxist-Leninist propositions dealing with the question and creatively developing them in application to the conditions of class struggle in the specific historical situation, the Communist Parties are regarding the movement for women’s emancipation as a vital component of the struggle for peace, democracy and socialism. They are struggling for the real right of women to work, equal pay and improved working conditions, for the creation of a broad network of consumer service establishments and children’s institutions, for benefits to large families, and for a change in the juridical and actual status of the woman in the family, and so on.

p At the initiative of the Communists, conferences and seminars are held for women workers, peasants and students, as well as conferences for female Party activists, at which the current problems of the women’s movement are discussed. While involving women in the movement to satisfy the demands that are closest to their hearts, the Communists explain and prove, using concrete examples, that the problems associated with the status of women cannot be completely solved without struggling against the omnipotence of the monopolies and for democratic and social renewal.

p Despite the differences between them, the bourgeois, Right-wing reformist and 15 ecclesiastical conceptions of the question of women’s rights all fundamentally ignore or underestimate the class and social roots of this question. This complex problem, which involves the social and political system of society, is reduced by bourgeois investigators to the question of relationships between man and woman, while the cause of women’s inequality is said to reside in the outdated views that men hold of the role of women. The most reactionary of them go even farther and advocate theories showing the supposed biological inferiority of women, their mental backwardness, and so on.

p The whole course of social development shows the flimsiness of these views. Under the influence of certain transformatory factors, which have accelerated the process of the involvement of women in the life of society, the views held by modern bourgeois ideologists on the issue of women’s status have undergone some evolution, and this has affected the stand and nature of the demands advanced by bourgeois feminist organisations.  [15•1 

p Many of them have included in their programmes such important social demands as the real access of women to public and political life, the provision of employment for the female workforce, equal opportunities to gain an 16 education and qualifications, and also questions connected with the preservation of peace. While continuing to hold feminist and pacifist positions, bourgeois ideologists stress that they are in favour of reform within the existing system and are struggling against war in general. Referring to the low level of activity by women in public and political life, they rightly observe that the degree of this activity does not correspond to the level of their participation in production. However, they see the reasons for this to lie either in the women themselves (women are said not to be ialerestcd in politics), or in men (who, it is claimed, do not allow women to indulge in politics). Although proposing for the solution of this question such undoubtedly necessary measures as the provision of equal opportunities for women to obtain an education, the greatest possible liberation from housework, and so on, they pass over in silence the need for radical measures affecting the social basis of capitalist society.

p Under the influence of the fundamental changes that are taking place in the world today, a section of the feminist movement is cooperating with the democratic women’s movement over such issues as world peace, the implementation of women’s economic, political and civil rights, the health, upbringing and education of children, and so on. A whole series of international feminist women’s organisations took part in such major international women’s forums, convened at the initiative of the WIDF, as the World Congress of Women (Copenhagen 1953), the World Congress of Mothers for the Defence of Children from War, for Disarmament and International Friendship (Lausanne 1955), the International 17 Assembly of Women on the 50th Anniversary of International Women’s Day (Copenhagen 1960), the World Congress of Women (Moscow 1963) and the World Congress of Women (Helsinki 1969).

p The position adopted by Social-Democrats over the question of women’s rights is assuming a definite importance, given the conditions of today. Socialists on the far Left share the stand taken by the Communists over the issue of women’s rights, indissolubly linking the struggle for the emancipation of women with the struggle for social transformations. A different position is taken by Right-wing Social-Democrats. While admitting that the issue of women’s rights in the capitalist countries is unresolved, they pass over in silence the dependence of this question on the social and economic structure of society, and also on the political course adopted by the governments of their countries. Right-wing Socialists recognise the struggle for the economic and civil reforms that affect the status of women in society and in the family, but only within the framework of the existing system. This applies chiefly to the aims of the leadership of a number of Socialist and Social-Democratic parties which have representatives in government coalitions. As for the rank-and-file membership of these parties and the working people who sympathise with them, the majority of them sincerely desire unity with the Communists in the struggle to meet the vital needs of working women.

p Female members of the Social-Democratic parties and also the women’s organisations that are influenced by these parties in 24 countries have come together to form the International 18 Council of Social-Democratic Women (ICSDW), which in turn forms part of the Socialist International. The ICSDW has a membership of some 2 million women, and its efforts are directed towards publicising the ideas of "democratic socialism".

p The position adopted by religious organisations over the issue of women’s rights also deserves attention. This is particularly true of the Catholic organisations, which are the most massive and influential organisations among women in the capitalist countries. In recent years their position has undergone substantial changes.

p The new approach adopted by the Catholic Church towards the problems of the working class and working women is dictated by the socio-economic and political changes in the world and by the development of the world revolutionary process, which has also had an effect on working Catholics. Forced to reckon with the mood of the masses and to adapt to their demands, the Vatican has revised a number of items in its social doctrine as regards women, which was, for instance, reflected in Pope John XXIII’s encyclical PaceminTerris(l963) and also in the material emerging from the Second Vatican Council (the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World Today, 1965, etc.). These documents, in effect, say the following: previously the Catholic Church completely rejected the participation of women in productive and public life, seeing their vocation to be only maternal and household cares, whereas nowadays it admits the possibility and even the necessity of involving women in public life and, primarily, in production.

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p The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World Today contains, in addition, the appeal for the jobs of working mothers to be made easier. "The entire process of productive work,” the document states, "must be accommodated to the needs of the human person and the nature of his life, with special attention to domestic life and of mothers of families in particular, taking sex and age into account.”

p Nevertheless, the position of the Catholic Church over the question of women’s rights is marked by inconsistency and contradiction. Miny churchmen approach the problem of women’s work very circumspectly, reluctant to break away from the traditional conservative idea that a woman’s place is at home. Official Church documents constantly stress that a woman’s first duty is to the home and the family.

p The most Left-wing circles in the Catholic movement, notably several Christian trade union organisations affiliated to the ICL,  [19•1  have included in their programme the struggle for the right of women to work and for their equal right to education and to wages on a par with men’s, and are championing the enhancement of the role of working women in productive and public life.

p Most of the currently active mass Catholic women’s organisations are affiliated to the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO), which has a total membership of 36 million women. The official aim of the organisation is to further the activities of Catholic women for the benefit of human society, to 20 study, in a Christian spirit, questions that are of world-wide significance, to represent Catholic women in public opinion and international organisations, to coordinate the activities of Catholic women’s organisations and to maintain links between them.

p The modern democratic women’s movement is an inseparable part of the working-class and general democratic movement in the developed capitalist countries and of the national liberation movement in the developing countries. A great part in the international democratic women’s movement is played by women in the socialist countries. Representatives from the various social strata of society and of various professions participate in it, holding different political views and religious convictions, but all recognising and supporting the programme of the democratic women’s organisations that are united in the Women’s International Democratic Federation.

p The WIDF is one of the most massive of the international women’s organisations and operates in close cooperation with other women’s organisations and also with young people’s and trade union organisations and peace supporters of various ideological and political orientation. Particularly important is the WIDF’s cooperation with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) over the problems of working women. These problems constitute the nucleus around which all the other forces in the democratic women’s movement rally. Today the democratic women’s movement is not just a reserve, but is an initiative and influential force that manifests itself actively in the working-class national liberation and general democratic movement.

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p The problems arising from the status of women are currently of interest to more than just progressive opinion. Intergovernmental organisations are also involved in them. This is shown by the fact that nearly all the UN organisations deal in one way or another with the various aspects of women’s rights. In November 1967, the UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration on Elimination "of Discrimination Against Women. This document recognises that in many countries there are still unsolved problems regarding the status of women. Various documents in defence of women’s rights—declarations, conventions, resolutions and recommendations—are regularly prepared by the UN Commission on the Status of Women and are adopted by the UN General Assembly. They have a certain effect on the legislation of individual states. The laws of a number of countries are brought into line with the main stipulations of these documents, which helps to improve the status of women.

p It would be wrong, however, to overestimate the part played by international organisations in resolving the social problems faced by women. The emancipation of women from exploitation, from national and racial oppression, and from all forms of suppression and inequality in society and in the family depends, above all, on the activity and maturity of the working class, as well as the working women themselves, who, supported by the popular masses and guided by the Communist and Workers’ Parties and the democratic public organisations, are struggling against imperialism and colonialism, and for social progress and peace.

p Various social strata that are opposed to the 22 external and internal policies of the monopolies rally round the working class in this struggle. The front of the anti-monopoly struggle is being extended, drawing its fighters from the peasantry, the intelligentsia, the students and the urban middle and petty bourgeoisie.

“The large-scale actions by the working class and the working masses,” the Resolution of the 24th GPSU Congress on the Report of the CPSU Central Committee states, "herald fresh class battles which could lead to fundamental social changes, to the establishment of the power of the working class in alliance with the other sections of the working people."  [22•1