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p Since the attainment of national independence the position of women in many African and Asian countries has undergone essential changes. This has resulted from the victories achieved by the national liberation movement, part of which is made up by the women’s democratic movement, and marks the entrance of the struggle of the peoples of Asia and Africa into a new stage, characterised by a more profound social content. The attainment of political independence has provided an outlet for the creative energies of the women of Asia and Africa and brought about greater opportunities for involving them in national development.

p The proclamation in the constitutions of the majority of Asian and African countries of the principle of equal rights for men and women must be considered a signal achievement in respect to women’s emancipation. In many of these countries electoral laws have been adopted, under which women may take an active part in political and public life. Today, they are participating in the activities of political parties, trade unions and other public organisations and advancing with increasing frequency to leading positions, including governmental posts. The National Assembly of the Republic of Guinea, for example, has 21 elected women members, while 140 women sit on local government bodies. The significance of this is clear when we realise that the first parliament of Guinea (1957) was exclusively male. There is a high proportion of 211 women in the Democratic Party of Guinea and two women arc members of its Central Committee; more than 3,000 women have been elected to leading party organs in the provinces and the centre.

p In the Republic of Guinea-Bissau women are active in the African Party for Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde; they are elected to the central and local organs of this party and sit in the country’s National People’s Assembly as deputies. Eight women have been elected to the Tanzanian parliament, while many women are members of local government bodies. In the Central African Republic the post of prime minister is held by a woman, Madame Elisabeth Domitien.

p The public activities of women are constantly expanding in Zambia. Many belong to the United National Independence Party and three women are members of the party’s national committee. Seven women have been elected to parliament and the posts of Attorney General and Minister of Planning and Finance are held by women.

p Examples of the high level of political and public activity of African women could also be drawn from such countries as Algeria, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mali and Senegal.

p Important changes are taking place in the lives of Asian -women. Great achievements have been made in this respect in India, as recent decades have shown. Speaking at the 2nd AfroAsian Women’s Conference (Ulan-Bator, 1972), M. Chandrasekhar said that "during the 25 years of independence Indian women have worked for winning their rights, to enjoy equality in every sphere of India’s social and political life... 212 Parliament lias enacted laws which give women equal rights ... as those enjoyed hy men.

p Women both in urban and rural areas are coming forward in increasing numbers to make use of opportunities in education; clamour for the right to work and agitate for higher living standards for themselves and their families. A new woman is emerging on the Indian scene, whose social awareness is growing and who is anxious to reshape and remould India’s social and economic structure.”

p Indian women form a significant part of the electorate and now, as in the past, are providing essential support for the country’s democratic forces. During preparations for the electoral campaign of 1971 members of mass women’s organisations such as the National Federation of Indian Women, the Women’s Department of the Indian National Congress and the All-India Women’s Conference held meetings, gatherings and conferences of women throughout the country. They gave their approval to the policies of Indira Gandhi’s government, which are directed towards further radical reforms in industry, agriculture and other branches of the national economy, and spoke out resolutely in favour of policies aimed at combating poverty, mass unemployment and price rises.

p Important changes are taking place in the lives of women in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other Asian countries. There, too, women are elected to parliament and become members of governments.

p In the strategy of the new states of Africa and Asia, which is designed to bring about economic independence and social renewal, particular importance attaches to the full and rational use 213 of labour resources arid the broad involvement of women in production.

p Industrial development, agricultural reforms and development of the educational system open up new prospects for women and extend their opportunities for participation in social production. Thus, according to estimates of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there were 41 million economically active women in Africa in 1970, but by 1975 this was expected to climb to 46 million; corresponding figures for Eastern Asia were 168 million and 180 million, while in Southern Asia they were 129 million and 142 million.

p The growth in the relative numbers of women in social production is, without doubt, a progressive phenomenon. As workers in industrial enterprises and on plantations, women become part of the working class, absorb its ideology and take part in the trade union movement. All this helps to develop their personalities, raise the level of their activity in society and extend their political horizons. The most favourable conditions for this process are created in countries which have embarked upon radical social and economic reforms and the first effects of the policy of bringing women in the developing countries into social production are already being felt.

p What trends are characteristic of the developing countries in resolving all these questions? We may note, first and foremost, the principle that citizens enjoy equal rights irrespective of sex, which is enshrined in the constitutions of many countries.

p In a large number of independent African countries new labour laws have been put into 214 effect under the influence of the working people’s struggle for their rights. Legislation introduced before independence by the colonial authorities was circumvented in every way by employers and did not in fact protect the labour rights of working people, in particular women.

p In Egypt, for example, working conditions for women in enterprises were formerly regulated by a law of 1923. This law was formulated in such a way as to permit factory owners to dispense with supplementary expenditure linked to specific aspects of female labour. In particular, maternity leave was granted only at enterprises employing more than 100 women: since the majority of women worked at small handicraft shops, they were naturally unable to make use of this vital benefit.

p When the Arab Republic of Egypt attained national independence, new labour laws came into force. Law No. 91 of 1959, as well as a series of decrees issued by the government between 1961 and 1964, not to mention general regulations on workers’ rights such as the establishment of a seven-hour working day and annual paid leave of 14 to 21 days, envisaged special guarantees for the protection of female labour.

p The employment of female labour on heavy work injurious to the female health and also at, night was prohibited. In addition, the granting to women of supplementary benefits in the field of health protection for mothers and children and the creation of conditions enabling them to combine socially useful work with the fulfilment of their family obligations were envisaged.

p Law No. 3309 of August 22, 1966, granted women working in industry or public institutions the right to one month’s paid maternity leave 215 and an additional daily rest period of one hour to feed their children. The law obliges the managements of enterprises to build children’s centres and centres providing a range of everyday consumer services to working people. It emphasises that the necessity for making these benefits available must not be used as a reason for any form of discrimination against female labour.

p The implementation of these and many other laws has a profound social and political significance. It is precisely now, at a time when radical reform of the country’s economy has become an urgent problem, that organisation of the work of all categories of employees, taking into account features specific to female labour, is becoming a matter not only for individual employers but for society as a whole and, consequently, a matter of importance to the state.

p Important premises for changes in labour legislation have been brought about to a varying degree in Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Guinea, the People’s Republic of the Congo and many other African countries. Before political independence was attained by these countries they were subject to the "Code of Labour Laws for Overseas Territories”, introduced by the French colonial administration in 1952. The code formally prohibited forced labour and established a fortyhour working week, equal pay for equal work, benefits for those with large families, maternity leave, etc. It had been adopted under pressure from the working people and appeared at first glance quite democratic, but under the conditions of a colonial regime the rights enshrined in it naturally remained only on paper.

p At the present time, many countries in former 216 French Africa have adopted new labour laws creating opportunities for the extensive involvement of women, in particular, in the development of the national economy and for eliminating various forms of discrimination against female labour; the new laws also provide for state assistance to mothers.

p In the Republic of Guinea, for example, women have been granted the right, in conformity with the new labour code of 1960, to work in industry on equal terms with men. The law repealed the earlier practice, whereby a wife could not choose a job for herself or become a member of a trade union without the agreement of her husband. In accordance with article 8 of the code, a woman can now decide for herself what job she will take and what form of public activity she will engage in. Article 152 states that a married woman has the right independently to dispose of her wages, earnings and savings and women have an equal rieht with men to annual paid leave of 15 days. The code prohibits the employment of female labour at night or in hazardous forms of production and envisages guarantees for the protection of mothers and babies.

p New labour laws have been adopted in many Asian countries. In particular, laws directed at improving working conditions were passed in India shortly after the attainment of political independence. These included the Factories Act, the Minimum Wages Act, the Employees’ State Insurance Act (1948), the Mines Act (1952) and the Plantation Labour Act (1954).

p All these laws contain special regulations relating to women, prohibiting night work for women, envisaging maternity benefits, etc.

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p In Sri Lanka a law was adopted in 1956 granting women equal rights with men to work and prohibiting night work for women, children and adolescents in industrial enterprises.

p In Nepal, Afghanistan and other Asian countries the prerequisites are being created for more active involvement of women in productive work and for increasing their role in national development. As a result of the working people’s long struggle, the principles of social security are beginning to be implemented and sickness benefits, measures to protect female labour and maternity leave are being introduced.

p While giving due credit to the efforts of governments in many African and Asian countries to improve the position of working women and emphasising the important advances achieved by working people in the struggle for their rights, it must at the same time be stated that the problems of female labour remain unresolved in the majority of the countries of Asia and Africa.

p Social and economic changes, including those affecting the position of women, are taking place under the conditions of a multi-structured economy, the coexistence of modern and traditional economies, the breakdown of the tribal organisation of society and the drawing of women into the sphere of industry, where an essential distinction still exists between male and female labour.

p The example of the Bemba people of Zambia brings the nature of these relationships into sharper focus. Until the end of the 19th century Ihis people remained at the stage of a tribal system. The Bembas lived in matriarchal families, which, together, constituted the matriarchal clan. The position of women was characterised 218 hy a high degree of independence in economic and family matters. The preservation of collective ownership of land and its joint cultivation determined the nature of relationships between members of the community and played an important role in the distribution of work. The basic activity of the Bembas was agriculture, millet, manioc, peanuts and other legumes were cultivated. The Bembas worked in family groups, men preparing the plots for sowing, older children chopping off the tops and branches of trees and women and young children gathering them up and carrying them to the fields. (Such work was rarely performed by men and those who broke with custom evoked the mockery of their fellow-tribesmen.) The branches were then burned and the ashes used as fertilizer and as bedding for the seeds. A field prepared in this way could be sown for five or six years in succession.

p The women levelled and turned over the soil with a stick or hoe, attended to sowing and harvested the crop. They were also responsible for all work about the house and gathered fruits arid berries. Ethnographers have calculated that women aged over 45 years spent some 2,000 hours per year in preparing food for a single family, while younger women spent approximately 1,500 hours per year. A considerable amount of time was devoted to drying gathered berries and preserving vegetables, fish and meat.

p Women also carried out all other work. They stored water and fuel and kept the walls and floors of huts in repair; many engaged in weaving baskets, making pots and other crafts, which they have maintained until the present day. Overall, 80 per cent of all work concerned with 219 the subsistence economy fell to the lot of women. Men carried out tasks requiring considerable physical strength, such as the preparation of fields for sowing, hunting and repair work, but as a rule they worked no more than seven hours a day.

p A woman’s working day depended on the season and the nature of the work. Women usually worked not less than 9-10 hours a day and this rose to 14 hours a day during the period of most intense agricultural work. The economic structure and labour relations existing at that time among the Bembas were typical of a matriarchy. The practice of matrilocal marriage was maintained for a long time; the husband moved to his wife’s village and was obliged to work for her family for a specific period, while the wife remained in her matriarchal family.

p This furthered consolidation of the woman’s social position. Women decided all matters connected with the life of the family and the village on equal terms with men. A wife was not economically dependent on her husband, for her labour occupied an important place in community production. She maintained economic links with the members of her matriarchal family, possessed her own plot of land on the farm as well as a separate barn and kept accounts of the family’s income and expenditure independently. In the event of divorce the children remained in the family of the mother.

p The changes that have been brought about in the economic life of the Bemba people as a result of the development of commodity and money relations and the growth in importance of money in the life of each family and each clan mean that the subsistence economy, in which female 220 labour played an important role, ceases to satisfy the needs of the family and the community as a whole. The importance of female labour is reduced and at the same time the position of women alters while the part played by the man in the economic life of the family increases. The boundaries between plots belonging to small families (husband, wife and children) become more sharply denned and men with families itrive to break away from large matriarchal famslies and live separately. Now, within a year or two of the birth of the first child, many move with their wives to villages in which members of their clan according to the maternal line live. Economic and, consequently, family ties between father and children strengthen and children choose with increasing frequency to take their father’s name. But the bonds of kinship with the matriarchal clan are still preserved.

p In the villages social differentiation on the basis of properly intensifies. The power of chiefs, who increase their wealth by exploitation of their fellow-tribesmen and, above all, fellowtribeswomen, strengthens. The practice has developed whereby every year, at the beginning of field work, women are obliged to work without payment for the first day on the land of the village elders; the elders receive a specific quantity of meat and beer from the women of their community as a tribute. The former relationships within the family, under which joint labour had presupposed equal distribution of the harvest among working members of the family, has changed.

p Even more profound changes are taking place in marital relationships. Among the Bembas, like many other peoples of Africa and Asia, the 221 practice of polygamy existed; in parts of both continents it still survives.

p Under the conditions of tribal relationships polygamy was definitely an expression of the economic and social links between two clans. In traditional society the number of wives enhanced the social prestige of the husband and strengthened his position in the community, but had almost no influence on the property situation of the members of his family. Under the conditions produced by the development of commodity and money relations the social nature of marriage changes and it becomes an object of bargaining and economic deals.

p Polygamy remains the privilege of elders, tribal chiefs and affluent peasants. The position of head of a polygamous family gives a man considerable advantages in agricultural production, which is founded on the personal labour of the members of such a family, and the use of the unpaid labour of wives is an important source of accumulation.

p It can be said, regarding the basic section of the peasantry, that in the majority of African and Asian countries husband and wife suffered equally the yoke of oppression by the tribal nobility. This oppression was multiplied many times by the arrival of the European colonialists. Capitalist exploitation in its cruelest form was added to pre-capitalist exploitation under various forms of feudal and semi-feudal dependence.

p The system of colonial exploitation gave birth to an international division of labour under which a small number of imperialist states was given the opportunity to plunder the natural riches of countries in both Asia and Africa. Countries in both continents were, in effect, 222 transformed inlo appendages of Western capilaiist monopolies, producing agricultural products and raw materials. In many colonies the aclivitios of foreign monopolies were linked to Hie increased production of export crops, which led to specific social changes. Peasant economies in many African and Asian countries had, in the past, been predominantly- subsistence oriented and the peasants’ main activity had been the raising of food crops for local consumption. With the arrival of the colonialists, expansion in the production of export crops eventually destroyed the self-sufficiency of the subsistence economy and sapped the foundations of existing labour relations and family life. The standards of customary law continued to be maintained for some time, but other relationships, based on the exploitation of the labour of others to make a profit, were springing up within the framework of tribal links.

p Women, who had constituted the basic work force within the traditional division of labour, were the first to fall victim to exploitation and subordination to the power of property holders in society, while remaining in complete dependence on their husbands within the family. Dependence on the husband took a wide variety of forms: among the Kikuyu people of Kenya, for example, wives in the Margoli region did not have the right to dispose of the harvest, but before removing grain from a barn had first to obtain the permission of their husbands. In the Marama region husband and wife had separate barns; grain belonging to the wife went to feed the family, while the husband’s grain was sold and the income from the sale went to him.

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p The position of women in many areas of Africa and Asia worsened as a result of the growth in seasonal work. The men went into the towns to earn money, leaving their wives and children in the villages. Under these conditions the peasant woman’s work was especially hard, since she was obliged to perform virtually all kinds of agricultural work as well as running a household. Ethnographic research has shown, for example, that among the Hehe people of Kenya, women engaged in agricultural activities worked twice as hard as men, while in Uganda, among the Ganda people, one peasant woman fed ten other people by her labour.

p On the average, not less than a quarter of a woman’s total working time went on relatively unproductive activities. Every day, using a primitive wooden pestle and a stone mortar, she ground and cleaned millet and corn, making porridge from the flour. Before preparing even this simple dish, however, cleaning the house and washing clothes, she had to bring fuel and store water for the day. The last task, in the conditions of Africa and Asia, was one of women’s most burdensome obligations: in many villages in Laos and Vietnam, for example, female villagers would spend half a day providing their families with a supply of water for the day.

p In North Africa and many countries in Asia with a predominantly Moslem population women, first and foremost townswomen, remained in effect outside public life. Work by women outside the home was regarded as amoral and a threat to the moral foundations of society and the family. At the same lime, large landowners and the proprietors of small manufacturing shops made extensive use of the personal labour of members 224 of (heir families—above all of female members. Women’s labour became dependent on and subordinate to tbat of men. The crudest forms of enslavement and assaults upon human dignity were masked by a “concern” for the preservation of the physical and moral purity of woman and the defence of her chastity; many of these survivals of the past persisted until the present day.

p The overthrow of colonial regimes and the attainment by the peoples of Asia and Africa of political independence have shaken the foundations of previous relationships but not finally changed them.

p The first steps in putting the national resources of Afro-Asian countries to productive use, the efforts being made to create national industry and the measures that are being taken to boost agriculture form the basis for carrying out vital social reforms. The work that has begun to wipe out the burdensome heritage of the colonial past, strengthen the economy, bring about the rebirth of national culture and increase the well-being of the mass of the people can only meet with success when millions of women of Asia and Africa participate on a level with men in social labour.

p Statistical data show that although the percentage of women employees in relation to the gainfully employed population has grown, it is still very low in the majority of Asian and African countries. In Ethiopia, for example, 7 per cent of the female population is economically active, while among the male population the figure is 93 per cent.

p In Ghana, Liberia, Botswana, Morocco and many other countries the proportion of women in paid employment does not exceed 4-5 per cent.

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p According to the data of the International Labour Organisation, in Jordan a little over 22,000 women are employed out of a total working population of 390,000, while in Kuwait the corresponding figures are roughly 17,000 and 240,000, in Pakistan—4 million and over 30 million and in Malaysia—over 53,000 and over 176,000.

p The percentage of women workers in industry is extremely low. It is only in manufacturing industries in a few countries that the female section of the total hired work force amounts to 15-25 per cent: in Kenya, for example, women workers in manufacturing industry constitute only 6 per cent of the overall work force. A significant portion of the female population is employed in the public services.

p The proportion of women agricultural workers is high. It has been calculated, for example, that between 80 and 90 per cent of the female population in Africa live and work in country areas and that women perform between 60 and 80 per cent of all agricultural work. The specialised production of certain crops and raw materials forced upon the former colonies and dependent countries by imperialism is graphically manifested in this.

p These, of course, are average indicators and vary significantly from country to country depending on the level of economic development, the specialisation of production and also on such natural and geographical features as territorial area, size of population, climatic conditions, etc. Thus, in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and a number of other countries women agricultural workers employed on capitalist plantations, large estates and farms continue to constitute a 226 significant proportion of I he female working population.

p In countries such as Ivory Coast, Dahomey and Upper Volta, contemporary capitalist forms of exploitation are still closely interlocked with feudal and semi-feudal forms of exploitation. The practice exists in these countries of concluding labour contracts with and paying wages to male heads of families only. Women and children help the men in fulfilling their obligations under these labour agreements.

p In Pakistan, for example, more than 2 million women engaged in various branches of the economy are placed in the statistical category of "family workers”, whose labour is evaluated as a constituent part of the value of the labour of the basic worker—the man. A similar situation obtains in many other countries. These women are the wives of farm hands and day labourers, employed both on semi-capitalist (or even semifeudal) estates, the properties of landowners and rich peasants and on peasant holdings. They work the plots of land alloted them on the estates by the landowners or rich peasants and their position is characterised by coercion, humble social status and complete dependence on their husbands.

p Comparative data on the real wages of men and women and the principles according to which the latter’s labour is paid for can serve as the most characteristic indicator defining the position of women in social production. Official figures show that in the majority of Asian and African countries the gap between the wages paid for male and female labour is quite significant. ILO experts conclude that in Burma women’s wages are 55-60 per cent lower than those of men; in Turkey 227 the corresponding figure is 60-70 per cent, and in Indonesia—60 per cent. In many African countries women’s wages constitute 25-30 per cent of those of man. A woman worker in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, for example, earns 297 shillings per year, while a man’s annual income for the same work is 471 shillings. The majority of women workers in Ethiopia earn less than 50 Ethiopian dollars a month.

p Laws on equal pay are not, as a rule, extended to women agricultural workers and in a number of countries—including Malaysia and Thailand—discrimination in the wages received by women plantation workers is regarded as a standard feature of labour relations.

p In countries in which revolutionary democratic governments are aware of the increasing role played by women in national development, governmental measures aimed at reducing the gap between men’s and women’s wages are being put inlo effect. A more even apportionment of medical services and living accommodation is beginning to be introduced in a number of countries. Price control is being set up, progressive social security systems are being introduced and efforts are made to combat unemployment.

p The result is that the real wages of workers are gradually rising. However, the machinations of reactionary imperialist circles and sabotage on the part of employers frequently lead to a worsening of the situation in these countries, as a consequence of which the supplying of food to the population is made more difficult and prices rise.

p In countries under the control of a national bourgeoisie, which uses the benefits of economic growth with the object of making a profit through exploitation of the working people, the position 228 of women remains particularly difficult. By exploiting female labour employers gain incalculable profits. In many Asian and African countries, workers’ wages are in fact fixed unilaterally by the employers themselves, and by using as a legal basis the theory that female labour is of "less than full value" the employers practically legitimise discrimination.

p The existence of an enormous reserve of extremely cheap labour plays a considerable role in this. Although the proportion of economically active members of the population is low in the developing countries, a significant section of these is unable to take part in socially useful work. Overall, the number of people without regular work in all the countries of Asia and Africa is approaching almost a third of the economically active population of these countries. According to ILO data, the unemployed (not counting those on short-time work) constitute between 5 and 11 per cent of the population of urban areas in Asian and African countries. Extremely approximate calculations indicate that partial unemployment is suffered by 35 per cent of the urban work force in India, with corresponding figures of 30 per cent for Indonesia, 29 per cent for Sri Lanka and 20 per cent for the Philippines.

p It must be borne in mind in this context that the labour market is flooded with unemployed men. When vacancies occur a man has a greater chance of being hired, as employers usually avoid taking on women because of the extra expenditure necessary on measures to protect mothers and babies. When, however, a woman is hired, the highly competitive labour market enables the owner of the enterprise significantly to lower the 229 wages of his workers. Rising prices and indirect taxes along with the inflationary processes typical of the majority of developing countries have an impact on the workers’ real incomes.

p Material deprivation and economic dependence oblige many women to look for additional sources of income. In the countries of tropical Africa this has resulted in the widespread involvement of women in petty retail trading. Thus, in Ghana, the Congo, Nigeria and other countries, up to 80 per cent of the able-bodied female population of the major towns alone is involved in petty retail trading. After providing their families with food peasant women are traditionally permitted to s 11 surplus agricultural produce and take the proceeds for themselves; this practice also existed formerly, but the conditions of underdeveloped commodity and money relations and a subsistence economy meant that it could not significantly alter the position of women.

p To some extent engaging in trade opened the way to economic independence for women and women merchants, as will as petty traders can now be met with in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and other countries. These women merchants conduct major trading operations and possess quite large bank accounts; however, the economic position of the mass of petty traders is close to that of poor peasant women.

p The wide-scale involvement of women in market trading is an indicator of the poverty and need from which African and Asian peoples cannot as yet free themselves. Hundreds of thousands of able-bodied women, unable to exist on the produce of their meagre peasant farms alone, have no opportunity of finding work in industrial enterprises or organisations and are forced to 230 make ends meet through these addilional sources of income. Under present conditions, when the independent states of Africa and Asia are confronted by the task of eliminating economic backwardness, such activity on the part of women must be regarded as squandering national labour reserves. Women’s energies are dissipated not so much on the creation of material values for society as on satisfying the needs of individual families. Moreover, involvement of the mass of women in petty commodity production has a negative effect on the formation of their class consciousness, fragments them into small, heterogeneous groups and subgroups, develops in them the concerns associated with private property and to a significant degree slows down the process of bringing women into the general struggle of working people for their rights.

p The problem of training skilled personnel is arising in connection with the reorganisation of economic structures and the creation and consolidation of a public sector in the industry of individual African states. The experience of several African states—Guinea, Algeria, Tanzania, the People’s Republic of the Congo, Somalia and others—shows that there are several ways in which this problem may be resolved. These include the systematic enrollment of girls and young women in vocational schools and training groups at enterprises, political and industrial training centres, as well as the education of women workers in evening classes and courses.

p As well as schools, classes and courses to eliminate illiteracy, women’s groups are playing a major role in raising the general educational level of women. These groups have different names in different countries and programmes and 231 methods of instruction vary, but all serve the same goal: that of educating a new type of woman. Women are taught to sew and look after their children and instructed in the basic principles of sanitation, hygiene, etc., but even this does not represent the most important aspect of their activities. The creation of a broad network of social centres for women is furthering the liberation of woman from her traditional estrangement, bringing her out of the closed world of the family and helping her gradually to become an active builder of a new world. Women’s horizons are broadening and their attitude to the surrounding world is changing.

p Mass campaigns to eliminate illiteracy have been of great significance in raising the educational level of women. In Somalia, for example, more than 400,000 peasant women learned to read and write in 1974 and 1975. The number of girls attending primary schools increased by more than 500 per cent between 1967 and 1974 and girls attending secondary schools increased in number from 134 in 1967 to 1,773 in 1974, while the number of young women undertaking college education rose over the same period from 11 to 131. In Tanzania, the Ministry of Community Development, in conjunction with the National Women’s Organisation of Tanzania, has for several years been putting into effect a plan for the general education and vocational training of women. Classes and circles to eliminate illiteracy have been set up, seminars are conducted and short courses are being held to train instructors, who then direct campaigns to eliminate illiteracy in the villages.

p Mass campaigns lo wipe out illiteracy among women are being conducted in Guinea, Mali, 232 Senegal, Nepal and India—indeed, In virtually the majority of African and Asian countries. The number of girls studying in secondary and higher educational institutions is increasing. The first Egyptian woman to study at Cairo University was allowed through its gates in 1929. By 1952 6,000 women were studying at the university and at the present time there are some 50.000 women students in higher educational institutions in the ARE. Besides the faculties of languages, administration, commerce and humanities the faculties of agriculture, engineering and medicine are opening their doors to women.

p According to UNESCO data, in one third of the countries of Asia girls constitute up to 24 per cent of students in vocational training centres. At the same time the overall percentage of girls studying in special and higher educational institutions remains very low: in Ethiopia, for example, only 8 per cent of the student body at the state university is female and the overwhelming majority of women students are studying the humanities.

p Moreover, no matter how important all these measures are for the majority of new states, they represent only the first step on a difficult path.

p New states have unquestionably encountered enormous problems arising from the burdensome heritage of the colonial past, one of which is the extremely low level of literacy. The proportion of illiterates is especially large in the countries of Africa: in a number of the countries of Central and Southern Africa illiteracy exceeds 90 per cent, reaching a maximum in the Central African Republic, where those who can read and write constitute only 2 per cent of the country’s 233 inhabitants. Women form a substantial part of the illiterate population.

p Of the 800 million illiterates in the world 500 million are women. Ensuring that women receive equal rights in social production requires the solution of a whole series of interlinked problems, including that of eliminating discrimination against women in obtaining general education and vocational training.

p Illiterate women cannot be employed in today’s highly mechanised enterprises and therefore discrimination in the field of education leads to discrimination in employment as well, leaving only the most low-paid jobs in the public services sector and agriculture (itself still backward) available to women.

p The success of national and educational development in African and Asian countries depends to a great extent on the rapidity with which these new states can wipe out economic backwardness, the extreme poverty of the broad working masses and the dominance of imperialist monopolies.

p Women, more than anyone else, seek the establishment of progressive social relationships, guaranteeing them the full realisation of their economic and social rights. They support the policy of expanding the public sector in the economy, the preservation and consolidation of state property, the growth of public wealth and creation of state enterprises. In many countries struggling to eliminate economic backwardness women workers are continuing to demand nationalisation of the basic sectors of the economy, above all of banks, oil and foreign-trade enterprises. Despite the efforts of the reactionary imperialist circles the struggle against neocolonialism in all its manifestations, for ousting the foreign capital from 234 the economies of (lie developing countries, for the nationalisation of foreign property is becoming an essential element of the women’s antiimperialist movement.

Women in countries of Asia and Africa are being drawn more and more actively into the movement for social and economic reorganisation that will help to raise the economy of the independent states. Building up a national economy demands the enormous efforts of the entire nation, both men and women. African and Asian women want to do their share in carrying ont the major economic tasks confronting their slates with the same determination with which they once fought against colonialism.