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p The Women’s International Democratic Federation has always regarded equality for women as an important social problem whose solution concerns the whole of society. Proceeding from the fact that the fight against discrimination against women is part and parcel of the general 309 fight for democracy, the Federation has made and is making a decisive stand for the political, economic and social rights of women, in the interest of developing women’s personality and of the progress of rociety.

p The question of the status of women was the centre of attention at the WIDF’s six congresses, and at the many regional and international seminars and meetings initiated by the Federation. On the basis of documents adopted by these forums, the national women’s organisations, in accordance with the conditions in their countries, called upon the masses of women to struggle for rights equal to those of men and for the creation of conditions for the actual implementation of women’s equality.

p An important milestone in the women’s equality movement was the Declaration on the Rights of Women, adopted at the World Congress of Women in Copenhagen, in June 1953.

p In calling this Congress the Federation revealed an ambition to unite all women’s, trade union, cooperative, youth and other organisations in the fight for women’s equality. The WIDF’s appeal to all these organisations to meet at the Congress was greeted with enthusiasm.

p The Declaration on the Rights of Women adopted by the Congress was the culmination of immense work by the Federation during preparations for the Congress to study the actual position of women in individual countries. The Declaration contained the basic demands of the women of all continents.

p The Copenhagen Congress was followed by new efforts in the women’s movement for realisirg the demands laid down in the Declaration. By December 1954, 66 national congresses and 310 conferences had been held in 33 countries. These were marked by joint action by different organisations for common demands which had been initiated by the national organisations of the WIDF. In a number of countries, including Japan, India, Portugal, New Zealand and South Africa, new national organisations were formed on the basis of this cooperation, and they later joined the WIDF.

p The International Women’s Meeting held in Copenhagen, in April 1960, initiated by the WIDF with the participation of a large number of different women’s international and national organisations, which did not come under the Federation, served as another important international forum on the problems of equality for women.

p This international forum was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the 8th of March, International Women’s Day. It had the aim of summarising the half-century struggle for the liberation of women and of seeking for ways and means of most rapidly improving their situation throughout the world.

p The Copenhagen Meeting heard reports on women’s civil rights, on the participation of women in economic life, in state and socio-political activity, on the creation of conditions which would permit women to combine work outside the home with their family obligations, on the education of women and the raising of their cultural level, on the tasks of women’s organisations and of all women in the achievement of a lessening of international tension, on disarmament and cooperation between nations. In connection with the increasing part played by women in production, two of the six colloquiums at which 311 the reports were discussed, were devoted to problems of women’s labour, and in particular, to their participation in economic life and to the creation of the conditions enabling them best to combine their work in production with their domestic obligations. The documents adopted as a result of this meeting served as a basis for the relevant work of the women’s organisations back in their own countries.

p The Copenhagen Meeting was prepared by the International Initiating Committee which was composed of the representatives of various women’s organisations and women eminent in public life. About a thousand women from 73 countries took part in the Meeting, representing 14 international and more than 150 national women’s organisations. In order to strengthen the already-established cooperation, a Liaison Bureau of the Copenhagen Meeting of Women was set up.

p The problem of the position of women was given great attention at the Helsinki World Congress of Women in June 1969. The theme of the Congress was the role of woman in the modern world. The agenda included such topics as woman and labour, woman in society, woman in the family, and woman in the fight for national independence, democracy and peace. Representatives of 94 countries and 30 international organisations and special UN bodies took part in the discussions held by commissions on these questions.

p In the course of this Congress the women representatives of different countries and continents were able to exchange information on the actual position of women, to evaluate successes and consider ways of combating the discrimination 312 against women which was still rife in the majority of the countries in the world.

p The participants of the Congress stressed that the pacts, declarations, recommendations and resolutions adopted by the UN, 1LO and UNESCO in which the principle of equality for women was confirmed, were not always and not universally complied with. The Congress also noted that in colonial and dependent countries where racism was rampant and the democratic liberties were scorned women continue to be the object of the harshest discrimination.

p Most of the speeches at the plenary sessions and in the commissions expressed the necessity for joint action and the unification of efforts of all progressive forces in the struggle for the equality of women. The Congress stressed the necessity of creating conditions whereby woman could harmoniously combine the role of mother, citizen and worker. In analysing the position of women in modern society, many of the speakers strei-sed the power of attraction of the example of socialist countries where women are guaranteed their rights, and spoke of the need for radical social reforms for the achievement of real equality by women in their own countries.

p The culmination of a widespread discussion on the position of woman in society and the family, on her participation in social and productive labour was a document adopted as one of the basic documents of the Congress, the appeal for joint action to attain women’s rights.

p The WIDF gives great importance to cooperation with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). WIDF representatives have taken part in all the WFTU conferences on working women, 313 and the WIDF consistently directs its regional organisations to cooperation and joint action with the trade unions on a national scale, seeing in this the pledge of success in the fight for women’s equality.

p The Federation has always paid and continues to pay great attention to the study of the actual position of women in various countries of the world and gives extensive information to world opinion on the discrimination which is still to be found in the majority of countries.

p To this end the Federation has often sent delegations and special commissions to various continents in order to study conditions on the spot and collect factual material. Making use of its consultative status in the Economic and Social Council of the UN and also in UNESCO, the Federation succeeded in getting the UN to examine the question of the position of women.

p Thus, in 1948 the WIDF made a report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women based on its findings on the state of affairs in a number of Asian countries; and in 1949 the Federation went to ECOSOC with the question of the implementation of the principle of equal pay for equal work, basing its argument on material gathered in 56 countries; in 1964 the WIDF sent a memorandum to the ILO on the question of organising woman’s labour so as to consider her need to fulfil her family obligations.

p As the result of great activity by non-governmental bodies, including the WIDF, the United Nations have adopted many important international documents on the question of equality for women, and have initiated a series of longterm plans aimed at improving the status of women.

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p The WIDF participated in the compilation of the 1967 Declaration, adopted by the UN General Assembly, on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and made its contribution on this topic in drafting the Resolution to the International Conference on Human Rights which took place in 1968, in Teheran.

p The WIDF’s activeness in EGOSOC and UNESCO led to an increase in the WIDF’s influence in the UN’s specialised bodies and commissions and contributed to the strengthening of the democratic forces in the UN and the development of contacts between its organs and the progressive women’s movement.

p Along with all progressive people the WIDF and its national organisations celebrated the centenary of the birth of V. I. Lenin, emphasising his role as a champion of women’s equality.

The Lenin birth centenary celebrations aroused among the broad masses of women an interest in studying Lenin’s writings on the social liberation of women and on means of solving the women’s question. The women’s organisations of many countries held meetings, theoretical conferences and discussions on such subjects as "Lenin and the Social Emancipation of Women”, "Lenin on the Role of Women in Society, Labour and the Family”. These events were convincing demonstrations of the international, worldwide significance of Lenin’s heritage.