Progress Publishers
Moscow
[1] __TRANSL__ Translated from the RussianAuthors: L. G. BALAKHOVSKAYA, N. A. BEREZHNAYA, Y. P. BLINOVA, S. S. GILEVSKAYA, R. 0. KHALFINA, E. Ye. NOVIKOVA, Ye. M. SHIBARINA, R. S. SMIRNOVA, N. I. TATARINOVA, A. L. YEFIMOVA
Edited by N. A. KOVALSKY (Chief Editor) and Y. P. BLINOVA
JKEHIUHHbl Ha
__COPYRIGHT__ First printing 1975 ... 11101---890 ,
W 014(01)-756°
CONTENTS
FOREWORD ............... 5
WOMEN'S RIGHTS TODAY........ 7
WOMEN IN SOCIALIST SOCIETY
WOMEN IN THE USSR........... 25
The October Revolution and the Emancipation of Women............ 25
Women's Participation in Social Labour . . 36 Women and State Administration .... 46 The Woman and the Family....... 51
THE SOLUTION OF THE QUESTION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN OTHER SOCIALIST COUNTRIES ................ 62
The Formation of the World Socialist System as the Decisive Factor in Women's Emancipation ............ 62
The Role of Women in Economic and Cultural Life .............. 69
The Working Woman and the Family ... 80 Political Equality in Action....... 92
The Women of Socialist Countries in the Struggle for Peace, Friendship and Cooperation Among Peoples of the World 96
WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPED CAPITALIST COUNTRIES
The Problem of Female Labour...... 111
The Participation of Women in Government,
Social and Political Activity...... 130
The Status of the Women in the Family . . 147
The Part Played by Women in Advanced Capitalist Countries in the Fight for Social Progress, Democracy and Peace . . . 165
[3]THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN TFIE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL LIBERATION OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES . . . 205
The Position of Women in the Countries of
Asia and Africa............ 210
Problems of Working Women in Latin America 234
WOMEN OF THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
IN THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE 241
African Women in the Struggle for National
Independence ............ 242
The Women of South Asian Countries in the
Anti-imperialist Struggle ....... 2.r)4
The Women's Movement in the Middle East 264
Women in Southeast Asia Fighting for Their
Rights and National Independence . . . 268
Women of Asia and Africa in the Struggle for Unity................ 275
The Working Women of Latin America in
the Liberation and General Democratic
Movement ............. 285
WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERATION
The Founding of the Women's International
Democratic Federation ........ 301
In Defence of Woman's Rights as Mother, Worker and Citizen.......... 308
In Defence of Children ......... 314
For Peace Throughout the World..... 319
In Support of the Struggle for Winning and Consolidating National Independence Against Neocolonialism ........ 322
CONCLUSION ............... 331
[4] __ALPHA_LVL1__ FOREWORDThe second half of the 20th century is an age of tumultuous scientific and technical progress and of outstanding discoveries and inventions. People are exploring space, are flying to the moon and are penetrating the depths of the oceans.
Against the background of these wonderful achievements,;humanity's unresolved social problems stand out with particular starkness. One of these problems is the status of women, who nowadays comprise half of the world's total population and one-third of its workforce.
It is perfectly obvious that the part played by women in all spheres of life today is constantly on the increase. But it is no less obvious that in many countries women remain subject to inequality and oppression. This has a harmful effect both on their own status and on the social climate of the society in which they live. After all, the status of women acts as a kind of barometer registering the amount of democracy in any state. As Charles Fourier commented the degree 5 of woman's emancipation is the natural measure of the general emancipation.
But what is the status of women in modern society---in the socialist, developed capitalist and developing countries? This question forms a complex problem on many levels, affecting all aspects of social life---the economy, politics and ideology. Therefore, the authors have aimed to show the most important tendencies in the international women's movement and to present an objective picture of the status of the woman in society and in the family.
The authors have approached their analysis of the status of women in the world today from the standpoint of Marxist-Leninist theory, the effective doctrine that has revealed the true causes of the inequality of women in a class society, and has shown how they are to be emancipated.
Women Today is an extremely topical work, appearing as it does in 1975, which has been declared by the UN General Assembly to be International Women's Year.
V. V. Nikolayeva-Tereshkova
Chairman,
Soviet Women's Committee
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.
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.
Stressing the indissoluble link between the complete emancipation of women and the victory 7 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."'^^1^^
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."^^2^^
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".^^3^^
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 _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 372.
~^^2^^ Ibid., Vol. 28, pp. 180, 181.
~^^3^^ Ibid., Vol. 30, p. 43.
8 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."^^1^^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."^^2^^
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".^^3^^
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.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Ibid., Vol. 20, p. 146.
~^^2^^ Ibid., Vol. 30, p. 43.
~^^3^^ Ibid., p. 371.
9Lenin 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.
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."^^1^^
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.
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 _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 409.
10 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.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.
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.
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 11 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.
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.
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.
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 12 of social production and state activity. Women in these countries are waging a struggle for their emancipation as members of democratic women's organisations.
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.
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 13 for the peoples' successful anti-imperialist struggle.
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.
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.
Despite the differences between them, the bourgeois, Right-wing reformist and 14 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.
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.^^1^^
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 _-_-_
~^^1^^ Feminism---a bourgeois women's movement aiming to provide women with equal rights with men within the framework of a capitalist state, arose in the second half of the 19th century. The main feminist organisations to be set up in the early 20th century were the International Council of Women, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the International Alliance of Women---Equal Rights---Equal Responsibilities, Open-Door International for the Economic Emancipation of the Woman Worker, and so on.
15 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.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 16 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).
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.
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 __PRINTERS_P_17_COMMENT__ 2---0912 17 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".
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.
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.
18The 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.''
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.
The most Left-wing circles in the Catholic movement, notably several Christian trade union organisations affiliated to the ICL,^^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.
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 _-_-_
~^^1^^ The International Confederation of Labour (ICL)--- an international centre principally uniting Christian trade unions.
__PRINTERS_P_19_COMMENT__ 2* 19 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.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.
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.
20The 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.
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.
Various social strata that are opposed to the 21 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."^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1971, pp. 214--15. 23
22 __ALPHA_LVL1__ WomenThe question of women's rights in the Soviet Union was resolved through a fundamental restructuring of the old society with the active participation of the women themselves. The Bolshevik Party founded by Lenin, which guided the October Revolution and consolidated the new social system, viewed the question of women's rights as one of the most important social problems that the triumphant Revolution had to solve.
In order to appreciate the colossal amount of work that had to be done in this field, one must recall the status of women in tsarist Russia.
In pre-Revolutionary Russia women had no electoral rights whatsoever. The head of the family was the husband. Deprived of any rights and oppressed in the family as well as in society at large, women had no access to education or to qualifications, and were unable to participate in political or cultural life.Of the women employed in hired labour 55 per cent worked as domestic servants, and 25 per cent worked as farm labourers for the big landowners and kulaks (rich peasants). 25 Only 13 per cent were employed in enterprises or on building sites (and even then on work requiring little skill), and 4 per cent were in educational or health establishments. A mere 17 per cent of all women were literate, and only a handful managed with great difficulty to fight their way into the academic world.
The working day at enterprises lasted for 13--14 hours and was the longest in Europe. Women did the same jobs as men, but were only paid 75 per cent or even 50 per cent as much. There were no labour laws affording women any protection. The peasant woman was no better off: she had no rights whatsoever, not even the right to a plot of land. She worked for the kulak or the landowner from dawn to dusk.
The infant mortality rate in pre-Revolutionary Russia was enormous: 43 per cent of all children died before they reached the age of five. There were hardly any maternity and child protection institutions. A woman's average life expectancy was 33 years (now 74).
Life was particularly hard for women in the Central Asian areas of the country. Here feudal and even clan relations prevailed. Polygamy was practised, as well as the marrying off of minors and the buying and selling of brides. Forced seclusion and the wearing of the yashmak cut women off completely from the outside world.
Guided by the Marxist-Leninist theory that the social emancipation of women is part of the question of social emancipation in general, and bearing in mind the specific features of the question of women's status, the Bolshevik Party strove to raise the political awareness of women, to involve them in the revolutionary movement of the proletariat and to turn them into fighters 26 for their own emancipation. "Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of history,'' Marx wrote, "knows also that great social upheavals are impossible without women's ferment."^^1^^ For this reason, the Bolshevik Party made use of all available forms and methods of work, and gave women a political education, raising their consciousness and involving them in revolutionary struggle.
The years of hard struggle against the autocracy and capitalism in the underground and in open political struggle, in prisons and in exile saw the rise of a whole galaxy of outstanding professional women revolutionaries, who combined in themselves implicit devotion to the cause of the revolution, unfaltering courage, broad knowledge and the ability to work with the masses.
Nadezhda Krupskaya, Maria Ulyanova, Anna Yelizarova, Inessa Armand, Alexandra Kollontai, Konkordia Samoilova, Yelena Stasova, Klavdia Nikolayeva, Sofia Smidovich, Feodosia Drabkina, Raissa Zemlyachka and many others tirelessly spread Leninist ideas among the women workers and peasants, and drew them into the Party and the revolutionary movement.
As a result of the activity of the Bolshevik Party and of the whole pre-Revolutionary political development, many working women of Russia became active participants in class battles, the 1905 revolution, the February revolution and the October Revolution of 1917. They took part in the strike movement, in revolutionary demonstrations and in armed uprisings, and they acted as organisers, fighters, agitators, scouts, messengers and nurses.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Werke, Band 32, S. 582.
27On October 25 (November 7), 1917, the Great October Socialist Revolution was triumphant and women made a considerable contribution to the victory.
The building of the new society began in extremely difficult circumstances. Thefourbloody years of the First World War (1914--1918) had undermined the country's economy. Sparked off by counter-revolutionaries, the Civil War broke out (1918--1920). In order to stifle the Revolution, 14 foreign states fell upon the young Soviet Republic in an armed intervention. A great deal of intensive work and the mobilisation of all forces were required of the Soviet people in order to defend their revolutionary gains. Despite all this, the breakdown of the old social relations and the creation of new ones were accomplished during the very first days after the victory of the October Revolution.
Alongside such major matters as ending the war and concluding peace, abolishing landownership and transferring the land to the peasants, establishing control over production and over the distribution of material wealth, the question of the social emancipation of women was also being decided.
The first Soviet Decrees on Peace and Land, which were signed by Lenin, were very much in the interests of women. The Decree on Land enabled a peasant woman to obtain as much land as a man. A whole series of further decrees were enacted containing special points affecting women. The decree establishing an 8-hour working day dated October 29 (November 11), 1917, prohibited the employment of women for night work. The social security regulations of November 14 (27) provided for maternity benefits, 28 payable 8 weeks before the birth and 8 weeks after it. The decree on pay established a minimum wage level irrespective of sex. The decree on rates of pay upheld the principle of equal remuneration for equal work for both men and women. December 18 (31), 1917, saw the adoption of a decree on civil marriage giving men and women equal rights in marriage and in the family. The first Constitution of the RSFSR (July 1918) institutionalised the equality of women and their political and civil rights.
Summing up all that had been done by Soviet power immediately after its establishment, Lenin said: "In this field, not a single democratic party in the world, not even in the most advanced bourgeois republic, has done in decades so much as a hundredth part of what we did in our very first year in power. We really razed to the ground the infamous laws placing women in a position of inequality.... But the more thoroughly we have cleared the ground of the lumber of the old, bourgeois laws and institutions, the clearer it is to us that we have only cleared the ground to build on but are not yet building."^^1^^
It only took a few months to abolish the old laws and adopt new ones which recognised the full equality of women, but it took years and years to resolve the fundamental problems involved in providing women with equal rights.
It was only possible to accomplish the social emancipation of women through the development of productive forces, the socialist industrialisation of the country and the collectivisation of agriculture, and the all-round development of _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, pp. 428--29.
29 culture, i.e., through the building of a new, socialist society. To a considerable degree, the success of socialist construction depended on the participation of the women themselves in it. It formed a single interconnected and indissoluble process. A vast amount of work was required to train women for active participation in production, state and socio-political life.The first thing to be done was to abolish illiteracy and semi-literacy. At the same time it was also necessary to provide women with the opportunity of undergoing vocational training and raise their skills, and to involve them in sociopolitical and state affairs.
In accordance with a decree passed by the Council of People's Commissars on December 26, 1919, the elimination of illiteracy and semi-- literacy in the case of people aged between 8 and 50 became a task for the whole of the state and the people. Tens of thousands of schools and centres for the elimination of illiteracy were opened. The individual teaching scheme whereby a person who could read and write gave instruction to someone else who could not was very popular. Illiteracy among women had been largely abolished by 1939.
The doors of all educational establishments were opened to women. In order to help working people to obtain a higher education, workers' faculties were established under the auspices of higher educational establishments, and they prepared working men and women for entry to institutes and universities. Factory apprenticeship, vocational schools and individual on-job training were, during the early stages, the principal forms taken by the training of women for skilled work. Alongside the Party and the 30 Government, the trade unions, the young people's and cooperative organisations dealt with all these issues.
A large part in the involvement of women in production and socio-political affairs was played by the sections for work among women (women's sections) that were set up in mid-1919 under the auspices of the CC RCP(B) and all lower Party bodies.
The women's sections carried out broad political and educational work among women. They organised meetings, congresses and conferences at which all the vital questions concerning the life and work of women were discussed. They were concerned to improve the working and living conditions of women in town and country, and made checks to see that the laws and provisions protecting female labour were carried out. The women's sections took part in the discussion of draft laws affecting the interests of women, were themselves the initiators of many government decrees, and tabled their suggestions during the examinations of state budgets and economic development plans.
Meetings of women's delegates were held under the direct control of the women's sections. The delegates were elected for one year from representatives of women workers, office employees, peasants and housewives. Papers and talks on political topics were given at the delegates' meetings, and practical questions concerning the functioning of Soviet institutions were discussed. Each delegate was assigned for practical work to a particular Soviet institution, a nursery school or a cooperative shop. After their practical work many delegates took up permanent employment at the places they had been assigned to. 31 In this way, women were introduced to social activity.
Soviet power also took steps to assist mothers in the upbringing and care of children and to lighten their housework. A network of childcare centres was gradually built up, and the foundations were laid for setting up consumer service establishments.
In the eastern part of the country work among women had to take account of the local peculiarities. In addition to meetings, conferences and the work of delegates' meetings, women's clubs and various other centres were founded. Here women were taught to read and write, were given production training and received medical advice. They were introduced to public life and culture, and were taught how to look after children and run a home properly.
The twenties saw the birth of a movement that came to be known as khujum (offensive) in the republics of Central Asia. It really was an offensive on feudal customs and prejudices. Most women threw off their yashmaks and horsehair nets---the symbols of slavery---and burnt them on bonfires.
The battle for a new way of life for women was a hard one and was accompanied by many sacrifices. But the battle was won by Soviet power and the Leninist national policy.
The Soviet press played a great part in women's political education and their involvement in study and production .Special leaflets and brochures were published, as well as a series of popular books called the "Library of Women Workers and Peasants''. In the central, provincial and many local papers there was a page called the "Working Woman's Page''. The Woman Worker, 32 The Peasant Woman, Woman Communist and other, later women's magazines strove constantly to educate women and gradually raise their political and cultural level.
As a result of the enormous amount of work performed by the Communist Party and Soviet power, and by all the mass organisations of the working people, the role of women in production and in all spheres of the life of society gradually grew on the basis of a general growth in the economy and the culture of the young Soviet state, hand in hand with the building of socialism.
In 1936, a new Constitution of the USSR was adopted, reflecting the victory of socialism in the country and confirming the fundamental rights of women. Article 122 of the Constitution reads as follows:
``Women in the USSR are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres of economic, government, cultural, political and other public .activity.
``The possibility of exercising these rights is rensured by women being accorded an equal right with men to work, payment for work, rest and Heisure, social insurance and education, and by ; state protection of the interests of mother and ichild, state aid to mothers of large families and unmarried mothers, maternity leave with full pay, and the provision of a wide network of maternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens.'' This Article of the Constitution reflects all the ;social gains that affect the status of women.
The status of women changed radically with 'the victory of socialism. The participation of women in social production, culture and politics increased so much that no comparison with the past is possible.
__PRINTERS_P_34_COMMENT__ 3---0912 33The growth was qualitative as well as quantitative. At enterprises women began to work as skilled workers, foremen and engineers. By the beginning of 1941, 43,000 women engineers were employed in the national economy. Many women became production managers.
The collectivisation of agriculture enabled women to occupy an equal place alongside men in agricultural production. In 1940, there were 19 million women working on collective farms, with 100,000 of them in charge of agriculture machinery, 40,000 running livestock farms, over 14,500 leading brigades and more than 14,000 working as collective farm chairmen and deputy chairmen.
A new Soviet intelligentsia grew up, a considerable section of which was composed of women. By the beginning of 1941, 36 per cent of all graduates in the country were women, and they formed the majority of teachers and public health workers.
Many women pioneered the public movement for shock work and for mastering machinery and new professions.
The women fliers Valentina Grizodubova, Polina Osipenko and the navigator Marina Raskova achieved fame during the prewar years when they made their heroic non-stop flight in the plane Rodina from Moscow to the Soviet Far East. They were the first women to be made Heroes of the Soviet Union.
Women began to play a part in state administration. At the 1937 elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet---the country's highest organ of state power---189 women deputies were elected; hundreds of thousands of women were elected to local and republican government bodies.
34The Soviet people's Great Patriotic War against nazi Germany and imperialist Japan was a stern test of the durability of the whole Soviet system. The war years showed the extent to which the part played by the Soviet woman in the country's economic and political life had increased, and made clear the growth in her awareness and moral qualities. During the war Soviet women were able to shoulder the main burden of labour, as well as the responsibility for the efficient and uninterrupted work of the home front, without which victory in the fight against fascism would have been unthinkable. Women took the place of men in enterprises, on transport, on building sites, in scientific institutions and in educational establishments. They were also the decisive force in agriculture.
Soviet women distinguished themselveis not only by their selfless labour in the rear, but also by their heroic struggle on the front and in partisan detachments. Over a million women took part directly in military operations against the enemy. The names of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya,
Liza Chaikina, Maryte Melnikaite and many other heroines have forever been inscribed in the chronicle of the Soviet people's struggle. For their courage and bravery 320,000 women were decorated with military Orders and medals. 91 women were made Heroes of the Soviet Union. After the war the Soviet people were faced by the task of healing the serious wounds inflicted by the fascist invaders, rehabilitating thousands of towns and villages, raising from the ruins tens of thousands of factories, power stations, schools and hospitals, ensuring the peaceful development of all spheres in the life of the people, and __PRINTERS_P_35_COMMENT__ 3* 35 continuing the building of socialism. Millions of Soviet women took part in the struggle to accomplish the postwar tasks and to complete the building of a socialist society.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Women's ParticipationThe decisive condition for women's real equality with men is their participation in social labour. The growth of women's involvement in social labour gives rise to social and economic consequences, the chief of which is the change in the role of women in society and in the family. Their new role in society arises from the fact that female labour has become one of the most important factors in socialist construction. The active participation of women in social production furthers the all-round development of their personalities and helps to mould their general outlook. Her separate earnings make the woman independent of her husband, who used to be the sole breadwinner.
This enhancement of the role of women in social labour is in the interests both of society as a whole and of its individual members.
The main feature of the use of female labour in social production under socialism is that the employment of women takes place under the conditions generated by public ownership of the means of production and by a planned economy. As a result, favourable conditions are created for women to work outside the home. This enables women to fully exercise their right to work, which is guaranteed by the whole socio-economic system of socialist society.
36Scientific and technological progress is creating new and broader possibilities for the growth of women's economic activity and for raising the efficiency with which female labour is used. The effect of scientific and technological progress currently extends far beyond industry and is revolutionising personal as well as social work. The objective preconditions for increasing the employment of women in social production are prepared, on the one hand, by the reduction in the use of hard manual labour as a result of mechanisation and automation, and the expansion and emergence of new sectors of material production, as well as the non-productive sphere, and, on the other hand, by the spread of mechanical devices, chemical products and various other commodities that make housework less labourconsuming. Since the economy is planned and the production relations are socialist, scientific and technological progress in both the USSR and other socialist countries has always exerted and is exerting a positive influence on female labour, expanding the framework in which it can be used while at the same time avoiding the negative consequences that are characteristic of capitalist production (unemployment, increased migration, etc.).
In the Soviet Union substantial strides have been made in the past two decades in the use of female labour in social production. The numbers of working women have been increased, as has the share of female labour as a whole, and there have been changes in its sectoral and professional distribution. The proportion of women among workers and office employees rose to 51 per cent in 1974, as compared with 47 per cent in 1960 and 46 per cent in 1955. Between 1955 and 37 1974 inclusively the numbers of women workers and office employees rose by almost 28 million and in 1974 amounted to 51.2 million.
Scientific and technological progress has also caused changes in the distribution of the female workforce between the various sectors of the economy and, primarily, between the key sectors of material production.
The numbers of women employed in industry have more than doubled over the past 20 years. The growth in the numbers of women has proceeded at a more rapid pace than the growth in the numbers of men, which has led to a heightened share of female labour in this particular economic sector: in 1974 women constituted 49 per cent of the industrial workforce, as opposed to 46 per cent in 1965.
Substantial changes in the employment of female labour have also occurred in individual industries. This is particularly true of engineering---the material basis of the technical modernisation of the whole economy, which is called upon to accelerate scientific and technological progress. The development of the engineering industry as a whole is proceeding through the organisation of new areas of technology (which in turn give rise to new sectors and enterprises), and also through the development of old sectors and the modernisation and expansion of existing enterprises. The numbers of women employed in engineering are rising steeply. At present about one-third of all the women employed in industrial production work in engineering.
The growth in the employment of women is occurring in such engineering industries as electrical engineering, the bearings industry and other industries that have only been making use of the 38 female workforce for a relatively short period of time. This was made possible thanks to the mechanisation and automation of a number of production processes. In fact, in these areas women are preferred to men, since in a number of vital operations, such as assembly and fitting, which call for close attention, accuracy, dexterity and care, women usually handle the work better than men: the quality of the finished goods is usually higher, there is less wastage, and productivity is raised.
The light industry, which is traditionally regarded as a "women's sector'', has yielded first place to engineering and now comes second as regards the numbers of women employed in it.
Most of the women employed in the light industry work in sewing and knitted-goods industries. Their high numbers here result from the nature of the production process.
In addition to those already listed, women are employed in all sectors of industry in which the use of female labour is legally permissible.
Great changes have also taken place in agriculture. This sector of the economy has moved down into second place as regards its employment of a female workforce. The main agricultural spheres employing women at the moment are plantgrowing and livestock raising.
Female labour is also widely employed in the sphere of public health, education, trade and public catering. All these sectors employ a high proportion of women, and this tendency is on the increase. The following table reflects the process.
The further development of these sectors results from public demand and is characterised by significant progressive quantitative and 39 Percentage of personnel formed by women 1960 T974 Public health, physical education and social security . . , ...... 85 70 66 85' 73; 70 Education and culture .,,,,.. Trade, public catering, material and technical supply and sale, purchases qualitative changes which have enabled women's labour to be employed on a wide scale (extension of the network of vocational training, increase in the number of jobs, training of skilled personnel, etc.). Yet there is another, subjective side: when women choose to make their careers in the health and education services, their inclinations and habits gained in looking after the sick and bringing up children come into play here.
Soviet women also occupy a worthy place in various branches of modern science. Socialism has provided them with the broadest opportunities here. According to the latest data, 49 per cent of the people employed in science and scientific servicing are women.
Women play an enormous part in the development of culture and art. They perform a great deal of varied work in libraries, houses of culture, clubs, recreation parks, theatres and cinemas, museums, exhibitions, and so on. Women occupy an honourable place among performers and producers, artists and sculptors.
One feature of the current stage in the scientific and technological revolution is the substantial structural changes in the aggregate social labour--- 40 less use of simple labour and a considerable increase in the application of skilled labour. This process is taking place in the qualitative structure of both male and female labour.
Fundamental qualitative changes have occurred in the professional structure of female personnel. The main feature here is the acquisition of professions calling for skilled and highly skilled work in both old and new industries and professions. The numbers of women with a higher or complete or incomplete secondary education have increased more than in the case of men. In 1974, as compared with" 1939, the numbers of women with a higher education increased from 5 per 1,000 women to 45, or 9 times, while the numbers" of'men rose from 11 to 58*per 1,000 men, or"5.3 times. The numbers of women with a complete or" incomplete secondary education increased from?85 per 1,000 women to 459, or 5.4 times, while the numbers of men rose from 116 to 519, or 4.5 times. The proportion of people having a higher or secondary education (complete or incomplete) has become the same among working women and men.
In 1973, the Soviet economy employed ^ million women specialists with a higher or specialised secondary education, or 59 per cent of the total number of specialists. The numbers of women in this category were 14 times as large in 1973 as in 1940, and 79 times the 1928 figure. Women make up 31 per cent of all Soviet engineers, 40 per cent of the country's agronomists, livestock specialists and veterinary surgeons, 64 per cent of its economists, 70 per cent of its doctors ^"and 71 per cent of its teachers.
The comprehensive programme of scientific and technological progress that was envisaged by the Soviet economic development plan for 1971--1975 41 is being successfully implemented. The basis of the programme is the development and application in production of fundamentally new instruments of labour, new materials and progressive technological processes. All this will serve as the foundation for the further expansion of suitable jobs for women in social production and for the improvement of women's skills.
Obviously, the equal participation of women in the economic and other spheres depends to a considerable extent on the level and quality of their education and professional training. In order to provide women with the opportunity of receiving a general or specialised education on a par with men, and skilled or highly skilled work, the principle has been introduced in the USSR, and is backed up by the authority of the state, that the content of syllabi and the length of study time should be the same for all citizens, irrespective of their sex, nationality, and so on. This principle is binding at all stages in the educational system---from the elementary stage to the highest level. Women's genuine equality with men as regards general and professional education is ensured by compulsory 8-year schooling, the broad development of secondary general, vocational, specialised secondary and higher education, maximal development of evening classes and correspondence courses,the provision of all forms of instruction free of charge, the system of state grants for students, the use of native languages as the teaching medium in schools, the organisation of free production training in factories and on state and collective farms, and so on. In accordance with the Directives of the 24th CPSU Congress for the Five-Year Economic Development Plan for 1971--1975, the 42 transition to universal secondary (10-year) education is now nearing completion.
During the schooling process boys and girls acquire the same amount of knowledge that they need both to continue their education at a higher level and for practical work in various fields.
The training of skilled workers whose labour can be used in all sectors of the economy is carried out in urban and rural vocational schools and in evening (shift-system) vocational schools and their various branches. Both young men and young women are admitted to all these educational establishments on the same criteria. The only professions for which girls are not trained are those which are injurious to the female body. This restriction arises from the need to protect the health of the future mother.
The period from 1950 to 1970 saw an increase in the numbers of young people entering various vocational schools. The total number of entrants increased by 4.8 times, and the numbers of girls by almost 16 times. The percentage of girls among the students more than trebled.
The comprehensive mechanisation and automation of production processes that are being carried out in the USSR give broader scope for the employment of women and make new demands on the level of their skills. Accordingly, the pace of technological progress has made it necessary to extend the training of women workers in a number of professions, particularly those involving the supervision and control of automated processes in various sectors of the economy.
At the beginning of 1969 the USSR Council of Ministers passed a decision "On the Broader Involvement of Women in Skilled Agricultural Work''. As a result, 3-year agricultural 43 vocational colleges were set up to train skilled agricultural workers from pupils leaving the 8-year schools. These colleges train skilled workers in agricultural production, mainly young women. At the same time, modifications to farm machinery are being considered so as to make it easier for women to use.
The training and raising the skills of factory and office workers in enterprises, institutions and organisations also take place through individual, team and course instruction. This form of training is particularly important for those women whose spare time is limited hy family concerns.
Every year the specialised secondary and higher educational establishments produce a large number of highly qualified specialists. The proportion of women studying at higher and specialised secondary educational establishments can be seen from the following table, which shows the percentage of women students as of the beginning of the academic year:
Higher educational establishments Specialised secondary schools 1960/61 1973/74 1960/61 1973/74 Women as a percentage of the student 43 50 47 53 Breakdown according to type of institution:' Industry, building, transport and communications .... Agriculture 30 27 49 39 32 61 33 38 75 40 36 85 Economics and law . 44 Higher educational establishments Specialised secondary schools 1960/61 1973/74 1960/61 1973/74 Public health, physical education and 56 63 56 68 84 76 88 81 Education, art, cinematography ....At present women occupy a considerable place among the students attending educational establishments training staff for industry, building, transport, communications and agriculture, and are predominant in institutions preparing specialists in public health and physical education, education and art, economics and law.
During the five-year period from 1971 to 1975 some nine million people graduated from higher and specialised secondary educational establishments. Particularly prominent here is the training of specialists in new fields of science and technology. Matters relating to the improvement of all forms of education came up for detailed examination at the USSR Supreme Soviet Session held in July 1973. The work of improving all stages in the educational process is continuing.
The next phase in the country's development will be noted by the further use of female labour in social production. The basis for this will be provided by scientific and technological progress, the growth in the volume of industrial and agricultural output, the intensification of industry, agriculture and other sectors of material production, the broad development of services, and so on. 45 All this will enable Soviet women to apply their capabilities to many different fields and will help to ensure their more harmonious development.
Women and State Administration
The participation of women in social and productive labour is of great significance to the growth of their social activity and to the enhancement of their role in socio-political and state life. Making the point that it is important to involve the masses in politics and state administration, Lenin wrote: "But you cannot draw the masses into politics without drawing in the women as well."^^1^^
In his work The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution Lenin also stresses that women must take part in all social affairs. "Unless women are brought to take an independent part not only in political life generally, but also in daily and universal public service, it is no use talking about full and stable democracy, let alone socialism."^^2^^
These instructions of Lenin's are being constantly implemented. Every year sees a growth in the numbers of women deputies who are elected to all the organs of state power. The female electorate take an active part in elections, nominate deputies, carry out a great deal of organisational and agitation work in their support, and work in electoral commissions.
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 161.
~^^2^^ Ibid., Vol. 24, p. 70.
46The following figures convey some idea of the participation of women in the work of elected organs of state power:
Numbers of Women Elected to Local Government Bodies
Year Total number of women deputies Women deputies as a percentage of all deputies 1939 422.3 33.1 1947--48 482 1961 741.3 41.0 1967 875.3 43.0 1971 992.6 45.8 1973 1,039 47.4 1975 1,063.6 48.1 Numbers of Women Elected to the USSR Supreme Soviet Year Total number of women deputies Women deputies as a percentage of all deputies 1952 348 25.8 1958 366 27.0 1962 390 27.0 1966 425 28.0 1970 463 31.0 1974 475 31.3The numbers of women deputies elected to the Supreme Soviets of the Union republics are also growing. In 1959, there were 1,718 of them elected, or 32 per cent of the total number of deputies, whereas in 1975 there were 2,158, or 35.4 per cent of the total number.
47There are over a million women deputies to all elected bodies, and they take an extremely active part in state administration, posing and resolving numerous questions affecting the lives of Soviet people. This is clear evidence of the genuine democracy of socialist society.
Law is an important sphere of state activity in which Soviet women play a very active part. A total of 2,934 women have been elected as people's judges, 34.0 per cent of the total number of judges. People's assessors include 310,000 women, or 4'J.(> per cent of all people's assessors. High government, Party and trade union posts are open to Soviet women. In five autonomous republics women occupy the position of chairmen of the presidiums of the Supreme Soviets. In eight Union republics they are deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers. There are women who are ministers, deputy ministers or departmental heads of ministries in every Union and autonomous republic. Thousands of women work as chairmen, deputy chairmen and secretaries of the local Soviets of Working People's Deputies. All in all, women occupy 63 per cent of all posts in the various bodies of state administration and economic management. They display a vast amount of initiative, care and creative energy in the satisfaction of the needs of the working people, and concern for young people and children.
Over three million women are members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the guiding and directing force in Soviet society (in all, the CPSU has 15 million members). Many of them are in charge of Party organisations and carry out a great deal of organisational and educative work among both Party members and non-Party 48 people, rallying them to accomplish the tasks facing the country.
The role of women in such mass organisations as the trade unions is particularly great. Women constitute half of the trade union membership and are elected to all the governing bodies of the unions. Ihus, women form 34.5 per cent of the membership of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.
Women participate actively in cooperative and youth organisations. A great contribution to public life is made by the women's councils that have been formed in enterprises, institutions, and collective farms, and by the women's commissions attached to the trade unions and those working under the various societies for friendship and cultural relations with foreign countries.
An organisation as massive as the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies is headed by Nina Popova, a winner of International Lenin Prize "For the Promotion of Peace Among Nations'', a Deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet and a member of the CC CPSU. The Chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee is the first, and as yet the only, woman cosmonaut, Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova, a Hero of the Soviet Union, a deputy and member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet and a member of the CC CPSU.
Working in organs of state power, the Party, the trade unions, the cooperative societies and youth and women's organisations, women participate on a broad scale in the country's administration and, together with men, deal with all the most important matters in state, production and socio-political life.
__PRINTERS_P_49_COMMENT__ 4---0912 49After her trip to the Soviet Union in August 1972, Baliia Karam, a public figure from the Arab Republic of Egypt, stated: "1 cannot help admiring the energy, patience and selflessness with which Soviet women have handled the equality problem. We are inspired by the example set by Soviet women, and we are determined to follow in their footsteps. I shall never forget my trip to Uzbekistan, where 1 met many women in authority. I went to Tashkent and Samarkand and saw women in these towns taking part in the life of their country, and I saw how many of them were headmistresses, professors and political leaders.''
Speaking at one of the meetings held to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, the former President of the Women's International Democratic Federation and a prominent public figure in Finland, Hertta Kuusinen, who died in 1974, said: "During these happy days we are delighted to see the profound changes ilia I have occurred in the lives of Soviet women. Enslaved under tsarism, exploited twice over, illiterate and deprived of all rights, I hey have been transformed into most advanced, cultured persons, the equals of their men colleagues, active builders of their own lives and the lives of new generations in their country, which has been forever liberated from oppression and exploitation. You have become an example for millions of women in other countries, and a symbol of the emancipated woman, who is capable of employing her talents and her energy for the benefit of the people....''
50 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Woman and the FamilyWomen's participation on a par with men in the production and public life of the country and also in state administration affects the modern family. The economic independence of women and their social activities are of great importance to the emergence of now family relations. A new type of family is gradually taking shape and a new atmosphere of happiness and self-- confidence is being created in it, which helps to make children industrious, socially active and respectful towards their parents.
During the very first days of its existence, Soviet power repealed all the laws that placed women in a dependent, subordinate position in the family and granted them the same rights as men and recorded them in the legislation dealing with the family and matrimony. In 1920, Lenin said: "The Soviet government is the first and only government in the world to have completely abolished all the old, despicable bourgeois laws which placed women in a position of inferiority to men, which placed men in a privileged position, for example, in respect of marital rights and of children. The Soviet government, the government of the working people, is the first and only government in the world to have abolished all the privileges of men in property questions, privileges which the marriage laws of all bourgeois republics, even the most democratic, still preserve."^^1^^
The principles on which the family is to be built as the primary cell of a socialist society were reaffirmed in the Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 371.
__PRINTERS_P_51_COMMENT__ 4* 51 Marriage and the Family, which were upheld by Ihe June 1968 Session of the Supreme Soviet.This legislation is intended to strengthen the Soviet family, which is founded on the principles of communist morality. Family relations are based on the voluntary conjugal union of a man and a woman and on feelings of mutual love, friendship and respect, entirely free of material considerations. Both partners have equal parental rights and bear equal responsibility for the upbringing of their children. At the same time, the law provides thorough protection for the interests of mother and child.
The economic independence of the woman, who regards herself as an individual and as an equal partner in marriage and family life, is extremely important to the implementation of Soviet legislation on marriage and the family. Marriage has ceased to be a source of material provision for a woman. Relations between the marriage partners are equal in economic as well as legal terms.
The moulding of a new kind of man is a vital task of the family in a socialist society. Although the state shoulders a considerable part of the work involved in the upbringing of children and the education of all the members of society, the family is not released from its educative functions. Parental responsibility for the upbringing of children as citizens of the new, socialist society is constantly increasing.
The working woman performs several social functions. As a worker she takes part in the production of the material and cultural values that are necessary for the existence of society, as a citizen she shares in the state and socio-political life of the country, and as a mother she gives life to the new generation and nurtures it.
52Socialist society creates conditions for the woman which enable her to reveal her fullcapabilities in social labour and in public life, and, at the same time, to discharge her maternal duty.
With this in view, the Soviet state is implementing a complex of measures designed to protect the labour and health of women and to protect motherhood. It shoulders an enormous part of the responsibility for the care of children and their upbringing, and is taking steps to lighten women's domestic chores.
In addition to general stipulations on the protection of the labour of all working people, Soviet legislation also makes special provision for labour protection in the case of women, bearing in mind their physiological peculiarities and maternal functions. The law forbids the employment of women for hard and unhealthy work, including work underground, in hot workshops and in some workshops of the chemical industry; it also prevents them from working as divers, wagon couplers, and so on.
In order to protect women's right to work and to protect motherhood, the law makes it impermissible for a woman to be refused work or dismissed owing to pregnancy. It also obliges the management to transfer women to lighter work for the duration of pregnancy, if this is necessary for health reasons, with the continued payment of their average earnings, and also to grant them paid maternity leave for a total of 112 calendar days. In cases of difficult childbirth this leave is extended. If a woman who has recently given birth wishes, she can extend her leave for up to a year at her own expense. Her job is kept open for her and her work record is 53 maintained. For a year after the birth of a child, a mother is given two 30-mimite paid breaks in order to feed the child, and they form part of her working day. These and a whole series of other measures to protect motherhood that are implemented at the place of work create favourable conditions for the work of women in town and country.
Various medical establishments have been set up to care for the health of mother and child. They consist of maternity homes, and the maternity sections of hospitals, maternity consultation centres, children's clinics, gynaecological departments and hospitals. Moreover, all medical care, including one's stay in a maternity home or in hospital, is free of charge.
Before the Revolution only 5 or 6 women in every 100 received medical assistance during childbirth, but nowadays practically all mothersto-be are provided with this service. In 1972, there were 223,000 beds for expectant mothers, attended by doctors or midwives, which is 30 times as many as there were before the Revolution.
Every year sees a growth in the number of children's clinics, maternity medical centres and other such establishments which monitor the health of pregnant women, mothers and children. In pre-Revolutionary Russia there were only 9 children's and maternity consultation centres, whereas in 1973 nearly 22,000 maternity consultation centres, children's clinics and out-patient clinics were functioning.
As a result of the concern shown by the state for mother and child and of the achievements of Soviet medicine, death during childbirth has been almost completely eliminated.
54Considerable resources from the state budget are earmarked for the payment of grants to single mothers and mothers of many children, as well as for allowances for children in low-income families.
Social security in the USSR is provided at the expense of the state and the collective ffrms. Here loo women (collective farm workers, as well as factory and office workers) receive a number of benefits and privileges. In order to be eligible for old-age pensions, women may be five years younger than men and may have worked five years less. Women have the right to a pension at the age of 55 and after a 20-year record of work. The necessary work period is ako being shortened in the case of disablement pensions. In a number of professions the pension age and the necessary work-record requirements are even lower. For instance, in the 22 leading professions in the textile industry and light industry (weavers, spinners, winders, etc.) women are eligible for a pension at the age of 50. Mothers of many children enjoy additional benefits as regards pensions.
The measures designed to protect labour and motherhood extend beyond the question of combining women's work with their maternal commitments. Once a child is born, the woman is faced by the problem of looking after it, and the amount of housework increases. How is social labour to be made compatible with these commitments?
The socialist state comes to the mother's aid.
In his article "A Great Beginning" Lenin wrote in 1919: "The real emancipation of women, real communism, will begin only where and when an all-out struggle begins (led by the proletariat \vielding the state power) against this petty 55 housekeeping, or rather when its wholesale transformation into a large-scale socialist economy begins.... Public catering establishments, nurseries, kindergartens---...here we have the simple, everyday means, involving nothing pompous, grandiloquent or ceremonial, which can really emancipate women, really lessen and abolish their inequality with men as regards their role in social production and public life."^^1^^
Following Lenin's behests, the Communist Party and the Soviet Government have performed a colossal amount of work in this field too. It is the setting-up of a broad network of child-care centres and service facilities that enable women to combine their work for the benefit of society with the upbringing of children and the running of a home.
In 1974, some 11 million children attended round-the-clock creches and nursery schools in towns and villages. In addition, about 5 million children were looked after in seasonal children's institutions. Moreover, all these establishments are very accessible, since parents contribute very little towards the upkeep of the children. The amount payable by parents is determined in accordance with family income, but does not in any case exceed 12 rubles 50 kopeks a month for a child's attendance at a nursery school and 10 rubles at a creche. Some families, primarily large ones, pay nothing at all. Average contributions by parents amount to between 15 and 25 per cent of the cost of the child's maintenance. The remainder is paid by the state.
Universal secondary (10-year) education is being established in the USSR. In the 1973/74 _-_-_
~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 429,
56 academic year, for instance, 5.3 million young people left the 8-year school, and 92 per cent of them are continuing their studies in secondary schools or in other teaching establishments that provide secondary education. All in all, over 49 million pupils attend general education schools of all types. In 1974, new schools providing 1.6 million places were opened, as were pre-school establishments offering 420,000 places.It must be stressed that all forms of education, including higher education, are free of charge in the Soviet Union, and that thestudentsattending higher' and specialised secondary educational establishments and vocational schools receive grants. This means that all forms of education and training for a profession and speciality are within the reach of children, irrespective of the material position of their parents.
The organisation of children's holidays during the summer is carried out on a broad scale. In 1974, some 20 million children and teen-agers spent their holidays in Young Pioneer and school camps, children's health homes or excursion centres, or were taken by children's institutions to the countryside for their summer holidays.
In order to provide greater assistance to families as regards the bringing up of children, boarding-schools, extended-day schools and groups (in which after their classes the pupils have dinner, rest and do their homework under the supervision of teachers until the end of their parents' working day) and various outdoor children's centres are being set up. In 1974, there were 6.8 million children in extended-day schools and groups, or 7 per cent more than in 1973.
There are over 4,000 Young Pioneer Palaces and Houses in the country, 1,278 Young 57 Techniclans' and Young Naturalists' Stations, some 200 parks for children, 143 children's theatres (nearly a third of all the theatres in the country), more than 7,000 special libraries for children and over 170,000 libraries attached to general education schools. All these institutions organise children's leisure, help to reveal and develop their abilities and bring them up in the spirit of humanism and friendship among peoples.
The immense educative importance of the book is well known. The year 1973 saw the publication in the Soviet Union of 2,827 different book titles for children in a total of more than 363 million copies, which is 50 times as much as was published in tsarist Russia in 1913. Twenty eight children's newspapers and over 40 children's magazines appear regularly in the USSR with a total circulation of 34 million copies. There are also regular radio and television broadcasts for children.
Not only the slate, but also the public at large deal with matters concerning the family and school, the upbringing of children and the training' of young people. The trade unions, women's councils, the Young Communist League and the Young Pioneer organisation carry out a great deal of educative work among children. In recent years special councils have been set up in many enterprises for assisting the family and school.
In order lo help parents with the complex task of bringing up children, Ihe pedagogical education of parents lias been organised on a broad scale. There is the magazine Semya i Shkola (Family and School), suitable literature is published, special cycles of lectures are given, in addition to radio and television broadcasts, and 58 universities of culture and pedagogical knowledge have been set up for the benefit of parents.
Thus, the task of bringing up children in the USSR is the common cause of parents, schools, pre-school and out-of-school establishments, public organisations and the state. They are all closely interconnected and jointly tackle the task of bringing up the rising generation in the spirit of the lofty ideals of communism.
During the years of Soviet power a great deal has been done to lighten women's housework. A broad network of cheap canteens, restaurants, cafes, snack bars and various other public catering establishments selling ready-to-eat or ovenready foods has been set up. Each enterprise, institution or educational establishment has its own canteen or snack bar. In fact, over 80 million people use canteens, cafes or snack bars every day. Between 1971 and 1974 the number of places in workers' canteens alone increased by over 1.4 million. The network of public catering enterprises is constantly growing, thus lightening women's housework.
In order to develop public utilities for the benefit of the family, a Ministry for Public Utilities has been created in each republic and does a great deal to further develop the network of laundries, repair and sowing workshops, dry cleaners, points from which household equipment can be hired, at-your-servicc agencies, and so on. In 1974, the services rendered to the population were 9.5 per cent up compared with 1973, and 12.3 per cent up in rural districts. The number of service establishments rose by' 2,000 units during the year.
New housing is planned in such a way that each residential district contains all the necessary 59 facilities---schools, nurseries and creches, a Young Pioneer House, food shops, canteens, service centres (providing all kinds of services---sewing, repairs, dry cleaning, etc.), a clinic and a chemist's.
A great contribution towards lightening women's housework is made by good living accommodation with all the modern conveniences--- an up-to-date kitchen, central heating, gas, electricity, running water, plumbing, and so on. House building, which is now proceeding at a rapid pace, provides all these conveniences. Since the mid-sixties nearly half of the Soviet population (over 100 million people) have moved to new accommodation or have had their living conditions improved. The year 1974 saw the construction of 2,250,000 well-appointed flats and private houses. Over 11 million people moved house. In 1974 alone, 148 towns and urban-type communities and about 10,000 villages were given a mains gas supply. Gas was supplied to 3.8 million flats, including 1.5 million in rural areas.
At the 24th Congress of the Communist Party (March-April 1971) the CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev said: "The aim of the Party's policy is that Soviet women should have further possibilities for bringing up their children, for taking a larger part in social life, and for recreation and education, and that they should have greater access to the blessings of culture. All these are important tasks, and the new five-year plan will be a noteworthy stage in their iniDlementation.''
The Ninth Five-Year Economic Development Plan adopted by the 24th Party Congress and subsequently implemented with great success 60 made a sizable contribution to the improvement in the well-being of Soviet people, the enhancement of their living conditions and the development of the cultural life of the whole of society. The outlook for the country's development reflects the general line of the Communist Party for a boost in the well-being of Soviet people and their cultural growth in the context of the scientific and technological revolution, which will undoubtedly promote the even greater development of the Soviet woman's personality and her active participation in all the spheres of the building of communism.
[61] __ALPHA_LVL2__ THE SOLUTION OF THE QUESTIONAfter the triumph of the OcLoher Revolution in Russia, which exerted an enormous revolutionising influence on the working people in the capitalist and colonial countries, the capitalist system began to lose one country after another. The second country to embark on the construction of socialism was Mongolia, in 1921, an anti-- imperialist and anti-feudal revolution took place in Mongolia, and in 1924 Mongolia was proclaimed a people's republic.
After the Second World War a series of countries parted company with the capitalist system. Once free of the nazi yoke, the peoples of Central and Southeast Europe gained their liberty and national independence, and set out on the road towards socialism.
Following many years of armed struggle against the landowners and the compradore bourgeoisie, as well as against the foreign imperialists, the Chinese people overthrew the Kuomintang government and took power into their own hands. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed 62 on October 1, 19'iil. Also after lengthy struggle the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam embarked on the path of socialist development.
The year 1959 saw the triumph of the revolution in Cuba---the first socialist revolution in the Western hemisphere.
It is interesting to sec how the lives of women altered during the building of socialism and how the complex question of women's status was resolved.
A vital pre-condition for the revolutionary changes in the countries which embarked on the path of socialism was the struggle of the Communist and Workers' Parties to unite and organise all the democratic forces during the Second World War.
At the beginning of the war the countries of Central and Southeast Europe were occupied by nazi Germany. The nazis enslaved these peoples, introduced forced labour in factories and exterminated millions of people. The masses rose up with the working class against fascism and militarism. This gave rise to the anti-fascist popular fronts. Women made an invaluable contribution to the activities of these fronts and to the antifascist Resistance movement. Thousands upon thousands of women in Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia and Albania fought in partisan detachments and worked in the underground, constantly exposing themselves to mortal danger. They used to shelter partisans and Resistance fighters, supplied them with food, clothing and footwear, tended the sick and wounded, and distributed underground newspapers and leaflets.
The women of China, Korea and Indochina 63 played an active part in the national liberation struggle against the Japanese.
The people of Vietnam headed in the direction of socialism during their determined struggle against the colonisers---first the French and then the American imperialists. Women were always among those who either with arms in hand or through selfless work in the rear struggled for the freedom and national independence of the Vietnamese people. Throughout the years of struggle they displayed unprecedented heroism, valour, resourcefulness and self-sacrifice. Under enemy fire they threaded their way along narrow trails in order to deliver ammunition and food to those who were fighting, repaired damaged bridges and roads, dug air-raid and bomb shelters and acted as commanders and crews of anti-aircraft units and as nurses. At the same time, they raised and educated their children and did their utmost to keep them healthy.
With the support of the USSR and other tocialist countries and with the help of all the peace forces, the Vietnamese people brought the war in Vietnam to an end and secured the withdrawal of the American aggressors. The women of Vietnam, like the whole Vietnamese people, stand on guard of their gains.
During the liberation struggle both in Europe and in Asia progressive women's organisations arose, and they performed a great deal of political and educational work among women, organised them for the struggle against foreign invaders and taught them to hate all kinds of oppressors and exploiters. The experience acquired during these years formed the basis for all the subsequent activities of the women's organisations in the socialist countries of Europe and Asia.
64The important role played by women during the liberation struggle enhanced their authority in socio-political life. Consequently, it was a vital necessity after the liberation that the new role of women in society and the family should be acknowledged constitutionally, legislatively and practically.
The triumph of people's revolutions in a number of countries in Central and Southeast Europe and in Asia was accompanied by fundamental reforms which changed the status of women. People's power effected important social changes in these countries. The peoples received democratic rights and freedoms. Agrarian reform was carried out in the countryside. In addition to the solution of these problems, the first steps were taken towards ending the inequality between women and men.
First of all, it was necessary to give effect to women's basic rights---the right to work, education and an equal status in society and in the family. Legislation was passed ensuring women's labour and political rights, and the protection of mother and child, and regulating marriage and the family.
Thus, immediately after the liberation of Poland from the riazi occupation the manifesto of the Polish Committee of National Liberation was proclaimed on July 22, 1944, during the early stages of the people's democratic revolution---the first act which established the power of the working people of town and country in Poland. The document affirmed the complete equality of women.
One of the basic laws adopted by people's power in Bulgaria after its victory on September 9, 1944, was the law published on October 16, __PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 5---0912 65 1944, on the equality of women. H sol in motion a revision of ali the old laws which discriminated against women. Women's equality was confirmed by Article 72 of the Bulgarian Constitution adopted in December 1947. Article 36 of the new Constitution (May 1971), which women had a hand in drafting, states that "in the People's Republic of Bulgaria women have the same rights as men".
Article 14 of Rumania's Labour Code declares: "In the Socialist Republic of Rumania women are provided with broad opportunities for upholding... their complete social equality with men. They receive equal pay for equal work, and this is guaranteed by special measures. Women are guaranteed the right to occupy any post or do any job in accordance with their training, so that they can make their contribution to the development of material production and creative cultural work, and, at the same time, the necessary conditions for the upbringing of children are ensured.''
Radical changes in the lives of women have also occurred in the Asian countries that have embarked on the building of socialism.
As a result of the triumph of the August Revolution of 1945, all the laws relating to women that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam inherited from the old system were abolished. Under the colonial and feudal regime the women of Vietnam possessed no rights. 95 per cent of the women could neither read nor write, and so they worked mainly as domestic servants and as daylabourers on plantations and at factories, where they were cruelly exploited. The woman was a slave in society and in the family.
Thanks to the revolution, Vietnamese women were granted equal rights with men in all spheres of the country's life. Article 24 of the DRV's 66 Constitution defines women's rights in the following terms: "Women in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam enjoy equal rights with men in all aspects of life: political, economic, cultural, social and family.
``For equal work women enjoy equal pay with men. The State ensures that women workers and office employees have fully-paid periods of leave before and after childbirth.
``The State protects the rights of mother and child, and provides kindergartens.
``The State protects marriage and the family.''
The basic rights of working women that are established in the constitutions of the socialist countries have been further developed and made more specific in a whole series of labour codes and other legislative acts and decrees.
This has enabled women to participate on terms of complete equality in the rehabilitation of their countries' war-ravaged economies, in the implementation of agrarian reform and in the organisation of state and cultural life.
However, the first steps along the path of socialist development, and also the experience of the Soviet Union have shown that the true equality of women and their full-fledged participation in all spheres of social life can only be achieved when women are enabled to receive an education and training for skilled jobs and to raise their cultural and political level (it should be remembered that in a number of countries---Mongolia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, Vietnam, China, Korea and Cuba---many women were illiterate). It was necessary to set up and constantly expand the network of children's institutions and public utilities that lightened women's housework, and to help them bring up children.
__PRINTERS_P_67_COMMENT__ 5* 67From the very J'irst steps in the building of a new society people's power paved the way materially for guaranteeing women's equality: industrial enterprises and educational establishments, cheap and good-quality housing, and children's institutions were built, services were developed, and so on. At the same time, practical effect was also given to women's real equality in state and public life. A large amount of ideological and educative work was carried out among the population.
A similar situation obtained in the People's Republic of China up to the 1960s, when as a result of the failure of the "Big Leap" there was a cutback in the employment of women, which did much to revive a feudal attitude towards women.
The period of the "cultural revolution'', which dislocated economic and socio-political life in the country, had a negative effect on the status of women in China. Founded in 1949, the AllChina Democratic Women's Federation, which was supposed to complement the state bodies in upholding the interests of women and involving them in the country's productive and socio-- political life, actually ceased its activities throughout the period. In 1966, its ties with the international democratic women's movement were also broken off.
Press reports indicate that women in China are still in an inferior position. Despite the fact that the PRC ratified the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 100 Concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, there is still a difference in the payment of men and women. The magazine Hungchi, the ideological organ of 68 the Communist Party of China, commented that there were many instances when "the most industrious and dexterous of women are paid no more than 70--80 percent of the wages received by men''.
The Chinese press shows that such views as "a woman cannot do the same work as a man'', "two women cannot replace one man'', and so on, are very widespread. Frequently, particularly in rural districts, parents do not send girls to school, believing that "reading, writing and a speciality are no use to them'', since girls "will just get married and become housewives, so it's better to make use of them on housework or on unskilled work in production than to give them an education".
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Role of Women in EconomicThe achieved levels of productive forces and production relations vary in each socialist country. The questions of women's participation in the social labour force vary as well. But a common goal for all socialist countries is achieving the most auspicious balance between a woman's family obligations and participation in the social production, creating a harmonious personality so that women could play an active role in the construction of a new society. Among the conditions assuring a productive role for women in the constructive process have been the realisation of their right to work and equal pay, the state's concern for mothers, and the improvement in the standard of living.
A common feature of all socialist countries is that the number of women participating in the 69 national economy has increased regularly at a dramatic rate. This increase has been accompanied by progressive changes in the professional structure of women's labour and in the distribution of women among the branches of economy. Women have played an increasing part in leading branches of the national economy. A greater percentage of women are occupying positions that require high-level skills.
In the Bulgarian People's Republic, for example, an ever increasing number of women are helping to create material and spiritual values. In 1972, 68 per cent of all able-bodied women were employed, while 14 per cent were enrolled in educational and training institutions. In 1971, the number of women workers and office employees had reached 1,265,000; this was 3.3 times greater than the corresponding figure for 1956. In 1973, 45 per cent of the total number of the workers and office employees were women, while they accounted for about 49 per cent of those working in agricultural cooperatives.
The greatest number of women are employed in industry. More than half this number are emnloyed in machine-building, metal-working, light industries, and in the food industry. The growth of the number of women employed in radioelectronics, in the elcctrotechnical industry and in the instrument-making industry is especially rapid.
Women are employed in construction, transport and various other areas of material production. In the public servicing women workers predominate.
There has been significant improvement in the educational level of women and in their professional level and skills. In 1972, women made up 70 65.7 per cent of all secondary school graduates, 48.2 ner cent of all graduates of technical schools, and 47.3 per cent of those who graduated from higher educational institutions.
In 1973, women specialists constituted 38.7 per cent of all specialists with a higher education and 55.5 per cent of specialists with a secondary education. 30.4 per cent of all research workers are women.
Today, Bulgarian women direct factories and institutions; they nlay an active nart in all facets of the country's life. In 1972, 17 per cent of all directors and deputy directors of enterprises, institutions and organisations were women; women made up 17.4 per cent of the chief specialists and their assistants.
Considering the requirements of social production and the needs of women themselves, the Politbnreau of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party passed a resolution on March 6, 1973 "On Increasing the Part Played by Women in Constructing an Advanced Socialist Society''. The resolution provides for a complex of measures designed to establish conditions which will ensure that women participate with maximal productivity in socialist construction; to ease their domestic chores, etc.
The nature of women's participation in social production has also changed in the Hungarian People's Republic. At present, 66 per cent of all able-bodied women are employed, 8 per cent are in school, 18 ner cent are occupied with domestic responsibilities. The percentage of women workers has increased from 36 per cent in 1960 to 43 per cent in 1973. Participation of women in various spheres of activities has also changed, 30 per cent of all actively working 71 women are employed in industry, 12 per cent in trade, 22 per cent in public health, education and public servicing; and 22 per cent in agriculture.
Due to scientific and technological progress and the social division of labour, women have been able to work in a growing number of fields, to go beyond the framework of traditional ``female'' occupations. Women's professional qualifications have been raised; they are participating to an ever greater degree in positions requiring higher skills. Increasing numbers of women receive a higher education. Women now constitute 39 per cent of all graduates of higher educational institutions.
Such fundamental transformations in the character of employment and qualifications of women were made possible in the Hungarian People's Republic, as in other socialist countries, by a system of measures designed to raise the educational and professional qualifications of women. The state offers considerable benefits for women to improve their skills---preferred working time, training courses, consultation facilities, and many other advantages. The 10th Congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (1970) envisaged measures for improving labour conditions and the living standard of women in connection with its directives for the 1971--1975 stale plan.
In the German Democratic Republic 84 per cent of all women are either enrolled in school or are working. They make up 49 per cent of the labour force. Most are employed in industry. In light industry, 65.5 per cent of all workers are women, in electrotechnical industry, 46.3 per cent, and in the chemical industry, 42.8 per cent. 72 At the end of 1973, 52.5 per cent of all female workers and office employees had completed courses at professional training institutions. In 1973, women students constituted 45.3 per cent of all those studying in institutes of higher education.
Striking successes have been achieved in the vocational training of women. These are the result of governmental measures instituted to train women workers.
The system for training skilled women workers is constantly being improved. The decision of December 12, 1972, for instance, established additional benefits and guarantees designed to stimulate vocational training and to develop the skills of women who work full-time. Skilled female workers are trained at the enterprises on the basis of agreements between the women and the administration. Such agreements include mutual rights and obligations; they set the duration of the training period, allow women to be partially freed of work while earning the same average wage, and guaranteed completion of training in such instances as temporary inability to work, a sick child or pregnancy (in such cases the training is only temporarily halted). Directors of various enterprises and organisations are obliged to offer each woman who has completed a training course a position that corresponds to her training and skills. In the instruction period practical training is largely integrated with the work process. Should the woman's earnings decrease due to underfulfilment of the assigned work in a newly acquired speciality, she will be awarded the difference in her wages.
In the Polish People's Republic the percentage of women workers has climbed from 31 per cent in 1946 to 46 per cent. Women constitute 38.6 73 per cent of all workers in industry, 43.6 per cent in science, 68 per cent in education, and 74 per cent in public health.
It is characteristic of the contemporary development of production that women strive to work in new areas and professions, both in those which have developed as a result of scientific and technological progress and in those that were earlier relegated to men.
Widespread training programme has enabled Polish women to hold an increasing number of jobs requiring advanced skills and to occupy positions of responsibility and leadership. Women constitute 38 per cent of all persons who have completed a higher education, and 53 per cent of those who have completed a specialised secondary education.
Poland, like other socialist countries, provides free education for persons of either sex. The government makes every effort to encourage girls to seek professional training. In recent years many such benefits have been provided, with particular emphasis on training specialised technicians.
In the Socialist Republic of Rumania women have been quickly absorbed into the labour force. Almost 82 per cent of all able-bodied women in Rumania work. In 1973, women made 44.7 per cent of the total employed population. At the same time they constituted almost one-third of all workers and office employees, as compared to 13 per cent in 1938. Women comprised 32.4 per cent of industrial workers, about 60 per cent of agricultural workers, 71.6 per cent of workers in the public health and social public services, and 62 per cent of all workers in the educational and cultural sphere.
74In addition to traditional areas such as the clothing, textile and food industries, a growing number of women, particularly young women, are being trained and employed in such areas as electrical engineering and electronics, machinetool construction, the chemical industry, the optic industry, as well as many other fields.
Systematic measures aimed at raising the educational level of the entire population, including women, have substantially altered the professional status of female personnel. Now 44.5 per cent of all students are women, including 65.8 per cent of those in medicine, 64.2 per cent in pedagogy, 48.5 per cent in economics, and 27.7 per cent in the technical sciences.
In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic women account for a significant percentage of the increase in the working population; they comprise 48.5 per cent of all employed persons, i.e., almost half of the country's actively employed population. The overwhelming majority of women are employed in industry. Almost one million women are employed in various kinds of work not concerned with production.
Significant progress has been achieved in women's education. Girls comprise 64 per cent of all students in secondary schools and 58 per cent of those enrolled in specialised training schools, as well as 40.6 per cent of all students in higher educational institutions. In 1973, 22 per cent of all specialists with a higher education, 55 per cent of all specialists with a full specialised secondary education and 24 per cent of those with a specialised secondary education were women. There are entire industries where women specialists considerably outnumber male 75 specialists. The number of women doctors, lawyers, teachers and representatives of various areas of science and culture has noticeably increased.
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, like other socialist countries, has put the principles of women's equality into practice by actively including women in the process of building socialism.
In the postwar period, the number of working women in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia increased. Today women make up 35 per cent of the labour force. However, the figure varies for the different republics, from 18.8 per cent in the Kosovo region to 43 per cent in the Republic of Slovenia.
Many progressive reforms have been adopted in the area of education. The training of highly skilled female personnel is a matter of great concern. The number and proportion of women with a secondary and higher education continues (o grow. Yugoslavia, like other socialist countries has instituted a uniform programme of co-- education on all levels.
In the Democratic Republic of Vietnam women are involved in various spheres of activity. More than 60 per cent of workers involved in agricultural production are women. In the state sector of the economy, the percentage of women workers has climbed from 5 per cent in 1955 to 43 per cent in 1973. Women comprise 54 per cent of all those employed in the field of education; 58.2 per cent of those employed in public health; 58.9 per cent of those employed in the field of commerce; from 25 to 38 per cent of workers in various branches of heavy industry, transport, construction, and communications; and 65.7 per 76 cent of workers in light industry and 60 per cent in food industry.
The number of female employees in scientific and technical positions, many of them trained in the USSR and in other socialist countries, has also grown. While only a few individual women worked in science and technology in the mid1950s, today almost 100,000 women have completed a special secondary or higher education. The number of women who have completed a higher education and earned a higher degree has risen 10 limes since 19(51. This figure includes women who 15 years ago worked at positions requiring minimal skills. Today women make up one-third of all skilled workers. Such facts demonstrate the progress made by the republic in involving women in the social labour. Remarkable results have been achieved despite wartime conditions.
In the Mongolian People's Republic women make up over 46 per cent of all workers in industry and 51 per cent of all able-bodied members of agricultural cooperatives. From 70 to 90 per cent of those employed in industrial and dairy combines, clothing and textile factories, and many other industrial concerns are women.
Fundamental changes in the culture and education of Mongolian women occurred during socialist construction. Women now total 44.4 per cent of all persons with a general education, 24.5 per cent of all specialists with a higher education, and 37.6 per cent of persons with a secondary specialised education. 46 per cent of all teachers are women, as well as over 40 per cent of those employed by cultural and artistic institutions. 25 per cent of agricultural specialists who have earned a higher scientific or scholar degree are women.
77As in all socialist countries, women receive free education in various schools, vocational schools, secondary specialised and higher educational institutions.
Women are likewise actively participating in social labour in the Korean People's Democratic Republic. Today some two million women have jobs, making up 50 per cent of the industrial labour force and 60 per cent of all agricultural workers.
As women reach higher cultural level and master more advanced technical skills, they have begun to take a greater part in various branches of industry, particularly in mechanical engineering and chemistry, where automation has reached a more advanced level compared with other industries.
Over 130,000 women engineers and technicians are employed in various sectors of the economy. Many of them work as directors of various enterprises, as chairmen of agricultural cooperatives and in other positions of leadership.
In the Korean People's Democratic Republic, a secondary education is now obligatory. Both women and men are given a general and technical education. The development of adult education programmes and supplementary courses offered to acquaint workers with the latest developments in science and technology have led to a significant improvement in women's cultural level and technological skills.
Cuba's revolution, just as the revolutions in other socialist countries, created conditions facilitating the total emancipation of women; for it eradicated the old exploitational order and cleared the way for the development of new attitudes. Each year the sphere of occupations open 78 to women expands and women acquire new skills and responsibilities. State planners aim to attract 100,000 women annually to the spheres of production and consumer services.
Women's education is a matter of great concern. 38 per cent of those enrolled in technical schools are women; they make up 48 per cent in secondary medical institutions, 45 per cent in secondary agricultural institutions, 27 per cent in economic schools, and 63 per cent at the central teacher training school. Half of all students at higher educational institutions are women.
All socialist countries continue to actively integrate women in the social labour, to encourage and expand the quantitative and qualitative growth of female labour, to provide new opportunities for women through improved training programmes and new scientific and technological developments.
The fullest participation of women in industry and culture has been achieved through numerous economic and social measures initiated both by the states and by Communist and Workers' Parties in accordance with each country's specific conditions. The successful resolution of the women's question is based on the planned socialist economy, on the socio-economic policy of the government, which guarantees equal labour and educational rights for all citizens, regardless of sex; and strives to provide the maximal satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of all citizens.
Today, the women of socialist countries work in branches of the economy previously closed to them, in newly opened fields and professions. Their gifts and skills are employed in every 79 possible area. They arc able lo oblain virtually unlimited education. One might say that a new woman has appeared---the active builder of a socialist society. It would, however, be unrealistic to think that all the problems have been solved, that there are no difuculties to overcome, that new problems will never arise.
The solution to the question of women's status is a process in which new problems are constantly being met and resolved. Future successes are guaranteed by the progressive socialist economic system, by the activities of the parties governing socialist countries, and by the striving of women themselves to take part in constructive labour aimed at ensuring peace and prosperity in socialist countries, where women have been given equal rights and where conditions encourage them to combine socially beneficial labour with their family obligations.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Working Woman and the FamilyIn socialist countries motherhood is recognised as a social function of tremendous importance. With the benefit of the Soviet Union's experience in this sphere effective measures are implemented to ensure that motherhood and childhood will be protected, that children will be properly raised and educated, and that working and living conditions will improve. These measures allow women to participate in social labour while fulfilling their family and civic responsibilities. The measures form an integral part of the national state programmes and are financed by the state. In rural areas collective agricultural concerns also contribute to these goals.
80The rights of mother and child are guaranteed in the constitutions and laws of socialist countries. Maternity leave is regulated by laws, which also prescribe favourable working conditions for women: when pregnancy occurs a woman is allowed to do lighter work while retaining her former average salary; she is given paid maternity leave beft re and after confinement and (if she iO desires) she is granted an additional period of unpaid leave with the right to return to her place of work (in certain countries a woman receives financial aid during this period); during the first year after the birth of the child the woman is allowed a shorter working day (while retaining her wages); if the child becomes sick she is allowed to stay at home and is paid as if on a sick leave; children receive state financial aid. Laws also stipulate a number of privileges and special forms of aid to single mothers and mothers with many children.
Taking into consideration a woman's physiology, the law does not allow to engage women in heavy labour, which are specified in legislative acts.
A number of privileges are stipulated for women on old age pensions, with supplementary privileges for mothers with several children.
The laws of socialist countries stipulate and guarantee the growth and improvement of medical institutions network: maternity homes, maternity consulting centres, pediatric and gynaecological clinics and hospitals, dispensaries, rest homes for mothers and children, free medical care.
In the Mongolian People's Republic 92.4 per cent of all women give birth in maternity homes, and all women receive free medical care. In __PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6---0912 81 cities and aimak (district) centres there is a system of district medical inspection for children one year old or less, in which doctors provide systematic medical examinations for children in their homes. Comfortable, modern rest homes are provided for women belonging to agricultural associations; they can spend their leave time here both before and after giving birth. During the past five years financial assistance for women with several children has increased by 50 per cent.
In Bulgaria medical assistance is provided in 98.6 per cent of all deliveries (in 1948, by comparison, the figure was only 49.1 per cent). The rate of death of mothers in childbirth has been reduced to 0.5 per thousand, and since the advent of socialism the infant mortality rate has been reduced 500 per cent---to 27 infant deaths per thousand births. In 1972, there were 2,576 children's and gynaecological clinics. This is five times more than the number in 1939. From the time of birth to adulthood, all children and adolescents are kept under periodical medical observation. During the period of pregnancy and childbirth a woman is given paid leave for 120 to 180 calendar days, depending on how many times she has given birth. In addition she receives a six- to eight-month leave, receiving financial assistance equivalent to the minimum wage. If she wishes she may remain on leave without maintenance until the child is three years old, the period being reckoned as part of her total time spent on the job.
The results of a seven-year programme of research and observation involving 350 thousand children aged 1 to 18 have recently been published in Rumania. The study indicates that as a result 82 of improved health care for children and the rising living standard of families, children in individual age groups are now on the average 2.75 inches taller and 15.6 pounds heavier than children in respective age groups seven years ago.
In Hungary women receive a five-month maternity leave with full salary maintenance. They may extend their leave of absence until the child is three; during this period they receive 600 forints per month. Their job is held for them during their absence. A family receives additional financial aid after the birth of the second child.
In Czechoslovakia paid maternity leave extends for 26 weeks. In Czechoslovakia the grants that are paid to the parents after each child is born and the subsequent monthly payments were increased. Supplementary monthly aid for a family with two children is 430 crowns, for a family with three children---880 crowns, and for a family with four children---1,280 crowns. An additional 2,000 crowns is provided after the birth of each child.
In the Democratic Republic of Vietnam a network of committees has been set up for motherand-child protection. There is also an operating Institute for the Protection of Mothers and Children and a Child Health Institute. There is a well developed network of medical establishments throughout the country, including maternity stations and maternity homes. In regions that underwent the severest bombing attacks maternity homes were functioning deep underground. From 1955 to 1972 the number of pediatricians, obstetricians and gynaecologists increased twentyfold. The rate of death in childbirth was 20 per thousand in 1945; today it is 0.95 per thousand. Infant mortality has been reduced to 1.2 per __PRINTERS_P_83_COMMENT__ 6* 83 cent---30 Limes lower Llian in 1945. We should remember that these reductions were achieved during the long years of struggle against colonialism.
In pre-revolutionary Cuba only 20 per cent of childbearing women received medical attention. In 1973, 87 per cent of children were born in maternity homes. Midwife stations have been established in even the most outlying regions of the country.
Thus we see that socialist slates are deeply concerned about the welfare of mother and child. A significant portion of the budget of these countries is devoted to the development of institutions serving mothers and their children, providing them with maintenance and free medical care, paid maternity leave and financial assistance for their families.
Women's participation in social labour means that her domestic tasks and the raising of children should be made easier. In providing aid to working married women socialist states are considering the interests of the family as a whole, coordinating tasks which face the working woman and the family as the smallest, but at the same time most basic social unit.
In the past several years socialist countries have sponsored sociological studies, international and national forums on the problems of working women and the family. In examining what sort of influence a woman's outside work has on her family, a number of sociologists assert that such work separates a woman from her family, from her duties as a wife and mother. Others (and they constitute the majority) are convinced that participation in the social labour helps a woman to develop, allows her to assert her personality, 84 to enhance her authority in the family, gives her moral satisfaction, and consequently makes it easier for her to fulfil her family role. What is important, these sociologists say, is not how much time a woman devotes to her family and children, but how that time is used.
Many sociologists believe (and one must agree with them) that for a family to function properly, i.e., to provide the best environment for raising children and at the same time to lighten the working woman's domestic load, it is imperative for husband and wife to share domestic chores fairly, to assume equal responsibility in raising the children. Sociologists rightly see this as one of the most important ways of lessening the domestic load a woman must bear and providing her with the free time she needs for her spiritual development. Many families, most of them young, have already put this principle into practice. In other families, however, old prejudices remain: domestic chores are assumed to he the exclusive sphere of women, below the dignity of the husband. In socialist countries educational work is being done to change these attitudes.
Besides carrying out general educational work dealing with problems of the family, marriage, and the raising of children, socialist countries also carry out work preparing youth for family life. There are seminars, lectures, films and discussions on all aspects of the family and marriage; books are discussed, theatrical and film presentations pertaining to this subject are organised. In Bulgaria, for example, national and local newspapers have for several years devoted a page per week to the problems of women a:d family life. Radio and television programmes are also devoted to such problems.
85In all parts of Hungary there are advice bureaus that handle problems of family life. During the 1974/75 school year, secondary schools, training institutes for teachers and doctors, youth organisations and the army started work on the education of youth to help them prepare for family life. Young spouses-to-be are assured advice and consultation on such problems as the creation of a family, the obligations of spouses to each other and towards children, and so on.
Following the example of Polish women, the German Democratic Republic has set up consultation centres which help men and women to determine rationally how domestic responsibilities should be shared. These centres also help young people to prepare for marriage and family life and teach school-age children how they can help their parents around the home.
But the fair allocation of domestic responsibilities between husband and wife does not solve all problems. An analysis of the experience of socialist countries has shown that the answer to these problems lies in the development and perfecting of social services and the system of trade and public catering, in an increase in the number of establishments serving the needs of children, more efficient management of domestic tasks, the availability of necessary home appliances, the constant improvement of social services, and so on.
In planning the development of the national economy socialist states provide for the yearly growth of institutions providing consumer services to the public, and the development of all forms of public transport. These plans are implemented under the strict supervision of state organs, as well as women's organisations and 86 labour unions. Children's establishments are not only constructed at state expense, the state also provides most of the funds for the children's upkeep and education.
In Bulgaria, 100 per cent of the population lives in localities provided with electricity, and 95 per cent in localities with their own watersupply system. An extensive network of cafeterias has been set up in various factories and establishments, on cooperative farms and in educational institutions. At present there are more than 20 thousand public catering establishments in the country. In the last few years 350 district, city and regional consumer service establishments have been constructed. A total of 1,500 consumer service establishments have been coordinated into a system which provides a complete range of services to the population.
More than a thousand year-round creches and approximately 600 seasonal creches are provided for children under the age of three. More than 300,000 children aged three to six (65 per cent of the children in this age group) go to kindergartens. There are more than 3,000 extended-day orroups and schools in the country. Every year 300,000 children go to Young Pioneer camps. There are hundreds of playgrounds and toy rooms available for public use, as well as Young Pioneer clubs, sports classes, hobby groups and children's libraries, where children can spend their leisure hours.
In 1973 alone, the German Democratic Republic constructed nurseries and kindergartens capable of accommodating 14,800 children. At the present time more than 70 per cent of the children in the three-to-six age group attend kindergartens, and more than 50 per cent of the 87 children in the six-to-ten age bracket join extended-day groups during after-school hours.
In Rumania there are 12,500 pre-school establishments capable of accommodating 700,000 children. The next development plan (1976--1980) calls for the construction of nurseries to accommodate 100,000 children, and kindergartens for an additional 120,000 children in order to assure the availability of these facilities for all children. More than a million children attend kindergartens in Poland. Half the children in the cities and a quarter of the children in the country can go to kindergartens. Thousands of children take part in the activities of ``red-room'' clubs during after-school hours.
In the Mongolian People's Republic the network of nurseries and kindergartens continues to expand every year. In 1974, 30 per cent of all pre-school children attended them. Children can take advantage of numerous facilities during their free time: there are 160 children's cinemas, 124 radio stations, 171 children's musical ensembles, 77 children's meteorological stations, 30 children's libraries and 279 reading-rooms. The work of these establishments is directed by volunteer specialists and people prominent in the arts.
During a ten-year period (1961--1970) the number of nurseries in the Korean People's Democratic Republic increased 83 times, and the number of kindergartens 64 times. At the present time 2,800,000 children attend these institutions. This allows the majority of working mothers to place their children in well equipped children's establishments which, as in other socialist countries, are maintained at state expense.
88The same process is at work in Cuba, the youngest member of the socialist family. Here there are more than 600 nurseries and kindergartens accommodating close to 50,000 children, all of whom are provided with free food, clothing and medical care. In 1971, the Institute for Children was founded; this scientific research centre is devoted to the study of child rearing and development in all its aspects.
A broad network of boarding schools for children of various ages and grades has been set up; it is al«o of tremendous help to working mothers. In 1973, almost 43,000 children were enrolled in secondary boarding schools, where they received free tuition, food, medical care, and even clothing and school supplies. In stores and consumer service establishments working women are given priority. Workers' cafeterias have been established in factories and offices. The ``jaba'' plan, a system designed to broaden the network of stores and various consumer service establishments serving the family, is now being implemented across the country.
The state is not the only ascent responsible for the welfare of women mothers. Women's and youth organisations, trade unions, parent-teacher associations, home committees, and societies devoted to children and their upbringing---all take an active part in this work. These organisations supervise the activities of children's establishments and those providing consumer services, administer playgrounds and sports grounds, and arrange for children's activities in communal courtyards.
The introduction of labour-saving gadgets and efficient household management play a large 89 role in easing a woman's domestic workload. This is the concern not only of the state, but of society as well. The experience of the Polish People's Republic is particularly interesting in this respect. Various organisations disseminate information and teach women how to conduct their domestic affairs in the most efficient way: the League of Polish Women, cooperative organisations in the city and country, farm women's associations, the Opinia Bureau of Consumer Co-operation, and even scientific research institutes---the Institute of Nutrition and Provisions, the Mother and Child Institute, the State House of Hygiene, the Institute of Labour Medicine and Rural Hygiene, and the Institute of Agricultural Economics. These institutes organise experimental centres, courses, exhibitions, lectures, reports and discussions, carry out research on the management of the household, and disseminate literature.
Cooperatives have created the Practical Woman centres which concentrate their educational activities on household management and consumer services. In rural areas such centres are called the Modern Farm Woman. In 1970, there were 1,700 such centres in villages across the country. In rural areas there are also associations of farmers' wives which instruct women not only in the efficient management of the household, but also in the raising of children.
Courses in home economics are part of the secondary school curriculum in Poland.
Radio, television, Society for the Dissemination of Knowledge, trade unions, youth organisa tions, publishing houses and women's magazines also make substantial contributions in this field of work.
90The laws governing marriage and family life in socialist countries, beginning with those passed in the immediate postwar period, have always been based on the concept of total equality of husband and wife. In each country the constitution and laws regarding the family relations view marriage contracted with the free consent of both parties as the basis of the family; both spouses have equal rights and responsibilities with respect to each other and to their children. They also have equal right to jointly obtained property. Laws rigorously protect the interests of children, regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock. Marriage does not interfere with a woman's right to work, nor does it encroach upon her civil liberties.
But it would be a mistake to conclude that all problems relating to motherhood and childhood, to the creation of conditions which allow women to engage in productive social labour and administrative work, have been solved in socialist countries. These problems are being dealt with every day. They are under constant review by Communist and Workers' Parties and by the government bodies of socialist countries.
These countries have made provisions in their plans for a further increase in the number of medical, educational and recreational institutions for children, an increase in the quality and quantity of consumer service establishments and public catering facilities and in the availability of semi-processed foodstuffs and labour-saving household appliances; efforts are being made to improve living and housing conditions for families, to provide a broader range of services and facilities for villages and cities. In the end these measures are bound to mean greater freedom from 91 domestic work for women and ever more significant aid from the state and from society in the raising of children. And that in turn implies that with each passing year women will have more and more time, not only to engage in productive labour and social life, but also to raise the level of their professional skills and qualifications and improve themselves mentally and spiritually.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Political Equality in ActionThe active participation of women in economic production, the higher educational, professional and cultural level they have achieved, .their growing self-consciousness, the measures taken by the state which permit women to combine family life with productive social labour---all these things make it possible for women to engage fruitfully in the social and political life of the country and in public service on all levels. And everywhere they justify the trust society has put in them, displaying responsibility and initiative and contributing to the formulation and implementation of the internal and external policies of the state.
Enjoying the same political rights as men, women play a very active role in election campaigns, are themselves elected to positions on all levels of government, and are appointed to posts in the {rovernment. In Bulgaria, for example, the latest elections ^ave women 18.75 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly; in the People's Councils women make up one-quarter of all elected deputies. Among those occupying executive posts we find two women ministers---the Minister of Light Industry and the Minister of 92 Justice---and six depuly ministers, including one in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Women make up 23.8 per cent of the deputies in Hungary's National Assembly, and 24.3 per cent of the deputies elected to local councils.
In the German Democratic Republic the number of locally elected women officials rose from 53,000 in 1965 (25.8 per cent of all deputies) to 65,000 (more than 30 per cent of the present total). On the national level---the People's Chamber---the number of women deputies has reached 32 per cent. It is interesting that among mayors women make up 21 per cent of the total, whereas in 1965 the figure was only 11.2 per cent.
In Poland among the members of the Sejm (Parliament) elected in 1969 there were 62 women or 13.5 per cent of the total number of deputies while in 1938 there was only one woman among the 208 members of the Sejm.
In 1964, Rumanians elected 19 women deputies to their Parliament; at present there are 66 women there. More than 50,000 women---one-third of all deputies---occupy positions in local governments. 349 women occupy positions as presidents of the court, judges and notaries public. Three justices on the Supreme Court of Rumania are women. The well-known Rumanian writer Zacharia Stanku wrote with some justice: "I can still remember the time when a woman would not dare to raise her eyes from the stove and look directly at her husband. But look at her now--- everywhere she holds her head high, affirming herself, speaking out publically.''
During the last local elections in Mongolia 99.9 per cent of all eligible women voted, and a full quarter of those elected were women. Women comprise 21.9 per cent of the deputies 93 in the People's Great Mural---the highest legislative body in the country. Women hold such posts as member of the Presidium of the People's Great Hural, Chairman of the State Committee for Labour and Wages, Deputy Ministers of Health, Education, Foreign Trade, Finance, and Communal Services.
In 1964, ten women were elected deputies to the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam---a figure representing 2.5 per cent of the total number of deputies; in 1971 the figure was 125 women, or almost 30 per cent of the total. In 1965, only 8 per cent of the members of administrative committees in cities and provinces were women; in 1969--1970---15.9 per cent; women members of the administrative committees of districts and blocks rose from 12 to 26.5 per cent, and of commune committees---from 14 to 32 per cent. Women occupy 11 deputy ministerial posts or their equivalent; 65 women are the heads of government boards, 800 are chairmen and 3,800 assistant chairmen of administrative committees at various levels. In 1960, only one woman was a departmental head; now six women hold such posts. 90 per cent of the cities and provinces have women heading various governmental services.
In the world of socialism it would be difficult to find any sphere where women do not play a significant role. Women participate in all spheres of political life, and many of them are members of ruling Communist and Workers' Parties. Women make up 20 to 28 per cent of the total membership of these Parties. Many of them are members of the central committees of Communist and Workers' Parties and take an active part in the internal and external political life of the country.
94The active participation of women in economic, social and political activity is accompanied by an increase in the number of those who belong to trade unions. They are also occupying more and more places of leadership in these organisations. In Hungary, for example, half of all the elective posts in trade unions are held by women.
Every year women play a greater role in the trade union movement in Cuba. Forward-looking women have assumed positions of responsibility in the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Confederation of Cuban Workers and head various individual unions.
The women of socialist countries carry out a tremendous amount of social and political work in mass organisations---the Fatherland Front of Bulgaria, the National Front of the German Democratic Republic, the All-Poland Committee of the National Unity Front, the National Front of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Fatherland Front of Vietnam, and others.
Within the framework of these national organs there are women's organisations which were formed immediately after the Second World War on the basis of women's committees and groups which participated in National Fronts during the period of Resistance. Along with other organisations---trade unions, youth groups, cooperatives--- and under the guidance of Communist and Workers' Parties, they carry out tremendous organisational, ideological, educational and cultural work among women and the entire population, and help to solve problems that women face.
The Bulgarian Women's Committee, the National Council of Hungarian Women, the Democratic Union of German Women (GDR), 95 the National Council of Polish Women, the National Council of Women of the Socialist Republic of Rumania, the Czechoslovak Women's Union, the Conference for Social Activities of Yugoslav Women, the Korean Democratic Women's Union, the Mongolian Women's Committee, the Women's Union of Vietnam, the Cuban Women's Federation---all these organisations have been very successful in drawing women to the task of building socialism on a mass scale. The women's organisations of socialist countries share their experiences, thus facilitating this task.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Women of Socialist CountriesWomen in socialist countries have always sided with those who fight for social liberation, freedom, independence, peace and social progress. Raised in the spirit of revolutionary traditions, they are ever faithful to the principle of proletarian internationalism.
The diverse and active international activities of women in socialist countries are carried out through national women's organisations. In the Soviet Union it is the Soviet Women's Committee (until 1956 the Anti-Fascist Soviet Women's Committee), which was decorated by the government with the Order of Friendship Among Peoples for its activities. It was created shortly after the Second World War began, when the Soviet nation mobilised all its forces to repel the fascist aggressors. During those days Soviet women 96 helped to consolidate and strengthen Ihe forces battling fascism by creating an anti-fascist peoples' front.
On September 7, 1941, at the first Ail-Union meeting of the organisation, the women made a ringing appeal to their sisters all over the world to combine their efforts in the battle against the nazi aggressors. Women responded everywhere. They wrote from Great Britain, the United States, India, Australia and other countries expressing their solidarity with the Soviet people in their struggle, and making known their desire to contribute to the victory over mankind's most evil enemy.
It was during these trying days that the first contacts were made between Soviet women and those of Central and Southeastern Europe, who joined in the battle against the fascists on occupied territory by working with the Resistance. Many Bulgarian, Yugoslav, Polish and Czechoslovak women took part in the armed struggle as members of guerilla groups and army units. Women of Vietnam, China and Korea fought for freedom and independence of their nations, against the Japanese militarists and foreign colonialists.
In the course of the national liberation and revolutionary struggle of these countries, women's organisations were formed which, together with the progressive women of France, Italy, Belgium and other countries, were the first to create a genuinely international, broadly based, democratic women's organisation after the war. The active role in the creation of this organisation was playedby the women of the Soviet Union, the country that made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism.
__PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7---0912 97It was due lo the will of lens of thousands of women who took part in the struggle against German fascism and Japanese militarism that on December 1, 1945, at the International Women's Congress in Paris, the Women's International Democratic Federation was born. It declared that its goal would be to consolidate the peace that had been won at so great a cost, to struggle against any reappearance of fascism, to battle for the national independence of the world's peoples, for the rights of women and the happiness of children.
The women's organisations of the USSR and other socialist countries are active participants in the undertakings of this Federation---- international congresses and bilateral meetings, international seminars and regional conferences. At forums held by the WlDF participants are constantly discussing how they can best work for peace and democracy, national independence, the rights of women, and a better life for children.
The women of socialist countries regard the preservation and consolidation of peace among the peoples of the world as the fundamental goal of their international activities. They give enthusiastic support to the active international policies of their governments in the cause of peace and international detente, and make a creative contribution to the implementation of these policies.
Women in socialist countries support general and complete disarmament, peaceful coexistence among states with different social systems, and international detente. They have been in the vanguard of the World Movement of Champions of Peace. They did a tremendous amount of work 98 in collecting signatures for the Stockholm Appeal cf the Wcrld Council cf Peace to Ban Atomic Weapons and Avert the Threat of Nuclear War (1950); they participated in the work of world congresses for peace and disarmament, including the World Congress of Peace Forces (Moscow, October, 1973), which will go down in the history of social movements as the First General Assembly of the Peoples of the World.
Women's organisations in socialist countries have founded peace funds and participate in their activities.
It was with relief and satisfaction that the women of socialist countries greeted the onset of detente in Europe, the treaties signed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR and between the FRG and the Polish People's Republic, and the annulment of the notorious Munich Agreement of 1938, which betrayed the interests of Czechoslovakia.
These real strides made on the path toward European security were facilitated by the tireless efforts of socialist governments and the support given them by all social organisations, including women's organisations.
In September 1971, for example, Moscow hosted the Seminar for Women of European Countries. Participants included members of parliaments of various West European nations, deputies of the highest state bodies from the socialist countries of Europe and the leaders of national women's organisations. Maria Milczarek, Chairwoman of the National Council of Polish Women expressed the thoughts and aspirations of women in socialist countries when she said in a speech before the Seminar, "We wish that all the peoples of Europe, all European states, could cast off __PRINTERS_P_99_COMMENT__ 7* 99 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/WT332/20070313/199.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.03.13) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __FUNNY__ the heavy bunion of the anus race. the heavy burden of the arms race. This would have enormous significance for their economic, scientific and cultural development. We would like Europe to be free once and for all from the political tension which was born during the cold war and which still exists. Finally, we would like to see the complete normalisation of political, cultural and other relations among all European nations".
Members of the Democratic Union of German Women devote considerable energy to the activities surrounding the traditional Baltic Sea Week. The meetings held during this week contribute to the active cooperation of the social forces of northern European nations in the name of peace and progress.
The consistent work of women's organisations to achieve these goals is reflected in the fact that the women of socialist countries have taken part in the work of all forums dealing with the problems of European security. They made contributions at the assemblies of the representatives of public opinion for security and cooperation in Europe, which were held in 1972 and in 1975, and participated actively in the Conference of Women's Organisations on European Cooperation and Security held in Dipoli, Finland, where the problems discussed included the securing of peace on the European continent and ways for increasing cooperation among the peoples of Europe.
In defending the rights of peoples seeking national independence, women in socialist countries do not overlook acts of aggression, regardless of where they might take place. For many years their attention was concentrated on the struggle of the peoples of Southeast Asia and how best to support that struggle.
100The heroic Vietnamese people emerged victorious in their battle against the imperialist aggressors. The Vietnamese victory was at the same time a victory for the militant solidarity of the progressive, peace-loving forces of the whole planet. It was made possible due to the tremendous fraternal aid which the people of Vietnam received from the socialist community, and particularly from the Soviet Union. At meetings and rallies Soviet women expressed their solidarity with the Vietnamese people in their struggle against the aggression of the United States and its satellites. They expressed their solidarity by sending shiploads of food, medicine and clothing for women and children, supplies desperately needed by the nation at war. The women of the German Democratic Republic collected and sent priceless blood plasma to Vietnam to save wounded adults and children. Polish women also launched campaigns of solidarity. One of these campaigns was called "A Gift from the Heart''. All across the country, in cities and in the country, women and girls sewed clothing for Vietnamese children. The date set for the delivery of these gifts to their Vietnamese sisters coincided with International Children's Day.
Members of the Czechoslovak Women's Union also rendered tremendous material aid to Vietnamese women. For several years now a campaign has been going on in socialist countries to collect funds for the construction of a scientific research centre in Vietnam devoted to the problems of motherhood and childhood. Work is also going on to help the Vietnamese heal the wounds of the war.
The women of socialist countries also render all forms of aid and support to the women of Arab 101 countries, who have suffered the perfidious attack of Israeli forces. They demand the cessation of provocations against Arab states, the liquidation of the consequences of Israeli aggression, the restoration of peace in the Middle East. The campaign of solidarity with the Arab people manifests itself in the most diverse ways. In declarations of protest against the arbitrary actions of the Israeli military the women of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, the People's Democratic Republic of Korea and other socialist countries convey their expression of total moral support to the women of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Lebanon, and to the Arab women of Palestine. They declare their solidarity at meetings and gatherings. Soviet women are frequent guests of women's organisations in Arab countries. Expressing their solidarity and support for their Arab friends, they also provide necessary material assistance. For the most part this aid goes to women's centres in camps for refugees who have been driven from their native land by the Israeli aggressors.
When the whole world was shaken by the events taking place in Chile Valentina Nikolayeva-- Tereshkova, Chairwoman of the Soviet Women's Committee, made a radio broadcast on behalf of millions of Soviet women, condemning the criminal actions of Chilean reactionary forces, their attempt to turn back the clock of history, to wipe out the social and economic transformations so successfully carried out in the course of three years' rule by the Popular Unity Government. "In this hour, so trying for the people of Chile,'' she said in her statement, "we express our fervent solidarity with all the workers of Chile, with all the parties of the Popular Unity who are 102 heroically resisting the forces of reaction and are faithful to the struggle for independence, democracy and social progress.
``We are with you, Chilean friends! We firmly believe that justice will triumph!''
'All the women in the socialist community shared these thoughts and words. They are ready to render whatever assistance they can to the women of Chile in the difficult struggle they face.
The last few years have witnessed growing cooperation between Soviet women and those of other socialist countries with women's organisations in young African states. This cooperation takes on many forms. During the 1974/75 academic year 342 female students from 37 African, Asian and Latin American countries received stipends from the Soviet Women's Committee to study in Moscow and other cities. The National Council of Polish Women also provided stipends for girls from Ghana, Nigeria and Mali.
The first graduates, having acquired the training they sought, have returned to their homeland. Some members of the leading cadres of women's organisations in some developing countries have studied in Bulgaria and the German Democratic Republic.
The Cuban Women's Federation has consistently given aid to African countries fighting for their freedom and independence. Children orphaned during the war in Guinea-Bissau are studying in Cuba. African girls attend Cuban technical schools, nursing schools and other educational institutions. They acquaint themselves with the way pre-school establishments for children are run in Cuba.
Women's organisations in socialist countries help their sisters in developing countries to 103 organise women's centres and send them the equip ment they need for these centres.
They share their experience---the socialist experience---in showing others how equality can be achieved.
The International Seminar on Education for Women of Africa held in Tashkent in 1962, focused on problems of women's education. The Soviet Women's Committee together with the WIDF and the All-African Women's Conference organised the Seminar on Mother-and-Child Protection in African Countries, held in Bamako in 1965, and another on the Training of Cadres to Combat Illiteracy among Women in the African and Arab Countries (Khartoum, 1970).
In August 1972, the Mongolian People's Republic welcomed representatives from 67 national women's organisations of Asia and Africa and a number of regional and international organisations, representatives from the socialist countries of Europe, delegates from Latin America and various leading figures in the women's movement to the Second Afro-Asian Women's Conference.
|In an atmosphere of constructive cooperation, solidarity, friendship and mutual understanding, the Conference discussed questions of vital importance for the women and peoples of Africa and Asia: the role of women in the struggle for liberation, national independence and peace, their contribution to the cultural, economic and social development of their people, and the rights of women in their role as mothers, spouses, workers and citizens.
In sharing their own experiences at the Conference, women from socialist countries made a 104 valuable contribution to the discussions. A graphic example of this is the way Mongolian representatives acquainted their fellow delegates with the accomplishments of their country, which has moved directly from feudalism to socialism, bypassing the intermediary stage of capitalist development.
When the Second Afro-Asian Women's Conference had completed its work, the delegates visited the Soviet Union. They took part in a seminar organised by the Soviet Women's Committee entitled "Experience in Resolving the Question of Women's Rights in a Multi-National State".
At the time the Soviet republics were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the USSR, a voluntary union of equal peoples. In numerous congratulatory messages sent to Soviet women on the occasion of the anniversary, people everywhere expressed their gratitude for the help and the vivid example set by Soviet women through their own accomplishments in various spheres and through their extensive international work.
``Accept, dear friends,'' read a telegramme from the United Committee of the Anti-Dictatorial Movement of Greek Expatriate Women, "our fervent gratitude and thanks for your aid, manifest in so many ways, and for your expression of genuine solidarity and sympathy with our people, and especially with our captive sisters.''
In a letter from the Helsinki branch of the Democratic Women's Union of Finland we read the following lines: "We, the women of capitalist countries, have to fight for our rights. In this struggle we are greatly assisted by your experience in eliminating racial and national 105 oppression, by the possibility of witnessing your life and accomplishments.''
The participants of a meeting organised by a regional branch of the Ceylon Women's Front of Colombo sent warm greetings to the Soviet Women's Committee: "The accomplishments of the women of the USSR are an inspiring example for women all over the world who are fighting for peace, democracy and socialism.''
To work for peace and mutual understanding among women on all continents, the women of socialist countries maintain contacts with various national and international women's organisations. They send and receive delegates, which helps to allay the distrust of women from those countries where intense efforts are made to discredit socialism and its achievements.
The Conference for Social Activities of Yugoslav Women (a permanent organisation) maintains ties with 110 women's organisations. Every year it sponsors theoretical seminars and invites representatives from many national and international organisations to take part. The Bulgarian Women's Committee maintains friendly ties with progressive women's organisations in 80 countries.
Through their own Committee Soviet women maintain ties with women's organisations in 120 countries, and also with international organisations, among them the International Women's League for Peace and Freedom, the International Federation of University Women, the International Council of Women and other organisations which understand the need for strengthening ties with women's organisations in socialist countries,
106Women in socialist countries are very interested in the development of international cooperation to deal with problems concerning the status of women and children. Representatives of socialist countries participate in the work of the Commission on the Status of Women of the UN's Economic and Social Council, the activities of UNESCO, ILO, and international forums discussing these problems. They speak out against the discrimination that women suffer in capitalist countries, support demands for women's equality, and formulate documents which reflect the vital interests of women all over the world.
The women of socialist countries have endorsed the decision of the 27th Session of the United Nations' General Assembly declaring 1975 International Women's Year. They have enthusiastically supported this decision, which was accepted on the initiative of the WIDF and other international organisations, and are hopeful that 1975 will prove to be an important milestone for those who seek to wipe out discrimination against women in those countries where it still exists.
[107] ~ [108] __ALPHA_LVL1__ Women in the DevelopedOne of the contemporary features of the labour market in advanced capitalist countries is the increasing demand for female participation in the labour force. It is conditioned both by the objective laws peculiar to capitalist production, and by new phenomena characteristic of contemporary state-monopoly capitalism. One of the most important phenomena is the scientific and technological revolution, which has had an extraordinarily contradictory influence on production and labour resources.
Drawing up general conclusions on the contemporary state of affairs, the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (Moscow, 1969) noted that the scientific and technological revolution accelerates the socialisation of the economy; under monopoly domination this leads to the reproduction of social antagonisms on a growing scale and in a sharper form. Not only have the long-standing contradictions of capitalism been aggravated, but new ones have arisen as well. This applies, in particular, to the contradiction between the unlimited possibilities 111 opened up by the scientific and technological revolution and the roadblocks raised by capitalism to their utilisation for the benefit of society as a whole. This is the contradiction between the social character of present-day production and the state-monopoly nature of its regulation. This is not only the growth of the contradiction between capital and labour, but also the deepening of the antagonism between the interests of the overwhelming majority of the nation and those of the financial oligarchy.^^1^^
Capitalism is incapable of guaranteeing the total employment of the able-bodied population, in particular the female labour force; it cannot bring the general educational and professional level of workers into line with the demands of the scientific and technological revolution. This further exacerbates the contradictions and class struggle in capitalist society. As a result question of the women's status remains an acute, burning issue in capitalist countries.
Already in the middle of the nineteenth century capitalist industry had simplified the process of labour, thus opening up a wide range of possibilities for involving women and children in the process of production, for work which had previously demanded heavy physical exertion could now be done by machines. With the help of machines, wrote F. Engels, "Six hundred thousand factory workers, of whom half are children and more than half female, are doing the work of one hundred and fifty million people."^^2^^ Whole branches of production appeared (spinning and _-_-_
~^^1^^ See International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, Moscow 1969, Prague, 1969, p. 19.
~^^2^^ Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 3, p. 482.
112 weaving, for example) in which women constituted more than half of all factory workers.As machines were perfected, women and children could take the place of men, and because they were paid lower wages, capitalists could earn greater profits.
``Machinery, by throwing every member of that family on to the labour-market,'' wrote Karl Marx, "spreads the value of the man's labour-power over bis whole family. It thus depreciates his labour-power.'' by virtue of that tact women's and children's labour became "the hrst thing sought for by capitalists who used machinery".^^1^^
At the same time the founders of scientific communism have always stressed that "the drawing of women and juveniles into production is, at bottom, progress! ve'',^^2^^ for social labour frees women from the narrow confines of domestic and family relations; highly mechanised industry aids in their development, raises their class consciousness and involves them in the liberation struggle of the working class.
The rapid development of science and technology, the application of scientific methods and discoveries to production, the introduction of automation and computer technology, structural shifts in the economy of capitalist countries, including the appearance of new branches of industry and rapid growth in the non-- productive sphere---all these factors open up new possibilities for the application of female labour.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Karl Marx, Capital, Moscow, 1974, Vol. I, pp. 372, 373.
~^^2^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 3, p. 545.
__PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8---0912 113Among the significant reasons which lead a woman to seek work are the constant rise in the cost of living and the fact that blue- and white collar wages lag behind the living \vage.
In the last several years there has been a marked tendency to broaden the sphere of application of female labour: the number of working women has gone up and they make up an ever increasing proportion of the employed population. Thus, according to statistics provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the number of working women in advanced capitalist countries has increased from 46.4 million to 77 million in the past 20 years.
This tendency is most clearly seen in the United States. From 1960 to 1970 the number of hired workers increased by 12 million, and women accounted for 65 per cent of that increase. By 1973 women constituted approximately 38 to 40 per cent of the country's labour force. American economists acknowledge that women today represent one of the most dynamic forces in the economy.
An analogous process can be observed in the capitalist states of Western Europe. In the countries that make up the European Economic Community (the original Six) there are 22,654,000 working women, or 37 per cent of the female population. The highest percentage of employment among women can be seen in France, where 46.6 per cent of the female population is employed; in the FRG the figure is 40.3 per cent, in Belgium and Luxemburg---33.6 per cent, in Italy--- 29.9 per cent, and in the Netherlands---27 per cent. It is noteworthy that here, too, the rate of employment among women is rising faster than among men. In France, for example, the number of working men rose by 10 per cent between 1962 114 and 1968; the rate for working women during the same period was 15 per cent. Between 1968 and 1972 the rise in rate for working men was 3 per cent, and for women---11 per cent.
When we consider the entire self-employed population of the Common Market for 1973, we find that women make up the following percentages of the total: France---37 per cent, the FRG---34 per cent, Belgium---29 per cent, Italy---27 per cent, Luxemburg---26 per cent, and the Netherlands---23 per cent.
The policy of rapid economic growth adopted during the 1960s by the government and monopoly capital of Japan has led to a significant rise in the application of female labour. In 1964, there were 8,350,000 hired female workers; in 1970 the figure was 10,960,000 or 33.2 per cent of the total labour force of the country.
A significant number of working women are employed in the sphere of production. Whole branches of industry have appeared where, thanks to technical progress, female labour is not only applied on a broad scale, but even predominates; these include the electronics, radio engineering, pharmaceutical, electrical engineering, chemical, machine building, metallurgical and other industries. In the United States, for example, the number of women working in the aluminium industry ranges from 20 to 60 per cent; the figure is even higher for automobile factories.
The massive introduction of new technology, not only in the sphere of material production, but also in various branches of non-industrial labour---state establishments, commerce, consumer service establishments---together with the mechanisation and automatisation of office work, financial transactions and the like, has led to __PRINTERS_P_116_COMMENT__ 8* 115 a considerable increase in Ihe number ol' women employed in these areas. Here, for example, is a breakdown of the female workforce in Western Europe at the beginning of the 1970s in terms of industrial and non-industrial labour:
Country Industry (per cent) Agriculture (per cent) Service professions (per cunt) FRG 34.7 14.4 50.9 Franco 25.9 13.7 00.4 Italy 31. G 20. 8 41.6 Netherlands 23.7 4.1 72.2 Belgium 28.8 6.4 04.8The gradual erosion of the borders demarcating male and female forms of labour is also due in part to the fact that women are mastering more and more professions. Gradually we see more and more women working as technicians, engineers, computer programmers and operators. In 1906 in France there were only 37 women lawyers and 600 women doctors; at the beginning of the 1970s their number rose, respectively, to 1,200 and 6,000 women. A survey to determine whether the public believed that women could work on a par with men in jobs that have traditionally been considered ``male'' produced the following statistics: 64 per cent of those questioned expressed their confidence in women lawyers, 75 per cent in women doctors, 39 per cent in women surgeons, and 26 per cent in women pilots.
The expanded application of female labour, a tendency made feasible by the scientific and technological revolution, shows that it is 116 objectively possible to give women a greater role in the economic and social development of society.
But it is women who are the first to suffer from the negative consequences of the scientific and technological revolution. Supposedly for the sake of industrialisation, modernisation and reorganisation of production the most propitious conditions for the growth of powerful monopolies are created, to the detriment of smaller firms, which have a tradition of hiring women. The disappearance of these small industrial enterprises, the further concentration of production, the influx of youth and rural dwellers into the labour market---all these things have an unfavourable effect on female employment. So, too, does the effort of the state and monopolies to encourage the development of specific, more profitable branches of industry---metallurgical, chemical, instrument-making---which inevitably leads to the demise or stagnation of industries which produce consumer goods that are in wide demand---textiles, ready-made clothing, electrical household appliances and so on, industries which have already experienced the consequences of inflation. But it is these industries that for the most part employ women. According to official statistics for Italy, a comparison of the first ten months of 1970 with the first ten months of 1971 alone indicates that textile production dropped by 6.7 per cent, and the production of ready-made clothing by 13.6 per cent. As a result female employment in these branches of industry also dropped.
The use of advanced technology also leads to a reduction in female employment. In France it is calculated that by 1985 automation will have liquidated 135,000 jobs in the ready-mado 117 clothing industry, and 170,000 jobs in the textile industry, i.e., more than 300,000 jobs, most of them held by women. In the area of postal and tele-communications 25,000 jobs held by telephone operators and prstal workers will be abolished as a result of automation. The same prospects await female workers with specific, limited skills such as typists, when machines take over their work.
Unemployment is usually much higher among women than among men, and it rises more quickly among women than among men. In addition women, as a rule, remain unemployed far longer than men. In the United States the unemployment rate for females in August 1973, was 48 per cent higher than that of males. The problem of female unemployment in Italy is particularly acute. Sharp fluctuations in economic development and crises in production bring about mass unemployment. The reserve army of labour consists primarily of women, who, moreover, enter the labour market as second-class workers. From 1961 to 1971, 1,300,000 female production workers were forced off the job. From July 1971, to July 1972, the employment level of the ablebodied population dropped from 18.9 million to 18.4 million, a reduction most strongly felt among female workers. The percentage of the total female population that comprised the female workforce decreased in the 1960--1971 period from 24.9 to 19.2 per cent. As noted in the Italian press, this was the lowest level of female employment in the world.
One of the important factors accounting for the dismissal of female production workers in capitalist countries is their inadequate professional training and the loss of professional skills. 118 The scientific and technological revolution, with its ever increasing demands for professionally skilled workers, finds women less and less able to compete with men for a number of reasons: discrimination in receiving secondary and higher education, difficulty in improving their qualifications and receiving promotions because of the traditionally prejudicial attitudes they face on account of their dual work-load---at home and on the job; for these reasons they are most often the first to be dismissed from work. Even when economic conditions are favourable and the demand for workers is sufficiently high, unemployed women cannot fill vacancies because they do not possess the requisite skills.
In the 1960s, in view of the effects of the scientific and technological revolution, a number of governments in capitalist countries adopted programmes which included special measures and additional financial aid for education, professional training and retraining for workers. The funds allotted for these programmes, however, are inadequate to the real needs. This exacerbates the problem of unemployment among women, particularly those over the age of 35, who wish to resume work after a considerable period of absence spent rearing their young children. Employers are unwilling to train or retrain workers when they can hire those who already have the necessary skills.
To this day in capitalist countries, despite the absence of legal prohibitions and the steady rise in the general educational level of women (the decrease in illiteracy, an absolute rise in the number of girls studying in secondary schools, technical schools and institutions of higher learning), the number of female students, particularly 119 in technical schools, is still fairly low. In England, for example, among the 17.800 students studying to be draughtsmen at the end of the 1960s, there were only 350 women, and amonf the 12,310 future technicians only 160 women. At the beginning of the 1970s only 7 per cent of the girls who be^an work fas opposed to 42 per cent of the boys) were rn'ven the opportunity to receive professional training and thus f'll positions as skilled workers. As a result women make up only 5 per cent of all skilled production workers.
In France erirls constitute only 35 per cent of those studying in trade schools, and only 25 per cent of those studying in technical colleges and vocational schools. Furthermore in these institutions girls are permitted to choose among only 170 trades and professions, while boys are given a choice of 400. The same is true for Italy.
In the United States, as a result of workers' actions and public opinion, the government began in 1961 to implement a series of special measures to provide professional training for factory personnel. As a result the number of women receiving professional training at the end of the 1960s was increasing more rapidly. According to official statistics the number rose by 78 per cent between 1964 and 1968, while for men there was a 65 percent increase in the number of thoseattendiner courses of professional training. But despite this increase women still made up less than 1 per cent of the total number of registered students.
The disparity between qualitative and quantitative indices of education among young men and women can also be seen in institutions of higher learning. At the end of the nineteenth century in the United States women made up 120 one-third of all students attending colleges and universities. In the 1969/70 academic year women accounted for 42 per cent of the total. The majority of girls, however, were students at junior colleges, where the level of instruction is comparable to that of the upper forms of secondary schools in other countries. Moreover, female students have a high dropout rate as a result of the cost of a higher education. Statistics published in America show that in the 1960s only 7 per cent of all women over the age of 25 had college degrees.
A characteristic feature of the system of higher education in capitalist countries is the fact that women predominate in the humanities, but they are rarely to be found in departments of engineering and technology.
As a rule the majority of workers involved in unskilled labour are women. In France, for example, the number of hired women decreases in direct proportion to the degree of skill required at any given job: women make up 29.6 per cent of all unskilled workers, 22.9 per cent of all semi-skilled workers, 15.8 per cent of all skilled workers, 11.1 per cent of all technicians and 3.4 per cent of all engineers.
Employers justify paying lower wages to women by pointing out that their level of general and professional training is lower than that of men, and that they are generally employed in jobs that require fewer skills.
The working class and working women in particular have brought pressure to bear on employers who in the past have refused to grant women equal pay for equal work, and consequently they do not practice this sort of discrimination quite so openly. They are all the more hesitant because 121 in all capitalist countries the principle of equal pay is proclaimed in the constitution and written into law, and its implementation is stipulated in collective agreements. Moreover, this principle is reflected in a number of international documents: the Charter of the International Labour Organisation, ILO Convention No. 100 Concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, and others.
But a large number of capitalist stales are not party to Convention No. 100, and even in those which are, employers find any number of pretexts to subvert the principle of equal pay for equal work. As a result the disparity in wages paid to men and women for work of equal quality and quantity ranges from 10 to 65 per cent in a number of capitalist countries.
At the beginning of the 1970s, for example, Swedish women in industry received 36 ore per hour less than men for the same work. The difference in pay for white-collar male and female workers was equal to 142 crowns per month. In France women, on the average, receive 33.6 per cent less in wages than men (as a result of the kind of jobs they hold, the length of time they work, and so on). The difference in hourly wage for men and women of equal qualifications was 6.9 per cent in January 1972. In Britain, the average wage for women is slightly more than half of the average wage for men, while in the Federal Republic of Germany women earn on the average 31.3 per cent less than men.
Equal pay for equal work is one of the main demands made by workers' movements and democratic movements, for wage discrimination leads to the reduction of all workers' wages both in 122 individual firms and industries and in the country as a whole. In France, for example, whole areas of production where a great number of women are employed are subject to such discrimination, including the clothing, textile, leather, and food industries. The average pay of workers in the clothing industry, which was already 20 per cent lower than the average wage of other workers, dropped in 1972 to a level of 23 per cent below the average professional wage.
A similar tendency toward increasing the wage discrepancy between male and female workers may be observed in the United States. In 1956, the average annual earnings of a white woman were only 62.8 per cent of the earnings of a white man. In 1964, the percentage dropped to 59.4. And in the early 1970s women earned only 58 per cent of the amount earned by men.
Workers' movements and democratic women's organisations in Italy have made considerable progress in their struggle to secure equal wages. According to rates stipulated in collective agreements in 1954, there is a minimum difference of 16 per cent in the amounts earned by men and women for equivalent labour; this ranged from 16 to 24 per cent in the textile industry, from 20 to 22 per cent in the printing and paper industries, from 16 to 18 per cent in the food industry, and from 16 to 25 per cent in the clothing industry. In trade it was 10 to 20 per cent in 1956. Women farm-labourers and agricultural workers above the age of 17 earned 30 per cent less than men, whereas girls of 14 to 17 earned from 38 to 50 per cent less.
Due to the persistent efforts of working men and women and the unity achieved among trade unions and women's organisations of varying 123 persuasions, by 1958--1959 approximately half of all collective agreements renewed in industry, commerce and agriculture provided for the curtailment of discrepancies in male and female wages and for increases in women's wages. By 1964 this discrepancy had been reduced to 7 per cent for industrial workers and 5 per cent for those employed in commerce.
Despite measures taken to curtail discrimination against women workers, Italian manufacturers and landowners made every effort to delay or limit the implementation of equal wages. As a result, in 1970 women earned an average of 24.8 per cent less than equally qualified men in processing industry, and in the textile industry an average of 19.2 per cent less.
Some employers attempted to justify such discrimination, claiming that women's earnings were largely a supplement to the family budget. Such rationalisations are clearly untenable. Many unmarried women, widows or divorcees also head families in capitalist countries; their earnings are their only source of income. Furthermore, more and more families cannot get along without a second paycheck.
Scientific and technological progress has exercised a contradictory influence with regard to female labour, particularly when it comes to measures for the protection of female labour. Thanks to complex mechanisation, automation, electronic technology, and calculating machines and computers, many labourconsuming processes are simplified and made less strenuous; thus more and more areas are opened for working women. Contemporary technology has reduced professional injuries and occupational deseases. But there are many 124 disadvantages to such technology. The process of labour has become increasingly disjointed and workers have been reduced to functioning as adjuncts of machines; there is increased noise and growing mental and nervous strain; new chemicals present additional hazards; the work has become monotonous. All of the aforementioned has affected the health of working women, particularly pregnant women and nursing mothers.
The working class has managed to achieve legislation in many capitalist countries that guarantees restrictions in the hiring of women for jobs that are hazardous for women's health in such areas as underground work, heavy labour, and plants where harmful substances are manufactured.
But facts published in the Western press show that occupational deseases and injuries are on the increase as a result of inadequate safety measures. A study of working conditions among women at the Sescosem Factory in Grenoble, France, showed that 56 per cent of the female workers frequently consulted a doctor because of the difficult working conditions; 46 per cent regularly take medicine in order to sustain the tempo of their work; 74 per cent suffer from headaches; 80 per cent claim that they cannot longer endure the noise or the rhythm of their work and complain that their psychological state has sharply deteriorated.
Labour is proceeding at an increasingly intense pace in non-industrial areas as well. Bank clerks, stockbrokers and dish washers suffer from this problem as do laundresses and sales girls in large department stores. The increasing tempo of modern life has engendered new sources of nervous tension and overwork. The situation is aggravated because laws governing labour do not apply 125 to a significant portion of working women, including peasant women, craftsmen who work at home and servants.
There are two aspects to measures for protecting women workers on the job: medical and social. Frequently women are obliged to work in areas of production that are less mechanised and consequently involve heavier labour and more health hazards. They are forced into such work because of inadequate skills. All women are faced with an ever present threat of leaving the factory and returning to their homes. Poor working conditions often accelerate this process. Thus, the improvement of working conditions and the implementation of safety measures would not only preserve working women's health, it would also serve to guarantee their right to work.
The problem of protecting the health of mothers is closely linked to the problem of protecting working women on the job. Having encouraged women to participate in the country's economic and social life, the state must provide legislation that will guarantee the health of women in their capacity as mothers and help them to bring up a new, healthy generation. In the last few years the working class and progressive forces in capitalist countries have taken important steps in this direction. But motherhood often proves tragic to a working woman, for in many countries women are fired when they bear children or upon getting married. Manufacturers prefer to replace married women with young girls thereby avoiding bonuses for long service and allowances for pregnancy and births.
The ILO conventions on measures for protecting the rights of mothers (No. 3 in 1949; No. 103 in 1952; No. 110 in 1958) stipulate 126 minimal norms including maternity leave at least six weeks before delivery and six weeks following delivery, time off for nursing the child, and prohibitions on firing married women on maternity leave. Nevertheless, the ILO notes that many countries have not instituted these minimal measures and do not provide sufficiently lengthy maternity leave with compensation for lost earnings to working mothers. Laws protecting mothers do not apply to significant categories of women workers in capitalist countries, including those working in agriculture.
Working mothers also face the problem of providing adequate care for their children, particularly for infants. Government facilities for providing such care are underdeveloped. Most childcare centres are privately owned and therefore inaccessible to large sections of the population. In France, for example, territorial and departmental child-care centres can accommodate 32,828 children, while according to the norms of the World Health Organisation a country whose population exceeds 40 million should be able to accommodate 200,000 children. In Italy, 140,000 children are enrolled in state nurseries and 1,316,000 in private institutions; one million children from the ages of 3 to 6 cannot be accommodated at all in existing facilities. By 1974, almost two million Italian children from working families could not get into communal nurseries. The same is true of England, the Federal Republic of Germany, Spain and many other capitalist countries. Domestic obligations consume a significant part of a working woman's time after the working hours. She has less time to regain her strength, improve her skills, enjoy cultural pursuits and to be active in her leisure hours. This twofold 127 burden results in an early loss of working capacity among women.
To conserve time that would otherwise be spent on domestic tasks, it is important to provide housing with modern conveniences: central heating, gas, electricity, running water, plumbing. But many workers do not have such accommodations. In many countries whole sections of the working population cannot afford such housing.
One of the difficulties in combining domestic and industrial work is the length of the working day. In many countries various parties, trade unions, women's organisations and industrial circles discuss this question.
Industrialists would prefer to employ parttime women workers, paying them for time spent on the job. But considering labour conditions in capitalist countries and particularly the reduction in employment of working women in many countries, this would do incalculable harm to working women. It would in effect establish female labour as temporary and secondary; it would intensify discrimination against women with regard to employment, wages, pension benefits and promotions and it would create even more competition among women in the labour market.
Leftist parties and democratic organisations speaking for the working class favour the gradual reduction of the working week to 40 hours and two days off for all workers, men and women. As a first step toward this goal, they suggest that women's working time should be shortened without a corresponding cut in pay, maintaining that fulfilling household responsibilities and raising children should be acknowledged as important, socially useful functions.
128Some bourgeois scholars believe that women's social and domestic obligations cannot be combined and therefore conclude that society should return to the traditional strict delineation of male and female roles. A man, as they see it, should work to support the family and a woman should be a good wife, caring for the home, and bearing and raising children.
Others who recognise that women are productive and needed members of the labour force believe that their burdens must be lightened. But they propose to do this by curtailing their professional activities rather than through special governmental measures aimed at creating auspicious conditions for working women.
Still others insist that mothers of young children should enter the labour force only after fulfilling their maternal obligations or that they should interrupt their professional activities until their children grow up.
Marxist scholars continue to maintain that once the process of including women in the labour force has begun it cannot be reversed. They advocate that women be freed as much as possible from domestic labour rather than from social labour. Communist and Workers' Parties and all democratic forces are lighting to include women in industrial and socio-political activities on as broad a basis as possible, to create the most auspicious conditions for working women, and to help them function as mothers, workers, and citizens.
The struggle to attain equal economic, social and political rights for women and to eliminate all forms of discrimination is one of the urgent tasks put before the workers' movement in advanced capitalist countries. To improve the __PRINTERS_P_130_COMMENT__ 9---0912 129 socio-economic stains of women workers in conjunction with further developments in .science and technology is to improve the slalns of all workers, for working women are members of working men's families: their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Participation of WomenThe removal of all harriers preventing women from achieving an equal footing with men in government and social activity depends on the successful outcome of the struggle of the working class, and of all working people against all forms of inequality born of capitalism. Women acquire genuine equality only with the aholition of all forms of oppression, i.e., under socialism. But already in capitalist society working women manage considerably to broaden their rights by taking part in the democratic working-class movement, and thus enhance their political awareness and political activity.
The October Socialist Revolution in Russia, which proclaimed and ensured the equality of women and men, played a major role in helping women win political rights. As a result of the upswing in the revolutionary and strike movements and the demonstrations for peace and in support of Soviet Russia women were accorded political rights in a number of capitalist countries. Germany, for instance, introduced universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot at the time of the revolutionary events of 1918 whose chief motive force was the working class. The mass 130 working-class movement which took shape in England in the years of World War I and gained momentum under the impact of the October Revolution in Russia forced the bourgeoisie into making a series of concessions to the working people, including the extension of suffrage to a part of the women (1918).
The working-class and democratic movement in the United States acquired a mass character likewise under the influence of the October Revolution. While coming out in support of Soviet Russia the working people of the USA sought to improve their living standard and win civil liberties. In August 1920, under the pressure of women's organisations the US Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which granted women franchise throughout the country.
That the October Revolution stimulated the women's fight for political rights is borne out by the following fact. In 24 years preceding the Revolution (1893--1917) only six countries promulgated laws according women equal rights while within a single decade of it similar laws were passed in 17 countries.
But the bourgeoisie which was pressured by the working-class and democratic movement to extend suffrage to women at the same time strove to restrict it as much as it could, taking advantage of the inadequate political awareness of a part of the women in its own interests. This trend was manifest in the tactics of the English bourgeoisie. In 1918, suffrage was extended solely to women who owned houses or who were the wives of house owners and then only to those of them who had reached the age of thirty. As a result out of 11 million British women not less than five million, including young women and a large number of __PRINTERS_P_130_COMMENT__ 9* 131 women industrial workers, were not, entitled to vote.
The ruling classes intended to use women voters to further their interests at the forthcoming 1919 general election. It was hoped that the votes of women, who were generally conservative and most of whom were influenced by the Church, would outweigh the votes cast by demobilised soldiers many of whom were dissatisfied with the existing system.
It is noteworthy that the laws granting women political rights on an equal basis with men was passed in England in 1928 shortly after the great strike movement of 1926 which shook the English bourgeois society and forced the ruling class to make fresh concessions to the working people.
Under the impact of the fundamental changes which had taken place in the world after the Second World War---the emergence of the world socialist system and its mounting influence on the international scene, the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism, the development of the world communist, working-class and democratic movement---most capitalist countries and countries which had freed themselves of colonial and imperialist dependence passed laws according women equal rights with men; many women were elected to representative institutions and received high state, administrative, judicial and diplomatic posts.
In its Charter, the UN proclaimed the equality of men and women in all fields of social and political activity as one of its basic objectives. The principle that men and women have equal rights is set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 21), approved by the UN General Assembly, in the International Covenant on 132 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 1952, the UN General Assembly adopted a Convention on the Political Rights of Women proclaiming the right of women to elect and be elected to all elective bodies on an equal basis with men and to hold government posts and fulfil any social and government functions.
The UN Declaration on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women approved by the 22nd UN General Assembly on November 7, 1967 marked a new stage in recognising the equality of women. The Declaration confirmed the women's political rights defined in the 1952 Convention. In 1972, women legally had the same political rights as men in 129 countries. All these gains became possible thanks to the efforts of all progressive forces in the world.
The significance of UN documents relating to women's political rights is not the same in all countries. In some of them they signify the consolidation of the equality of women in political and social activity which they had already won, while in others, where women under the law do not have equal rights with men, they are a programme for the struggle to secure the adoption of corresponding legislation. The important problem currently facing all capitalist countries is that of ensuring the practical implementation of the principles formulated in their constitutions, laws and other state acts, and also in the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women.
Even today in all advanced capitalist countries, in spite of their professed democracy, women in effect do not have equal political rights. The legislation of many countries makes it 133 impossible to assign women to government posls. The Belgian Constitution, for example, reserves the right to "fulfil royal assignments" to men only. Therefore when Belgium ratified the Convention on the Rights of Women, it did so with a reservation to Paragraph 3 (on granting women the same rights as men to hold government posts), saying that Belgian government offices would themselves determine the conditions on which women would be permitted to hold government posts.
In all capitalist countries there is a gap between the formal recognition of the right of women to participate in social and political activity and its implementation, that is to say, the actual influence exerted by women on the solution of their respective country's domestic and foreign policy issues. Women do not participate in the state administration on a broad basis. Only a small number of them, mainly those coming from the propertied classes are appointed to government and administrative posts. This is one more proof of the correctness of Lenin's words: "... wherever there is capitalism, wherever there is private property in land and factories, wherever the power of capital is preserved, the men retain their privileges."^^1^^
The adoption of relevant legislation is merely the first step towards the genuine equality of women. Whether they are able to exercise their equal rights depends directly on the social and political system in their respective countries, the level of democratic development and the progressive social and economic transformations that are actually implemented.
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 30, p. 41.
134There are vast potential opportunities for the participation of women in the general antiimperialist struggle and the international working-class and democratic movement. But serious difficulties stand in their way. A large number of women have only recently joined the labour force; they have no experience of class struggle and public activity and many are politically immature. They are vulnerable to bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology and are strongly influenced by the false notions of their backwardness and inferiority and the belief that social and political activity is none of their business which had been cultivated in them in the course of many centuries. In order to bring up children women often make a long break in their professional activity thus getting out of touch with their labour collectives, their interests and struggle. The lack of low-cost public services, a shortage of pre-school children's institutions, unsatisfactory system of school education and other similar factors make it necessary for working women to carry the doxible burden of professional employment and housework preventing them from taking an active part in social and political life.
And yet women who participate in social labour come to realise its importance for society and acquire an urge to raise their skill and cultural level. They become" interested in social and political activity and come to apprehend the meaning and magnitude of capitalist exploitation to which they are subjected so that eventually they willingly join the struggle against imperialism and monopoly rule. Working women demand an end to discrimination in payment for work, equal civil rights with the men, 135 introduction of maternity protection measures, etc., and participate in the working-class, democratic, anti-monopoly movement.
In spite of diverse factors which make it difficult for women in capitalist countries to participate in political activity, the assertions of bourgeois ideologists about the political passivity of the women are absolutely groundless. According to official data absenteeism among women voters in France, Finland, the FRG and other countries is lower than among the men. But not all women vote for candidates nominated by genuinely democratic parties, which can represent and safeguard their interests, and often cast their votes for representatives of parties whose programmes are an obstacle to their genuine equality. Of the total number of people who voted for the Finnish People's Democratic League in the 1970 elections in Finland only 40 per cent were women; at the same time women accounted for 62 per cent of the votes polled by the Conservative National Coalition Party.
In many countries adult women comprise a slightly larger group of the population than men, making up the majority of the voters. In 1966, women accounted for 51 per cent of the voters in the USA, 53 per cent in France and 55 per cent in the FRG. It follows that the election results largely depend on women voters who are often instrumental in bringing one or another party to power.
Yet, although in many capitalist countries the election results and consequently the composition of representative bodies at all levels depend on women voters, the proportion of elected women deputies ranges from a mere 2 to 7 per 136 cent. For instance, in 1975 women made up 4.7 per cent of the total number of members of the French National Assembly (four out of 482 deputies and seven out of 283 senators) the respective figures were 7 per cent for the FRG's Bundestag and 6 per cent for Belgian Parliament.
In capitalist countries it is much more difficult for women to become members of Parliament than it is for men. As a rule only a very small number of women are nominated for elections to Parliament. In France, for example, of the 3,092 candidates nominated for elections to National Assembly in 1973 only 201 were women. Very often women are nominated candidates in constituencies where they have no chance of being elected. Only eight out of 201 women candidates were elected in the 1973 French general elections, the remaining seats went tothe 476 men out of the 1,994 who had been nominated.
In some capitalist countries the number of women in representative bodies is steadily dwindling. Forty-eight women were elected to the Italian Parliament in 1948, 35 in 1953, 28 in 1958, 32 in 1963, and 29 in 1968 and 1972. In 1946, a total of 39 women deputies were elected to the French National Assembly, 23 in 1951, 9 in 1958, 8 in 1962, 10 in 1967, and 8 in 1973. In 1947, 15,000 women were elected to French municipal councils, 14,000 in 1953, 11,250 in 1959, 11,150 in 1965, and 11,050 in 1971.
The number of women in the US Congress is also declining.
In the US Congress there are only 18 women in the House of Representatives and none in the Senate. In 1970, women held only 318 out 137 of 7,700 posts in Federal and local legislative bodies.
There are several reasons why there are more women in the local organs of power than in the central ones. Inasmuch as local organs in capitalist countries do not determine state policy, which is a realm monopolised by men, women are more freely admitted to these subordinate links of state administration. Another reason is that a much greater number of people are elected to these bodies than to Parliament. In Belgium, France, Switzerland, Great Britain and some other countries women were admitted first to local organs and only afterwards to parliamentary activity. It should be added that women who do not hold high administrative or political posts as a rule, have better chances of being elected where they are domiciled and are consequently better known. In 1975, in France there were 54 women out of 3,200 General Councillors, 671 women out of 37,708 mayors and 5.6 per cent women Municipal Councillors; in Belgium women mayors constituted 1.5 per cent and women Municipal Councillors, 5 per cent; in the FRG the respective figures were provincial councillors, 7 per cent and municipal councillors, 8 per cent.
The broader participation of women in local organs is also due to the fact that their work in them does not require such a high level of political training as parliamentary activity. Since the duties of a municipal councillor are performed on the spot it is easier to combine them with domestic work. Finally, local self-- government organs take up issues directly connected with the everyday life and activity of the women.
138An analysis of data about the activity of local self-government bodies shows that women councillors prefer to work in commissions concerned with issues which are close to their interests. In 1971, seven out of 12 women councillors of the Paris municipal council worked in the aid-- tochildren commission: three in the school commission, two in the housing commission and one in the hygienic commission.
It should also be noted that women are much more active in the local progressive mass organisations than in local self-government bodies.
Women display much greater enthusiasm for work in various public organisations on a local than on a national level. The French sociologist Marie-Therese Renard studied the participation of women in a number of public organisations in 12 French towns of diverse economic and political significance (Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Nancy, Besancon, Quimper, Tours, Chartres, Valence, Sarcelles, St. Briene, St. Nicolas)^^1^^ with populations ranging from 3,600 (St. Nicolas) to 535,784 (Lyons). According to her estimate of the total number of people active in various public organisations, many of which were of a mass nature, women comprised 6.2 per cent of the people working on social security and family allowances boards, 12.1 per cent in low-cost housing administrations, parents' and teachers' organisations, recreation committees, etc., 20.9 per cent in family associations, and 24.9 per cent in the trade unions.
But she did not mention the participation of women in many organisations whose activity _-_-_
~^^1^^ When M. T. Renard conducted her investigations not a single municipal council in these towns was headed by Communists.
139 was closely connected with the life of women (peace-fighters' movement, movement for peace in Vietnam, various women's organisations and others), or in political parties. In these 12 towns women municipal councillors comprised a mere 5 per cent of the total.Formally in the majority of bourgeois states there is no discrimination against women holding high government posts, but in practice they have no chance of getting such appointments. Thus at the end of the 1960s just over 20 women were in executive positions in the US government and diplomatic service. And out of more than 300 high administrative posts in the US Government apparatus only 13 were held by women.
It is extremely difficult for women to enter the legal profession and be appointed to judiciary positions. In Belgium only 52 out of 2,353 magistrates are women and only 63 women lawyers out of a total of 1,290. In the USA in 1969 only eight women held positions of responsibility in the judiciary, two of them working in district courts, one in the customs court and three in the courts of the District of Columbia. Although women account for about 7 per cent of practising lawyers in the United States girl students make up only 4 per cent of the student body at higher law schools.
Today the political rights accorded to women include the right to join political parlies, trade unions and various mass organisations. Women play a prominent part in mass actions in defence of the rights of the working people and in the movements for democracy, peace, social progress and national independence. Working women contribute their share to the anti-monopoly 140 struggle of the working class and democratic forces. They play a bigger part now in the class battles in France, Italy, Britain, the USA, Japan and other capitalist countries. But the working women's activity and fighting capacity which come to the fore at the height of strike battles and political campaigns lack adequate organisation when the movement begins to wane.
The involvement of women in the trade union movement enormously stimulates their activity. But the number of women in trade union associations is still small. In 1960, only one-seventh and in 1965 one-eighth of the total number of working women in the USA were members of the trade unions. Even though the aggravation of class contradictions and the upsurge of the strike movement has led to a certain increase in the inflow of women into the trade unions, they still make up a very small proportion of organised labour. In 1970, an estimated 4,300,000 women were trade union members--- 21 per cent of the total membership---and that in spite of the fact that women accounted for 36.2 per cent of the total employed labour force. This means that of the total of 29,700,000 employed women in the United States in 1970, more than 25,000,000 lacked the security enjoyed by trade union members.
In its Programme the Communist Party of the United States pointed out that "women are virtually excluded from leadership in unions, even where they are a majority. Their struggle for equality, for entry into new fields of gainful occupation, for participation as equal partners at all levels of union leadership and for defense of children, home, family and community is the fight of all labor, it is the fight for labor's unity, 141 for its increased strength against the capitalist enemy".
Appreciating the great significance of the working women's participation in the common struggle against imperialism, trade union organisations standing on positions of class struggle are making a great deal of effort to draw women into the trade unions and get them to play a greater part in the activities of the mass organisations of the working people. A case in point is the French General Confederation of Lahour. In 1972, ils Confederate General Committee included two women and the Administrative Commission twelve; fifty women were executive secretaries of the National Federations of the General Confederation of Labour and were members of their General Committees. For instance, the General Committee of the Metal Workers' Federation included four women, two of whom were executive secretaries. Two hundred women in the General Confederation of Labour were members of the Executive Committees of its Federations and 350 were members of the leadership of departmental unions.
The Confederation's leadership is training women for professional trade union activity. Women participate in drawing up collective agreements, in the work of committees at enterprises and in discussing the working people's demands. They study social and political issues in the system of trade union education organised by the Confederation.
The extension of trade union rights has a beneficial effect on the status and activity of the working women. In France women acquired better opportunities to join in trade union activity following the powerful strike movement 142 which swept across the country in May and June 1968, and as a result of which, the trade unions won the right to carry on their work at enterprises and organise meetings during working hours (from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the number of workers employed at a given enterprise). Women comprised a large portion of the 400,000 people who joined the General Confederation of Labour after the May and June events of 1968. The Confederation organised a mass discussion of issues of vital importance for the working women at meetings, such as the National Conference for the Reduction of the Working Day, National Meeting for Equal Pay, Conference on the Use of Woman Power, Professional Training and the Retraining of Women, etc. The General Confederation of Labour has special commissions working on problems hearing on the labour of women, their status in the family and so forth. Like other trade union associations the Confederation has a woman representative on the Commission on Questions of Female Labour at the Ministry of Labour. Specific problems relating to working women are a matter of constant concern to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). At its Seventh Congress (October 1969), it urged trade unions to increase their efforts to get the urgent demands of the working women satisfied and create conditions enabling women to play a greater part in trade u lion activity and be elected to leading trade union bodies.
In order to help women unite in trade unions, to secure the defence of their interests and to train them for professional trade union activity, the Congress recommended the leading organs of the World Federation of Trade Unions and 143 Trade Union Internationals and national trade union centres to organise research, seminars and conferences on issues connected with the employment of women in industry and their role in social, political and government affairs. The Congress recommended the WFTU Secretariat periodically to convene a consultative trade union committee on prohlems of working women and its working group, and hoped that the WFTU would set up a standing specialised agency to protect the rights of women.
The political domination of the bourgeoisie hinges on what is known as the multi-party system. But when hourgeois parties clash in a "bitter struggle" over secondary issues, particularly during the preparations for and in the course of elections, they in effect pursue one and the same class aims. Upholding as they do private ownership and the interests of monopoly capital, they cannot genuinely act in defence of the interests of the working people in general, and working women in particular. Bourgeois parties want to preserve in various forms the inequality, low cultural level and political passivity of the women in order to impede their participation in the anti-monopoly movement and keep them under their ideological influence.
The bourgeoisie successfully exploits the circumstance that even in advanced capitalist countries there are many working women with a relatively low professional training and cultural level and inadequately developed class consciousness. Through a ramified system of various women's organisations, clubs and benevolent societies, bourgeois ideologists seek to distract them from becoming actively involved in social and political life and to convince them that 144 although women are playing an increasing role in social production, their interests should be coni'med to the homo.
The proportion of women in bourgeois parties is small, between five and ten per cent. In the FRG, in 1972, women comprised 12 per cent of the members of the Christian Democratic Union and 6 per cent of the Christian Social Union. However, taking the mounting political activity of the women and their evolution from a potential into a real force into account, some bourgeois parties endeavour to draw them into their ranks. The following example illustrates this point. In 1908, in the United States women comprised 17 per cent of the delegates to the Republican Party Convention and 13 per cent of the delegates to the Democratic Party Convention whereas in 1972, they made up 30 and 39 per cent respectively.
While canvassing for women's votes the bourgeois parties rarely help women get elected to representative bodies. In the US House of Representatives in 1972, there were only five women out of 247 Democrat members and another five women out of 187 Republican members.
The proportion of women in Social-Democratic parties, just as the number of women socialists, in elected offices is somewhat bigger. Thus women make up 35 per cent of the membership of the Socialist Party of Austria. In the beginning of the 1970s women socialists held 6.3 per cent of the elected posts in all representative bodies of that country, while women members of the Austrian People's Party accounted for 1.7 per cent. In 1972, women made up 22 per cent of the membership of the Social-Democratic Party __PRINTERS_P_145_COMMENT__ 10---0912 145 of Germany (FRG), 20 per cent of the SFIO (France), and from 25 to 30 per cent of the membership of Scandinavian Social-Democratic parties;
Although in their programmes many socialist and Social-Democratic parties demand that the rights of the working women should be protected and support their efforts to have them extended, they do not consistently pursue this line and frequently make concessions to the bourgeoisie.
Only the Communists---the vanguard of the working masses lighting for their vital interests, for peace, democracy and social progress---are waging a determined struggle for the equality of women in social and political life.
Communist Parties in capitalist countries have to overcome many difficulties to get women elected to representative bodies. In 1967, 11 women were elected to the French National Assembly, including four from the French Communist Party (73 deputies), one from the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (116 deputies) and live from the Union for a New Republic (224 deputies).
As they involve women into social and political activity, the Communists set themselves the task of turning them into genuine fighters of the anti-monopoly front and active Party members. Women account for a considerable proportion of the membership of Communist Parties in many developed capitalist countries: 27 per cent in France, 24 per cent in Finland, 21 per cent in Italy, 34 per cent in Great Britain, 33.4 per cent in Denmark, 29.3 per cent in the FRG, and 25 per cent in Sweden.
There are good prospects for conducting work among women in countries where Communist 146 Parties have won strong positions in the local government bodies. The Communist Parties of Italy, Finland and Franco have gained considerable experience in using the local government bodies as links for establishing contact with wide sections of the working people, including women. It is the duty of a democratic municipal council to create conditions which would facilitate the everyday life of women, help them fulfil their maternal and family functions, and to increase their free time.
The Communist and Workers' Parlies are consistent in their efforts to close the gap between the women's role in social production and the extent of their participation in social life, between formal recognition of their political rights and the possibility to exercise them, that is, to actually influence the solution of the country's domestic and foreign policy issues.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Status of the WomenThe important changes modifying the woman's role in society, her increasing involvement in professional and socio-political activity naturally make themselves felt in her status in the family. But in the field of family relations both morality and right have proved to be much more conservative. Deep-rooted traditions, behavioural patterns which are handed down by one generation to another, the example of the parents and religious influences seriously hinder progressive changes in the nature of family relations which have evolved through the centuries. The persisting inequality of women in the economic, __PRINTERS_P_147_COMMENT__ 10* 147 political and cultural fields is even more pronounced in family relations.
The employment of women in low-paid and relatively unskilled jobs, discrimination in payment for work and difficulties inhibiting their promotion also help preserve a situation where the husband remains the head of family and the wife is obliged to submit to his will. The tendency to prepare women chiefly for domestic work which still exists in the system of upbringing and education in the capitalist countries, and the notion that a woman's ideal is a happy marriage and a happy family which is widely advertised in bourgeois literature and mass media likewise keep alive the conservative tradition of restricting the woman's world to her family.
It is indicative that laws granting women political rights were adopted long in advance of legislation repealing the more obvious and humiliating aspects of the woman's dependent status in the family. In some countries women were unable independently to exercise the political rights accorded to them. For example, Irene Joliot-Curie who had been offered the post of Minister of Social Security in the Popular Front Government in 1936 had to present a written consent from her husband in order to occupy it. We could cite many more examples of women whose talent, abilities, and hard work had won them fairly high positions in social life but who had to submit to the humiliating demands of the family code in performing the most elementary daily functions.
The woman's inferior position in the family is rooted in the very nature of bourgeois society. Karl Marx observed in his time that the bourgeoisie had torn away from the family its 148 sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relations to mere money relations. And since over the centuries man has been the central figure in the economic life of capitalist society, the woman has always been in a subordinate position in married life, the weaker partner in the deal. The unequal status of women was glaringly manifest in Code Napoleon, the French Civil Code, which served as a model for legislation passed in some European and Latin American countries and the State of Luisiana in the USA. The original version of Code Napoleon deprived the woman of almost all civil rights; she had to obey the will of her husband in all matters concerning the family, she had no right to dispose of even property that belonged to her prior to marriage and had no say in matters relating to her own children. The husband was in a privileged position even in petitioning for divorce, for the grounds on which he could demand a formal dissolution of marriage could far from always serve as grounds for a woman to obtain a divorce.
The Biirgerliches Gesetzbuch, a German Civil Code, which was adopted almost a century later, legalised the subordinate status of the woman with practically the same degree of harshness. Article 1356 of the Code stipulated that the woman attended to housework and could engage in professional activity only to the extent compatible with her conjugal and family duties.
The unequal status of women in the family was legalised not only in laws governing family relations and rights and duties of a married woman, but also in inheritance laws. In the overwhelming majority of capitalist states the wife as a rule did not inherit the title to the estate if her deceased husband had living 149 relatives even distant ones such as first cousins hoth male and female, and even more remote ones. They inherited the title to the estate while the wife was entitled to a life tenancy of specified types of property (usufruct), an estate, or a sum of money.
As a result of growing employment of female labour, and the involvement of women in social activity, and after a long and bitter struggle, laws began to appear in the 20th century amending the rules which openly relegated the woman to the status of a slave in the family. In 1935, a law was adopted in England with the promising title Tort-feasors and Married Women Act which gave married women formal legal capacity. In 1938, a similar act was passed in France. Laws were adopted which extended women's rights in the fields of inheritance, disposal of property, and exercise of their parental rights, facilitated conditions for obtaining a divorce and ensured their right to engage in professional activity. But this proved to be a fairly long process, particularly in countries with fascist regimes. Italy, for example, only lately began to reform civil and family legislation with the view to abolishing the most odious provisions legalising the women's unequal status in the family.
It should be noted that in no capitalist country does the new legislation on the status of the woman in the family comprise a finished, comprehensive system of statutes ensuring her equality. The laws which are adopted bear upon individual provisions of the civil code, marriage and divorce proceedings and so forth. And inasmuch as these questions are resolved in separate acts, which frequently are 150 inadequately harmonised with each other, there is plenty of latitude for interpreting and applying these laws so that the traditionally established inequality of women is not, affected. Moreover legislation of this sort is not always fully applied and has numerous loopholes. It should likewise be borne in mind that on many issues, precisely those directly connected with everyday life and which in effect determine the atmosphere in the family, the husband as head of the family still has the advantage over his wife.
In all capitalist countries a woman must take her husband's name upon marriage and their children bear their father's name. Under the laws of most capitalist countries the marriage of a woman to a foreigner deprives her of her citizenship and she automatically becomes a citizen of her husband's country. The official domicile of a wife is that of her husband, who has the right to choose it. And the fact that a married woman is compelled to submit to her husband's choice vividly illustrates her unequal status in the family. Article 215 of the French Civil Code says that a woman may have the right to have a separate domicile for herself and her children which is granted by the court only in the exceptional case where the domicile chosen by her husband represents a physical or moral danger to the family.
The question of selecting a domicile is linked with another, very important question of cohabitation. In all capitalist countries man and wife must live together. This is their conjugal duty as determined by the law. But violation of this duty does not have the same implications for each of the spouses. Under the Italian Civil Code (Article 147), for example, the wife forfeits the 151 right to maintenance and is deprived of her personal property acquired prior to her marriage if she leaves the matrimonial home without reasonable cause and refuses to return to it. Rut these sanctions are not applied to the husband for the same offense. Under the Common Law as it existed in England up to the turn of the century, desertion a wife was sufficient grounds not only for demanding her forcible return, but also for instituting legal proceedings against people preventing her from doing so, thus depriving the husband of her services. In some cases suits were instituted for monetary compensation for the loss of these services. Today such suits, which are justly regarded in juridical literature as survivals of the old view regarding the wife as the property of her husband, are not satisfied. But refusal to live together with the husband is sufficient ground for the latler not to provide maintenance^
One of the most vivid manifestations of the married woman's inferior status is her restricted legal capacity. Up to the middle of the 20th century, underage, mentally ill and married women had no legal capacity under the civil law. After marriage a woman found herself in the same position as juveniles and the insane. Individual legal systems substantiated this in different ways but the result was always the same.
In countries which had adopted many provisions of the French Civil Code and the German Civil Code married woman was deprived of legal capacity because the husband was the head of the family- and as such was responsible for her property status, while the wife's duty was to look after the house. In England and other countries practising Common Law, this 152 was justified by the fact that husband and wife were regarded as a single subject of the law. Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England which are still quoted in legal practice state: "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband__" Thus the transformation of husband and wife into a single subject of the law as a result of their marriage in effect deprived the woman of her rights and transferred them to her husband.
The legal incapacitation of the married woman meant that she could not dispose of her property even that which belonged to her prior to marriage, to transact business, file suits and speak in court. She could not accept gifts, receive inheritance and so forth without the consent of her husband.
In the middle of the 1930s a number of capitalist countries revoked the most odious statutes which incapacitated married women. But to this day their legal capacity is considerably restricted owing to the entire pattern of the bourgeois family, and the property relations within it. That is why even though the laws relating to the legal capacity of women, which have been adopted in recent decades, are definitely a gain of the progressive forces, they frequently have little effect on the family and on the status of women in it.
Moreover, the legal capacity of women in some capitalist countries and in many states in the USA is still considerably restricted. In almost all states a married woman cannot enter into binding contracts in her own name, and can 153 neither mortgage nor alienate real estate without her husband's consent. In some states (Florida and Luisiana) a woman has the right independently to exercise certain civil and procedural rights in keeping with the corresponding rulings of the court or administrative bodies. Furthermore, there are states in which laws granting women partial legal capacity are given a restrictive interpretation.
The question of legal capacity is a matter of considerable importance because it concerns everyday life and actions. The fact that a married woman may act solely with the consent of her husband not only makes life difficult but also demeans her and leads to family conflicts. Such a humiliating position causes the greatest pain to women active in social life and who therefore are unable to reconcile themselves to what their forebears regarded as a natural state of affairs.
The question of whether or not a married woman has the right to take up a job or engage in professional activity is of crucial importance in determining a woman's status in the family. This question has been and continues to be in the centre of an acute controversy in many capitalist states. Until a few decades ago it was stipulated in the laws of a number of countries (or accepted in the legal practice of others) that a woman could seek employment or engage in professional activity only with her husband's consent. This statute clashed with the new times, when more and more women were employed in industry and their participation in political and public life steadily increased. Only recently, as a result of gradual reforms, recognition, though partial, was extended to the woman's right to work in her chosen field and engage 154 in professional activity. The law passed in France on July 13, 1965 stipulated that women have the right to engage in professional activity without their husbands' consent and, in connection jvith this activity, conduct all sort of business and assume commitments with regard to their personal property. But even after such a definitive act the right of women to take part in professional activity is not unconditional. It has been noted in legal literature that such activity if conducted without the consent of the husband may be interpreted as violation of conjugal duties and detrimental to the interests of the family, as envisaged in Article 232 of the French Civil Code.
The upbringing of children occupies a very large place in the life of a family. Bourgeois legislation on this issue still gives preference to the father. Until they become of age children are subject to parental authority and are obliged to abide by the decisions of a person endowed with such authority, i.e., the father.
The original text of the French Civil Code stipulated that parental authority belonged to the father as the head of the family. The law of July 23, 1942 amended this provision. The new text states that parental authority belongs to both the father and the mother and that for the duration of the marriage parental authority is exercised by the father as the head of the family. But changes in the wording did not alter the substance. The law established cases where the mother acquires the right to exercise parental authority. But this provision applies in exceptional circumstances connected, as a rule, with the father's inability, due to specific reasons, to exercise this authority.
155There is a similar provision in the Italian Civil Code. An underage son or daughter can leave the parental home only with the consent of the father and only the father can bring him or her back if they had left the home without permission. The father can appeal to the judge if his son or daughter misbehaves and demand that he or she be committed to a reform school. The father has the final word in deciding the future of his children: whether they will go to work or continue studying, their future vocation, and so forth. Thus, all matters connected with the future of the children the mother is obliged to submit to the decision taken by the father.
Property relations also occupy an important part in the life of a family. In this field the woman's subordinate position in the capitalist world, even if she is a member of the ruling class, makes itself felt with particular force. The system of matrimonial property is established either by law or by contract. In Common Law countries the system established by the law predominates. In France, Belgium, Italy and some other countries contractual rights in property play a very important role. In the latter case property relations are finalised in a marriage contract and often the families of the future man and wife are parties to it.
In France, for instance, there are several types of arrangements concerning matrimonial property. Under the marriage contract the spouses may own in common the property which each had on marriage and property acquired during wedlock. They may also have community of property acquired during marriage while each retaining what he or she had on marriage. The 156 contract may provide for separate rights in property, community of property may be envisaged for parts or types of property, or different systems may be applied in respect of real estate and movables, etc. All these regulations are designed to prevent the husband from squandering property his wife had on marriage but not to ensure the right of the wife to dispose of her property at will. Even when a marriage contract contains a clause providing for separate properly, the wife is not entitled to administer her properly or receive income from it, for all income is regarded as belonging to the husband and goes to pay for family expenses.
The right of women to dispose of her income and also, but to a limited extent, to dispose of property which was in her possession on marriage, has been recognised only lately.
The disposal of a woman's dowery is also subject to special regulations. Dowery is that part of property which is designated in the marriage contract and which can be presented either by the future wife or by her parents or any third party. Under French and Italian laws real property which forms a part of the dowery remains in the possession of the wife, while the part consisting of movables and money is transferred to the husband. In keeping with marriage contracts a husband has the right to dispose of a part or certain items of movable property in the capacity of his wife's ``debtor''. In the event of a dissolution of marriage an equivalent part is returned to the wife. But even so the wife's interests are affected, for the husband has to return the same sum of money which had been handed over to him and other items of property according to the appraisal 157 at the time of the marriage. As a result of the inflationary processes going on in capitalist economy over the past several decades, the actual value which is returned to the wife is incomparably smaller than what the husband had received in his time.
The fact thai the husband alone is legally empowered to administer his wife's dowery as long as the marriage lasts is another instance of the violation of the lattcr's interests. True, under the law a marriage contract may include a clause entitling the wife to use a part of the income from property for her personal expenses. In view of the fact that many women are being drawn into labour activity and have their own earnings, marriage contracts and some statutes on marriage do not envisage that the husband alone is entitled to administer all property. But this applies only to the right of the woman to dispose of her personal earnings. The right of the husband to dispose of matrimonial property arid, his wife's dowery usually remains unaffected.
In Common Law capitalist countries, and in Scandinavian and some other countries separate property is the rule. Whatever each of the spouses earns, purchases or acquires during marriage is regarded as his or her property. To all appearances this is a fair arrangement ostensibly placing man and wife in an equal position. In actual fact, however, the system of separate property often places the woman in virtual bondage. The burden of housework which rests on her shoulders, care for the husband and child upbringing are not recognised as entitling her to a share in matrimonial property so that a woman who devotes all her time and 158 strength to taking care of the family is actually deprived of all rights in property.
Courts in England and some US states have made exceptions in cases when there were special agreements between the spouses under which the wife assisted the husband in his professional activity and was entitled to a certain portion of the earnings for her services. In England, moreover, the property which a wife acquired out of money saved from the sum she received from her husband to run the household was held to be their common property. This was legalised in the 1964 Matrimonial Property Law on the married woman's rights in property.
Changes have also been introduced in the law concerning the house in which the family lived. There have been cases in judicial practice when courts, regardless of who owned the house, allowed the other spouse to reside in it. In one case the court formulated this principle as follows: "It is the husband's duty to provide his wife with the roof over her head and the children, too. So long as the wife behaves herself, she is entitled to remain in the matrimonial home.... If he should seek to get rid of her, the Court will restrain him. If he should succeed in making her go, the Court will restore her. In an extreme case, if his conduct is so outrageous as to make it impossible for them to live together, the Court will order him to go out and leave her there.''
Later, under the 1970 law, which came into force on January 1, 1971, the court received the right to decide who will continue to live in the house and also, provided there are special grounds, to recognise the wife's right to a portion of the property acquired by the spouses. 159 In these cases the court in effect is not bound to follow any statutes and a great deal depends on its approach to the matter.
Judicial practice and new legislation relating to matrimonial property in England are but a weak attempt to protect the wife's interests. A wife can continue to live in the house so long as she behaves properly, while her husband can be evicted only if guilty of outrageous behaviour. The difference in the approach to the question is obvious.
Legislation establishing grounds for divorce shed much light on the actual status of the woman in the family. The question of divorce is especially important for women, for due to his dominating position in the family it is more easier for the husband to find grounds for the legal dissolution of marriage. Moreover, for a long period of time the law enabled the husband to obtain a dissolution of marriage on grounds which were not available to women. In France, for instance, the right of the husband to obtain a divorce on grounds of adultery is fixed in Article 229 of the Civil Code, and the right of the wife to obtain a divorce on similar grounds is set forth separately in Article 230. The inclusion of these rights in two different articles is explained by the fact that in the original text of the Civil Code (and this provision remained in force throughout the 19th century) the husband could sue for divorce irrespective of the place where his wife committed adultery, but a wife could do so only if her husband had committed it in their matrimonial home. Insofar as the grounds were different they were fixed in different articles. Italian law contained similar statutes right up to 1968. A husband's infidelity 160 was not regarded as reason for the separation of the spouses, while a wife's infidelity was not only grounds for terminating cohabitation but also a criminal offense. A husband could be brought to court on criminal charges only if he kept his mistress in the home which he shared with his wife.
By Common Law divorce may be granted if one of the spouses is found guilty of violating conjugal duties. Legislation in the overwhelming majority of capitalist countries specifies grounds for the legal dissolution of marriage. The French Civil Code recognises adultery and also the sentencing of one of the spouses to strict legal punishment (usually a long prison term) as grounds for divorce. Moreover, Article 232 stipulates that a court may grant divorce on the grounds of cruelty, beatings and insulting behaviour on the part of one of the spouses, provided these offenses constitute a gross violation of family duties and make further cohabitation impossible.
Prior to the law of 1969 the following were grounds for divorce in England: adultery, cruelty desertion of the family for a long period (not less than two years) and living apart for a considerable length of time.
In the United States grounds for divorce are fixed by state laws and here we have a very motley picture. In some states there are no grounds for divorce, in others it is obtained with exceptional ease. There are states where marriages are legally dissolved when a husband does not provide sufficient maintenance for his wife. In others habitual drunkeness on the part of the wife, but not on the part of the husband is regarded as grounds for divorce. In Kentucky, __PRINTERS_P_161_COMMENT__ 11---0912 161 for instance, a legal dissolution of marriage may be obtained on the ground of the wife's matrimonial offences even though no proof of her guilt is necessary.
The establishment in the law and judicial practice of specific grounds for divorce calls for proof of the facts. The court must have proof of adultery, beatings, mutually insulting behaviour, etc. As a result, the investigation of a family's intimate life turns divorce proceedings in bourgeois courts into one of the most revolting spectacles in the life of society. The need to furnish proof of such facts has turned perjury, private investigations and blackmail into a flourishing business.
Not infrequently a husband and a wife whose family had long fallen apart prefer not to petition for a legal dissolution of marriage to avoid being subjected to the humiliating court proceedings. This leads to dire consequences for the spouses, who are in fact living apart, and for the children born of their marriages.
The example of the socialist countries in which there are no formal grounds for divorce and divorce is granted only when it is clear that there is no chance to preserve the family, and where the court never intrudes into the intimate relations of the spouses, shows how it is possible to approach the problem of divorce in a way that combines society's concern for preserving the family with high respect for the personality.
Evidently it was the force of this example that accounted for the fact that Article 1 of the new English Law on Divorce of 1969 almost word for word repeats the corresponding article of the Fundamentals of Legislation on Marriage and 162 the Family of the USSR and the Union Republics. It stipulates that a person can petition for divorce only if there is evidence that the marriage has in effect broken down and that the union cannot be restored. Yet ensuing articles state that specific circumstances are regarded as proof of the fact that the union has been disrupted and cannot be restored. Then follows a list of what are in effect the same old grounds for divorce: adultery, cruelty and long desertion. And so people seeking divorce have to go through the same humiliating proceedings of a divorce suit. Of course recognition of the factual termination of marriage and the impossibility of restoring it as the sole ground for divorce, and the transformation of the former grounds into that of facts proving the impossibility of restoring the marriage is a shift in emphasis that orients the courts towards displaying a more circumspect approach to the parties concerned, but it is still a very small step in the right direction.
Thus far we have dwelt only on the legal dissolution of a civil marriage, but things are much more difficult in countries where the state is not separated from the church and where most marriages are solemnised before a clergyman. The tragic consequences caused by the complete ban on divorce in Italy are well known. The question of divorce was the focal point of a long and bitter struggle. Tragedies seared thousands of men and women who had long been alienated from each other but were held married and whose lasting ties with other people were not recognised by the law. Children born into a well-knit, good family lived under the constant threat that under the law complete strangers "the lawful husband of the mother,'' or "the lawful __PRINTERS_P_163_COMMENT__ 11* 163 wife of the father" could take them away from their parents.
A divorce bill was finally adopted in 1972 after very lengthy debates. Under it divorce may be granted on the following grounds: if one of the spouses had been sentenced to exile or a long term of imprisonment; attempt on the life of one spouse by the other; factual termination of marriage for 5-7 years; insanity of one of the spouses in view of which marital relationship is precluded; the adoption by one of the spouses of foreign citizenship and his or her legal dissolution of the former marriage and marriage to another person according to the law of another country. Apart from making things much easier for thousands upon thousands of people, this act is also an important step on the way to purging legislation and judicial practice of medieval survivals and is definitely a victory of the secular forces over the reactionaries and the clergy.
In Italy and in other countries, where only religious marriages are considered valid, the attitude to divorce of the country's major religion is important. This is a particularly acute issue in countries with a predominantly Catholic population since, as a rule, the Catholic Church does not recognise divorce. It was none other than the church which insisted on holding a referendum on divorce in Italy in 1974, and which resulted in a complete defeat of the clericals.
The French Civil Code and the Common Law rule that a court's decree on legal separation may be obtained by man and wife whose religious marriage cannot be dissolved by the church. In such cases the wife has the right to determine 164 her new residence; the spouses' property may be divided; and the wife is granted the right to transact all necessary business connected with the administration of her share of the property. But the spouses who have in fact severed all mutual bonds are still considered man and wife and cannot marry a second time. And even where a civil marriage has been legally dissolved the law (Art. 228) allows a woman to marry only 300 days following the termination of her earlier marriage, a restriction which does not apply to men. In keeping with Article 340 of the Italian Civil Code, a widow who wishes to marry must inform the court and the latter may set her definite conditions concerning the upbringing of her children.
In the light of the above it becomes clear that the increasing involvement of women in economic and cultural activity leads to definite changes in their family status.
But the legislation and implementation of their rights in the family lag far behind the demands posed by life itself.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ The Part Played by WomenIn our day and age working women in capitalist countries constitute an inalienable part of the anti-monopoly, anti-imperialist movement. The example of the socialist countries where the 165 equal rights of women^have been guaranteed and conditions enabling them to exercise these rights created inspire women in capitalist countries to intensify the struggle for their economic, social and political rights. This struggle is developing in the difficult conditions of state-monopoly capitalism.
``State-monopoly development,'' states the Resolution of the 24th Congress of the CPSU on the Report of the CPSU Central Committee, "results in an aggravation of all the contradictions of capitalism, and in a rise of the antimonopoly struggle. The leading force in this struggle is the working class, which is increasingly becoming a force rallying all the working sections of the population. The large-scale actions by the working class and the working masses herald fresh 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."^^1^^
Working women who together with the other working-class people are coming out in defence of their economic rights, for peace and international detente, for democracy and social progress constitute the leading force of the democratic women's movement in advanced capitalist counries with specific features stemming from the historical development, cultural traditions and present-day economic and political situation of each country.
Western Europe occupies a place of its own in the world working-class and general democratic movement owing to the historical role of the working class and working women of the West _-_-_
~^^1^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1971, pp. 214--15. 166
166 European countries in the revolutionary and mass democratic movements on the continent in modern and contemporary history. The West European proletariat has a developed class consciousness, and long-standing fighting traditions accumulated in the course of class battles.The working-class and mass democratic movement in West European countries has covered a long and arduous path and the part women have played in it can hardly be overestimated. In this connection it is appropriate to recall the names of some glorious women of the French Revolution of 1789, among them Olympe de Gouge, author of the Declaration of the Rights of the Woman and Citizen, and the actress Theroigne de Mericourt. The latter was prominent chiefly in the first stage of the revolution, while Claire Lacombe, Lucile Desmoulins, and Elisabeth Lebas are connected with its Jacobinic period. They were ordinary French women who shared the ideas of the extreme Left-wing political movements.
In the 19th century the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie unfolded chiefly in Europe's industrial countries. Women fought on the barricades of the 1848 Revolution in France, Germany and Austro-Hungary. The women's movement of that period began to acquire a class character because capitalist production could not develop without the exploitation of women workers.
Having become cognisant of their class interests, women began to establish their first workers' organisations. In France, for example, they set it]) a number of trade unions in that period. Women played their part in the Risorgimento, a liberation movement in Italy in the middle of 167 the 19th century which was of a bourgeois democratic character and was aimed at unifying and liberating feudal Italy. The dauntless Anita, friend and associate of the legendary Giuseppe Garibaldi, lost her life fighting fearlessly for the freedom and independence of the Italian people.
Working women who fought selflessly to safeguard the gains of the Paris Commune in 1871 inscribed a vivid page into the history of the international working-class movement. Women's committees which played an important role during the rule of the world's first workers' government were headed not only by French women such as the teacher Louise Michel, but also by many foreign revolutionaries, including Russian women Y. L. Dmitrieva, A. V. KorvinKrukovskaya, Y. G. Barteneva and others.
The women's movement in the European countries received great impetus from the Great October Socialist Revolution. Working women from France, England, Germany, Italy, Norway and other European countries took part in defending the world's first socialist state against the aggression of foreign interventionists.
Many women perished in the grim and unequal fight for the victory of the proletarian revolutions in Germany and Hungary. V. I. Lenin spoke very highly of the outstanding German Communist Rosa Luxemburg who together with Karl Liebknecht gave her life for the cause of the socialist revolution. "...She was---and remains for us---an eagle. And not only will Communists all over the world cherish her memory, but her biography and her complete works ... will serve as useful manuals for training many generations of Communists all over the world."^^1^^
_-_-_~^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 210.
168Aware of the threat inherent in fascism which was rearing its head in some European countries in the 1930s, progressive women joined the antifascist struggle in an effort to prevent the reactionary forces from coming to power. The World Congress of Women held in Paris in August 1934 set up the International Women's Committee Against War and Fascism. More than a thousand women---workers, housewives, intellectuals, office employees, peasants, businesswomen, students, women with and without party affiliations---took part in its work. They represented the broad united front of women fighting against fascism and war. Support for the Congress was expressed by such prominent personalities as Maxim Gorky, Henri Barhusse, Remain Rolland and Paul Langevin.
The Congress called upon the women of all countries to come out against fascism and war, support the liberation struggle of the colonial and oppressed peoples, uphold democratic freedoms and fight for the complete emancipation of women.
The International Women's Committee worked hard to draw women of all ages with the most diverse political and religious convictions into the common struggle in support of republican Spain, and the fight against fascism both in Germany and elsewhere. On its initiative the first women's delegations were sent to the USSR to establish contacts with Soviet women.
The International Women's Committee which functioned until September 1939 was something in the nature of a training centre for women who played an active part in the Resistance and later in the peace fighters' movement and the democratic women's movement.
169In the period from 1930 to 1939 women antifascists in European countries joined the International Brigade which fought on the side of the Spanish Republic in its war against fascist aggression. The glorious daughters of the Spanish people headed by the legendary Passionaria--- Dolores Ibarruri---with the support of women from other countries were in the vanguard of the fighters against the Franco regime and German fascism.
During the Second World War working people led by Communist Parties mounted an antifascist Resistance movement in the occupied countries not only to win national liberation, but also to attain the social emancipation of the working people in countries such as France and Italy. Women took part in this movement together with men. They joined partisan detachments, became messengers, nurses, scouts, supplied the partisans with food and medicines, sheltered the wounded and fugitives from fascist concentration camps. Women employed at factories took part in organising and carrying out acts of sabotage which crippled the output of production intended for the fascists.
In the course of the Second World War hundreds of thousands of women in European countries lost their lives in battles against the occupying forces or perished in fascist jails and concentration camps. The world will never forget the names of Danielle Casanova, Berthie Albrecht of France, Juliette Herman and Gilbert Voorms of Belgium, Elektra Apostolu and Lilli Koula of Greece, Maria Teresa Gulacci, Irma Bandiera, Anna Maria Enriquez of Italy and many other women who died for the freedom and happiness of their peoples.
170The forces of democracy and peace with the Soviet Union in the lead achieved a world historic victory over the forces of reaction and war; nazi Germany capitulated on May 8, 1945. Men and women, with the tragic lessons of the past fresh in their minds, pledged to do everything in their power to prevent a repetition of fascism's horrible crimes. In 1945 women, former inmates of nazi concentration camps and heroines of the Resistance, appealed to the women of the world to unite against oppression, poverty and war, and build a future where progress, freedom, justice and peace would reign.
The cohesion of women's democratic forces in the Second World W"ar became the basis for their unification on an international scale in the postwar period. As early as the end of 1945 women's democratic organisations, which subsequently united in the Women's International Democratic Federation, were established in some WTest European countries on the basis of antifascist women's committees and groups. They were the Union of Belgian Women (now Association of Belgian Women for Peace and Welfare), the All-Greek Federation of Women, the Union of Spanish Women, the Union of Italian Women, the Union of the Women of Luxemburg, the Union of French Women and other organisations which consistently pursue the course which had been charted in the years of the Second World War.
As they fought against fascism and for the social emancipation of the working people in the period of the Resistance, the women of WTest European countries at the same time fought for genuinely democratic constitutions ensuring 171 women equal rights with the men. And this struggle yielded results. Many of the democratic rights and freedoms now enjoyed by working women in West European countries were won precisely in the course of the anti-fascist struggle which was led by Communist and Workers' Parties.
The main problems now facing the working women in West European countries are of a socioeconomic nature: full employment of women, creation of conditions for women to receive general and vocational education in keeping with the requirements of the scientific and technological revolution, equal pay for equal work, reduction of working time, effective labour and mother-and-child protection, assistance in child upbringing, creation of requisite conditions enabling women to combine professional activity with their family duties. The community of the demands put forward by West European women in defence of their vital interests is due to the similarity of the conditions in which the women's movement is developing in their countries although each of them has its specific problems.
In Britain there has been a considerable increase in the scope of the movement to end wage discrimination against women. A vivid demonstration of their resolve to win their cause was the strike of women employed at the Ford factories in June 1968. The reason for the strike was that their tariff rates were 85 per cent of the men's and that the factory management employed a lower grade scale for women workers. The strike was officially supported by the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers and the National Union of Vehicle Builders. Secretary 172 of State for Employment and Productivity Barbara Castle appointed a commission of inquiry. For the first time in Britain's history the demand for equal pay for equal work developed into a national issue.
As a result of the strike an agreement was reached at the Ford factories to have the tariff rates for women raised from 85 to 92 per cent of that of the men. But the struggle for equal wages continued. There were strikes at three Rolls-Royce factories which ended when the women's tariff rates were raised from 75 to 83 per cent of that of the men. After that there was a strike of women workers of the Brook Motors in Yorkshire, and they too, had their wages increased by 27 shillings a week.
With the participation of 50 women's organisations the British Human Rights Committee convened a conference to discuss equality in payment for work. It adopted a resolution which not only touched upon women's wages but also other questions, including greater opportunities to receive vocational training, the establishment of social insurance for housewives, abolition of discrimination against women in the field of civil rights and other issues.
The campaign for equal pay for equal work developed into a struggle to end all and any discrimination against women. In June 1973, several hundred women on behalf of a large number of organisations in Britain in letters to the Prime Minister demanded the adoption of legislation outlawing any discrimination against women without which the law on equal pay would be nothing but fiction.
In the FRG women become the first victims of mass dismissals in industrial enterprises and 173 firms. At the end of 1973 the women's committee of the workers of the chemical, paper and ceramics industry representing more than 110,000 working women launched a campaign in protest against the arbitrariness of the monopolies and continuously rising prices and for better working conditions. In many towns women came out in protest against the hoisting of prices on meat and meat products. In Dortmund, Duisburg, Diisseldorf and other towns housewives boycotted some shops for their exorbitant prices and thus drew the attention of the public to the matter.
The general trend in Belgium in the past few years has been the folding up of the national economy and its growing dependence on foreign capital, and dismissal of workers, particularly women, who as a rule are employed in unskilled and auxiliary jobs. The struggle to end discrimination against women in getting jobs and their inequality in wages and for the provision of adequate opportunities for women to receive professional training is on the agenda of the working-class and women's movement in Belgium, which has been on the rise since the 12-week strike of women workers at munitions factories in Herstal in 1966. At the time they established a strike committee and with the support of the trade unions got the administration to comply with their demands. Many women's organisations in the south of Belgium and Flanders joined the committee which is functioning to this day. It concentrates on fighting discrimination against women and for the extension of their participation in the country's political and social affairs. In the vanguard of the struggle for women's rights are members of the Belgium Front for the Emancipation of Women and the mass 174 women's organisation Alliance of Belgian Women for Peace and Welfare which is a member of the Women's International Democratic Federation.
In France working women have always displayed militancy and at times genuine heroism in the fight against the monopolies and for the extension of the democratic freedoms of the working class. Three of the eight people who were killed by the police during the anti-fascist demonstration on February 8, 1962 were women, members of the General Confederation of Labour.
Launched in 1965 by the Communist Party, trade union and women's organisations, the campaign for a 40-hour working week for women, with two days off and no cut in pay was conducted with the extensive support of French women. The working people enthusiastically welcomed the slogan "Give women time to live!" Under the impact of this movement collective agreements envisaging gradual reduction of the working week for women first with a partial and then full compensation for the working hours, have been signed at a fairly large number of enterprises.
Backed by the working men, the working women of France are fighting against rising prices, unemployment and for better working conditions. At the end of 1973, workers at Renault factory in Le Mans stopped work for 90--120 minutes on several occasions in support of demands to put an end to discrimination against women. On their part women took an active part in the march on Besancon, a demonstration of a hundred thousand people in support of the demands of the workers and office employees of the Lip watch factory who over a period of several months fought against 175 the closure of the factory and mass layoffs, better working conditions and higher wages.
A prominent role in mobilising French women to fight for their rights is played by the Union of French Women, a mass democratic organisation. Working in concert with the General Confederation of Labour and other progressive organisations it consistently upholds demands for lower taxes and prices on consumer goods, introduction of a sliding wage scale, increase in family allowances, full employment of women, fair remuneration and labour protection for women.
Signed in 1972 by Communists, socialists and Left-wing radicals the agreement on the joint Programme for a Democratic Government of Popular Unity states that the democratic government will create conditions enabling women to advance in their work and will promote the participation of women in the country's economic, social, cultural and political life. For this purpose steps will be taken to accord and guarantee women equal rights in pay, professional training and employment. In view of the twofold social function of working mothers, the Programme envisages a reduction of their working time, extension of the system of public services and children's institutions and also special measures such as the lengthening of maternity leave to 16 weeks with full pay, paid leave for mothers to care for a sick child and so forth.
In Italy, too, the postwar period has been marked by an upsurge of the anti-monopoly struggle in which the working women and the entire Italian working class achieved considerable gains. Experience shows that unity of action is of decisive importance for the victory 176 of the working women. A concrete example of this unity is the cooperation of women's organisations of the most diverse trends. On the initiative of the Union of Italian Women a Committee for Equal Pay embracing a number of women's organisations was set up.^^1^^ Eventually this Committee became a permanent agency to coordinate and guide the joint struggle of women's organisations in Italy for the emancipation of women, full employment of women, creation of conditions for their vocational education, assistance to working mothers, institution of a pension scheme for housewives, admittance of women to government service and various professions from which they had been barred, the inclusion of more women into the lists of candidates nominated for election, etc.
Thanks to their effective cooperation and unity, women's organisations in Italy have made considerable headway in narrowing the wage gap between them and men. In some cases they even managed to win equal pay with men and achieved the adoption of laws prohibiting the dismissal of women in the event of their marrying, allowing them to work in courts for juvenile criminals, on the protection of the labour of people who work at home, on admitting women to responsible posts in judicial organs, government offices and the diplomatic service and a law on the grounds for divorce.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Italian Alliance of Women, Association of Jewish Women, National Association of Women Voters, National Association of Medical Nurses, Italian Federation of Women of the Legal Profession, Union of Women of the Legal Profession, Italian Federation of Women with a Higher Education, Christian Union of Girls, National Women's Union of Milan, Union of Italian Women, etc.
__PRINTERS_P_177_COMMENT__ 12--0912 177The women of Italy demonstrated a high level of consciousness in the May 12, 1974 Referendum which was to determine the fate of the already adopted law on the grounds for divorce. If this law had been revoked, which the most reactionary elements hoped to achieve, it would have meant a return to the old, outmoded morality. Women who constituted the majority of the electorate voted in favour of the law.
The women's organisations of Italy are fighting for women's rights in close contact with various trade unions^^1^^ which also act in a single front in the struggle for the interests of the women.
The main objective of the movement for the emancipation of women in Italy, as Communist Senator Marisa Rodano declared at the Eighth Congress of the Union of Italian Women which took place from November 1 to 3, 1968 in Rome is "full, free and competent inclusion of female labour into the modern production process, in other words, the implementation of the right of women to work''. Priority which is being given to this problem is due to the fact that as a result of a considerable fall in production in Italy there has been a sharp decline in female employment. Unemployed women provide a permanent source of unskilled labour power for the monopolies which use them to sustain favourable market conditions and intensify the exploitation of the working people. Therefore the struggle for full employment of female labour is an important aspect of both the economic and sociopolitical struggle against capitalism.
_-_-_~^^1^^ Italian General Confederation of Labour, Italian Labour Alliance, and Italian Confederation of Working People's Trade Unions.
178The active involvement of increasing numbers of women in the struggle for social progress formed a notable feature of the internal political situation within the United States of America during the 1960s and 1970s. Together with other radical democratic movements, the women's movement emerged as the result of the intensification of American imperialism's fundamental contradictions.
From the mid-1960s, the fight of women for equal rights and the elimination of all forms of discrimination took on the proportions of a mass movement. An important indication of the growing role of women in the struggle for essential rights is the part they are taking in the workers' and, above all, the strike movement. Women participated in the long struggle of the California:! agricultural workers between 1965 and 1970, in the strike by "General Electric' workers in 1969 and in mass action taken by civil servants, teachers, shop assistants, etc Their demands included equal pay for equal work, equal opportunities for promotion, the introduction of essential measures to protect mothers and the establishment of a network of pro-school children's centres, financed by the government. The actions of women workers demonstrate their determination to attain equality in the field of labour relations.
However, the women's struggle would have been more effective had their militancy met with matching support from labour union organisations. But the reactionary leadership of the country's largest trade union association, the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), has shown an utter disregard of the needs of working women. __PRINTERS_P_179_COMMENT__ 12* 179 Throughout the history of the Federation, nol one woman has been elected to its Executive Committee. At the 8th Congress of the AFL-CIO in 1969 only 18 of the 894 delegates were women, although some 90 per cent of women trade unionists belong to this organisation. The leadership of national and international trade unions includes only an insignificant number of women. At the end of the 1960s there were a total of 24 women among the country's 1,200 labour union leaders.
Special resolutions are adopted at every AFLCIO Congress demanding equality of women in the labour market and indicating the necessity for broader involvement of women workers in trade union activity. However, no practical steps to implement these resolutions are taken by the Federation. As a result, American women have to fight on two fronts: in society, for recognition of their right to fill any job, and in the trade unions, for the right to equal participation with men in union activities.
Many trade union organisations do not regard defence of the rights of working women as their function. In concluding collective agreements their leaders do not demand recognition of the principle of equal pay, the creation of adequate working conditions for women or the adoption of measures to protect mothers. The conclusion of separate collective agreements for men and women, with the resultant wage-rate differentials and limitations on the employment of women is still sometimes practised.
In face of this situation in the mass workers' organisations, American women are forced to conduct a determined struggle to bring about changes in the attitude taken by the majority of unions towards the protection of their rights. 180 Clear and positive changes in this area have taken place in the 1970s. The demand for equal participation of women in trade unions and similar organisations occupied a prominent place on the agenda of a conference of rank-and-file American trade unionists, which was held, contrary to the desires of the AFL-CIO leadership, in Chicago in June, 1970. The conference approved a special resolution on equal rights for women in the field of labour relations and also expressed itself in favour of equal opportunities for women in employment, promotion and vocational training, six-months' maternity leave with retention of seniority and full pay and of the establishment throughout the country of public children's centres. The resolution laid special emphasis on the necessity for giving women the right to hold any labour union position.
Creation of the Coalition of Women Trade Unionists marked an important new step towards organising American women workers in the struggle for equal rights. At its conference held in Chicago in March, 1974, 3,000 delegates representing 58 industrial unions called upon all trade unions in the country to redouble their efforts to draw working women into the ranks of the organised labour movement. Participants in the meeting emphasised that unions must undertake practical measures to ensure that equality in pay, hiring practices, grading of workers and promotion became a reality.
Various American women's organisations are taking part in the struggle to implement the right to work free of any discrimination, eliminate barriers in political and civic life and upgrade the role of women in society.
181The women's movement in the USA has longstanding traditions. Many women's organisations were formed in the last century and have, in the intervening period, accumulated valuable experience in working with women from different sections of society. The general upsurge in the struggle of women has led to the birth of a number of organisations whose recent emergence has not prevented them from exercising a definite influence and authority. More than 100 different women's organisations are presently functioning in the country, with individual memberships ranging from a few dozen to several million people. The political spectrum covered by women's organisations is also wide, extending from extreme right to democratic ones.
Characteristic of the women's movement in the 1960s was the broadening of its social base. As participation by working-class women grew, so, too, did middle-class representation in the movement rise.
In 1968 the Women's Liberation Movement, representing a coalition of ideologically distinct groups, came into existence in the USA. Its participants support equal opportunities for women in education, in employment practices and in trade unions and other organisations. The biggest and most influential of the groups forming the coalition is the National Organisation for Women, which was formed in 1966. Its programme demands that talk of equality be abandoned in favour of immediate granting of equal rights to women in all fields, above all in their choice of occupation and in promotion.
The Women's Liberation Movement initiated the mass strike by women across the country 182 which took place on August 26, 1970. This became a truly national day of protest. The strikers' main demands included the elimination of discrimination against women in employment practices, practical implementation of the principle of equal pay for equal work and the development of a network of pre-school children's centres. American women do not confine their activities to the field of economic struggle. Their demands also include the extension of political rights, which is the goal the National Women's Political Caucus, founded in 1971, has set itself. The printed materials of its first national congress in 1973 contained condemnations of the government's social policy and the reductions made in budgetary expenditure on social needs as well as a call for struggle against rising prices and the increase in the cost of living.
Black women are playing an increasingly prominent role in the US women's movement. Class and social oppression intensified by racial discrimination make their position especially difficult and stimulate the development of class consciousness among them.
The women who came together in 1966 in the National Welfare Rights Organisation declare as their aim the just distribution of wealth. The organisation draws the majority of its members from black women living in city ghettoes and rural areas and has 350 branches across the country. It speaks on behalf of millions of Americans, including children, the elderly, those unable to work, mothers burdened with large families and unable to find places for their children in children's centres in order to free themselves for a job and those who cannot find work. People in all these categories live on 183 meagre welfare benefits insufficient to maintain them even at the official poverty level. The members of this organisation demand that poor people receive an income, in the form of wages or benefits, guaranteeing them a basic minimum living standard. People are poor or are living on benefits not through any fault of their own but because the country's economic system is not functioning correctly, states the programme of the National Welfare Rights Organisation.
Despite significant bourgeois influence, democratic forces within the women's movement in the USA have developed and increased in strength in recent years, while cooperation and links among various women's organisations in practical aspects of the struggle for equal rights have broadened and consolidated. This led to proposals at the beginning of the 1970s for the establishment of a national centre to co-ordinate the activities of all women's organisations in the country.
Intensification of the women's struggle for equal rights has had an effect on the social policy of the US government. A number of laws defending women's rights have been adopted under pressure from the women's movement and as a result of the broad support the movement has received among the public. The most important of these are the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the resolution of 1967, in accordance with which the government can dissolve agreements with any firm or organisation infringing upon women's rights.
However, adoption of these laws has limited injustice only on the juridical level. A hard struggle to put them into practice and establish 184 genuine equality between men and women in the labour market still lies ahead. Its success will be in part conditioned by a higher level of organisation of the working class and the broader involvement in the struggle of all strata of the working people.
Broad sections of Japanese women play an energetic part in all action taken by the Japanese working class at individual enterprises, over entire industries and on a national scale. Working women not only put forward their own specifk' demands relating to improvement in working conditions, vocational training and living conditions, but also confer special features on the revolutionary struggle of the working class, which leave a deep imprint on such traditional forms of the class struggle as strikes and street demonstrations. Japanese women regularly participate in the annual ``spring'' and "autumn offensives" for improved pay and working conditions.
The strike at the Miike mines represented an important landmark in the history of the Japanese workers' movement. On November 9, 1963, the greatest underground catastrophe the Japanese coal industry had ever known occurred, killing 458 people and disabling hundreds more. When the mine administration announced that payment of benefits to those unable to work would cease, wives took the place of their husbands in the strikers' ranks, themselves descending to the coal face and holding a sit-down strike there for four days. In January, 1968, 29 of them were forced to resort to the extreme method of a mass hunger strike, which lasted for 130 hours; the administration was forced to retreat. The strike by 4,000 workers of the Sumitomo cement plant 185 against the practice of firing married women was also an important event in the workers' struggle.
A characteristic feature of the Japanese workers' movement is clearly seen in these actions, in that those taking part in them were not limited to the 30 per cent of working women who belong to trade unions or even to working women generally, but included housewives, struggling side by side with their husbands and their women friends employed in industry for the essential demands of the working people.
A growing awareness of their own capacities and their increasing role in social and political life is typical of Japanese women and the Japanese women's movement.
Many different organisations operate within the Japanese women's movement: their number has been placed at approximately 20,000. A large number indubitably play no essential role in the country's political life.
One of the most active bodies within the movement is the Federation of Japanese Women's Organisations, which was formed in 1953 with the object of uniting all progressive women's organisations in the country. The association now includes 14 national and local organisations with a total membership of some 300,000. It is the only women's organisation to belong to the Women's International Democratic Federation. The Federation of Japanese Women's Organisations has been guided by the Communist Party of Japan since its formation. Its fundamental aims are protection of the life and rights of women, the happiness of children, peace and national independence.
186The Congress of Japanese Women, which was founded in April, 1962, by a decision of the llth Congress of the Socialist Party of Japan, occupies a prominent place in the country's democratic women's movement. It has a membership of approximately 20,000. The Congress's fundamental aims include active resistance to changes in the constitution and campaigning for the strict observance of its articles, defence of the vital interests of the people, the struggle for women's rights and the happiness of children, for peace and the expansion of the democratic women's front.
Special mention must be made of the women's divisions of trade unions, which operate in immediate contact with working women. Best known are the women's divisions of trade unions belonging to the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan (SOHYO), which guides the work of approximately 1 million working women. The women's division of the General Council functions as a headquarters for the women's divisions of trade unions belonging to the council.
The National Council of Housewives' Societies, which is an independent organisation, is guided by the SOU YO. It was formed on the basis of an already existing organisation of housewives, connected with the mine-workers' trade union, which had come into being in 1951 and which supported the strike campaign being conducted by the trade unions. However, the National Council's sphere of activity soon broadened and its concerns now include setting up a variety of groups to upgrade the levels of general and political education of housewives, organising women's actions to ensure the satisfaction of 187 their vital demands and carrying out campaigns in defence of their interests.
The struggle of Japan's working women is complicated by the fragmentation of their trade union movement. However, the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan, together with other central trade union bodies, is trying to organise a unified movement, aimed at solving problems common to all working women. Unified action is producing excellent results: for example, women workers belonging to the Japanese Federation of Synthetic Chemistry Workers' Unions and the National Metal and Machine Trade Union of the General Council of Trade Unions have succeeded in wiping out the discrimination that formerly existed in determining the wages of newly-hired women. Under the direction of the General Council, women primary and secondary schoolteachers belonging to the Japan Teachers' Union and women belonging to the National Council of Local and Municipal Government Workers' Unions have obtained an increase in maternity leave.
During each ``spring'' and "autumn offensive" working women hold a day of unified action, in which they protest against increasing consumer-goods prices and the rise in the cost of living and insist that their other just demands be met.
The struggle conducted, day by day, by working women in the capitalist countries demonstrates that, under the conditions of state monopoly capitalism, only partial improvements in the position of women can be obtained. A radical change in women's lives is possible only as the result of fundamental changes in society, the attainment of which is the aim of the communist parties in the capitalist countries.
188The struggle by women in the developed capitalist countries for the solution of social and economic problems is inseparable from their struggle for peace and actions in support of peoples defending their freedom and independence.
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, a broad campaign in defence of peace got under way in almost all the capitalist countries, in which a most active role was played by women. At the end of the 1940s women's organisations began to collect signatures for a petition demanding reductions in armaments and the prohibition of atomic and all other weapons of mass destruction. The Union of Italian Women alone, which initiated this campaign, collected 3 million signatures, while the Union of French Women collected some 1 million declarations in its "peace notebooks'', in which Frenchwomen supported the aims of the petition. In Britain, women campaigning for peace called for international agreement on the control of atomic energy and the prohibition of any form of propaganda directed towards fomenting or preparing for war.
In the struggle for peace women have not been acting in isolation. The women's democratic movement has cooperated closely with the World Peace Movement since its establishment in April, 1949, and women's organisations took an active part in collecting signatures for the Stockholm Appeal to ban the atomic weapons, the Appeal for the conclusion of a Peace Pact, between the great powers, the Vienna Appeal of the World Peace Council against the threat of atomic war, etc.
189Women were in the 1'orei'ronl of the struggle to halt US military aggression in Vietnam. Women's organisations in France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and the Scandinavian countries led campaigns to collect food, clothing and medicines for Vietnamese women and children and sent delegations to US embassies demanding the ending of this bloody war.
The escalation of the war in Vietnam caused the rapid growth of anti-war sentiments in the USA itself and from the middle of the 1960s action against this bloody and expensive adventure took on a significant sweep. American women displayed the utmost self-sacrifice. Virtually all women's organisations in the country came out in opposition to the aggression in South East Asia, while the "Women Strike for Peace" movement became one of the principal constituent elements in the anti-war forces. In January, 1965, this movement led a campaign for the holding of open hearings by the Senate commission investigating the government's Vietnam policy. Women presented petitions to congressmen containing signatures collected throughout the country, organised a visit to Congress by 350 mothers from 35 states, demonstrated in front of the UN building and, with other organisations, took part in peace marches.
New and more effective forms of protest were developed during the struggle to halt aggression in Vietnam. Mass actions, including enormous demonstrations, peace marches, the picketing of induction stations, appeals to heads of state and the UN and the holding of international conferences replaced letters, telegrams, petitions and telephone calls to congressmen.
190Characteristic of the anti-war movement in the USA was that those who took part in it were conscious of the interdependence between the criminal external policies of American imperialism and the unsatisfactory state of affairs within America itself.
The 1970s have been marked by new mass actions of women against the aggressive policies of reactionary circles. On March 18, 1970, 400 representatives of the "Women Strike for Peace" movement from a number of states came to Washington to present to congressmen a Women's Declaration of Liberation from Military Domination. This staled, in particular: "Despite the protests of millions, the war (in Vietnam) goes on and now engulfs Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. But the Pentagon demands still more---$ 73,000 million this year for the military establishment, additional billions for the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missiles), and more of our sons and brothers to be brought home in coffins.'' The women demanded from the congressmen an immediate end to aggression in South-East Asia.
In Japan, a women's organisation, the Discussion Society on Vietnam, came into existence during the struggle in support of the Vietnamese people. Its members, representing a variety of women's organisations regardless of their political affiliation or religious conviction, came from the Federation of Japanese Women's Organisations and the Society of Women of the New Japan as well as intellectuals' organisations such as the Democratic Women's Club, the Union of Christian Women, etc. The society's activities were conducted under the general slogan "End the dirty war in Vietnam" and included an 191 appeal from the women of Japan, which was sent to the USA and called upon America's mothers and women, whose husbands and sons had been sent to war and were killing and dying far from home, to ask their government whether it could preach the right to kill people with napalm and gas. Members of the society worked to disseminate postcards containing the text of the appeal throughout the USA and Japan, as well as postcards calling for the rejection of participation in the Vietnam war.
It can be stated with absolute justification that much has been owed in attaining peace in Vietnam to the women's democratic movement in the capitalist countries, which is continuing to make an invaluable contribution to the restoration of peace in the Middle East.
One of the most pressing political questions to confront the working people and the entire population of Western Europe since the last world war is that of European security. Women are continuing to take an active part in resolving this question.
During the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s European women's organisations of various political complexions decided to unite their efforts in opposition to the threat of atomic war. A number of European-wide measures were implemented in pursuance of this objective, typical of which were two European Women's Meetings on the Responsibility of Women in the Atomic Age. The first of these took place in Brunate (Italy) in 1959, while the second was held in Salzburg (Austria) the following year. Women taking part in the meetings came from both capitalist and socialist countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the 192 FRG, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the USSR and Yugoslavia. Among the women were physicists, biologists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, workers and housewives, holding different political and religious convictions and belonging to different organisations and movements. Among the subjects discussed at the meetings were the danger of nuclear tests to the health of children and future generations, the economic and social consequences of using nuclear energy for military purposes, the threat of atomic war in Europe and cooperation of the women of Europe to reduce international tension and bring about disarmament.
Documents adopted at the meetings were addressed to governments and the United Nations and contained demands for the ending of atomic weapons tests, the creation of nuclear-free zones, prohibition of the production and use of all forms of nuclear weapons, the destruction of stocks of nuclear weapons and international control to implement all these measures.
Both these meetings played a positive role in mobilising the women of Europe in the struggle to reduce international tension, prohibit the testing of nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear energy for military purposes and establish cooperation among the women of Europe on questions of European security and the preservation of peace throughout the world.
Women have also taken an active part in discussions of collective security in Europe at many subsequent international forums. In particular, a great deal of attention was devoted to the necessity for finding a way of ensuring peace in Europe at the World Peace Congress in __PRINTERS_P_193_COMMENT__ 13---0912 193 Helsinki in June, 1969, and this was recorded in the Congress's fundamental document. Democratic women's organisations belonging to WIDF supported the call, made by the socialist countries of the Warsaw Pact, for the holding of a Europeanwide conference on security and cooperation in Europe, the agenda of which should include such questions as the rejection of force or the threat of its use in relations between stales in Europe and the expansion, on the basis of equality, of trading, economic, and scientific and technological links directed at developing cooperation between the European countries.
From the end of the 1960s the struggle for security in Europe entered the stage of practical action, demanding the broad participation of all European states and the most diverse sections of society. This was stated unanimously by participants in the Conference of Spokesmen of European Public Opinion which took place in Vienna from November 19 to December 1, 1969. The women's democratic organisations of Europe, both Western and Eastern, were confronted by the task of mobilising public opinion in the struggle to create a system of European security. This idea formed the dominant theme at the Consultative Meeting of European Women and Women's Organisations on European Security and Cooperation which was held in the summer of 1970 in the Swedish town of Ystad. Those taking part in the meeting expressed their conviction that women's organisations could and should conduct an active information campaign to implant the idea of a European-wide conference in the minds of the broadest sections of the population. Delegates called for recognition of the frontiers that resulted from the 194 Second World War, in particular, those on the Oder and Neisse and between the two Gorman states, recognition of the fact that two sovereign states existed on German soil, the establishment of relations with the GDR on the basis of universally acknowledged norms of international law and observance of the special status of West Berlin as an independent political entity.
The fruitful exchange of views that took place in Ystad encouraged further meetings between representatives of broad sections of the European public and, above all, of women's organisations promoting the intensiiication of preparations for a European-wide conference on security problems.
A seminar of European women was held in Moscow from September 18 to September 20, 1971. Those taking part included leading political, state and public figures, the heads of international and national women's organisations, teachers and scientists from 19 countries. Ensuring peace and security on the European continent was the focus of attention for these representatives of Europe's women.
In October, 1971, 60 women from 11 European countries gathered in Dortmund (FRG) at the initiative of the West German Women's Peace Movement to discuss European security once again. At the centre of their attention was discussion concerning the convening of a Europeanwide conference on security and cooperation. Every speaker noted the energy displayed by women and women's organisations in working, both independently and in conjunction with other movements and organisations, towards the attainment of security and cooperation in Europe. They expressed their hope that the FRG would __PRINTERS_P_195_COMMENT__ 13* 195 make its contribution to the relaxation of tensions in Europe by the speedy ratification of the treaties signed in Moscow and Warsaw and the normalisation of relations with the GDR on the basis of international law, thus permitting both German states to join the UN. Participants in the meeting adopted an Appeal to all peoples of the world, to all men and women and to organisations and individuals, calling on them to support every effort towards reducing tension in Europe. All women and all women's organisations were called on to express still more resolutely their fervent desire for the establishment of a system of genuine security in Europe.
The Committees for European Security and Cooperation, which were formed during the period of preparation for the Assembly of Public Forces for European Security and Cooperation (Brussels, June, 1972), have had an important role to play in the struggle for peace on the European continent. Women have taken an active part both in them and in the Assembly itself. A communique adopted at the Assembly emphasised that the preservation and strengthening of peace was an important condition for the social advancement of women and that peace-loving forces can, by their joint efforts, create conditions for establishing a durable peace in Europe and developing multilateral cooperation among European states and peoples.
It was within the context of the practical measures mapped out by the Assembly that 173 representatives of women's organisations in 26 European countries met in Finland for a conference in August, 1973. European security and the position of women in Europe were discussed and a series of measures linked to the holding 196 of "International Women's Year" in 1975 were denned.
The successful expansion of the women movement's active role in defending the rights of women, opposing capitalist exploitation and supporting peace, democracy and social progress in large measure is connected with the work of the communist parties of the capitalist countries among women. In mobilising women to struggle for their most clear and immediate demands, Communists demonstrate to them on the basis of practical examples that without struggle against the omnipotence of the monopolies and for the democratic and social renewal of society, the problems connected with the position of women cannot be solved.
Communists take into account the unique nature of the social structure, historical traditions, position in society and economic and political interests of the female population when devising forms and methods of work among women. Under the conditions of the capitalist system the activities of Communist Parties in drawing women into public and political life are confronted with a number of difficulties and communist parties are obliged to overcome the influence of reactionary organisations, of bourgeois, clerical and reformist ideology and also the social inertness of certain groups of women. The French Communist Party has built up valuable experience in the struggle to resolve the problem of the status of women and involve them in the anti-imperialist movement. French Communists regard work among women as, first and foremost, one aspect of the struggle for the unity of democratic forces. Their unwavering purpose is to ensure women identical rights with 197 men in respect to pay, within the family and in public life, to obtain guarantees for the protection of mothers and children by means of the introduction of longer maternity leave and an increase in the number of children's centres and to demand a fundamental solution to the problems of public health, housing and transport, which are directly connected with the problems of the women's movement. In supporting the just demands of women, Communists show them that a genuine solution to their problems is inseparable from profound socio-economic and political changes.
The French Communist Party, in implementing this strategy, is carrying out a major programme of practical and ideological work among women. Scientific conferences on Marxism are organised at the initiative of the party: for example, the "Week of Marxist Thought" that took place in January, 1965, was concerned with the subject of "Women in Society''. The Communist Party has founded a quarterly journal specially designed for women, with a circulation of 500,000 copies which is disseminated chiefly in residential areas and at enterprises. Many meetings aimed at helping women learn about the common programme of the left forces were held. The French Communist Party is concerned to see that Communists and communist sympathisers increase their knowledge of theory; the CP federations have organised special week-long courses, while the Central Party School sponsors one-month and five-month courses.
The 20th Congress of the FCP, which took place in December, 1972, emphasised the importance of the agreement on a common governmental programme signed by Communists, socialists 198 and left radicals, the purpose of which was to promote the formation of popular unity and map out the prospects for satisfying the needs of the popular masses in all spheres, including improvement of the position of women. A statement by the Politbureau of the FCP of May 21, 1973, noted that the joint programme alone answered the aspirations of women seeking active participation in the life of society and that socialism was the only society able to offer women a genuine choice, ... liberate them from their present shackles, ensure them full advancement and promote the flowering of all their abilities; that only socialism could ensure the plenitude of family life.
The Italian Communist Party regards the problem of the status of women as a central question in the life of the nation, on a par with the peasant and southern questions. It was noted at the 13th Congress of the ICP, which took place in March, 1972, that Italian Communists fully share the aims for which the democratic women's organisations are successfully struggling. These include complete and universal access by women to employment, acknowledgement of the social significance of motherhood, a radical change in mutual relations between family and society, protection of the rights of children and school reforms, beginning with pre-school institutions. The general strategy of the ICP in its struggle for advancement towards socialism, includes realisation of these goals.
,The Communist Party of the USA views the upsurge of the women's movement as a consequence of the intensifying socio-economic and political crisis of American imperialism. The party devotes much attention to improving the 199 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/WT332/20070313/299.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.03.13) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ bottom __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ position of working women, seeing in them a significant force in the struggle against monopoly policies and for peace, democracy and social progress. At the 19th Congress of the C.P.U.S.A. the party's General Secretary, Gus Hall, noted the growing role played by women in the class struggle of the country's working people. The Congress gave its approval to the demands of women workers and called on the party to step up its activities to improve the position of women. "Women are in the thick of all major contemporary struggles.... They are a powerful force against monopoly,'' the programme of the Communist^ Party of the USA stated.
The role of women in society was the subject of special discussion at the 32nd Congress of the Communist Party of Great Britain, which was held in November, 1971. The Congress emphasised that the CPGB was the only force capable of uniting working women in the struggle for a radical] change in their position. A programme was adopted which included the following immediate demands concerning women's rights: equal pay for work of equal value, equal opportunities for education, vocational training and jobs and the provision of nursery education for children. The CPGB has formulated a series of measures to involve women in the movement to implement this programme. All district party committees were asked to step up the work of women's party groups, formulate practical measures taking into account features peculiar to their district, hold meetings of women party members and non-party women, etc. The CPGB has expanded its activities with regard to publishing pamphlets and leaflets concerned with the problems of the women's movement.
200The struggle to ensure that the demands of working women are met is one of the most important tasks confronting communist and workers' parties in the capitalist countries. A document adopted at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in June, 1969, noted: "The Communist and Workers' Parties, in whose activity women members participate on the basis of complete equality, emphatically support their demands and regard the emancipation of women as an important element of the general democratic movement.''~^^1^^
The problems of communist work among women masses were discussed at the Meeting of West European Communist and Workers' Parties in 1974.
Progressive women in the capitalist countries are responding actively to the most pressing problems of today. The increasingly active role of the women's democratic movement and its organic link with the international workers' and general democratic movement represent an important feature of the present stage of development of the peoples' struggle for peace, democracy and social progress.
_-_-_~^^1^^ International Meeting of Communist and Workers, Parlies, Moscow, 1969, Prague, 1969, p. 26.
[201] ~ [202] __ALPHA_LVL1__ The Status of WomenA distinctive feature of the present stage of the international women's democratic movement is the increasing role within it that women and women's organisations in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America are beginning to play. Women who had for long been cut off from public life by age-old traditions, customs and colonial practices, have made and are continuing to make an important contribution to the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle and to the achievement of social and economic progress in their countries.
The women's movement in the developing countries had never hitherto achieved such a scale. Its significance as a mass force was clearly manifested during the period of struggle by these countries for political independence and the movement continues to play a no less important role today. Moreover, the liberation of women themselves from all forms of oppression is an essential condition for the advancement of these countries along the path of progress.
205The rapid collapse of the colonial system has led to the appearance of more than 80 sovereign states on the Asian and African continents. 1,500 million people have achieved political liberation, having significantly broadened and strengthened the front of anti-imperialist forces.
The last colonial empire has fallen under the united blows of the national liberation movements in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique and the Portuguese people's anti-fascist movement, its collapse marking a major landmark in the struggle for the complete and final elimination of colonial oppression from the African continent.
The successes achieved by the national liberation movement were made possible by the fact that the peoples of Africa and Asia have been waging their struggle not in isolation but within the framework of a unified world revolutionary process, enjoying the support of the Soviet Union and the other countries belonging to the socialist community as well as of the international workers' and democratic movement.
At present, consolidation of the victories achieved by revolutions of national liberation and defence of these victories against the ceaseless encroachments of imperialism is of primary significance for the Afro-Asian states.
World imperialism remains a danger, despite the general weakening of the imperialist camp as a consequence of the growing power of countries belonging to the socialist community and the liberated countries, the development of the international workers' and democratic movement and the rapid growth in the struggle for national liberation. The aggressive policies of the imperialist powers, the armed conflicts they unleash 206 and the acts of discrimination and the economic pressure for which they are responsible represent a threat to peace throughout the world.
The imperialists are making extensive use of neocolonialist methods of economic, political and ideological pressure to hinder the progress of the struggle for national liberation and to strengthen their positions in the developing countries.
Contemporary neocolonialism is an extremely complex and many-sided phenomenon, not always easy to recognise behind the slogans of "economic and political partnership'', "constructive cooperation'', "mutual assistance" and "a dialogue of equals'', which conceal imperialist policy and signify, in fact, continuation and intensification of the exploitation suffered by the peoples of former colonies.
Penetration by foreign capital of the economies of new sovereign states, their entanglement in military blocs and political groupings headed by the imperialist powers, fomentation of conflicts between states, the staging of reactionary coups, political and military support for racist regimes, reactionary cliques and puppet governments, dependence on the outdated traditional institutions of a tribal society, the use of racial prejudices to set one people against another and manipulation of the "communist bogeyman" to blackmail new states are all manifestations of neocolonialism.
Neocolonialist strategy consists in depriving former colonial peoples of the freedom to choose the path of social development, the choice of which is the internal affair of each people. For this to be a genuinely free choice, it is extremely 207 important that the possibility of interference on the part of imperialism he excluded. The peoples of the developing countries realise this and are therefore seeking to strengthen their national independence in every way, above all by consolidating their economic position. They are devoting great efforts to wiping out age-old backwardness and dependence upon international monopolies and ensuring the economic advancement of their countries, all of which is to be attained within an extremely short period.
The problems that must be resolved in the process of reaching these goals are many and complex: they include ending the dominance of foreign capital, the creation of a national industry, the organisation of agriculture and the wiping out of hunger, poverty, illiteracy, disease and other colonialist legacies.
Broad sections and groups of the population are taking part in solving these problems, including, of course, women workers, who constitute a significant part of the developing countries' mercilessly exploited industrial workforce. Peasant women are also acting to put an end to the dominance of foreign planters and trading monopolies. These monopolies buy up at derisory prices coffee, cocoa, bananas, tea, cotton and sisal which are produced by the arduous toil of the workers, many of them women.
Radical agrarian reforms, which represent an important factor in attaining economic independence, are the subject of vital concern for the women of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Agrarian reforms should wipe out the most backward forms of social relationships in the 208 countryside and effectively promote the solution of one of the most acute problems facing the majority of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America: insufficient food production.
Progressive agrarian changes involve the solution of many problems, taking into account the specific features of each individual country. In some, the problem is that of expropriating the enormous holdings of feudal landowners and foreign companies and transferring the land without compensation to landless peasants, agricultural workers and to those possessing little land. In other countries, especial importance adheres to the problem of wiping out all forms of feudal and pre-feudal exploitation (metayage, share-cropping, forced labour, etc.) and cancelling all debts owed by peasants to large landowners, moneylenders and banks. The stepping up of material and technical assistance to peasants by the state, the introduction of modern agrotechnical methods into agriculture, the creation of various forms of cooperatives on a voluntary basis, the elimination of illiteracy and other social and cultural reforms in the countryside are questions which arise in the course of democratic agrarian reforms in every country.
Social progress is impossible without a successful struggle to liberate women from all forms of exploitation and grant them equal rights with men in public life and work and in family relations; this also means placing upon women an equal responsibility with men for the future of their countries and peoples.
Women in the developing countries have, on the whole, demonstrated that it is in just this way that they understand their patriotic duty.
__PRINTERS_P_210_COMMENT__ 14---0912 209 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Position of WomenSince 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.
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 210 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.
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.
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.
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.
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... __PRINTERS_P_211_COMMENT__ 14* 211 Parliament lias enacted laws which give women equal rights ... as those enjoyed hy men.
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.''
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.
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.
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 212 of labour resources arid the broad involvement of women in production.
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.
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.
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.
In a large number of independent African countries new labour laws have been put into 213 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.
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.
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.
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.
Law No. 3309 of August 22, 1966, granted women working in industry or public institutions the right to one month's paid maternity leave 214 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.
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.
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.
At the present time, many countries in former 215 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.
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.
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).
All these laws contain special regulations relating to women, prohibiting night work for women, envisaging maternity benefits, etc.
216In 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 217 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.
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.
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 218 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.
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.
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.
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 219 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.
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.
Even more profound changes are taking place in marital relationships. Among the Bembas, like many other peoples of Africa and Asia, the 220 practice of polygamy existed; in parts of both continents it still survives.
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.
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.
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.
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, 221 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.
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.
222The 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.
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.
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 223 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.
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.
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.
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.
In Ghana, Liberia, Botswana, Morocco and many other countries the proportion of women in paid employment does not exceed 4-5 per cent.
224According 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.
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.
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.
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 __PRINTERS_P_225_COMMENT__ 15---0912 225 significant proportion of I he female working population.
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.
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.
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 226 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 __PRINTERS_P_227_COMMENT__ 15* 227 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.
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.
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 228 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.
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.
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.
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 229 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.
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.
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 230 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.
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.
Mass campaigns lo wipe out illiteracy among women are being conducted in Guinea, Mali, 231 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.
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.
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.
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 232 inhabitants. Women form a substantial part of the illiterate population.
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.
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.
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.
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 233 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.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Problems of Working WomenIn spite of the fact that women are playing a bigger and bigger role in social production, and in spite of the formal recognition of their rights, their social and economic position remains extremely difficult.
The participation of women in the economic activity of different countries depends on such various factors as scientific and technical progress, the percentage of employed among the population, the increase of the population, the density of urban population, the growth of unemployment, and so on.
Among the working women of Latin America those employed for seasonal work continue to form a considerable percentage.
As a general rule, the percentage is higher in non-agricultural sectors (Argentina, Brazil, 234 Venezuela), and lower where a large part of the working women are engaged in "arming (Bolivia, Haiti, and Central America). And it must be borne in mind that due to the remnants of semifeudal relations very often the participation of women in agricultural production takes the form of unpaid labour of the wife of a farm-hand, a land tenant, or a worker on a large private-owned farm.
Peasant women and women agricultural workers have the hardest lot of all. The backward system of land-tenure hinders the development of agriculture and dooms the peasants in their millions to poverty and ruin. Practically all the land fit for cultivation is held by a relatively small group of local latifundists and foreign companies, and the bulk of the peasantry are deprived of land and have to work as farm-hands and agricultural workers.
The majority of farms use antiquated farm implements which makes the toil of the peasants and their families unbearably exhausting. As a result of the agrarian crisis, the peasantry discards millions of women to join the army of the unemployed looking for jobs. The toil of village women remains harder than that of women employed in industry, and their organisation much weaker.
In spite of the relatively rapid growth of industrial production and the noticeable changes taking place on this basis in the structure of the economically active population in some Latin American countries, the problem of finding a job is especially acute for peasant women and women agricultural workers. A good half of the working population in this area is connected with farming and the related branches of industry.
235The position of the farm-hands who form a considerable part of the working women on the plantations of Central America, Haiti and Equador is especially hard. Pre-capitalist forms of exploitation are still practised in hired women's labour: reopate (debt bondage), various kinds of compulsory labour, work for food, or even work without any remuneration as auxiliary labour force of the head of the family.
In Latin America on the whole the percentage of women wage workers in agriculture is small, but showing a constant tendency to grow.
At the present time the problem that is gaining especial importance is not so much the enlargement of the number of women involved in economic activity as the need to change the very character of their involvement and, in particular, the absolute and relative increase in the number of women engaged in non-agricultural work.
The disparity between the growing role played by women in social production, on the one hand, and the increasing infringement on their labour rights, on the other, is becoming more and more pronounced in Latin America. In this respect, the most acute problem is the unequal pay for the same amount and quality of work done by men and by women.
In recent years quite a number of constitutional and legislative acts have been passed, declaring or recognising the principle of equal pay. But in practice this principle is not carried into effect as it does not suit the private interests of the enterprise owners. In all the countries of Latin America, even in those where the ILO Convention (No. 100) Concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal 236 Value has been ratified, discrimination continues to be practised.
Unequal pay---which is the chief form of discrimination affecting all women wage workers--- hits them hardest economically and, besides, it indirectly brings about some other forms of discrimination (the size of allowances, pensions, and so forth).
The demand for putting into practice the principle of equal pay for equal work concerns all working people and not just women, and is one of the main demands advanced by progressive women's and trade union organisations.
In Latin America discrimination in the field of labour takes, in the main, two forms: the rates of pay for women are much lower than for men for the same work, and women are employed for work that is hard but low paid as it does not call for high professional skill. Because women as a whole are denied the chance of receiving a special education and consequently a high work rating, many entrepreneurs devise special " women's" jobs which are by no means "women's'', and for which women are paid considerably less than men doing the same work.
The problem of eliminating discrimination against women in the field of education and vocational training made the subject of the Latin American seminar, organised on the initiative of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and held under the auspices of UNESCO in Lima (Peru) on October 25--28, 1974. There were representatives from 54 women's organisations, and the position of women in the field of education was thoroughly reviewed. In her speech, for instance, the representative from Brazil stated that 46 per cent of the population in 237 her country was illiterate (half of them women). Of this number, five million girls and women aged 13 to 29, could neither read nor write at all.
In the survey of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America on Education, Human Resources and Development in Latin America it was said that at the end of the 1960s these countries numbered 64 million people (i.e., 79 per cent of the continent's able-bodied population) whose level of education did not even come up to three years of elementary school. Potentially, they already belonged to the illiterate part of the population. To this number should be added another 50 million people who cannot read or write, and 33 million children who have no chance to go to school.
The position of the working mothers is perhaps the hardest. In most Latin American countries women are entitled to only 50 per cent of their wages for pregnancy and childbirth leave. The inadequacy of the grants and fear of being discharged from work make women conceal the fact that they are pregnant for as long as possible and go back to work too soon after childbirth to the detriment of the baby's health, to say nothing of their own.
In Paraguay, to have enough food for the family parents are obliged to send their children out to work. And this is the main reason why so many pupils drop out of school. From every hundred children starting school no more than ten reach sixth form. Textbooks are in short supply. The salary paid to a village school-teacher is one of the lowest in the country, and yet eight thousand trained teachers cannot iind work.
The members of the seminar were greatly impressed by the speech of Cuba's delegate Aleida 238 Leg\'on who described the .successful campaign lo eliminate illiteracy, launched after the victorious Revolution in her country raise the general educational, political and cultural level of the women, and draw them into Ihe work of building up a new society.
Today, Cuba's women have access to all levels of education: from elementary schools to university. Some 50 per cent of all elementary school pupils are girls. In the senior forms girls make up 56 per cent of the student body, 16.8 per cent in technical and vocational schools, and 43 per cent in the institutions of higher learning.
The number of young women going in for the natural sciences is on the increase and comprises 48.9 percent of the students attending this department. While hardly any women went in for the technical sciences before the Revolution, today they make up 18.4 per cent of the future engineers. Young women comprise 27.3 per cent of the students training for agronomists and veterinary surgeons, 38.9 per cent of the future economists, and 45.2 per cent of the doctors.
The seminar drew up a number of recommendations which, if put into practice, would help create conditions for involving women into political, socio-economic and public life of their respective countries. In the summing up it was stated in particular, that discrimination in the matter of the women's right to choose their own profession could be liquidated only provided that radical changes were made in the socio-political structure of society.
The seminar in Peru was also an impressive demonstration of solidarity with the peoples of Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and other countries under military-dictatorship regimes.
239In recent years the question of achieving genuine equality for women has assumed prominence in the work of international, regional and national democratic trade unions, women's and other mass organisations of Latin America. The struggle for total liquidation of all and every form of discrimination against women is no longer a purely "women's" problem, and is gaining with every day in political importance for all the working people of Latin America.
240] __ALPHA_LVL2__ WOMENThe national liberation movement makes an integral part of the world revolutionary process.
With political independence attained by a vast majority of former colonial countries, the national liberation movement has entered a new stage of development when its further and greater success depends, in increasing measure, on the consolidation of its alliance with other decisive forces of the world revolutionary process, on the stabilisation of the positions of the working class, and all the democratic elements of society within the countries concerned. A role of importance in promoting the revolutionary process in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America belongs to the democratic women's movement.
__PRINTERS_P_241_COMMENT__ 16---0912 241 __ALPHA_LVL3__ African WomenThe women's movement in African countries forms an important component of the national liberation movement on this continent and is a major force in the international democratic women's movement.
The gains achieved by the national liberation movement after the Second World War, and the new stage characterised by a deeper social content, which the struggle of the developing countries entered upon, required the social forces, women's organisations included, to activate their efforts, and to combine women's struggle for their specific rights with the pursuit of antiimperialist and general democratic aims.
At the initial stage of the national liberation revolution, that is when political independence was attained, the women in Africa had no mass organisations of their own that could act as independent bodies. The economic backwardness and the destitution of the masses, the imperfection of the social structure, and the relatively small number of women's organisations that did not yet combine into a solid women's democratic movement retarded the shaping of a social conscience in African women. Still, they did not keep aloof from the struggle for the progressive development of their countries, and together with other anti-imperialist, patriotic forces courageously fought for the liberation of African peoples from the colonial yoke.
The existence of numerous women's associations, societies, clubs and other such 242 organisalions was lypical for the social life of Africa in that period. Some of these associations functioned for quite a length of time, and some fell apart as quickly as they emerged.
In North African countries associations of this type were maintained by a narrow circle of educated women, for the most, part of European descent. Some of them upheld views that were liberal for the time and sincerely believed that equality could be won by carrying through cerlain reforms primarily in suffrage. In Egypt, for instance, there were the Egyptian Feminist Union, Women's Society for the Protection and Welfare of Children, Daughters of the Nile and other associations which were actively working for the emancipation of women.
The leaders of some of these organisations demanded the abolition of customs demeaning a woman's dignity, and made a public protest to this effect, lloda Shaarawi, chairman of the Egyptian Feminist Union, was one of the first to remove her veil, inviting other women to follow her example. This took courage to do at the time. Her appeal received a wide public response and rallied many women to the Union which, however, like many other women's associations in Egypt failed to develop into a truly mass women's organisation.
Under the colonial regime the women's movement was scattered in Egypt: there were as many as 150 various women's societies and circles. This situation suited the forces of reaction, and they spared no effort to maintain this fragmentation. These organisations had a very moderate programme, mainly promoting culture and enlightenment. The colonial authorities kept them under control and for obvious reasons put every __PRINTERS_P_242_COMMENT__ 16* 243 possible obstacle in Ihc way of their alignment with progressive forces which had for their aim the abolition of the colonial regime and the attainment of political independence.
In countries of Tropical Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, and others) the work among the women was done by international bourgeois women's organisations. They set up their branches in these countries or drew the existing women's associations into participation in their work. These branches were, in fact, small groups of African women who received education in one of the capitalist countries or women of European descent who had no connection with the bulk of the working women and even less so with the national liberation movement. Here, as in North Africa, the activities of these groups were usually limited to setting up sewing, housekeeping and other such circles.
More often than not the emergence of women's organisations resulted not so much from the development of the women's social awareness and their greater unity as from the efforts of international women's organisations (International Women's Council, International Alliance of Women---Equal Rights---Equal Responsibilities, World Young Women's Christian Association and many others). This has led to some of the women's organisations in Africa still being engaged in activities of little socio-political significance.
The illiterate and insufficiently well-organised women (in the villages especially) easily fell under the influence of experienced missionaries whose true intentions they had not the sophistication to grasp. Humility and obedience were 244 preached, and participation in public and political activities was forbidden. A desire for cooperation and closer contacts with women's benevolent societies in the parent state was encouraged in every way.
However, the economic and social conditions themselves prepared the African women for joining the common anti-imperialist struggle together with the other democratic and patriotic forces of their respective countries. Colonialism, by ruining the peasants in their masses, turning them into proletarians and semi-proletarians, leaving their families with no means of subsistence, gradually shattered the illusions of the women that sermons and handouts from European benevolent societies could improve the conditions of life for their families. And the better they got aware of this, the more resolutely they joined the struggle against colonialism, which was involving wider and wider sections of the African population. They were with those who rose in protest against exorbitant taxation, and the grip of money-lenders, with those who organised and staged strikes and demonstrations against feudal despotism and colonial authorities.
In the beginning most women saw their participation in public life in the light of their own specific problems, such as employment, wages, taxes, etc. Their actions of protest were of a spontaneous nature, and were quickly suppressed by the colonial authorities. Such was the outcome of the women's demonstration in Nigeria in 1929 demanding the abolition of a new poll tax collected from women. A mass women's demonstration was staged in the city of Aba where political demands were made for the first time, 245 one of these being thai Europeans should go back to their home countries. On orders from the colonial authorities, the police shot down the demonstration and arrested the surviving organisers.
Notwithstanding, the women's democratic movement spread and developed as organised actions of protest against the colonial rule were carried through on an increasingly wider scale by the working people of Africa.
A most important feature of the women's movement in African countries is that the national women's democratic organisations emerged under the influence of political struggle, on the initiative and under the guidance of political parties. Many of these parties, lighting for Ihe formation of a united national front, strove lo rally the efforts of the masses in their millions, to ensure their wholesale participation in political affairs. Departments and sections for work among the peasants, youth and women were set up within the parties.
The 1950s saw African women actively preparing to contribute to the general struggle of the African peoples for their national independence. This upsurge in their social self-awareness was largely prompted by the victory won by the Soviet people in the war against fascism. The solution of the question of women's rights in the Soviet Union also played an important part. The USSR was the first state in the world to prove in practice the complete unteriability of the bourgeois theories on the ``inferiority'' of female labour and women's "indifference to politics''. Inspired by the example of the Soviet Union, African women wanted to join in organised struggle with all the working people against 246 exploitation, and for national independence and social progress.
Guinean women took an active part in the struggle for national independence. In 1947, Guinean women received the right to join the Democratic Party of Guinea which had started a women's section. Their participation in the referendum held on September 28, 1958, proved once again that women were not indifferent to the vitally important issues involving the interests of the entire nation. The success of the referendum in which the Guinean people voted for the liquidation of the colonial regime and their country's independent development, was assured primarily by the efforts of the Democratic Party of Guinea which had no few women among the members. They energetically campaigned for the referendum, travelled about the villages, calling upon the people to vote against the colonial administration. Their participation in the referendum lent it a truly mass character and greatly contributed to the victory of the democratic forces.
In Nigeria, women took part in political meetings, strikes, demonstrations and campaigns of open insubmission to the colonial authorities. In some colonies the women rose in revolt, this protest developing into mass women's uprisings. Thus, in Egba district in 1948, twenty thousand women led by Ransome Kuti, a prominent public figure, rose in protest against the absolute power of the ruler Ademola II and the extortion collected from women for his benefit. Their demands were satisfied, and Ademola was dethroned and banished from Egba.
During the popular uprising in Kenya (1952-- 1956) women did their share in the guerrilla 247 movement acting as messengers, scouts, procuring supplies and delivering ammunition. Women made up 20 per cent of the Kikuyu guerrillas. This massive participation speaks of the potential strength of the then emerging women's movement in African countries.
Little by little women were drawn into the strike movement of African working people. Thus, in 1947, in former French West Africa (Mali and Senegal) they gave their support to the striking railwaymen, and helped to hold up rail freightage carryings for three months. The growth of the movement compelled the French Government and Parliament to speed up the adoption of the Labour Code for the overseas territories. In December 1952, this law came into effect. It contained a number of clauses on female employment stipulating better conditions, on wages, and on mother-and-child care.
Algerian women traversed a long and difficult path of struggle for the national independence of their country. Hundreds of thousands took up arms and fought shoulder to shoulder with the men in the ranks of the army of national liberation. Teams of trained nurses were formed under the auspices of the Algerian Red Cross. These women had to possess great moral strength and infinite faith in the Tightness of their cause to hold out in this long and cruel fight. Their dedication to the cause of the revolution can be illustrated by the readiness with which people donated money and women donated their family jewelry to the fund of the National Liberation Front in the 1963 campaign.
The militant solidarity of Africa's women was manifested most powerfully in those difficult 248 years of struggle for the overthrow of colonial regimes.
In 1956, during the struggle of the people of Egypt against the aggression of Britain, France and Israel, popular resistance committees were formed with the direct participation of women's organisations, and in particular the Egyptian Feminist Union. Under the guidance of these organisations, Egyptian women together with the men carried through mass boycotts of AngloAmerican goods, and set up first-aid groups for the population. Many women joined the ranks of armed fighters against the aggressors.
The Arab Socialist Union (ASU), a mass political organisation which has been operating in Egypt since the early 1960s, headed the struggle of the popular masses for strengthening their national independence and carrying through a number of progressive socio-economic reforms. The women's section of the Union assumed the task of forming a single women's democratic organisation in Egypt.
The Ministry of Social Affairs also occupies itself with the women's movement, and reports that at the present time there are 190 women's aspociations with 13,000 members, working in the main as benevolent societies. A major problem which wants to be tackled urgently is to efficiently coordinate the activity of these organisations and to mobilise them into the common endeavour of strengthening the country's national independence.
In Tropical Africa the whole work among women is undergoing a radical change. In many countries the old organisations have been dissolved and new ones are being formed. In Guinea, Mali, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Gambia, Zambia, the 249 Ivory Coast and in other states they have been set up as branches of democratic parties.
In some countries national democratic women's organisations have been founded such as: National Union of Algerian Women, Revolutionary Union of the Congolese Women (Brazzaville), National Council of Senegalese Women, National Union of Tunisian Women, Progressive Union of Moroc can Women, Union of Central African Women, National Union of the Women of Togo, Union of the Women of Niger, and others.
Many of these unions are still young and not sufficiently experienced. Still, the dissolvement of the old associations which did not answer the requirements of a complete emancipation of women, and the formation of a single women's organisation within one country should facilitate the coordination of women's groups in different districts. Although different programmes, forms and methods of work are pursued by the different women's organisations, all of them strive to coordinate their activity with the requirements of the national liberation movement. At meetings, gatherings and demonstrations initiated by them they come out in protest against the policy of racial discrimination, against imperialism and neocolonialism.
The patriots of Angola and Mozambique fought against the Portuguese colonialists for their national independence, for the right to decide their own future in exceptionally difficult conditions, and the women shared all the hardships of this struggle with the men. They joined the ranks of the People's Volunteer Corps, supplied the guerrilla detachments with food, delivered weapons and ammunitions to the fighters, and 250 nursed the wounded, displaying a high sense of awareness, patriotism and genuine heroism. Many of these women were killed, many were imprisoned or exiled. In 1969, five leading functionaries from the Angola Women's Organisation were seized when carrying out a military assignment and brutally murdered. Their names are revered by Angola's patriots. By decision of the Angola Popular Liberation Movement (MPLA). March 2---the day when they were seized---has been pronounced the Angola Women's National Day, the day of the solidarity of women in different countries with the women of Angola in their courageous struggle.
Undaunted by tremendous odds and difficulties, the peoples of the Republic of South Africa are developing the scale and force of their heroic fight for freedom, against oppression and lack of rights. More and more women are joining in the struggle. The name of Winnie Mandela, a courageous patriot and wife of one of the leaders of the now banned African National Congress is widely known. She was kept in prison for many months on a false charge. All the ``crime'' she committed was bravely defending the rights of her people. The authorities were compelled to release Winnie Mandela, but acting against the law they continue to keep her under house arrest. And many valiant women, true patriots of the Republic, are in prison.
The history of the women's movement in the Republic of South Africa abounds in instances of women's struggle against the racist regime. On October 24, 1955, a demonstration of over 20,000 women was held under the leadership of Lillian Ngoyia, Florence Matomela, Helen Joseph, Caroline Mashaba, Rahima Mussa, and Dorothy 251 Nyembe. Their names will always be remembered by the patriots of South Africa.
Women play an important part in the heroic struggle waged by the peoples of Namibia under the leadership of South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO). They actively participated in the mass strikes staged by the working people demanding the liquidation of colonialism and better conditions.
In the course of its brief history the women's democratic movement in Africa made considerable headway but it has also suffered grave losses. Many of its active members were killed, put in prison, or sent into exile. The colonialists did not stop at physical reprisals. They tried to disorganise the movement by means of deceit and demagogy, resorting to other methods as well.
That was in the past. Today, the neocolonialists are using the same methods.
Although the majority of the African countries have won political independence, imperialism still holds powerful means of influencing their socio-economic and political development. Some of them remain under the political control of imperialist countries till this day. Capitalist monopolies are still in control of the key positions in their economy. Drawing support from the reactionary forces within these countries, the imperialists organise plots and coups d'etat, stir up the differences between nations, thus encouraging nationalism, and provoke territorial disputes between the liberated countries.
Combining the forms of ``classical'' colonialism with neocolonialism, imperialism strives to influence the presently shaping alignment of forces In a way that would help to stabilise the ruling 252 positions of its representatives with a capitalist orientation and, in the final count, to prevent these developing countries from escaping the sphere of its influence.
With this aim in view, imperialism resorts to a wide-scale ideological indoctrination of the working people, women in particular. Many bourgeois scholars take a metaphysical approach to the problem of women's emancipation, substituting an analysis of biological and psychological factors for the analysis of the socio-economic conditions of the women's life. More often than not they picture the life of an African woman as a round of endless family cares.
This is made obvious in their attempts to present the economic and social dependence of African women as something that has existed since the beginning of time and, consequently, to be taken for granted. These sociologists assert that the women of many African tribes and peoples are primitive creatures whose notions are restricted to the narrow bounds of family and home. Bourgeois scholars seek this substantiation for their theory about the African women's alleged indifference to politics, and try to blot out the social and class aspects of the problem of women's emancipation in African countries.
The idea is to gradually make the women reconcile themselves to the thought that their participation in socially useful work is a temporary thing and therefore it is hardly worth their while to strive for professional skill or want to receive a special education. A double purpose would be served: female labour could continue to be exploited, and the women's desire to take part in the social life of their country would be stifled.
253Aware of the real power of the women's movement, the imperialists want to keep women away from socio-political activities and for this purpose they try to direct their energies into the placid stream of charity and philanthropy, insisting that women should concern themselves excluvely with their own specific problems. It would be a mistake to underestimate the danger of the propaganda of such purely feminist aims and of the attempts of the forces of reaction to isolate the women's movement from the general national liberation movement.
Therefore it is a most important task of the progressive forces to challenge this sort of propaganda with one disseminating the correct view on the role of women and the urgent aims of the women's movement in Asia and Africa at the present stage of their development.
As the independence of African countries becomes stabilised, the social division within the country deepens and the struggle between the progressive and the internal reactionary forces, supported by imperialism, becomes more acute. The outcome will largely depend on how well the progressive women's movement in Africa will rally its ranks to participate even more actively than heretofore in the building of a new life.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The WomenAs in other developing countries, the women's movement in Asia is developing under the impact of the world revolutionary process and the 254 viclories scored by the world socialist system. Also. the fact that those countries in Asia which had chosen a non-capitalist road of development have succeeded in putting through far-reaching socioeconomic changes, has had a great effect on the women's movement.
The women's movement in Asia is not uniform. Asian countries have reached different levels of socio-economic and political development, they have different national traditions, and a different history. But what is typical for many of them is their economically subordinate position in the system of international capitalist division of labour, the exploitation to which they are subjected by the foreign monopolies, and their resultant economic and cultural backwardness, varying in extent. They have one common enemy---imperialism. And herefrom stems the closeness of the different currents of the national liberation movement. In countries where power is in the hands of democratic forces and where a considerable part of the national bourgeoisie maintain an anti-- imperialist stand, the democratic public organisations, women's societies among them, work in close contact with the ruling political parties, progressive organisations and all patriotic forces.
In countries like India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Iraq and others, women's organisations consider it their primary task to study the conditions for female labour in industry, the level of the working women's general education and professional training, and the efficiency with which the programme of eliminating illiteracy among the adult population is being carried into effect.
255A largo part of the women's democratic organisations in Asia work incessantly for greater unity of action on a national and international scale, and stand for contacts with the Women's International Democratic Federation, with women's organisations in socialist countries and progressive women's organisations in capitalist countries.
Experience has shown that many of women's organisations in Asia are beginning to play a more and more important role in the political and economic life of society, and together with other democratic organisations are fighting against imperialism and reactionaries at home, and bending their efforts to further the development of democracy and social progress. The activity of the women's organisations in India is an example to the point. They have greatly contributed to the national liberation struggle of their people, and for close on fifty years now have been active in the political life of the country.
In 1930, in response to the appeal addressed to them by the leader of the national liberation movement Maliatma Gandhi, India's women took part in the famous March to Dandi. The campaign was stirr.-d up by the unfairness of the law established by the British colonial authorities forbidding Indian people to engage in the evaporation of salt fi om sea water. The campaign was headed by Sarojini Naidu, a veteran of the women's movement in India.
The consistency of the struggle waged by the women of India in those years can also be seen from their campaign for the preservation of national cultural traditions, national dress among them. In shops women saw to it that people 256 should buy fabrics and clothes of Indian make only. Thousands of women got down to weaving in an effort to provide the country with sufficient cloth made in India from Indian cotton. The aim of this movement was to revive the national textile industry, weaving and other crafts.
Close on 20,000 women were subjected to arrest and imprisonment for participation in the March to Dandi and other mass actions of the people against British domination.
The struggle of India's working women is led by the National Federation of Indian Women, the largest democratic women's organisation in the country, founded in 1952. The Federation unites about 200,000 women---industrial workers, peasants, representatives of the intelligentsia and the middle class.
Upholding the need to strengthen its unity and cooperation with other democratic organisations, the Federation comes out for fundamental socio-economic transformations: for the development of the public sector of the economy, a radical agrarian reform, and a further democratisation of the state system. The Federation holds annual congresses, organises massive demonstrations of working women and meetings of protest, demanding higher wages, women's fuller employment in industry, and an extensive programme of social insurance that would fully meet the interests of the working people.
One of the basic clauses in the Federation's programme is defence of the working women's rights. The Federation puts forward the following concrete demands: no women to be dismissed from the factories and mines; more women to be employed in those branches of __PRINTERS_P_257_COMMENT__ 17---0912 257 industry where female labour can be used; ILO's Convention No. 100 to be strictly observed; the Maternity Benefit Act to apply to all categories of working women, including those working on hire (in towns and villages); creches and day nurseries to be opened at enterprises for the children of their female employees, and the existing child welfare establishments to be improved; stable minimum rates to be set for women working in various branches of industry; a deiinite percentage of vacancies to be reserved for women in the textile, jute and food industries, on plantations, etc.; the National Awards Schemes for Labour (if paid at the given enterprise) to include women employees; prices on essentials to be reduced; food stores with fixed prices to be opened; a network of hostels to be set up, also a We men's Advisory Council under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and so on.
Cooperation with the All-India Trade Union Congress is helping to strengthen the positions of the democratic women's movement in the general national struggle. Until recently the percentage of female members of the trade union was extremely low, and now it has gone up considerably.
Good results have already been received from the cooperation with trade unions in their struggle for working women's rights. For instance, the trade unions of agricultural workers in the State of Kerala have secured for the plantation workers a rise from 3 to 3.50 rupees for a day's pay. Organisations of working women and the women's sections of some trade unions of plantation workers in the state of Kerala and the city of Madras cooperate with the Federation in matters dealing 258 with the defence of the plantation women workers' rights.
India's working women take an active part in the struggle of the working class for their rights, and against the policy of wage freeze, soaring prices, and jobbery in foodstuffs. In 1967, when difficulties arose in supply and prices on foods and essentials went up, the Federation addressed an appeal to all its local branches, to other women's organisations, and to all the women of India to start a collection of money in aid of the starving districts. With the money collected, mobile soup kitchens and stations were organised in Bihar, Orissa and the other states where the food shortage was the acutest. The Federation called on the various public organisations in India to do everything in their power to relieve the consequences of the food crisis. From the government the Federation demanded that it should find the means to solve the food problem, and introduce strict planning of production and consumption of foodstuffs. In July 1967, in confirmation of their demands, and on the initiative of the Federation, the representatives of 22 women's organisations and trade union sections of the jute and textile industries came out for a hunger march in the State of West Bengal. A similar march took place in this same stale later, in June 1968.
The summer of 1967 was especially memorable to the working people of India. Miners, dockers, metal workers, employees of banks and government agencies went on strike, demanding higher wages, measures to be taken to stop jobbery in foodstuffs, state-owned foodshops with fixed prices to be opened, and so on. India's working women took a most active part in these strikes.
__PRINTERS_P_361_COMMENT__ 17* 259In response lo these actions the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra states, pursuing a wage freeze policy, started a wholesale dismissal of women government employees. In October 1967, the Sixth Congress of the Federation (held in Lucknow) adopted a special resolution to mark November 25 as the Day of India's Working Women's Solidarity with the women of those states where these dismissals had taken place. That day massive demonstrations of protest against women's discrimination were held throughout the country.
In the last few years the Federation has turned its attention to the conditions of the peasant women, housewives and young girls, which has brought it many new members.
Functionaries of the Federation hold regular talks with the women, explaining to them that the passing of laws called upon to lighten the lot of the woman in the family and establish her in society does not mean that the old barbarous customs and the lingering traditions of the past have gone into oblivion. Everyone knows that the law forbidding salt (the custom of widows to burn themselves) has been passed long ago. And yet scores of years went by before people ceased to regard the act as proof of the woman's innocence and faithfulness to her deceased husband.
In 1955 and 1966, laws on Hindu marriage and inheritance were passed. To some extent they made it possible to ease the lot of the woman in the family, giving her more or less equal rights with men in society. But the adoption of these laws which infringed upon the traditional rules and customs of the Hindu family met with the resistance of certain sections of society 260 and even some categories of its female members.
The keynote of the Seventh Congress of the Federation in December 1970 was "Women in the struggle for peace and social progress''. The programme of the Federation at this new stage was set out in the reports and resolutions of the Congress. It included concrete undertakings on the promulgation of laws ensuring women equal rights with men, actions against the system of exploitation and oppression, and measures for closer cooperation with the forces of peace and progress on both the national and international scale.
The parliamentary elections held in March 1971 testified to the growing political activity of women. The majority of those who voted for Indira Gandhi, a candidate nominated by the progressive forces, were women, united into the National Federation of Indian Women.
At the end of December 1973, the Federation held its Eighth Congress in Calcutta. It was attended by 1,073 delegates (women workers, peasant women and housewives) from 21 Indian states, and guests from 22 countries of the world, among them the USSR and other socialist countries.
In its resolutions the Congress emphasised that the women of India could not stand aloof from the country's political life, that the struggle for women's rights, for better labour conditions, for cardinal reforms in the sphere of education and vocational training, and for mother-- andchild protection, was at the same time a struggle against the policy of neocolonialism, for strengthening the national economy and the country's 261 further development along the road of progress and democracy. The delegates unanimously adopted the resolution on peace and collective security in Asia.
In 1974, the Federation celebrated its 20th anniversary, and proceeded to carry through a number of actions dedicated to the International Women's Year, under the slogans of active defence of women's rights and consolidation of the international democratic women's movement.
An example of high awareness and activity is set by the women of Bangladesh. There are several women's organisations in this country, and they have succeeded in drawing women in constructive work.
The women's department of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Women's Front of Sri Lanka, and other organisations in Sri Lanka are carrying on an active work among women.
The Women's Front of Sri Lanka founded in 1966, is one of the largest organisations here, maintaining 250 branches in the towns and villages, and numbering over 5,000 members. The purposeful work done by the Front embraces women workers, peasant women and women intellectuals. The political situation in the country is explained, and the women are called to action against the forces of reaction, for the consolidation of a genuine national independence. As a result, at the parliamentary elections of May 1970, a considerable part of the women electorate, demonstrating their political maturity and understanding of the situation, voted for the candidates of the United Left Front comprising the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the Freedom Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Sri 262 Lanka, who received 115 of the 151 seats in the Lower House. There were 5 women among the 115 deputies.
The Women's Front of Sri Lanka gives every assistance to the United Front in carrying through its programme which provides for the limitation of foreign investment and the consolidation of the national economy, and for fundamental social reforms in the interests of the broad masses of people. The Women's Front of Sri Lanka which does its share in carrying through the progressive reforms aimed at reducing unemployment, and promulgating a new labour legislation guaranteeing the rights of working men and women, attaches great importance to establishing closer cooperation with the trade unions.
Cultivating the spirit of internationalism in Sri Lanka women is another of the Front's concerns. Campaigns of solidarity with the women of Vietnam, and in support of the Arab and African peoples fighting for their political and economic independence, are arranged on a broad scale.
The struggle of the women's organisations in Asian countries against neocolonialism and for the consolidation of the national economy and the establishment of progressive regimes that would meet the interests of the people, is at the same time a struggle for their rights, for better labour conditions, for fundamental change in the field of education and vocational training, and the solution of problems connected with mother-and-child protection.
263 __ALPHA_LVL3__ The Women's MovementWomen's democratic organisations in Syria, the Lebanon, Iraq and other Arab countries of the Middle East mainly direct their activities towards rallying the female population to the general struggle of the working people for fundamental socio-economic changes in the interests of the people, and for the democratisation of the government machinery and the whole system of state administration. Speaking of the general features of the women's democratic movement in these countries, stress should be made on its anti-imperialist trend. The women's democratic organisations in the countries of the Middle East do their share in the struggle of the progressive forces for the restoration of peace in this region and the elimination of the consequences of Israel's aggression against the Arab peoples.
The Middle East continues to be a dangerous hotbed of tension, and the Arab people with the support of the USSR and other socialist countries, with the help of all the progressive forces of the world, are waging a stubborn and intense struggle against the aggressive policy of Israel, for their national independence, progress and a just peace.
Arab women play a worthy part in this struggle. Much of the credit for drawing them into this patriotic movement of the whole people goes to the various women's organisations in Syria, Iraq, the Lebanon, and other Arab countries. Palestinian women are actively involved in the resistance movement. They continue to fight shoulder to shoulder with the men in defence of the lawful rights of the Arab people of Palestine.
264The women's movement in Syria, Iraq, the Lebanon and other countries of the Middle East is gaining in strength with the years, becoming better organised and more active and the level of political awareness of its members is rising.
The General Union of Syrian Arab Women, for example, working under the guidance of the Party of Arab Socialist Renaissance (Baath), speaks in support of solving the more important problems of women's participation in the sociopolitical life of the country.
The Union is setting up vocational training centres, handicraft workshops and artels in order to extend women's participation in the national construction. The Syrian Government, to aid the Union, has passed a law stipulating that the nationalised enterprises must supply these centres with the necessary raw and other materials at cost price. What is more, the Union has received permission from the government to import textiles from abroad duty free. The women who have completed their course of training may go on working at the centres for a modest salary.
Alongside providing women with jobs the work of raising the cultural level of the working women, of providing them with facilities to improve their production skills or acquire new trades, is also undertaken by the Union. In 1968, courses for the elimination of illiteracy were set up throughout the country on the Union's initiative. Nine hundred women graduated in 1970 and the Union handed them certificates entitling them to further education.
On the Union's proposal and with the support of the government, industrial enterprises let their women workers off three hours earlier than 265 the men so that they might attend the courses. In tackling the problem of eliminating illiteracy among the adult population, the Union has many difficulties to surmount. The percentage of illiteracy among women continues to remain very high and, in spite of the fact that compulsory primary education has been introduced in Syria, many problems concerning the teaching of young girls still want solving.
A network of nursery schools is being opened in the towns and villages, according to a programme drafted by the Union in its endeavour to draw more women into useful social and production activity.
The Union is soliciting for a legislative improvement of the conditions for working women with newlyborn babies. Functionaries of the Union investigated the situation and, on the basis of data received, submitted their recommendations, some of which were taken into account when the law on the labour protection of working mothers was drawn up. Women are now given two halfhour breaks a day for feeding their baby during the first six months of its life, while receiving their full pay. Also on recommendation of the Union, the law has extended childbirth leave with full pay to two months, whereas formerly women were given 50 days leave and paid only 70 per cent of their wage.
The efforts of the Union are bent on getting the law on equal pay for equal work done by men and women carried into effect, and on organising a medical service for women before and after childbirth.
The League of Syrian Women for the Protection of Mother and Child is another authoritative body. One of the oldest democratic women's 266 organisations in Syria uniting broad masses of women, the League was founded in 1948. It carries out its organisational and politicaleducational work under the guidance of the Communist Party of Syria. Members of the League are in the front ranks of fighters against the exploitation and oppression of the working people, of fighters for freedom and democracy in Syria. They took part in one of the largest demonstrations of working people in Damask, organised in January 1965 on the initiative of the General Federation of Labour Unions. The workers demanded the nationalisation of major industrial enterprises, better labour conditions, and the suppression of the reactionary forces in the country.
The League activists engage in daily work aimed at improving the position of women and helping them to eliminate their illiteracy.
The Union and the League are members of the Women's International Democratic Federation in the framework of which they come out for a stronger solidarity of women throughout the world with the struggle of the Arab peoples for liquidating the consequences of Israel's aggression.
In Iraq, too, the women have made their substantial contribution to the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle. In the first years of republican rule in Iraq, important transformations were carried through to strengthen the national independence, consolidate democracy, and provide favourable conditions for the activities of the numerous democratic public organisations, among them the League of Iraq Women. The League has been doing a great deal of work in defence of the rights of women and children, in eliminating illiteracy among women, in raising their social 267 self-awareness, and rallying them to the struggle for strengthening national independence and consolidating the national front of the country's democratic forces.
Another women's organisation---the General Federation of Iraq Women---was set up in 1968 with an extensive programme aimed at the defence of women's rights, at consolidating their unity in the struggle against imperialism, and for national independence, democracy, peace and social progress.
Within the framework of the national-- democratic front, these two organisations are promoting cooperation in defending women's rights and raising their political awareness and cultural level.
The movement of Palestinian women led by the General Union of Palestinian Women forms a component of the Arab women's democratic movement. Working under the guidance of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the Union mobilises women for the struggle against imperialism and Zionism, for guaranteeing the Arab people of Palestine their lawful national rights.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Women in SoutheastWomen's democratic organisations have it hardest where, as a consequence of the country's participation in imperialist blocs, it actually remains in a state of dependence from imperialism.
268Grave trials fell to the lot of Southeast Asian countries which found themselves dependent on the USA and other imperialist powers both economically and politically.
The people of Japan, Thailand and other Asian countries on whose territory the USA maintain their military bases live in a state of constant alarm and tension.
Indeed, how can the mothers of Japan and other insular countries in Southeast Asia sleep in peace when more than 35 major military bases and installations, set up mainly during the escalation of the war in Indochina, are located on their territory?
For many long years the women of South Vietnam, together with all the patriotic forces in the country, put up a heroic fight against the aggression of American imperialism. A great role in enlisting the broad masses of women for the struggle belonged to the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam which united all those dedicated to the cause of their country's salvation, irrespective of their class affiliation, religion, nationality, party membership and political views.
The chairman of the Union is Nguyen Thi Binh, deputy Commander-in-Chief of the South Vietnam Popular Liberation Army.
The Union worked under the guidance of the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam. Branches of the Union were opened not only on liberated territory but also in towns and villages which were controlled by American troops and puppet authorities.
Members of the Union were involved in the national liberation struggle: they served in the people's militia and the Popular Liberation 269 Army, they were active in the guerrilla movement, did political work among the soldiers of the puppet army behind the enemy lines. In regions controlled by the patriotic forces, the Union raised the women to take part in various democratic reforms.
The First Congress of the Union (March 1965) in an appeal to the women belonging to all the sections of the population of South Vietnam called on them to help with the political and propaganda work among the puppet troops, to enlarge the membership by admitting the mothers of soldiers and guerrillas, and to endeavour to make theirs a model family so as to form the basis on which to build the future society in South Vietnam. Present at the Congress were about two hundred representatives of all the sections of the population. The delegates were all women---soldiers of the People's Liberation Armed Forces, guerrillas, officers of the people's militia, industrial workers, peasants, the fnstermothers of soldiers and guerrillas, and women from the occupied regions.
Women who took an immediate part in the armed struggle against the aggressors wore taught at the regular military school for women which trained soldiers for the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam. These women commanded resistance groups, and performed the duties of messengers, scouts, and nurses. In the spring of 1968, when the all-out offensive was launched, a great number of women from different regions joined guerrilla units and detachments of the people's militia in response to the appeal by the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam. Scorning danger and undaunted by the bombs dropped by American planes, they kept 270 the guerrillas and the soldiers of the PLA provided with ammunition and food.
There are known facts of unarmed women with babies in their arms stopping tank columns, covering the muzzles of guns with their bodies, and heroically obstructing punitive operations.
South Vietnamese women marched in demonstrations in defence of their people's fundamental rights, against oppression and exploitation, and demanded that the aggression be stopped and the puppet authorities overthrown in South Vietnam.
The people of Vietnam highly acclaim the heroism of her women, many of whom have laid down their lives in the war against the American aggressors and their hirelings.
The name of Le Thi-Rieng is known far beyond Vietnam. She was a member of the Central Committee of the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam, and vice-chairman of the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam. Le Thi-Rieng had devoted her entire life to the struggle for the freedom and independence of her country, and for the emancipation of women. She was active in the Resistance movement against the French colonialists (1945). In the 1950s, together with other patriots, she carried on important work among the women in the south of the country, organising them for active protest against the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, for peace, democracy and the unification of the country. In May 1967, Le Thi-Rieng was arrested during the performance of an important assignment. She was tortured and murdered together with other patriots on January 31, 1968, in Saigon. The brutality of the act evoked the indignation and protest not just of the 271 Vietnamese people, hul of world public opinion as well. The name of Le Thi-Rieng has become a symbol of fortitude and dedication to the great ideals of freedom and democracy.
Today, the women of the Republic of South Vietnam are doing their share in rehabilitating the towns and villages ruined in the war, in building schools and medical centres, and seiflessly working in industry and agriculture. They also play a large role in governmental bodies--- they comprise from 15 to 40 per cent of the deputies to the people's councils and committees of liberation in the provinces and districts.
There are women in the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Binh is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who also headed the delegation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government at the quadripartite talks on the peaceful settlement of the Vietnamese problem. In recognition of Nguyen Thi Binh's services in the struggle against the American aggression, she has been awarded the International Lenin Prize "For the Promotion of Peace Among Nations" in 1968. Under the leadership of Nguyen Thi Binh, the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam is doing valuable organisational and educational work among the female population of the south of the country.
Women are speaking out more and more resolutely at massive meetings, demonstrations and manifestations in Japan and other countries of Asia against setting up military bases on foreign territories, knocking together aggressive military-political blocs and imposing puppet regimes on the peoples in several countries.
272Korean women are waging a determined struggle for the withdrawal of American troops from the south of their country, thus helping to realise the desire of the en I ire Korean people for a peaceful reunification of their motherland. Women in Asia warmly approve of the initiative taken by the Government of the Korean People's Democratic Republic in concluding an agreement between the North and the South. This action will help to ease the tension in the relations between the two parts of the artilicially divided country, to re-establish national contacts, and prevent armed conflicts.
Together with all the world progressive forces, women's democratic organisations welcomed the agreement concluded in Simla between India and Pakistan as an important step towards strengthening peace in Hindustan. Elimination of tension, establishment of a stable peace in Asian countries meets the vital interest of the peoples in that area and is the main condition for their social and economic development.
That is why the idea of forming a system of collective security in Asia is finding more and more support. The governments and progressive public opinion of some Asian countries firmly declare that security in Asia must be achieved through the good-neighbourly cooperation between all countries that are interested in their peaceful development, rather than through the policy of military blocs and groupings and setting one state against the other.
Many women's organisations enthusiastically support the efforts of the Soviet Union and all socialist countries to assist and support the governments in achieving this noble aim and establishing a just and lasting peace in Asia.
__PRINTERS_P_273_COMMENT__ 18---0912 273Women arc beginning to realise more and more clearly the need lo light against the attempts of imperialism lo maintain the aggressive blocs and military bases in Ibis part, of I,he world, and to prevent the Indian Ocean from becoming a zone of peace. In India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries the movement of protest against the atteinpts of the Pentagon to turn the Diego Garcia Atoll into a mighty US naval base is assuming an increasingly wider scope.
In this situation it is extremely important to further purposeful political education activities and organisational work among the broad sections of Asian women. The WIDF is playing a major role in this work.
The World Congress of Women held in Helsinki in 1969 on the initiative of the WIDF demonstrated its profound understanding of the vital interests of Asia's women. The Congress, attended by delegates from most of the Asian countries, announced its full solidarity with the struggle of Asian women against colonialism, and for their rights.
In the autumn of 1971, jointly with UNESCO the WIDF arranged a seminar in Delhi for the women's organisations in Asian countries on the elimination of illiteracy among the female population. This acute problem is of equal concern for all the women in this part of the world. In proposing this seminar the WIDF was motivated by the confidence that common aims and common tasks in defence of women's rights would favourably influence the development of the international democratic women's movement and further the consolidation of women's democratic organisations in Asia's young states.
274The WIDF and its national organisations are helping women's democratic organisations in Asia to light resolutely against the forces of reaction which are in every way obstructing the consolidation of the movement's unity and the enhancement of its role in the national liberation and anti-imperialist movement.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ Women of Asia and AfricaThe success of the struggle waged by the women of Asia and Africa for their rights, for national liberation, for economic and social development, and for world peace rests in the first place on the unity of their actions, on their cooperation with different national democratic organisations, and on greater solidarity with all the international progressive movements forming the front of anti-imperialist forces.
It must be emphasised thai in Asia and Africa the problems of unity in the women's movement are not only very important but are extremely difficult to solve. The development of the women's movement here runs in specific conditions, which is largely explained by peculiarity of each country, by the different status of women in different countries, by their different understanding of their role in society and of the chief aims pursued by the women's organisations. There is also the opposition of the imperialist and the world forces of reaction which use every means to hinder the development of the women's movement in Asia and Africa, to isolate it from the national liberation struggle, and divorce it from its democratic and anti-imperialist content.
__PRINTERS_P_275_COMMENT__ 18* 275In view of this, the results achieved in Asia and Africa seem all the more impressive. This is evidenced, in particular, by the creation of many national and regional organisations. Thus, functioning in Africa are the National Union of Algerian Women, the National Women's Organisation of Tanzania, the National Women's Council of Senegal, the Supreme Women's Council of Mauritania, the Revolutionary Union of the Congolese Women and other national democratic women's organisations.
The creation in 1962 of the All-African Women's Conference was of much importance for the unity of the women's movement in Africa. This Conference now unites women's organisations of more than 40 African countries. With its activities AAWC helps to draw women into economic, political and public life, assists them in organising the struggle for their rights and gives every support to the national liberation movement. By decision of the All-African Women's Conference July 31st has been celebrated as African Women's Day since 1962. Topical problems of the women's movement were discussed at the four congresses that have been held since the establishment of the All-African Women's Conference.
The Fourth Congress, held in Dakar from July 25 to 31, 1974, adopted decisions keynoted by the idea that Africa's women should not separate themselves from the common struggle of the African peoples. It is stated in the political resolution of the Congress: "... the African continent's development requires the full and conscious participation of women in the political, economic, social and cultural fields ... the genuine equality of women is inseparable from 276 national independence, peace, justice and social progress.''
The Congress worked out a programme of concerted actions directed at intensifying the participation of women in public life. It stressed the prime importance of the unity of African women in the anti-imperialist, anti-racialist and anti-colonial struggle and the need of strengthening solidarity with the women of the struggling countries of Asia and Africa.
It was stressed in the political resolution that the AAWC welcomes the proclamation of 1975 as the International Women's Year and calls on the women of Africa to launch vigorous preparations for it.
It was noted by the Congress that important changes had taken place in the AAWC activities in the period since 1968. The organisation has grown numerically and has consolidated its influence on the masses. The Congress decreed to rename the AAWC into the All-African Women's Organisation (AAWO).
The All-African Women's Organisation attaches much importance to the strengthening of ties with the international democratic women's movement. This cooperation takes the form of meetings, congresses, seminars, exchanges of delegations, of information on activities, and so on.
WIDF is well known in Africa and its prestige there is growing with every year. A session of the WIDF Bureau was held in Bamako (Mali) in 1962 and discussed the role of African women in society and their struggle for national independence. The World Congress of Women in Helsinki (1969) was attended by representatives 277 of national women's organisations of Africa and the All-African Women's Conference.
A regional seminar on the question of eliminating illiteracy among women was held hy WIDF jointly with UNESCO in Khartum in 1970. The seminar familiarised its participants with the conditions in which national organisations carried on their work and suhmitted recommendations for solving the prohlems of the general and specialised education of African women.
In March 1974, Algiers was the venue of a seminar of women's organisations of Arah and African countries, that was also attended by representatives of WIDF, on the subject: Education of Women---an Important Factor in Their Active Participation in the Economic, Cultural and Political Life of Their Countries---taking into consideration the International Women's Year.
The participants unanimously subscribed to the view that the questions of attaining full independence, overcoming the backwardness resulting from colonial domination, successfully coping with social problems, including the emancipation of women, and drawing women into economic, political and cultural life, can be solved by consolidating the cooperation of state and public organisations in the promotion of public education. The winning of economic independence makes it possible to allocate considerable sums from the budget for these purposes.
In their opinion the top-priority tasks in the field of women's education are the adoption and enforcement of laws on the elimination of illiteracy, the training of national cadres of teachers, the carrying out of necessary measures to abolish language barriers within national borders, the 278 use of the mass media in raising the population's cultural standards, the easing of the burden of household chores of women, assistance to women in upbringing children, etc.
The participants in the discussion also agreed on the need to intensify the struggle against harmful old customs.
The seminar's work proved to be of much importance for the further activity of the women's organisations of Arab and African countries, and for strengthening their cooperation with WIDF.
A regional seminar held by the All-African Women's Organisation in Mogadishu (Somalia) in April 1975 was another important stage in strengthening the cooperation of Africa's women's organisations with WTIDF and with the women's organisations of socialist countries. The seminar was held within the framework of the International Women's Year and was devoted to the role of women in the national liberation movement, to the aims of their struggle for economic, social and political rights, for the ideals of equality, justice, peace and democracy.
The seminar demonstrated the political maturity of the All-African Women's Organisation, its lively interest in the USSR's experience of solving the question of women's rights and the resolve of African women to make a worthy contribution to the struggle of the peoples for the continent's complete liberation from colonial enslavement.
Prominent in the recommendations drawn up by the seminar was the need to raise the effectiveness of the African women's struggle for their rights, and for stamping out the grim heritage left by colonialism---economic backwardness, 279 illiteracy, ohsolete customs and traditions. Also advanced to the fore was the task of accelerating the development of their social consciousness and organising them to purposeful action so that eventually a democratic marriage and family code would be introduced in every African country, as required by "the revolutionary socialist orientation, a code which would guarantee the equal rights of husband and wife".
Important steps in this direction are now being taken in a number of countries. New marriage and family laws have already been adopted in Tunisia, Mali, Guinea, Somalia, and other African countries.
The Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation devotes much of its attention to the work done by women's organisations in countries of Asia and Africa. The Women's Bureau has been formed in the Permanent Secretariat, and a quarterly the A fro-Asian Women's Magazine is now put out. Questions of vital importance to the women of African and Asian countries were discussed at the two conferences held by the AAPSO.
The first of these, held in Cairo in 1961, called on the various women's organisations of the two continents to merge their efforts and work on principles of solidarity with the aim of completely uprooting imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.
The Second Conference was convened in UlanBator in 1972. Its importance lay, above all, in the fact that it was prepared and conducted by the joint efforts of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation, the Women's International Democratic Federation, the All-African Women's Conference, and the All-Arab Women's Federation.
280The purpose of this Conference was to elaborate a broad platform of action that would help the further unity of women in Asia and Africa and would enhance their role in the liberation struggle of the peoples and the national development of the countries.
The decisions adopted by the Conference formed a realistic basis for practical work among women with a view to giving them greater political weight and cultivating in them a higher social consciousness and better organisation.
The main result of the Second Afro-Asian Women's Conference was that broad women's public united round a common platform of struggle for the maintenance of peace, for the security of peoples, and for successful radical changes in their respective countries and a change in the status of women in society as a component of these changes.
The following documents were adopted: a Declaration, a Resolution on the Participation of Asian and African Women in the Struggle for Liberation, Independence and Peace, a Resolution on the Contribution of the Afro-Asian Women in the Cultural, Economic and Social Development of their countries, and also twelve special resolutions on such particular questions as Indochina, Cyprus, South Africa, the struggling countries of Africa, and others.
These documents have a clearly expressed anti-imperialist character. In examining the questions relating to the position of women and their role in society, the accent is on the interconnection of these issues with the accomplishment of general political and economic tasks facing the peoples. The documents call on women to join more actively in the peoples' general 281 anti-imperialist struggle. They also underline the decisive importance of the national liberation movement being in alliance with countries of the socialist community and with international democratic public in order to form and consolidate a united anti-imperialist front.
Soviet women resolutely support the struggle of the peoples for a complete liquidation of colonialism. Friendship between women of Asia and Africa and Soviet women is growing with every year and acquiring an ever greater importance. Visits by women's delegations from African and Asian countries to the USSR and other socialist states, special seminars arranged to exchange experience in women's education, their medical service, participation in socio-political and state life, the making available of grants enabling activists of the African women's movement to study in socialist countries, the sending of medicines, school accessories, children's clothing, and equipment for kindergartens: these and other forms of cooperation further the consolidation of women's unity and make it more lasting in modern conditions. The peculiarity of this cooperation is that women's demands in defending their rights is closely linked with the fight against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.
In our times solidarity and unity are becoming vital factors in the struggle of the peoples of the world for peace, national independence, equality and justice. The women of Africa, Asia and the Middle East are also making their contribution to the cause of peoples' solidarity. Along with the women of other countries they participate in the movement of solidarity with the peoples of Indochina, and are helping to gather materials 282 for the Mother and Child Welfare Centre, being built in Hanoi on the initiative of the WIDF.
World progressive opinion, including women's progressive organisations in various Asian and African countries express their solidarity with the brave struggle of the people of South Korea for the complete and immediate withdrawal of American troops from their country, and for the re-unification of Korea on a peaceful and democratic basis.
The world's progressive forces, including women's organisations in Afro-Asian countries, enthusiastically support the heroic and just battle which the democratic forces and the popular masses of Japan are waging against Japanese militarism.
Women's organisations in many Asian and African countries have come out in support of the struggle of the Arab peoples and decisively condemn Israeli militarism as a weapon of imperialism and international Zionism.
World opinion protests against the racist, misanthropic policies of the ruling circles of the RSA and Rhodesia in relation to the indigenous population. The movement of solidarity with the struggle of the peoples of these countries for national independence, for human rights and dignities, and in the defence of patriots and democrats subjected to repression is growing daily. The women of Afro-Asian countries play an active part in this movement.
Everyday reality gives much proof of the increased socio-political consciousness of the women of Afro-Asian countries, of their understanding of the need for women's organisations to unite their activities and to strengthen the solidarity of women both on a continental and 283 on a world-wide scale. It is also clear that a whole series of important political, economic and social problems is of equal concern to all women on Earth and that they can only be solved on the basis of the solidarity and cooperation of all progressive, peace-loving forces, of all people of goodwill.
These problems are firstly involved with the struggle against wars and aggression, against imperialism, neocolonialism and racism, for peace, genuine national independence and for social progress. There is no need to stress the significance of the solution of a problem like that of food, especially for the peoples of the developing countries. More than half the populations of these countries suffer from starvation or malnutrition. How could a problem like illiteracy fail to cause concern, when about 800,000,000 people on Earth can still neither read nor write. One burning problem is that of the attainment by women all over the world of complete equality, the protection of their rights as mothers and child protection.
The contemporary international situation and the development and intensification of the national liberation struggle are posing greater and more complex problems for world progressive opinion.
The experience which the peoples have gained in the course of their freedom struggle shows that ultimate victory in a national liberation revolution can only be achieved by a persistent fight to gain economic independence and social progress. The solution of these tasks demands the intense activisation of the popular masses, of all patriotic and progressive forces in each country, and this includes women's organisations.
284Through their constant work in consolidating unity of action with the Women's International Democratic Federation, the All-African Women's Organisation and other regional bodies which have devoted themselves to common or similar goals and tasks, the women of Africa and Asia will continue to promote the consolidation of the anti-imperialist front.
__ALPHA_LVL3__ The Working WomenThe economic, political and social crisis which is unfolding in Latin America is turning it into one of the most important theatres of the world struggle between the forces of reaction and progress. The experience of the national liberation struggle over the past decades, and, most importantly, of the Cuban revolution, as well as the events in Chile have set the progressive forces of Latin American countries many new problems of strategy and tactics, and have given rise to the necessity of deepening and concretising the scientific concepts of the revolutionary processes there, including those of the democratic women's movement, which forms an important section of the anti-imperialist front.
The women of Latin America have always taken an active part in the struggle for freedom and independence for their countries.
The women's movement which grew up in Latin America at the end of the 19th and the 285 beginning of the 20th centuries, and having at first, as in several other countries of the world, a mainly feministic nature, has undergone a considerahle evolution in its development. The slogans of the first women's organisations, which engaged mainly in educational work, consisted of demands for the granting of the most elementary rights to women, improvements in their working conditions and the protection of mother and child. Despite the limited nature of these demands it would be wrong to ignore their positive role in arousing women's self-awareness and increasing their activeness.
The first democratic women's unions in Latin American countries arose in the 20s of this century under the influence of progressive organisations and with the active support of the Communist and Workers' Parties of these countries.
The increased democratic mood of the popular masses, and the development of the progressive elements in the Latin American women's movement were also furthered by the anti-fascist demonstrations of the mid-30s. Militant solidarity with the Spanish republicans also had a great response. During the heroic struggle of the Spanish people against the Francoists more and more Latin American women joined the struggle against fascism.
As in other areas of the world, the period of the Second World War meant for Latin America a general increase in the anti-fascist and liberation movement, and the appearance of progressive women's organisations which came out in support of the Soviet Union and demanded that the leaders of the allied forces open a second front and break off relations with the Axis powers.
286Women's organisations in Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile held mass anti-fascist meetings and demonstrations to show their solidarity with the peoples of the countries who were combating fascism, and collected warm clothing for the soldiers of the countries in the anti-Hitler alliance.
This period was marked by the active entry of women into the economic and socio-political life of their countries.
The rout of fascism in the Second World War and the continuing deepening of the crisis in the world capitalist system led to the consolidation of the revolutionary and democratic forces in Latin American countries and was a reason for the formation of the women's democratic movement in Latin America.
Successes in the liberation struggle of the peoples of Latin American countries opened healthy prospects for the further development of the women's democratic movement and its structural organisation. The progressive women of Latin America took an active part in the formation of international and regional organisations and committees which undertook the study of the socio-economic and legal position of woman. The first decade after the war saw the formation of national women's democratic coordinating committees and federations on the basis of many unions. These new bodies included women representing various strata of society who participated in the overall struggle of the progressive forces.
Women from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Argentina represented their countries at the San Francisco conference which laid the foundations of the UN. The representatives of 287 Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba took part in the Founding Congress of the WIDF.
The formation of the WIDF served as a stimulus for the creation of new democratic organisations in Latin American countries. In the first years of the WIDF's work it was joined by women's unions from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. The organisations which had committed themselves to the work of the Women's International Democratic Federation based their activities on the programme and charter which had been adopted at the Paris Congress.
A special place in the women's democratic movement of these countries is occupied by the Federation of Cuban Women (FCW), which was founded in I960 after the successful revolution and enjoys the all-round support of Cuba's Revolutionary Government. The FCW, which has more than 1,800,000 members, forms the vanguard of the women's democratic movement in Latin American countries.
In accordance with the charter of the Women's International Democratic Federation the activity of the national women's democratic organisations in Latin America is developing in three main directions: the struggle for peace and democracy, for the equality of women, and for the happiness of children and social progress. In each country the struggle to achieve these ends is conducted according to the special conditions of that country.
The development of the Latin American women's democratic movement entered a new phase in the mid-fifties, especially after the Cuban revolution, which served as a mighty thrust for the further development of the women's 288 democratic organisations and the consolidation of their unity of action. This period was marked by great organisational activity in the women's movement of each country, and the consolidation of the Latin American women's democratic movement. This is witnessed by the series of meetings which took place between 1965 and 1974 in Mexico, Uruguay, Chile and Peru.
One of the distinguishing features of the Latin American women's democratic movement over the past few years is its ever-growing role in the fight for the consolidation of national independence, for peace and for democratic freedoms. The women's democratic organisations of Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico ably used legal and illegal possibilities for spreading their influence among the masses and for developing the struggle for social progress and democratic changes.
The aims and the methods used by individual women's democratic organisations are mainly determined by the specificity of each country, by its internal situation and by the general level of development of the revolutionary and liberation movement in it, in Latin America and the world. The development of the women's movement in Latin American countries are largely conditioned by the political and socioeconomic nature of the development of these countries, and by their historical traditions. At present, general political problems are being brought to the forefront, a fact which was reflected in the work and the resolutions of the seminar of Latin American women which was held in Santiago, Chile, in October 1972.
This seminar dealt with problems which are of concern to the women of various Latin __PRINTERS_P_289_COMMENT__ 19--0912 289 American countries. The delegates noted that the practical implementation of women's rights and their protection is inseparably linked to the peoples' struggle for independence, democracy and peace. They condemned the policy of terror directed against the peoples of Latin America and expressed their solidarity with freedom fighters who are languishing in prisons and concentration camps. The participants of the seminar called upon women to show their support for political prisoners and victims of oppression.
A general resolution adopted at the concluding session of the seminar emphasised that the women of Latin America would continue their struggle, despite all the attempts of imperialist forces to use terror to frighten the peoples of Latin America and keep them in poverty and oppression.
An example of progress in the Latin American women's democratic movement since this seminar is the increased number of voices raised by women's organisations against military dictatorships in support of the democratisation of existing regimes and in defence of human rights. Year by year the national women's democratic organisations are becoming a more powerful, more real force. They are playing an active part in the political life of their countries and are making a distinct contribution to the development of the anti-imperialist liberation movement. It is worth noting that a number of women's organisations which played the most active role in the revolutionary liberation movement have been banned. These include the Federation of Brazilian Women and the National Democratic Union of Paraguayan Women.
290Special attention must be paid to the events in Chile. The aim of the Popular Unity Government, which came to power in October 1970, was to carry out radical anti-imperialist, antioligarchic reforms, to build a new, just society based on broad democracy, including the active encouragement of women to take part in the political and economic life of the country. The government's planned measures for raising the standard of living of the broad masses were implemented steadily, and after three years significant results had been achieved.
However the socio-economic democratic reforms of Salvador Allende's Government came up against the opposition of internal reaction, which, with the outside support of imperialism, carried out a military coup on September 11, 1973, overthrew the people's coalition and restored the dominance of the bourgeoisie. Chile has become a police state where constitution and laws are trampled on. Communists and socialists, workers and members of the intelligentsia, atheists and Catholics, men and women, are all subject to persecution.
The whole world condemns the fascist crimes in Chile. All progressive and democratic organisations of the world and of Latin America demand an end to the terror. Extremely relevant here is the visit to Chile of a delegation of the WIDF in January 1974. The WIDF reported on the findings of this visit at press conferences in New York in the UN Headquarters and in the Berlin headquarters of the WIDF itself. The UN Commission on Human Rights sent a telegramme to Santiago demanding that the military junta put an end to its tyranny.
Women in Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela and __PRINTERS_P_291_COMMENT__ 19* 291 other Latin American countries take an active part in movements of solidarity with the Chilean people, iirmly demanding the immediate release of all Chilean democrats and patriots from the prisons.
One must pay especial attention to the growing participation of Latin American women in the movement of solidarity with the heroic Chilean people. The women of Latin American countries express their firm conviction that with the support of world progressive forces the Chilean people's cause will triumph.
The efforts of Latin American women in their struggle for freedom and democracy, for the strengthening of solidarity with the struggling peoples bears witness to the fact that the women's democratic movement is becoming one of the most significant detachments in the liberation and general democratic movement.
The women's democratic movement is developing along the lines of a strengthening of links and cooperation between women's organisations and all of Latin America's anti-imperialist forces.
One of the major questions facing the liberation movement in Latin American countries at present is that of the necessity of developing a broad women's democratic movement, which, in close unity with the other revolutionary and progressive forces, would be capable of heading the struggle to implement the gains which have already been won and of eliminating each and every form of discrimination against women, and which would lead to women actively engaging in a united democratic anti-imperialist front.
An important step towards achieving unity 292 in the women's movement in Central America and the countries of the Caribbean basin was made at the meeting of representatives of these countries in San Jose in October 1972 where major problems concerning this area of the world were discussed.
An important feature of the women's democratic movement at its present stage is the growing political activeness of women workers and their increasingly numerous participation in the strike movement, in the fight to achieve a higher standard of living and in resisting rising prices.
One of the principal demands of the democratic women's organisations, the trade unions and other workers' organisations in Latin America is the implementation of fundamental equality for women.
The democratic forces' basic demands in the political sphere are the practical introduction of women's electoral rights, the increased representation of women in parliaments and national governments, etc., the increased activity of elected women deputies who, in their turn, must serve as initiators and active fighters for new, more radical reforms aimed at the further consolidation of the political and socio-economic position of women.
They demand an immediate solution to such problems as the practical implementation of the principle of equal pay for equal work, the right to obtain qualifications and occupy highly qualified posts, increased rights to pensions and allowances, the passing of laws on women's labour protection, which would embrace all areas of the economy, and creation of kindergartens, and so forth.
293In connection with the Internal tonal Women's Year and the World Congress of Women which will take place in October 1975 in Berlin varions activities are envisaged in many Latin American countries to promote the resolution of these problems.
The progressively-minded women of Latin America link their demands for genuine equality with those for radical social and economic changes in the life of their countries and with the revolutionary and liberation struggle of all working people.
Over the past few years the work of trade unions among working women has shown considerable progress. The democratic trade union affiliations of many Latin American countries have responded to the initiative of the Communist and Workers' Parties in paying much more attention to the organisation of working women, to the defence of their interests, and to linking their demands to the common struggle of the whole working class.
It is important to note that the progressive trade union organisations in countries like Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela have over the past years adopted special programmes for working women, which include such working women's demands as the strict observance of the legislative principle of equal pay for equal work, and the protection of mother and child.
In modern Latin American conditions the involvement of women farm labourers and peasant women in the anti-imperialist struggle being waged by the progressive forces becomes a specially vital question, since it is they who surfer most from the vestiges of feudal relations. The increase in the organisation of women rural 294 labourers and their effective participation in the creation of new democratic peasants' organisations, is a vital new feature of the Latin American women's democratic movement.
Working women with ever greater ability and energy are employing the most diverse means of struggle, organising mass political, sometimes armed, demonstrations against the illegal expulsions of tenants from the land, as well as the seizure of landowners' lands by the peasants. Women were the initiators of the peasant marches in Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil.
At present, under the leadership of women's organisations and independent peasant unions (such as the Federation of Indian Peasants in Ecuador, ibe National Peasant Confederation in Peru, the Independent Peasant Central Hi Mexico, and the progressive peasant organisations of Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, etc.) millions of working women from the Latin American countryside---women agricultural workers, metayers, peasant women, either renting land or owning small plots, are more and more consciously and purposefully joining the common struggle for agrarian reform and for radical changes in the social and economic living conditions in the countryside.
Women are taking a greater part not only in the activities of women's organisations but also of mass political movements, which aim to achieve liberation and social progress for their countries. All this promotes the attraction of wide masses of women not only into the campaigns for the satisfaction of their concrete demands but also into the common movement for the independence of Latin American countries, and for peace throughout the world. 295 For this reason it is no coincidence that in Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay dozens of leading peasant women have been thrown into prison for taking part in the struggle against imperialism and large landowners.
The further development and consolidation of the general democratic movement in Latin America, including the women's movement, presupposes the intensification of work among the working women of town and country. All the revolutionary and progressive mass organisations have been doing all they can to attract new cohorts of peasants and other women in agricultural labour into the revolutionary liberation movement, into the struggle for genuine equality for women and for social progress in their countries.
The struggle of Latin American women for genuine equality and for I lie social progress of their peoples is inseparable from the struggle for the consolidation of national independence and the preservation of peace on earth. This movement promotes the awakening among women of social and political interests and is the platform which unites the most diverse strata of women.
From the outset many of the women's democratic organisations in Latin America have been with the progressive workers', youth and other mass organisations actively struggling for peace, against the threat of a new world war, and against the enslavement of their countries by American monopolies.
The women's national organisations of Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama have consistently emphasised the demand of the progressive organisations of their countries 296 that their governments should follow an independent foreign policy, and refuse to submit to the dictates of US imperialists.
The struggle against US imperialism is inevitably interwoven, in each country, with the struggle against the dominance of large landowners and capitalists. The peoples of Latin America will not be able to free themselves of US imperialism if they do not struggle against the lalifundists and the reactionary bourgeois circles who serve it.
The women's organisations of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Paraguay continue, despite extremely difficult conditions, to struggle actively against the dictatorial regimes. The National Federation of Panamanian Democratic Women, founded in March 1975, is struggling for the territorial intergrity and sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone.
In Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay and other countries there have been mass demonstrations of women, mainly working women, against the persecution by reaction of democratic organisations and their individual activists.
The demonstrations of the working class and the popular masses against the aggression of imperialism, in defence of national independence, for the democratisation of existing regimes, against the encroachments of reaction upon democratic liberties and the social gains of the workers are closely linked in Latin America with the struggle to strengthen peace and friendship between peoples.
The women's democratic organisations have always regarded the struggle for peace as one of their main tasks. The participation of progressive Latin American women in the peace 297 movement, in the movement for the establishment of friendly relationships between countries has grown wider and stronger.
Latin American women everywhere support the peaceful solution of military conflicts, the elimination of points of international tension, and the free and independent development of all countries.
[298] __ALPHA_LVL1__ Women's InternationalA great part in arousing the social and political awareness of the women of all continents, in the unification of their activities in the struggle for peace, national independence and democracy, in the battle for equality and for the better future for children has been played by the Women's International Democratic Federation, which for thirty years now has stood at the head of the international women's movement.
The Women's International Democratic Federation, founded after the end of the Second World War, was the first women's mass democratic organisation in history. It evolved as a result of the efforts of the world's women to unite in the cause of achieving a lasting peace between nations, of creating everywhere the essential conditions for guaranteeing the real equality of women, for the protection of the future of children.
At the time the WIDF was formed there already existed a number of international women's organisations which grew up at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century. These 301 international organisations were not on a mass scale, and in the main they united women from the propertied classes and set themselves the limited goals of achieving equal rights with men within the existing order, and in particular, they strove to achieve electoral rights for women, increased possibilities in education, and so on, and spoke out for peace from pacifist standpoints. Some of these organisations united women on grounds of religion or common professional interests.
The most important of these organisations were: the International Council of Women, founded in 1888 in the interests of the wellbeing of mankind, the family and the individual; the International Alliance of Women---Equal Rights---Equal Responsibilities, formed in 1904 with the aim of achieving electoral rights for the women of all countries and reforms guaranteeing the equality of women; the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, formed in 1901 in order to promote the activities of Catholic women for the benefit of human society; the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, founded in 1915 as a pacifist women's organisation; the International Federation of University Women, formed in 1919 and the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, which was formed in 1930, etc.
In the thirties the appearance of fascism and its coming to power gave rise to a democratic peoples' movement against fascism and war. The international women's anti-fascist, anti-war congress played a great part in drawing wide circles of women into this movement. It was convened in Paris in 1934 on the initiative of the progressive women of a number of countries, including the Soviet Union.
302The slogan of this congress was "United Front of All Women Against War and Fascism''. It did not lead to the formation of an international mass democratic women's organisation, but objectively contributed to the creation of the conditions needed for its formation. In the following years during the Second World War millions of women joined the fight against fascism. Mass democratic women's organisations sprang up in many countries, and when the war ended the women's organisations of different countries began to make contact with one another. The common ambition of women, who were deeply aware of the power of international solidarity, was that an international democratic women's organisation be formed, having a broad base and uniting millions of women of vastly differing political and religious convictions, of countries with different socio-political systems.
The Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women did much to ensure that this desire of women for unity was realised. Soviet women, convinced of the necessity of the joint action of the world's progressive forces in achieving common aims took an active part in the work of founding an international democratic women's organisation.
As a result of the exchange of opinions between the representatives of women's national organisations who were guests at the Congress of the Union of French Women (June 1945), including a delegation of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women under the leadership of the president, N. V. Popova, it was decided to form an initiating committee on the question of calling an international women's congress. This Congress in its turn was to discuss and decide the 303 question of creating an international democratic women's organisation.
This initiating committee which at iirst comprised the representatives of the USSR, France, Britain, China, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia and Belgium, evolved the principles of the organisation and programme of the future federation. The call for the congress met with support in various countries of the world, and in the course of its preparation the number of women's organisations which joined the committee and approved the idea of forming an international democratic women's organisation grew steadily-
The Congress opened on November 26, 1945, in the Mutualite hall in Paris, with 850 women delegates and guests from 40 countries of Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia.
Eugenie Cotton, chairwoman of the International Initiating Committee appealed to the participants of the congress in her opening speech: "Our meeting today is an historic event, and we must stress its meaning and its novelty. Of course, this is not the first time that women have gathered at an international congress in order to work for the cause of peace and freedom.... But here, at our congress, we are making our first contact with the masses, with hundreds of millions of working women.''
The Congress, which lasted for six days, discussed the role of women in the fight against fascism, established their tasks in the cause of bringing about democracy and lasting peace and the strengthening of women's economic and socio-legal position, and took decisions on the problems of childhood and the bringing up of children.
304The Congress condemned colonialism and called on the women of the world to demand respect for the principles of equality of nations and for their right to determine their own destiny.
One of the Congress's most striking documents is the Oath, which was taken unanimously. The participants of the Congress vowed to defend the economic, political, civil and social rights of women, to fight for creation of the conditions indispensable to the harmonious and happy development of our children and future generations, to struggle tirelessly so that fascism in all its forms shall be forever wiped off the earth and so that there will be established throughout the whole world a true democracy, to struggle ceaselessly to assure a lasting peace to the world.
The decisions of the women's international congress formed the foundations of the programme of action of the Women's International Democratic Federation, which was formed on December 1, 1945. The concluding session of the Congress adopted the Charter of the WIDF and elected its executive bodies.
Eugenie Cotton, outstanding French public figure, eminent physicLst and Resistance member, was elected the Federation's first president. She held this post until the end of her life.
From June 1969 to March 1974 the Federation was headed by Hertta Kuusinen, outstanding Finnish public and political figure.
The Women's International Democratic Federation was a women's organisation of a new kind. Its nature was determined, to a large measure, by the fact that its formation was initiated by progressive women's organisations which had emerged in the process of the anti-fascist struggle and were closely connected with the broad masses __PRINTERS_P_305_COMMENT__ 20---0912 305 of women and expressed their vital interests. In contrast to the already existing international organisations, whose activity was frequently of a feminist nature, the W1DF always regarded the problems of the status of women in close relation to political and social problems. This was expressed in the WIDF's Charter and Programme, the former stating that the Federation unites women "regardless of race, nationality, religion and political opinion, so that they may work together to win and defend their rights as citizens, mothers, and workers, to protect children and to ensure peace, democracy and national independence".
The WIDF united women's organisations from countries which belonged to different sociopolitical systems. This enabled the Federation to rely on the experience of women's organisations in socialist, capitalist, colonial and developing countries, to embrace the problems of the women's movement of today in all their variety and determine their interconnection and interdependence, and promoted the education of the masses of women who took part in its work in the spirit of genuine international solidarity.
The WIDF aspires to set up cooperation with other international and national organisations and with wide groups of women who do not belong to any women's organisation. As distinct from the charters of other international organisations, which strictly define the rights and obligations of members and set certain conditions on the membership and participation in the organisation, the WIDF Charter invites any women's organisations, groups or individuals who wish to collaborate with the Federation, if only on one point of its programme, to participate in 306 ihe Federation's work, irrespective of their membership in other organisations.
The Federation's consistent line on the development of cooperation with the broad masses of women is expressed in the fact that the Federation has often initiated the holding of large international meetings with the participation of different international and national women's organisations on the basis of a wide programme of common demands. Many such meetings have been held with great success and have helped to achieve real results in the struggle to improve the situation of women and children.
Many new members have joined the ranks of the WIDF since its formation. At present the Federation unites 117 national organisations from 101 countries.
According to the current Charter the WIDF's highest organ is the Congress which is to be called once every four years. The Congress elects the WIDF President and the Council staff. Between Congresses the ruling body of the WIDF is the Council, which meets, as a rule, once a year. All the organisations in the WIDF are represented in the Council, with the organisation from each country having an equal number of seats in the Council. The Council elects the WIDF Vice-Presidents, the General Secretary, the Bureau, the Auditing Committee and the Secretariat.
The WIDF Bureau runs the Federation's business in between Council sessions on the basis of the decisions made either by the Council or the Congress. Responsibility for the day-- today execution of the ruling bodies' decisions is borne by the WIDF Secretariat, composed of the General Secretary and Secretaries. The __PRINTERS_P_307_COMMENT__ 20* 307 Secretariat operates in the Federation's Headquarters, which since 1951 has been in Berlin, capital of the GDR.(Between 1945 and 1951 the W1DF Headquarters was in Paris.)
Over its 30 years of existence the WIDF has been consistently implementing its programme, which contains four basic demands: equality for women, the wellbeing of children, peace and national independence. Taking as a premise the conviction that peace, national independence and democracy are essential conditions which must be fulfilled before women can make use of their rights, the Federation considers it its duty to pay great attention to international problems. At the same time, being aware that the achievement of equality and the increased role of women in society allow them to have greater influence in the solution of national and international problems, the Federation constantly concerns itself with the specific problems of the status of women, while striving to maintain a balance between the four main spheres of its activities, coupling the solution of general political problems (agitation for peace, national independence and democracy) to questions which are inherent to the WIDF as a women's organisation.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ In Defence of Women's RightsThe 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 308 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 309 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.
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.
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.
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 310 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.
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.
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.
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 311 against women which was still rife in the majority of the countries in the world.
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.
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.
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.
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, 312 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
313The 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.
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.
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.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ In Defence of ChildrenFrom the first day of its existence the Women's International Democratic Federation has spoken out for the improvement of the position of 314 children, for their democratic upbringing, security and peaceful future.
Delegates at the Founding Congress in Paris, while taking the oath of faithfulness to the aims of the Federation stated:
``...We take this solemn oath to fight so that conditions indispensable to the harmonious and happy development of our children and future generations shall be created...
``...We take the solemn oath to struggle ceaselessly to assure a lasting peace to the world....''
In the first postwar years the whole of the Federation's attention was concentrated on giving aid to children who had suffered from the war. To this end the International Children's Fund was formed, and a wide-scale international campaign was held under the heading "International Week of Aid to Children Victims of War''. The Federation demanded that governments and the UN should take action to protect children.
The Federation has always seen the provision of normal living and upbringing conditions for children, and defending them from the threat of a new war as an important political task. The merit of the Federation lies in the fact that it constantly attracts the attention of world opinion to the situation of children, and has often initiated mass campaigns and international conferences in defence of children.
It was the initiative of the WIDF which led many countries to hold an International Children's Day on the 1st of June, every year since 1950. The slogans of the first International Children's Day were: "Butter not Guns!'', "Schools and hospitals, not tanks!" and "Our Children Should Have a Peaceful and Happy Life!''. The International Children's Day became a 315 day when the progressive forces would unite their voices on the most serious problems of the situation of children.
The International Conference in Defence of Children, held in Vienna, in April 1952, was a noteworthy milestone in the development of the children's defence movement. It was attended by outstanding public figures---scientists, teachers, lawyers, clergymen, writers, journalists, members of women's organisations and simply mothers from 64 countries of the world.
The Vienna Conference was prepared by the International Preparatory Committee, and national preparatory committees were also formed in many countries. During the preparations for the Conference extensive documentary material about the situation of the world's children was gathered and summarised.
The Vienna Conference stressed with new force the need for action in protecting peace for the sake of a happy future for the rising generations, for the direction of resources which were being spent on the arms race into social needs. The Conference demanded that states everywhere make the provision of normal living conditions for children one of their most important tasks.
The Conference spoke out against the propaganda of racism, violence and war and called upon writers, artists and other men of culture to make their contribution towards educating children and young people in the spirit of peace and friendship between nations.
In 1955, the Federation held a World Congress of Mothers in Lausanne (Switzerland), which met with great response throughout the world. It was attended by more than 1,000 women delegates from 66 countries. The Congress manifesto 316 called upon the women of all countries to unite for a more active struggle for peace, for the banning of nuclear weapons, for disarmament and for increased house-, hospital- and schoolbuilding. The permanent international committee of mothers was set up, and national committees of mothers were formed in several countries after the Congress. Thus, in Japan, ever since the Lausanne mothers' meeting, congresses of mothers are held every year, involving thousands of Japanese women.
Another great move towards protecting children was the October 1966 World Conference for Children which was held in Stockholm at the WIDF's initiative. This was a broadly-based Conference which examined the problem of childhood in all its aspects. The agenda included such questions as living conditions, necessary for the harmonious development of children, education and upbringing, children's health, children's out-of-school activities, children's activities in the family.
The world Conference re-stressed the responsibility of governments in giving happiness to children. The Stockholm Conference was particularly beneficial in bringing the plight of Vietnamese children that were suffering under imperialist aggression to the attention of a very broad world public.
The Federation has initiated and taken part in many regional meetings devoted to the rising generation. Among these one can number: a World Women's Forum on the Education of Youth in a Spirit of International Friendship and Understanding, held jointly with the Liaison Bureau of the Copenhagen Meeting of Women in Brussels, in 1962; a seminar for African 317 women's organisations on mother and child protection in Bamako, Mali, in 1965, held jointly with the All-African Women's Conference and attended by specialists from the USSR, France, Guinea, Senegal and Mali; and a seminar for Latin American women's organisations on the protection of children's rights in Mexico, in 1968.
As in its work on women's rights, the Federation made full use of its consultative status as a non-government organisation at ECOSOC and UNESCO to bring up the question of the living conditions, education and upbringing of children and young people at the UN.
The Federation joined the progressive public in striving for the adoption of the Declaration of Children's Rights, an important international document which was signed by the UN in 1959. It declares the right of every child to conditions conducive to physical and mental development, to social security, suitable nourishment and housing, to medical service and education.
The Federation, along with national organisations and through its publications, followed the adoption of the Declaration by extensively publicising its stated principles. Together with the national organisations the Federation held study meetings on the implementation of the Declaration throughout the world in connection with the 5th and 10th anniversaries of the Declaration. The information gathered in the course of these meetings was made available to a wide public.
The Federation has done great work through its international campaigns in favour of aid for the children of Vietnam and the Arab countries who have suffered at the hands of 318 imperialist aggression. While calling upon the women of different countries to aid child-victims of aggression, the Federation helps them to understand the essence of events in Indochina and the Middle East, and to consciously take part in the struggle for the right of every nation to independence, for international security and peace throughout the world.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ For Peace ThroughoutSince it was formed, the WIDF has aimed to promote the preservation of peace and the avoidance of another world war. The Federation has held many mass campaigns and called upon women to actively strive for peace every time the international situation has become complicated to an extent which increased the threat of war. In its fight for peace the Federation uses such weapons as meetings, petitions, appeals to the UN, and campaigns for collecting protests and signatures.
At the World Congress of Women in Budapest, in 1948, a time of increased international tension, the Federation adopted a Manifesto for the Defence of Peace. This document called upon women to take concrete action to preserve peace and emphasised women's responsibility in preventing war. The resolutions of the Budapest Congress led to increased activity among the masses of women in supporting the preservation of peace.
The WIDF was one of the conveners of the 1949 World Congress of Defenders of Peace against the Threat of a New War, which gave rise to a powerful union of supporters of the 319 peace movement. From that time the Federation and its national organisations have been taking an active part in peace campaigns, attending congresses and conferences on the peace struggle. Women played an especially important part in the world campaigns to collect signatures of support for the Stockholm appeal to ban atomic weapons, for the World Peace Council's appeal urging the conclusion of a peace pact between the five Great Powers, and for the Vienna Appeal of the World Peace Council to avert the threat of nuclear war.
In order to bring new women into the peace struggle, the W1DF tries to show the connection between the needs and problems of their everyday life and such great problems as disarmament and the creation of a system of collective security.
The Federation has time and again appealed to the Disarmament Committee in Geneva to ban nuclear tests and to bring about universal and total disarmament and has attended all the major international meetings on peace problems.
Considering war and peace to be the most vital questions of our times, the WIDF has constantly raised this topic at the meetings of its executive bodies and congresses, and has taken part in special international meetings on these problems. The most important of these were the European women's meetings in Brunate, in 1959, and in Salzburg, in 1960, on the responsibilities of women in the atomic age, the World Assembly of Women for Disarmament in Vienna, in March 1962, the Consultative Meeting of European Women's Organisations on European Security and Cooperation in the Swedish town of Ystad, 320 in 1970, and the Conference of representatives of European women's organisations on cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki, in 1973, and attended by the representatives of nine international organisations and 26 countries.
Among the questions discussed by the June 1969 World Congress of Women in Helsinki was that on the role of women in the struggle for national independence, democracy and peace. The commission devoted to this topic attracted more participants than any other.
The Appeal to the Women of the World, one of the Congress's main documents, expressed a profound concern and disquiet over the fate of the world and pinpointed the most thorny international problems of modern times. The document calls on the women of the whole world, workers and peasants, and all progressive organisations and movements to serry their ranks in creating a mighty front in the fight against imperialist and reactionary forces and in decisively rejecting their intrigues.
An important event in the life of the WIDF was the World Congress of Peace Forces, held in Moscow, in October 1973, which brought together the most diverse political forces in calling for the elimination of war from the life of mankind, for a peaceful life on Earth and for cooperation between nations.
The WIDF helped in the preparations for the Congress at all stages, was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Preparatory Committee and of the Steering Committee. The Congress brought about the strengthening of cooperation between peace-loving forces, and in particular, the strengthening of cooperation between the many international, regional and __PRINTERS_P_321_COMMENT__ 21--0912 321 national women's organisations which Look part in the Congress.
The WIDF joined the International Continuing and Liaison Committee of the World Congress of Peace Forces, and has been working actively in it ever since.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ In Support of the StruggleThe Women's International Democratic Federation pays great attention to the problems of women in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America which are struggling for the achievement and consolidation of national independence, against colonialism and neocolonialism. The Federation has constantly been a source of active support for the national liberation movement and has always called on the women of the whole world to show active solidarity for the women of those countries.
The Federation prepared and conducted worldwide campaigns against the war unleashed by the French colonialists in Vietnam and against the military intervention in Korea by American imperialism. A great response was occasioned by the visit to Korea in 1951 by an international women's commission which collected vast material on the crimes committed by imperialism in Korea. The commission's report, entitled We Accuse, published as a brochure in 24 322 languages, helped to arouse world public opinion to struggle for the cessation of military action in Korea.
The Federation has organised opposition to aggression wherever it occurred, and has won great praise for its consistent support of the Arab peoples in times of Israeli aggression, and for its solidarity with revolutionary Cuba and the peoples of Congo, Cyprus and the Indochinese states in their struggle for independence and sovereignty.
The WIDF strives to draw the widest circles of women in Asian, African and Latin American countries into active participation in the international democratic women's movement and to offer them practical help in solving their specific problems.
To this end the Federation has held a succession of meetings of its ruling bodies and has prepared a number of regional forums. For example, the WIDF collaborated in organising several regional meetings of Latin American women, and also helped considerably in calling the Panamerican Women's Congress in January 1963, held in Cuba. The Federation held an extended session of the WIDF Bureau in Indonesia (Jakarta, January 1960) which discussed problems pertaining to the women of Asian and African countries. There was a similar extended session of the WIDF Bureau in Mali (Bamako, January 1962) to discuss the problems of African women.
The WIDF has sent many delegations of experienced leaders of women's organisations to Asia, Africa and Latin America to pass on their experience to women's organisations in those countries.
__PRINTERS_P_323_COMMENT__ 21* 323Documents dealing with the problems of Asian, African and Latin American women were adopted at the sessions of the WIDF's executive bodies. Special motions supporting the demands of Asian, African and Latin American women were passed, all kinds of solidarity campaigns were conducted, articles on the problems of the women of these areas were published in their regular and special publications, and representatives were sent to the regional women's and general conferences held by the nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The WIDF considers it its duty to attract the attention of national organisations in Europe to the need to give moral and material support to the women of the struggling countries. In addition to the women's organisations of Britain, France and Holland which do immense work in supporting the national liberation struggle, there were also some European organisations which were not paying due attention to the question of solidarity.
The session of the WIDF council in Warsaw (December 1960) and the World Congress of Women in Moscow (June 1963) helped the members of many women's organisations in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA to become aware of the importance of mobilising public opinion in their countries in support of the national liberation struggle. Following the Moscow Congress the women's organisations of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Sweden, Switzerland and other European countries became more active in their demands for an end to the war in Vietnam and for the elimination of the danger of aggression against Cuba.
324These countries also answered the WIDF's call to initiate campaigns of material support for the women's organisations of the struggling and newly independent countries of Africa with the aim of developing their activity. The national women's organisations of the Soviet Union, Hungary, France, Canada, Australia and other countries are sending the women's organisations of Africa sewing machines to equip workshops, typewriters for vocational courses, and so forth. The women's organisations of the USSR, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia provide stipends for African girls and women to study at higher and secondary special educational establishments in their own countries.
In an attempt to aid African women's organisations in training cadres and in solving their specific problems the national organisations of some socialist countries hold seminars for African women and also invite delegations from Africa with the aim of acquainting them with their experience in solving similar problems.
Widely acclaimed international meetings have been held in Africa, including the seminar in Bamako (Mali), organised by the WIDF and the All-African Women's Conference on Mother-- andChild Protection in 1965, seminars in Khartum in February 1970 and in Algiers in 1974 on the combating of illiteracy.
In addition to its contacts with the women's organisations of Afro-Asian countries, the Federation offers constant support to the work of AAPSO and takes part in all its international forums. The WIDF sent its representative to the First Afro-Asian Women's Conference held by AAPSO in Cairo in January 1961, and as member of the International Preparatory 325 Committee made a substantial contribution to the work of the Second Afro-Asian Women's Conference in Ulan Bator, in August 1972.
The Federation actively supports the struggle by the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America for national independence against the intrigues of imperialism.
Since June 1967, when the Arab countries were subjected to Israeli aggression, the Federation has considered it one of its main tasks to promote the most speedy regulation of the Middle East conflict. The WIDF, which from the outset has firmly condemned Israeli aggression against the Arab countries and defended the rights of the Arab people of Palestine, has succeeded in mobilising its national organisations in moral and material support of the victims of aggression.
WIDF publications have played an important role in the campaign of solidarity with the women and children of Arab countries, and particularly important was the brochure We Have Seen, which uses factual material to show the real reasons for the Middle East conflict. The WIDF has sent many delegations to refugee camps in Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
In its documents and publications the Federation draws the attention of national organisations and women not belonging to the Federation to the need to realise the Security Council's resolution of November 22, 1967, on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all occupied territory, the elimination of the consequences of Israeli aggression, the use of all possible means to promote the earliest settlement of the Middle East conflict, and to offer moral and material support to the victims of aggression.
326The Federation paid special attention to organising solidarity with the just struggle of the Vietnamese people and to providing them with moral and material aid and support. The representatives of women's organisations in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and in South Vietnam recognised that the Federation had done much for the development of the international women's movement in providing real support for the patriotic struggle of the people and the women of Vietnam against imperialist aggression.
In maintaining constant contact and cooperation with the Union of Vietnamese Women and the Union of Women for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the Federation appealed to its national organisations and to wide circles of women to actively take part in the movement of solidarity with the Vietnamese people.
The WIDF conducted extensive information and propaganda work in order to acquaint the women of the world with the real state of affairs in Vietnam, explained the justice of the demands of the Vietnamese people and consistently condemned the USA's imperialist aggression. The Federation found diverse means of attracting women into the solidarity movement and initiated meetings of its committee for solidarity with Vietnam and took part in events in support of Vietnam organised by other international bodies.
There is every reason to say that the Federation, in conjunction with other forces of world opinion, made its contribution to the ending of the war and the establishment of peace in Vietnam.
327The Helsinki World Congress of Women adopted a resolution to use resources collected by the women of the world to build an institute for protection of mothers and new-born infants in Hanoi, which would be seen as a symbol of the solidarity of the women of all countries in the struggle for the triumph of peace and justice. This project is now being put into practice.
In connection with the spread of American aggression in Indochina the Federation appealed to its national organisations and to the women of the world to support the just struggle of the peoples of Laos and Cambodia.
The Federation's consistent support of the national liberation struggle means that every year more and more women's organisations in Arab and African countries are taking part in Federation activities. With the aim of drawing broad masses of women of these countries into the ranks of the international women's democratic movement the Federation intends to undertake a number of measures in this area, such as holding seminars, founding literacy centres, etc.
The past years have seen an increase in the Federation's influence in Latin America, witnessed the regional seminars held in Chile (1968), in Mexico (1972) and in Peru (1974) with the active cooperation of the WIDF. These seminars on the position of women and children promoted the unity of progressive forces in Latin America in the struggle for socio-economic changes and stimulated the democratic women's movement in this part of the world.
After the coup in Chile, which led to the overthrow of Allende's legally-elected government, 328 the WIDF actively joined the movement of solidarity with the people and democrats of Chile.
__*_*_*__1975 was declared by the 27th Session of the UN General Assembly to be International Women's Year---this was on the initiative of the Women's International Democratic Federation, with the support of a number of other international women's organisations. With regard to the fact that the problem of discrimination against women in labour, public life and the family is of current importance, they considered that a special year devoted to the status of women would draw the attention of governments and public opinion to these problems.
The UN programme for the International Women's Year has three main aims: that this year should be marked by increased activity aimed at attaining equal rights for women; to ensure that women participate in the economic, social and cultural development of their countries and to increase the role of women in the development of friendly relations and cooperation between states and in the strengthening of peace throughout the world.
In support of these aims, the WIDF and its national organisations have been holding seminars, conferences and symposiums on the status of women and their role in society, in the struggle for national independence, peace and social progress. These problems are on the agenda for the World Congress devoted to International Women's Year to be held in Berlin (October 20--24, 1975), which, in cooperation 329 with other organisations, the WIDF is actively helping to prepare.
On the eve of the World Congress, the UN World Conference was held in Mexico as a part of the International Women's Year. The main theme of the Conference was the struggle for a broad recognition of women's role and responsibility in society. The agenda included such topics as ensuring genuine equality for women in the economic, political and social life of their countries, making every effort to enhance the role of women in securing peace, in promoting the friendship and cooperation among the nations. The World Conference was aimed at recommendations to further working out the goals set for the International Women's Year. The conference was attended by representatives from 149 countries and 14 national liberation movements.
In intensifying its cooperation with the UN and its specialised bodies, the WIDF aims to attain an improvement of the status of women, the implementation of the Declaration on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and other important UN resolutions, and also to achieve the introduction on a national level of progressive legislation on women, and the implementation of existing laws in order to realise the proclaimed equality in practice.
In December 1975, the WIDF will celebrate its 30th anniversary. The road it has travelled and the work it is doing today show that it is a militant, international organisation, in whose ranks millions of women fight for peace and security, for independence and democracy, for the achievement and the realisation of the equality of women.
330 __ALPHA_LVL1__ CONCLUSIONWe have tried in general terms to examine the status of woman in modern society, noting the most important problems which are today being faced by women and by the body of international public opinion which is fighting for the solution of these problems.
Despite the diversity of national and regional conditions and the specific problems of the position and struggle of women in countries on different continents, there is still a clear tendency for the role of woman in modern society to be increasing. This is promoted by a whole series of objective and subjective factors: the example of socialist countries, the demand for economic and social development, the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, the success by the world's working-class and general democratic movement in emancipating women, the desire of women themselves to take an active part in the life of society, and so on.
In the USSR and other socialist countries where the working class has won political power 331 the real equality of women with men is guaranteed in all areas of life.
No radical change in the status of women is possible, and neither can they be truly liberated under capitalism with the private ownership of the implements and means of production, as is shown by the experience of historical development. In the conditions of capitalism the progressive forces and women themselves can achieve, and indeed do achieve, merely the satisfaction of concrete, partial demands. A certain extension of women's rights in capitalist countries, being an important achievement of the working people, increases women's political activeness, but the power of the monopolies is a considerable brake on the emancipation of women.
There is a direct link between the struggle against monopolies and the struggle for the liberation of women and women's actions in demanding their socio-economic rights are closely bound up with their participation in the antiimperialist movement and in the movement for peace. The peaceful coexistence of states with different socio-economic systems is an essential condition for the solution of vital social problems which concern a woman as mother, worker and citizen. Women's activity in opposing war forms the basis of the growth of women's antiimperialist movement which brings together women of the most diverse social strata, women belonging to various parties, or none at all, believers and atheists, all women who are interested in the preservation of peace on Earth and in the social progress of their own countries.
The international democratic women's movement, with its nucleus of working-class women, is an important detachment of the forces of 332 anti-imperialism in the fight for peace, democracy and socialism. For this reason the communist and workers' movement pays them the most keen attention. Communist parties, following Leninist theory, work untiringly to extend the ranks of the women's movement and to strengthen its unity, and they are striving to collaborate with other political forces on various questions connected with the status of women. Communists link their final ends with the full liberation of woman. The full liberation of women and the cause of socialism are inseparable.
[333] __ALPHA_LVL0__ The End. [END]REQUEST TO READERS
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[334]For the first time in history, real equality has been achieved between men and women in the USSR and the countries of the world socialist system. The authors use tangible facts to show how under socialism the state and the Communist Parties involve women in social production and state administration, guarantee them an education, are concerned about maternity and child protection, and so on.
The book describes the struggle mounted by the women in capitalist countries in order to secure their rights, and tefls of the successes that they have, achieved hi this struggle.
The authors dwell on the development of the women's movement, its achievements and tasks in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
A special section deals with the activities of the Women's International Democratic Federation.
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