Women's Future: Survival or Progress?
Papers from the 25th IFUW Triennial Conference Yokohama 1995
"...To readers unfamiliar with the issues of the Women's movement, it may seem that so much inequality remains that we must have been ineffective over the past twenty years. We forget that the present status of women has not always been where it is today. Most of the achievements of the past twenty years have been assimilated into societies and are now accepted without surprise or notice. That women become heads of state, prime ministers, ministers in the church, leaders in industry, in science and education, happens almost without comment. Yet there are still gaps. Women, even in professional positions, occupy predominantly subordinate roles rather than decisionmaking and leadership positions. They seem constrained by a 'glass ceiling'. Yes, they are parliamentarians ? but few are Cabinet Ministers. Yes, they are clergy ? but rarely bishops. The proportion of women professors is grossly less than the proportion of women teachers across the profession.
It is in spheres such as that of getting women into decisionmaking positions that the International Federation of University Women and similar non governmental organisations have critical roles to play. We must inspire others through leadership in our own professions or through pointing to others as role models. We must speak out against injustices and inequalities. We must meet and discuss and communicate to keep on moving forward. These papers are representation of those activities."
From the Preface by Elizabeth M.E. Poskitt.
President 1995-1998
International Federation of University WomenIntroduction to Women's Future: Survival or Progress?
Dorothy Meyer, New Zealand, Women and the Market Economy: The Feminization of Poverty
Elizatbeth Poskitt, The Gambia, Nutrition in the Rural African Woman: Studies in Keneba