Working women and international issues

We are trapped in a transition: between the formation of the new and the erosion of the old norms, values and systems. In many important meetings, where major questions of life and death are examined; where the North-South postures are taken; where agenda items on ECDC, TCDC and LDCs are analysed; where monetary reforms are advocated; where food strategies are formulated—the ‘women's dimension’ still often faces those with ‘intellectual’ difficulties in considering it a legitimate subject in its own right. Why is it necessary to climb the same steep mountains over and over again? What are the deeply rooted reasons which prevent ‘women's issues’ being considered an integral part of development questions? Why are the doors behind which the major questions of this century are being debated soundproof, heavy and hermetically sealed? The collective voices of women do not yet appear to penetrate them. This global resistance, which effectively excludes women at so many levels, from international and national to community and the family, has deep roots—roots which are buried in the inner conscience of mankind. And strands of these roots are intertwined with every discipline; in every human science. Where does one begin?The purpose of this paper is to explore some aspects of economic and social development which have a direct bearing on the problems of working women and international issues.